November 4, 2021
Below is a statement from Survival International in response to today’s pledge at COP26 by more than 40 countries to
“quit coal:"
"Today’s pledge to “quit coal” will sound like a sick joke to the 20,000 Adivasi (Indigenous) inhabitants of India’s
Hasdeo Forest. They want to stop coal mining on their land right now. Two vast coal mines already disfigure their
forest, and a third has just been approved. And that’s just the beginning – Narendra Modi has announced plans to
massively increase coal mining in India. The whole of the Hasdeo Forest and its people will effectively be destroyed –
20,000 lives wrecked, and a priceless jewel of biodiversity dug up. And the only ones who will profit are India’s
corporate mining giants.” Dr. Jo Woodman, head of Survival’s Adivasis Against Coal campaign.
As Ummeshwar, a Gond Adivasi from the Hasdeo region, said: "The message that I want to send to people outside of India
is that today, there is destruction of the climate that is happening in India and all over the world. If Hasdeo is
destroyed, it will not be just us who will be affected by this. I want to tell the people of this country and those all
over the world that if you want to save humanity then you will have to ensure that Hasdeo is protected.”