India's approach to tackling climate change combines traditional wisdom, modern science: Minister

New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh on Friday said India's approach to tackling climate change combines traditional wisdom with modern science, reflecting the country's deep-rooted cultural ethos of living in harmony with nature.

At a high-level roundtable with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) President, Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, Singh said India's traditions have long promoted sustainable living, even before such terms entered modern scientific discourse.

"While modern science uses terms like sustainability and climate change, India has long embodied these principles through practical, nature-aligned living," he said.

The Union minister said India has built on ancestral knowledge and merged it with scientific approaches for a resilient future through initiatives such as 'Mission LiFE' launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The mission, he said, is a people-led global movement that translates timeless wisdom into concrete action to address climate change and environmental degradation.

The Indian model of environmental conservation advocates a policy framework that is evidence-based, equity-driven, and culturally rooted, Singh said.

He added that India views science and traditional knowledge as complementary, not competing, and is working to document and integrate indigenous practices into formal systems of climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation.

Citing examples, Singh mentioned the Toda tribes of the Nilgiris, who predict monsoon by observing ant behaviour, and the Jarawas of the Andaman Islands, who forecast cyclones based on fish movements.

He also referred to Rajasthan's age-old water conservation methods, such as step wells and 'Silver Drops of Rajasthan'.

Singh urged the global conservation community to deepen the dialogue on integrating scientific and cultural approaches as IUCN continues to advance nature-based solutions. PTI GVS ANM RHL