Seeds of Peace in South Asia is tackling climate change, launching the Student Society for Climate Change Awareness Climate Tank Accelerator.
The United Nations is clear that our world is in a state of climate emergency. The Global South is more vulnerable to climate change because of poverty, income inequality, and dependence on climate-sensitive sectors. Competition over depleting natural resources is exacerbating regional conflict and causing alarming levels of climate migration—consequences that will only get graver with every passing year.
The Climate Tank Accelerator is a year-long, multi-phase program involving five countries across South Asia. It was created with the support of the United States State Department and is led by Seeds of Peace in association with the Pakistani-Seed founded organization, Beyond the Classroom.
The program aims to combine the best and brightest minds in South Asia to imagine shared solutions for a colossal, shared problem.
One rule of ecology and environmental science that “everything is connected;” the peacebuilding corollary is that “connection is everything.” Seeds of Peace understands how powerful and important connections are and have used them to build bridges across lines of conflict for over 30 years.
New Questions, New Answers
The Climate Tank Accelerator is expansive in its scope, aiming to train over 1,250 university students across Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The initiative was launched to impart the necessary knowledge and tools for climate awareness and action. The program not only initiates local and regional dialogue on climate justice but encourages them to spearhead climate awareness campaigns within their universities.
The hope is that through sustainable practices, these young leaders will create a ripple effect of climate awareness, extending their impact beyond campus borders, ultimately contributing to mitigating the negative effects of climate change in South Asia.
What is the Climate Tank Accelerator?
The Climate Tank Accelerator is being rolled out in three phases in 2024. The first phase is meant for the participants to take a self-paced online course and form groups of four which will undertake a climate action program together in their respective universities.
The open-access virtual course called ‘Planet Pulse: Understanding Climate Action’ is divided into six sections: Fundamental Climate Science; Global Climate Politics; Climate Justice; Mitigation and Adaptation Priorities Across South Asia; Climate Solutions; and Grassroots Level Solutions.
The course encompassed all fundamental ideas on climate science and action, equivalent to 12th-grade levels in South Asia and was created with easy-to-understand animated videos and voiceovers to create a baseline level of awareness among students from varied disciplines and backgrounds.
During the second phase, the groups will plan their respective on-ground climate action projects under the guidance and mentorship of climate experts. The experts empaneled as mentors for the program include the likes of Punit Gandhi and Preeti Chauhan (India), Narayan Adhikari (Nepal), Anoka Primrose Abeyrathne (Sri Lanka), Sikander Bizenjo and Dr. Fozia Parveen (Pakistan), and Ratul Dev (Bangladesh).
The third phase is when all groups pitch their ideas and present their programs in a “Shark Tank”-style national competition, and the winning groups are awarded a seed fund of $1,000 each to implement their projects. The team with the best project also wins a fully funded fellowship in the United States.
A Collaboration across the Continent
The creation and execution of the Climate Tank Accelerator Program has been a labor of love for several people across the Indian subcontinent—all united by their passion for climate justice.
Seeds of Peace partner organization Beyond the Classroom, founded by 2001 Pakistani Seed Qasim Aslam, is implementing the program. Aslam has been leading Seeds of Peace programs in Pakistan and neighboring regions for over 15 years. He says that the connection between climate and conflict had to be clearly demonstrated to the stakeholders.
Aslam is supported by the Seeds of Peace India Country Director Sagar Gangurde. The team also includes coordinators from each of the five participating countries including Shweta Patole and Priyank Badola (India), Anushah Charaniya, Ahmed Kumail Tirmazi, and Anum Sayed (Pakistan); Shamim Ahmed Mridha (Bangladesh); Shrisha Nepal (Nepal); and Nishadi Kumarasiri (Sri Lanka). The course was designed by Khizr Imran Tajammul, a Harvard University alumnus who specializes in environmental policy, clean technology, and climate solutions.
5 countries, 55 Universities, 1,500 students
This team has built partnerships across five nations that includes outreach and programming in 55 universities, of which 26 universities have signed formal memorandums of understanding with Seeds of Peace. More than 1,500 college students have already completed the online course and many of them are getting ready to move on to the second phase of the program.
The first phase was a whirlwind of activity with outreach, onboarding, orientations, consultations, and virtual trainings. Coordinating with thousands of people across five countries has been no mean feat, but the unity of purpose made the journey that much easier.
“Being a part of this project has been an incredible journey, marked by unparalleled motivation and dedication within our team,” says Sagar Gangurde. “Witnessing the relentless efforts spearheaded by Shweta and her team to engage universities and guide students through the enrollment process for our online course has been nothing short of inspiring. This endeavor has opened doors for us to collaborate in countries where our presence was previously uncharted, marking a significant milestone in our collective progress.”
These numbers are indicative of not just the program’s success but of the deep climate anxiety that is being experienced by young people in South Asia and globally. This desire for action is clearly manifest in the way participants have been eagerly and consistently showing up for knowledge and discussion sessions.
The Seeds of Peace dialogue paradigm is instrumental in applying a peacebuilding lens to climate conversations. It helps participants put aside any historical biases against students from neighboring nations, whom they may have perceived as the so-called enemy, and work with them to make the planet a more peaceful place.
Aslam makes a strong case for why there need to be not one but many such accelerators when he says:
“My dream for Seeds of Peace’s work in South Asia is that every child needs to be introduced to the fundamentals of dialogue, and how to engage with differences. They also need to be made aware of the science of climate change—something that is likely to be a big conversation in their lifetime. Through programs like these, I’m hoping to build an ecosystem of engaged youth in South Asia working to solve their own problems, rather than waiting for bodies like the International Monetary Fund in the global north to come and help us out.”