Leaders should pay more attention to environment: Dalai Lama

Tibetan leader in exile, Dalai Lama here on Wednesday said that everybody including leaders should pay more attention towards the environment and emphasize on planting trees and saving water bodies.

He was speaking to media persons at the "Special Sarvadharma Sangam" programme flanked by Yoga Guru Swami Ramdev.

"Everybody including leaders should pay more attention to the environment. According to some experts, within the next seven to eight decades, global warming may become more serious so we need to take care," said Dalai Lama.

"We as individuals must be concerned about the environment. We should plant trees as the cutting of trees is a serious problem. We should also pay attention to water bodies unless we do it water bodies in India may become dry. Because of global warming Glacier snow in Tibet is depleting and there is a threat to rivers like Brahmaputra and Ganga," he said.

He said that religious harmony is the living tradition of India.

"Over 2000 years religious harmony is the living tradition in this country," said Lama.

Last month, during his monthly radio address to the nation, 'Mann Ki Baat', the Prime Minister had pitched for launching a "new mass movement" against single-use plastic from October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. He also spoke about the initiative during the Independence Day address, urging people to join the movement.

UNCCD was adopted in Paris on June 17, 1994, and was ratified by 196 countries and the European Union. India ratified the UNCCD Convention in 1996.