HelpAge India Unveils An Important Report On Climate Resilient Ageing
In honor of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, HelpAge India unveiled its groundbreaking study, Climate Resilient Ageing– Ensuring Care, Dignity & Agency, at the India International Centre. Key stakeholders from the government, community, academia, and media attended the official launch of the report. Mr. Kiran Karnik, Chairperson of the Governing Body, Ms. Rumjhum Chatterjee, Vice Chairperson, and Mr. Amarjeet Sinha, Former Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, served as the keynote speakers.
Special guest and renowned artist Ms. Sharmila Tagore, the Honorary Brand Ambassador for HelpAge India, joined them.
The national study, which included 2,224 elderly people from 20 districts in ten states, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand, shows how climate change has a significant impact on India’s aging rural population and how disadvantaged older people face numerous high-risk challenges. The Intersectional Place Perspective (IPP) framework, it emphasizes how a variety of factors, such as gender, impairment and mobility, poverty, living arrangements, and geographic location, intersect to shape climate vulnerability among older people rather than just age.
The study emphasizes that resilience cannot be developed solely through climate action as we all confront the intertwining realities of population aging and climate change. It demands that older people’s agency and capacities be strengthened, that their opinions be heard in efforts to reduce the risk of disasters and adapt to climate change. That assistance for those who are most disadvantaged be given priority. Investing in the institutional, family, and community systems that older people depend on is just as crucial as bolstering social protection, health services, and care networks. Taken as a whole, these steps will be essential to ensuring that older people can age with resilience, security, and dignity in a constantly changing environment.
Priyanka Dutta