Hello all,
In response to the climate crisis, the West Bengal Wikimedians User Group has joined hands with other affiliates from around the world and committed to a cross-affiliate initiative to reduce the environmental impact of the Wikimedia movement. The initiative can be looked at as one of the first steps to implement
Movement Strategy Recommendation #1.8- "
While we grow and become more sustainable as a Movement, we will also
align our practices to support the environmental sustainability of our
planet."
The user group took part in drafting a document which we call as
Wikimedia Affiliates Environmental Sustainability Covenant and became one of the first signatories of the agreement along with Wikimedians for Sustainable Development, Wikimedia Deutschland, Wikimedia France, Wikimedia South Africa,
Wikimedia Italia, Wikimedia UK and Wikimedians of Tamazight User Group.
The agreement till now is as follows -
- Affiliates commit to reducing their carbon footprint through a variety of measures, including but not limited to:
- drastically limiting the number of kerosene-based flights taken
by affiliate staff and representatives and community members, through
measures such as
- caps for flights taken on behalf of the affiliate,
- increased technical and organisational support for remote events,
- travel policies that discourage flights over other means of
transport and that encourage the use of public transportation, and/or
- travel policies that require compensation for the environmental cost of air travel,
- switching to renewable energy for their electricity consumption, where possible,
- divesting their financial investments from carbon-intensive industries,
- when engaging in carbon offset programmes, supporting only the
planting of native trees in uninhabited areas and not using offsets as
an ‘excuse’ for their carbon emissions,
- implementing other practices listed below.
- Affiliates related to Most Affected People and Areas shall only
have limited responsibilities in this regard, and shall receive support
from other affiliates to meet them.
- Affiliates call on other Wikimedia Movement entities, including and
especially the Wikimedia Foundation, to follow their example,
specifically concerning the sustainable operation of the Wikimedia
Foundation’s data centres.
- Affiliates commit to supporting initiatives aimed at improving the coverage of the climate crisis on Wikimedia projects.
- Affiliates commit to regularly (at least yearly) sharing their
experiences adhering to this covenant to inspire each other and others
inside and outside of the Wikimedia Movement.
As an affiliate with very limited capacity and resources and from a developing nation, the user group will have technical and infrastructural limitations implementing many of the clauses, but during the next AGM which is going to happen in mid January 2022, a travel policy will be formulated in compliance with this agreement. As before and with agreement with the covenant, the UG will also keep committing to actively promote remote virtual events including conferences, workshops, meetups whenever a physical event can be avoided or deemed unnecessary. The UG will also continue to support projects which focus on digital conservation of nature like Wiki Loves Butterfly etc. There might be some more plans which can come up gradually as our commitment to the agreement.
You can learn about this initiative presented by different speakers at different virtual conferences from this year.
Many affiliates are internally discussing the document and reviewing it right now. If you as an affiliate are also interested, you are welcome to do the same and join this effort. We look forward to your active participation.
Regards,
Bodhisattwa
(On behalf of West Bengal Wikimedians User Group)