Caux becomes even greener

The Caux Conference and Seminar Centre already saves energy in many ways. It has also installed wood-chip fuelled heaters, which use local resources rather than importing oil. Now Caux is becoming even greener.

Initiatives of Change (IofC) Switzerland will offset the carbon footprint of the 2019 Caux Forum by planting 2,000 rubber trees in Meghalaya. (You can contribute your share if you wish – it’s just a few francs per person).

IofC wants to take full responsibility for the CO2 emissions it generates. Just running the Caux Conference and Seminar Centre emits about 160 kg of CO2 per person per day. The Caux Forum also contributes to global warming by encouraging travel. The average participant will send 1,400 kg of CO2 into the atmosphere – though, of course, an individual’s contribution can vary between as much as 6,700 kg for those who fly long distances to under 10 kg for those who travel by regional train.

In total, the Caux Forum 2019 will be responsible for some 1,900 tons of carbon emissions. To compensate for this, 2,000 rubber trees which will be planted in Meghalaya, a state of North-East India which has had a longstanding relationship with IofC since the 1960s.

The trees will be planted by the Worldview Impact Foundation, which uses drones to plant seeds in the cloud forests of Meghalaya and the mangrove forests of south-west Myanmar.

Worldview Impact’s founder and Chief Executive, Dr Bremley WB Lyngdoh has a long family connection with IofC. In the late Sixties, when Meghalaya was seeking independence from the state of Assam, Bremley’s great-uncle BB Lyngdoh went to Asia Plateau, IofC’s conference centre in Panchgani, India, to have frank discussions with other political leaders. At the same time, Bremley’s father, Eric B Lyngdoh, led young volunteers into the non-violent Hill State Movement, following IofC principles and convincing Assam’s political leaders to allow the birth of Meghalaya without bloodshed. And more recently Bremley himself helped to organize an international conference for IofC in Shillong, Meghalaya’s capital.

Bremley Lyngdoh came to Caux in 2017 and 2018 to participate in the Caux Dialogue on Land and Security (CDLS). He came back for this year’s CDLS in late June with Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya. They welcomed IofC’s help with their initiatives to restore fragile cloud forest and mangrove ecosystems.

Read more about IofC’s efforts to make the Caux Forum more sustainable