Indian pavilion in Bonn climate change meet helps delegates unwind through Yoga

Bonn: Delegates, civil society representatives and journalists attending this year’s UN climate summit in Bonn, Germany, have a healthy option to deal with the stress of climate negotiations: yoga.

The India pavilion at the summit offers participants a chance to learn and practice yoga under the supervision of a trained master for one hour every evening.

And demand exceeded supply on the first day on Wednesday. “There is a lot of interest but we ran out of yoga mats,” said an official representative of the India delegation. “We need to get more mats.” More than 20 people practised yoga on the first evening even as some others were waiting for their chance on the mat.


Environment minister Harshvardhan had announced the plan to offer hour long yoga sessions when he inaugurated the pavilion on Monday.

This is the first time that a country pavilion is offering a programme of this nature at a climate summit.

Country pavilions are generally focal points used to disseminate information on climate-related efforts, technology, and research. By and large such programmes are in the form of seminars and discussions, showcasing some aspect of climate action taken by the country.

The decision to offer yoga classes is an innovative departure.

It “provides an ideal platform to popularise the idea of sustainable lifestyles, cement India’s leadership and spread awareness about the multi-faceted benefits of yoga including its possible role in addressing climate change”, the environment ministry said in a statement explaining the rationale for yoga sessions at the pavilion.

An estimated 23,000 delegates are participating in the 23rd annual ‘conference of the parties’ (COP) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), taking place in the tiny city of Bonn from November 6-17.

The participants comprise of officials and negotiators from the 196 member countries, civil society and business representatives, academics and researchers, and journalists.

Officials estimate that about 30% of those attending the climate talks are representatives of observer organisations and civil society, youth groups, and students who are not directly involved in negotiations.

This is the group that the officials expect will be interested in attending the yoga sessions.