Parliamentarians from G20 countries and guest countries including the newly inducted African Union on Thursday came together at the grand India International Convention Centre, Dwarka here to deliberate on lifestyles which need to be adopted for the future of the planet.

The Parliamentary Forum on LiFE (Mission Lifestyle for Environment), held on the day preceding the grand opening of the ninth G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20), witnessed lawmakers sharing their perspectives on the shared challenges of humanity and pathways towards addressing them at national and international levels.

Addressing the Parliamentary Forum, Speaker of the House of the People of the world’s largest democracy Om Birla observed that the LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) Mission mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the world a new way to deal with contemporary challenges such as climate change, and ensure sustainable development, health security, food security and energy security.

Mr Birla said that Mission LiFE is a comprehensive approach to environmental protection which empowers every person to reduce, reuse and recycle. Noting that LiFE has now become a global movement, he said that based on this idea, many countries are making policies and action plans according to their geographical and socio-economic conditions.

The Lok Sabha Speaker said that in today’s times, climate change and its impact is deeply interlinked with the common future of humanity. “No country is untouched by the impact of climate change. Hence it is only natural that upon India’s initiative, environment-related issues have been unanimously placed at the centre of the discussions during the P-20 conference.”

Highlighting the need for concrete efforts to deal with the challenges facing the world, the Speaker underlined that it is the need of the hour to confront climate change head-on.

Mentioning legislative initiatives taken by Parliament of India on the topic of lifestyle for environment, Mr Birla said that extensive discussions have been held in Parliament in this direction and laws have also been made.

Emphasizing individual responsibility, he said that only policies and laws are not enough to deal with the problem of climate change; rather, everyone needs to contribute collectively by modifying their everyday routine.

“It is necessary that everyone adopts such an approach in their lifestyle which causes no harm to the environment. It is everyone’s personal as well as collective responsibility to do this,” he said.

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Harivansh, on the occasion, underlined that Mission LiFE seeks to channel the efforts of individuals and communities into a global mass movement of positive behavioural change.

Presiding officers of Parliaments of participating G20 nations also made interventions during discussions. Sherpa of India’s G-20 Presidency Amitabh Kant and Environment Secretary Ms Leena Nandan introduced the subject, followed by the showing of a short film on the LiFE Mission.