Patna: Beyond policy and science, language is emerging as a powerful tool in climate action, experts said on World Environment Day 2026, themed ‘Inspired by Nature, For Climate, For Our Future’, which focuses on urgent climate action and nature-based solutions.Experts said language influences climate change by shaping how people understand the environment, informing environmental policies, and driving collective action. As climate change is a global crisis, the words used determine whether people feel included in sustainability efforts or alienated by dense scientific jargon.Environmentalist Mehta Nagendra Singh said endangered languages, especially indigenous ones, contain highly specific knowledge about local ecosystems, medicinal plants, and sustainable land management. The loss of these languages would mean losing invaluable tools and ancestral knowledge needed to protect and restore the environment.He added that several indigenous and regional languages of Bihar, including Angika, Bajjika, Tharu and Surjapuri, are on the verge of extinction and carry localized knowledge of water management, flood cycles and resilient agriculture. If these languages vanish, communities will lose vital survival strategies, weakening their ability to adapt to extreme weather.Head of the English department at Patna Science College, Sovan Chakraborty, said local dialects hold centuries-old knowledge of river flows, soil types and indigenous crop cycles. As these languages give way to dominant ones like Hindi, communities lose this know-how, making climate mitigation and adaptation in flood-prone north Bihar more challenging.He further said indigenous terms for local flora, fauna and weather patterns reflect a deep understanding of ecological balance. With rising temperatures altering habitats and causing local flora to disappear, the words describing them are also gradually vanishing.Patna University geology teacher Bhavuk Sharma said that with nearly 73% of north Bihar prone to flooding, the loss of dialects rich in expressions related to river behaviour, sediment loads and flood cycles would deprive communities of centuries-old strategies for managing rivers like the Kosi, Gandak and Bagmati. Loss of local vocabulary also weakens the cultural connection to geography, increasing vulnerability to unsustainable land use, deforestation and soil degradation, he added.
