Bhubaneswar: Former Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena today pleaded for collective efforts to fight climate change. Jena was speaking at the Earth Again Conference-2025, organised by the Sambad Group, in the Odisha capital.

“Our Agriculture sector has been severely affected by climate change. We have been exploiting our natural resources without thinking about the repercussion. We all should come forward to save our mother Earth from destruction,” said the former Chief Secretary while speaking at a session ‘Downscaling Climate Science to Community’ on the concluding day of the conference.

Jena called for urgent measures to reduce the emission of Green House gases. “Overuse of plastic is also a threat to our environment. We should understand that climate change is the direct consequence of our greed,” stated Jena.

The former bureaucrat praised the ‘Earth Again’ (Punascha Pruthibi) initiative of Sambad Group for creating awareness on climate change and global warming.

“The Earth Again campaign of Sambad Group has reached every nook and corner of the state starting from the village panchayats to the capital city. The campaign has emerged as a strong platform to fight climate change,” he said.

According to him, the issue of climate change has more relevance to Odisha, a coastal state that had witnessed some of the major cyclones in last 26 years.

“The occurrence of thunderstorm and lightning has gone up in recent years. We have encroached upon rivers, waterbodies and natural water channels, which is the primary cause of urban flooding. We should now ponder over the vital question that whether we are destroying the environment or vice versa,” said the former Chief Secretary.