“No Vaccine For Climate Change” - A communication guide on Climate Change and Health for Healthcare Professionals in India

Rising global demand for cheap medicine has increased the production of pharmaceuticals in low-cost countries. A large part of our antibiotics and other medicines are today made in India, a country with a well-documented history of alarming effluent releases linked to drug manufacturing. 

In the report The Health Paradox, conducted in collaboration with the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Swedwatch met with local communities and environmental human rights defenders in Hyderabad – also known as “the bulk drug city of India” – who for decades have protested about adverse impacts from the pharmaceutical industry. Many suffer from respiratory problems and skin conditions as well as decreased access to water and threats to their livelihoods.

Defying Climate Change, a new report by Climate Action Network South Asia & UNICEF India introduces innovative and successful community based adaptation projects being led by NGO’s in India that are helping build climate resilience of the most vulnerable, especially children and women.

Water Wisdom in Times of Climate Crisis collates the traditional ingenious practices in water resource management from across the country – some practices even as old as 5000 years. The cases include Aji of Arunachal Pradesh practiced by the Apatanis, Dongs of Kokrajhar and Ahar Pynes of Bihar, amongst other cases. Some of these traditional water management practices highlight the innovative ways in which communities have been maintaining and restoring water ecosystems to ensure water security and equity at the local level. 

Environmental Humanities in the New Himalayas: Symbiotic Indigeneity, Commoning, Sustainability showcases how the eco-geological creativity of the earth is integrally woven into the landforms, cultures, and cosmovisions of modern Himalayan communities.

Oxfam India’s TROSA programme in Sharda and Brahmaputra river basin works with women and men of marginalised and vulnerable river basin communities, by providing information, making them capable and influential while engaging with decision-makers, to increase their access to and control over water resource

Drawing from participatory research undertaken in five South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)on issues intersecting with displacement and distress migration, Climate Action Network South Asia (in collaboration with its members) and ActionAid, funded by Bread For The World studied the phenomenon of climate-induced migration in South Asia and its impacts on the poorest of the poor.