THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A coalition of environmental organisations, researchers and community representatives has brought out a comprehensive 'People's Environmental Charter' proposing a series of sector-specific missions ranging from agriculture and rivers to coastal protection, energy transition and urban climate resilience.
The charter, prepared under the aegis of the umbrella organisation 'Kerala Paristhithi Aikya Vedi' was handed over to the representatives of major political parties in the capital on Wednesday. The document outlines a science-based ecological governance framework for the state and calls on political parties to incorporate clear environmental commitments in their election manifestos .
The charter was evolved following deliberations at the Sahyadri Environmental Summit held in Wayanad from January 24 to 26. At the heart of the document is a set of proposed statewide missions and programmes aimed at restoring ecosystems and strengthening climate resilience.
To safeguard water systems, the charter recommends the creation of a Kerala River Basin and Water Systems Mission and a Kerala Wetland Mission. Coastal ecosystems would be protected through a proposed Kerala Coastal and Marine Resilience Mission supported by a dedicated Kerala Coastal Observatory to monitor shoreline changes and marine ecosystem health.
"In the energy and urban sectors, the charter calls for an Energy Transition and Efficiency Programme to expand rooftop solar and decentralised renewable systems, alongside an Urban Ecology and Heat Resilience Programme aimed at expanding urban tree cover, restoring drainage networks and developing heat action plans for cities," said an environmentalist involved in the preparation of the charter.
The document also proposes a Zero Waste and Pollution Prevention Programme, a Sustainable and Regenerative Tourism Programme, and a Sustainable Materials and Construction Regulation Programme to regulate quarrying and promote circular construction practices. A central recommendation is the establishment of a Kerala Climate Action and Resilience Mission to integrate ecological and climate considerations into planning, budgeting and infrastructure development across government departments.
It emphasises that the state must be governed as an interconnected “ridge-to-sea” ecological system, where rainfall in the forests of the Western Ghats flows through hill slopes, farms, wetlands and rivers before reaching the Arabian Sea. Disturbances anywhere in this landscape continuum, the charter warns, can destabilise the entire system.
Alongside ecological restoration, the charter also calls for institutional reforms such as a Kerala State Land Use Policy based on ecological zoning, a State Land Governance Reform Commission, climate-tagged budgeting and the creation of a public environmental data dashboard to improve transparency and accountability.
"The framework is intended to shift Kerala's environmental governance from reactive disaster response to preventive ecological planning, ensuring that development decisions align with the limits of the natural systems that sustain the state," said one of the authors of the charter. Environmental groups hope the document will shape policy debates ahead of future governance cycles and push ecological concerns to the centre of Kerala's development agenda.
CHARTER: Key highlights
# Eco missions proposed across key sectors
# 'Ridge-to-sea' governance for Kerala's landscapes
# Urban, waste reforms for climate resilience
# State climate mission recommended
This story has been written by Sovi Vidyadharan of The New Indian Express.