Realising that “green solutions” often further marginalise already deprived communities, professional sustainable architect Mrudula Poguri from India started to devote her time and energy towards grassroots work. Currently, she is the Youth Secretary of the National Alliance of Agriculture Allied Workers Union (NAAWU) since 2021.

NAAWU represents and works on the issues and struggles concerning agricultural workers and landless farmers, as well as shepherds, sharecroppers and fisherfolks in India.

As a sustainable architect, she mainly worked on climate-responsive design, energy-efficient buildings, and water conservation. In an entirely different area of focus and work, Mrudula as a youth secretary works at the intersection of gender justice and climate resilience, advocating for women, youth, and marginalized agricultural worker rights to reclaim land, manage community seed-banks, and promote sustainable farming and building practices rooted in socio-economical justice. She also uses law as a tool, combining legal empowerment, community organizing, and policy advocacy to support marginalized communities in claiming their rights.

“Though I had early exposure to defenders, I chose other paths believing they were the best way to serve society. Now, I’m glad to realize the true path of standing firmly against injustices.” said Mrudula.

“Witnessing distress migration, unsafe labour conditions, and erosion of traditional livelihoods, I understood that true sustainability must center human dignity and rights. Choosing the right direction was not immediate, but it’s become my life’s mission now to defend land, labour, and community rights focusing on women and children as they are the worst victims in these communities.” she added

Amplifying the voices of the marginalised

Aside from her advocacy and campaign work on the ground, Mrudula is also active in policy advocacy work. Amplifying the voices and demands of agriculture workers and landless farmers from India to international platforms such as the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD), Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM) and the more recent is United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or COP).

Mrudula shared, “I highlighted the urgent need to ensure marginalized rural communities have equitable access to decent working conditions, preventing the over-extraction of minerals for technologies like solar panels or corporate land grabs that disproportionately displace communities, stopping marketing of toxic pesticides and generation of e-waste that’s pushed on the communities who are least responsible for. 

“True green solutions cannot replicate extractive ‘cradle-to-grave’ systems that exploit both workers and natural resources,” she added.

While engaging in these official platforms, she also has opportunities to connect with other activities and meet new allies to have meaningful discussions – exchanging on each others’ advocacy, thus, building solidarity. During COP30, she participated in a collective petition-signing and showed solidarity with the marginal groups demanding fossil fuel phase-out, standing against the genocidal weaponization through food, water, shelter, war and dignity. 

On the other hand, participating in these platforms were both inspiring and deeply contradictory for her. It was powerful to bring the voices and experiences of marginalized agricultural workers and helped her to understand that grassroots struggles are part of a larger global fight for climate justice. At the same time, the experience also revealed how unequal these spaces can be.

“Even though the presence of civil society and activists, corporate lobbyists from fossil fuel, agribusiness and other exploitative industries have significant influence in shaping negotiations. Many of the proposed solutions focused on market-based approaches like carbon credits, which often exploit rights of communities on the ground. But they claim to support farmers and rural communities, yet prioritize attracting corporate investment and financial interests for their own greed.” Mrudula laments.

Despite these observations, it only reinforces her the urgency to strengthen and continue the grassroots organising and rights-based advocacy. Furthermore, challenging the false and dominant narratives of corporate lobbyists and reminding policymakers and decisionmakers that real climate solutions will come from people on the ground, working and cultivating tirelessly the land that gives them life. 

Building alliances, showing solidarity

Participating at global events is also an opportunity to meet face to face with old and new allies to have meaningful discussions and exchanges on relevant issues, connect with other activists, policymakers, and organizations from different countries, including environmental lawyers, youth representatives, and grassroots advocates. For Mrudula, these conversations can build future collaborations around climate justice and community-led real solutions.

Some of the people she met at COP30 is Ahmad Iqbal Chaudhary-Member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, he is a negotiator from the Pakistan Government. Mrudula shared with him about the PANAP partners from India and Pakistan engaging in grassroots struggles and how they both address the issues of climate change and human rights in their respective countries.

She also met with Dr. Musa Mansur, a veterinarian from Nigeria where she learned about animal husbandry techniques practiced in Nigeria, particularly sustainable methods that could be adapted to the Indian context, linking environmental conservation with agricultural resilience.

“Sharing grassroots photographs and experiences helped raise awareness about the realities faced by our marginalized rural communities. These exchanges helped connect local struggles with global conversations and strengthened alliances among like-minded activists working toward climate policies.” she said.

Demands 

Armed with lessons and experiences from the ground, Mrudula has brought the following key messages and demands of the agriculture workers, small and landless farmers to global platforms;

• ‘Climate justice cannot exist without human justice” and that the environmental crisis is driven by a few rich people who now present themselves as leaders of new “climate solutions”. And of course, many of these so-called solutions are framed to secure their own corporate profits and geopolitical interests. 
• Promotion of agroecology, without whipping away sustainable traditional knowledge systems that already exist within rural communities. These approaches support food sovereignty and build climate resilience and reject the profit-driven or corporate-controlled false climate solutions.
• Stronger policies that will ensure big corporations will be held accountable for primarily contributing to the carbon emissions. And exposing their practice of buying carbon credits to compensate for their high carbon emissions, this practice comes after pledging a  net-zero emission target 
• The states have to be accountable to organize and recognize agricultural labour as skilled work and ensure fair wages, decent working conditions, freedom of association and access to CPRs such as land, water, and grazing areas.
•  A strong rural state employment programs, expanded work guarantees, recognise that social security is a right. Moreover, ensure that the voices of marginal communities narratives, especially small farmers, sharecroppers, and informal workers are included in policymaking.
• Uphold the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) for marginalized agricultural and Indigenous communities in decisions affecting the protection of their traditional knowledge, lands, and resources.

For Mrudula, to ensure that agriculture workers and small marginalised farmers are genuinely part of the climate and food systems transformations, first, there must be a guarantee of meaningful participation. Global platforms like the United Nations meetings must ensure decision-making power to be pro-people and not pro-profit. This can only happen when the space is given to the civil society organizations, unions, small farmers, Indigenous peoples, and grassroots movements. End the corporate capture of climate negotiations, UNFCCC negotiations and other UN-events are dominated by fossil fuel and agribusiness actors. In COP30, it was reported that more than 300 lobbyists representing big agribusiness interests participated in the talks, occupying the space that should belong to the real victims of the climate crisis and advocates that put forward real and genuine climate solutions. Rejecting false climate solutions, Carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement pose severe risks of land grabs, greenwashing, and the displacement of smallholder farmers. These “sustainable” systems are marketed aggressively, yet proponents often lack the technical knowledge to answer critical questions about their implementation. This reveals that the United Nations has become a platform for imperialist interests, prioritizing corporate greed over the lives and rights of marginalized communities. Ensure accountability and justice, governing states have the means and responsibility to land, labor, and human rights of agriculture workers, small and landless farmers. Also guarantee that climate finances will directly benefit them and their communities.

“In today’s world, while many want to just be ignorant about the marginalized people, a few people remain unaware of the grassroots issues, while others are misled by false information and blindly trust narratives promoted by corporate actors. These narratives often present “smart” corporate solutions as beneficial for communities, but in reality, they frequently fail to address the actual needs and challenges faced by people on the ground.”, she said.

“If a wealthy few could change the world for the worse, then we, with the power of unity and we, the grassroots communities and workers, are already a collective force for transformation, not just a product within a  global supply chain.”