Prabhu calls for concerted efforts to tackle climate change

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today called for concerted efforts across the world to address the issue of climate change.
"The umbrella issue of climate change is far more important because it encompasses all aspects of environment and the world as a whole must take steps to address it," Prabhu said at a conference here.
Highlighting the importance of the issue, he said, "We need to ensure our duties as a global citizen and tackle the problem of climate change as a top-most priority."
He also expressed concern over growing population of humans on earth and wondered whether "the planet can handle so many people...There is a need to look at the issue comprehensively."

Stressing on the seriousness of climate change, he said, "It's a challenging time for humanity facing existential crisis. There is a chance to overcome this crisis, the sooner we act."
"Railways is trying to ensure its role in environment protection. We have created an environment directorate at the Railway ministry. We are already using water audit as we are one of the largest, non-agricultural users of water," he said.
Focusing on green power, he said, "We are trying to use as much solar power and installing solar panels on train tops to generate enough power for internal purposes of a train."

Tree plantation on its land is one more way railways makes its contribution towards environment protection, Prabhu said.