Ishani Palandurkar: Saving the Himalayan Glaciers 🇮🇳
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The Himalayas are often called ‘the roof of the world,’ given their extreme altitude. But at the present pace of climate disruption, the Himalayas are expected to lose between one and two-thirds of their glaciers by the year 2100. Ishani Palandurkar, a conservationist from Bhopal, India is working on Himalayan conservation and polar conservation to prevent the worst from happening.
Surprisingly enough, Ishani started her journey as a student of commerce. Her path to pursuing a career in the development sector began when she accidentally landed a job at the University of Chicago Centre in Delhi. One of their projects was on air pollution and energy efficiency; this was around the same time Ishani started to travel to the Himalayas as a travel blogger. "I realized that the situation there is not as scenic as people think it is," she noted. After several visits to the mountains while simultaneously working on developmental issues in the environment space, she decided to pursue a career in this field. To gain more knowledge and begin her professional journey in sustainability, she subscribed to online courses and did her own research. Since then, Ishani has worked with several NGOs in different areas of environmental development.
Being a part of various international networks like UNLEASH, Climate Reality, and most recently, the 2041 Foundation, Ishani said, "we share the knowledge we receive from various platforms, and through this, we support work in multiple areas of sustainable development and climate action." Highlighting one of her memorable moments, she narrated her experience of hosting a townhall with about 100 waste-pickers in Delhi last year with the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group. This event was organized during the state-election season to question the policies on waste management each political candidate had. "The candidates were baffled by the questions the waste-pickers put forward," she emphasized. Addressing air pollution was not a part of anyone's manifesto so they had no clue on how to answer those questions. That was when Ishani realized how powerful these groups were and they had been sensitized over the years to demand their rights. It was not just about money, food, and shelter, but also about clean air to breathe.
At the age of 21, one of the struggles Ishani faced was convincing her parents about changing her field of work from commerce to environmental development. She had to answer a lot of questions for her parents to assure them that it was a safe career option. "Having been brought up in a culture where premium career options are Engineering, Medicine, Chartered Accountancy or Law, talking about any other career option is scary," she said. In her experience, society had been framed in such a way that did not allow people to take risks with their career, money, and security. Coming from a completely different background, this new line of work demanded her to have a lot of technical and scientific backing.
Advice for Asian Environmentalists
“Before you start advocating for something, try and learn about it,” Ishani advised. She followed up by saying that, in many cases, we can read about something and become very emotionally attached and start advocating without complete knowledge. Elaborating further, she mentioned that it is very important that before we start advocating, we know enough so that what we say makes sense, is achievable and desirable. “Do not stop your learning process. Talk to people not just in your field of work, but talk to people in other sectors as well,” she emphasized. The idea of advocacy is to share your notions with society and convince them that it's beneficial for all. Ishani told us “one should be empathetic to people from other groups with a different ideology and learn from them why your idea will not resonate with them.” This practice will give new insights and opportunities for collaboration.
What should more people work on?
Ishani reiterated that there are hundreds of scientists who have dedicated their lives to identifying problems, finding their solutions, and working with policy-makers to frame policies for the general public. But, at the end of the day, these technical ideas and policies do not get communicated to the public. “There are several projects that talk about community engagement, but it’s a matter that needs to be more focussed on,” Ishani added. This requires a very fragile balance of technical and scientific understanding, political and policy understanding, and also ethnic and geographical understanding. One has to focus on any knowledge one gains in any aspect of the environment. ”Make sure the approach towards climate action is balanced with the implications and applications in real society,” she stated.
Future Plans: Antarctica Expedition with 2041 Foundation
In the short term, Ishani said, “I see myself gaining a lot more knowledge than I currently know of. There are so many concepts I need to be familiar with.”
In the long term, she plans to work in the space of mountain conservation and sustainable livelihoods. The Himalayan Region is as important as the North and South Poles regarding polar conservation, and Ishani wants to bring it closer to the communities at the ground-level who would be most affected by the melting glaciers.
Scheduled for March 2022, Ishani will be a part of the 2041 Foundation's Antarctica Expedition led by Sir Robert Swan. She plans to use this expedition to promote and advance Himalayan conservation as well. Antarctica is considered a global thermostat and it has lost more than 80% of its western glaciers in the past 50 years and its biodiversity is reducing rapidly. Having young voices like Ishani’s represented in Antarctica’s conservation will inspire billions of people to take climate action.
Written by Nikhil Kamath
