Wayanad is Safe: Carbon Lobbies Disguised as Environmentalists Exploit Disasters to Push for Forestation

Kalpetta, Wayanad| In the aftermath of the Mundakkai-Chooralmala tragedy, where 537 innocent lives were lost due to landslides caused by heavy rains, a new wave of manipulation appears to be at play. Global warming, driven by the affluent lifestyles and industries of developed nations, is the main culprit behind these extreme weather patterns. Yet, local farmers in Wayanad are being unfairly targeted by environmental organizations disguised as protectors of the Earth, aiming to capitalize on the disaster.

Certain global environmental organizations, backed by research centers and funding from industrialized nations, are pushing an agenda to take control of land in the Western Ghats. Their reports, often biased, paint local farming communities as contributors to environmental degradation and disasters. These actions are laying the groundwork for a campaign to evict farmers, thus seizing more land under the guise of reforestation projects.

To counter this narrative, the ‘Save Western Ghats People’s Foundation,’ supported by Kerala’s major independent farmer organizations, social activists, scientists, and research centers, is organizing a seminar in Kalpetta on Monday. The seminar will expose the false claims spread by these groups and resist the push to displace farmers from the Western Ghats.

The Wayanad disaster, while tragic, was confined to only three wards in the Meppadi panchayat out of 413 village wards and 99 urban wards in the district. However, extreme environmentalists and officials misrepresented it as a district-wide calamity, using this exaggeration to portray Wayanad as unsafe for agriculture, tourism, and business. International environmental organizations are now leveraging this narrative to further their agenda through biased research reports and scientific seminars aimed at local displacement.

Amid these misleading campaigns, local opposition to the Wayanad tunnel project has gained momentum. Supporters of sustainable development argue that the same environmental concerns raised against the tunnel project were also overcome in landmark engineering projects like the tunnels in the Himalayas and the Konkan Railway.

The narrative of climate change, driven by industrialized nations responsible for over 60% of global carbon emissions, unfairly shifts the blame for environmental degradation onto developing nations. While global temperatures rise and contribute to more extreme weather events, including heavy rains and landslides, the real responsibility for the disaster in Wayanad lies with the developed countries, not the local farming communities. These farmers, already bearing the brunt of climate change, should not be made scapegoats for global environmental problems.

This report emphasizes the need for justice and equitable solutions that acknowledge the real contributors to global warming. The people of Wayanad, especially its farmers, deserve a fair hearing, not the undue moral guilt being placed upon them by external forces.