Who is Sonam Wangchuk and why did he undertake a 5-day ‘Climate Fast’ in Ladakh?

By Aayushi Sharma

Sonam Wangchuk, the Ramon Magsaysay awarded engineer completed his 5 days “Climate fast” in the union territory of Ladakh in India. The fast which started on 26th January comes at a time Wangchuk has been urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pay attention to the environmentally sensitive Ladakh, where studies suggest two-thirds of the glaciers are extinct. The fast was an attempt to invite the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that our leaders can brief him about their concerns and demands,” Wangchuk said. 

In a video, Wangchuk had asked PM Modi to intervene and safeguard the fragile ecosystem under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution as “all is not well in Ladakh”. Through his Climate fast Sonam Wangchuk demonstrated the “power of the sun” and “use of sustainable carbon-neutral technologies”. The carbon-neutral fast saw him using hot water and generating electricity using solar panels. 

Who is Sonam Wangchuk?

Sonam Wangchuk, a mechanical engineer by training, has spent more than 30 years working in the area of education reform. 

He played a key role at the beginning of Operation New Hope, a triangle partnership between the government, rural communities, and civil society that brought about improvements in the public education system. He is known for setting up his innovative school, the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), whose campus runs on solar energy and uses no fossil fuels for cooking, lighting, or heating. He set up the SECMOL in 1988 with the aim of supporting Ladakhi children and youth and training the students whom the system termed as failures. 

He also created the Ice Stupa artificial glacier to address the water crisis that mountain regions are experiencing as a result of climate change and rapidly melting glaciers. This glacier collects wasting stream water in the winter in the form of enormous ice cones or stupas and releases it in the late spring when farmers are in need of water. 

Why the Climate Fast?

Ladakh is a critical region from a military standpoint and has also played a vital part in the Kargil and subsequent territorial battles. Wangchuk expresses concerns about the possibility of corporate development in the union territory, which is expected to aggravate the already acute scarcity of resources like water. Mining activities in the region might cause glaciers to melt. In December, he used current developments in the northern mountain region, such as flash floods, to showcase the impacts of climate change, claiming that people in major cities around the world bear far too much responsibility for these changes.

Ladakh, also known as the “third pole” of the earth, is dealing with some serious issues. “If measures are not taken, the industries, tourism, and commerce will continue to flourish in Ladakh and will eventually finish it. Recent studies from Kashmir University and other research organizations have concluded that glaciers in Leh-Ladakh will finish nearly to its 2/3rd if they are not properly taken care of. A study by Kashmir University has found that the glaciers surrounded by highways and human activities are melting at a comparatively faster rate,” Wangchuk said.  In the eco-fragile Ladakh, there should be minimal anthropogenic activities so that the glaciers can remain intact for the locals here and the country across. 

The carbon-neutral fasting approach

To gather the attention of the citizens of India and the world to lead carbon-neutral lives, Sonam Wangchuk put up a solar exhibition that had a solar concentrator dish, a solar power system, and a solar bed. The solar concentrator dish supplied him with hot water by concentrating sun rays into a black metal pot containing water at the center, according to a report.

Solar power systems comprised a solar foothold type panel that generated electricity from the sun and transferred it to a solar box containing batteries as they go cold and would freeze in minus 20 and minus 40 degrees Celsius temperatures in the region. The solar bed was folded during the day and absorbed sun rays. It also contained a black water mattress inside it along with a heat storage capacity.

Why the demand for the sixth Schedule?

The basic demand of the Climate fast is to include Ladakh in the 6th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The sixth schedule (Articles 244(2) and 275(1)) contains provisions for the Administration of Tribal Areas. Currently, the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram are under the sixth schedule. For the 6th Schedule to apply, the Constitution requires that 50 percent of a region’s population be tribal. Ladakh, with over 95 percent of its people being tribal, was supposed to be included shortly, Wangchuk adds in the video. The 6th Schedule essentially gives financial and social autonomy to regions that fall under it. Sonam Wangchuk is headlining the protests and has requested the Prime Minister to include Ladakh in the said schedule so that they can enjoy a certain level of autonomy.

Wangchuk, an innovator whose life inspired the character ‘Phunsukh Wangroo’ in the Bollywood blockbuster 3 Idiots, is backed by leaders of the Leh Apex Body of Peoples Movement for Sixth Schedule and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA).

“People from all religions and areas of Ladakh joined me on the last day of my climate fast. The fast was for our region, Himalayas’ glaciers, which finds a mention under the sixth schedule, our land, and people,” he said. Wangchuk also found that about 200 crore people depend on glaciers and half of the glaciers are in the Indian subcontinent. 

The Climate fast managed to grab the attention of activists and leaders from all around the world.