Education for Change

Editorial Vol.16. No.3

2011-07-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

“Ethical Framework for A Sustainable World”

The International Conference “Ethical Framework for A Sustainable World” was held in partnership with the Earth Charter International in November 2010. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India was a co host and the Ministry of Envrionment and Forests, Government of India, United Nations Educational, Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) were partners. Over six hundred delegates were present including from civil society / NGOs, corporates, academics and media, engaged in school and higher education, human rights, gender, peace, religion, citizenship, social justice and others. The Conference Report (coming soon) is a rich collection of reflective articles and case-studies that illuminate the ethical dimensions in these areas. In the meantime, this issue of Education for Change provides a few glimpses of the conference.

This issue also brings you a colourful photo-essay on the work of Dharohar Samiti for the conservation of rice varieties in Bastar, and an activity idea 'Food History' which can be used to discuss changes in nutrition and food and cropping patterns.

We invite readers' contributions on environment and development work, development communication and environmental education, as well as feedback. Do write to us (address on last page).

A farming family in Bastar helps conserve traditional rice varieties by growing these in their fields.

Courtesy: Satish Awate, CEE Central

Days in the quarter

2011-07-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

International Day of Non-Violence 2 October

In 2007 the UN General Assembly resolved that the International Day of Non-Violence be observed each year on 2 Oct – the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The aim is to promote a culture of peace, tolerance and non-violence, especially through education and public awareness, around the world. The Constitution of India, through the Fundamental rights, granted equality before the law to all citizens of India. It prohibits discrimination on the grounds of caste, religion, race, sex or birth and abolishes untouchability. India follows the values of truth and non violence applauded by Mahatma Gandhi decades ago.

For more information visit
http://tinyurl.com/Non-violence-Day

Global Handwashing Day
15 October

Each year, diarrhoeal diseases and acute respiratory infections are responsible for the deaths of more than 3.5 million children under the age of five.

Initiated in 2008 by the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap, Global Handwashing Day is endorsed by a wide array of governments, international institutions, civil society organizations, NGOs, private companies and individuals around the globe. The Global Handwashing Day on 15th October aims to

Foster and support a global and local culture of handwashing with soap.
Shine a spotlight on the state of handwashing in each country.
Raise awareness about the benefits of handwashing with soap.
The main target for the programme are children and schools.

For more information on the day visit
http://www.globalhandwashingday.org/

World Food Day
16 October

World Food Day aims to create public awareness of the world food problem and strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

In 1980, the General Assembly endorsed observance of the World Food Day in consideration of the fact that “food is a requisite for human survival and well-being and a fundamental human necessity”.

The theme for this year “United Against Hunger” is chosen to recognize the efforts made in the fight against world hunger at national, regional and international levels.

For more information on the day visit
http://tinyurl.com/16-Oct-WFD

International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict 6 November

On 5 November 2001, the United Nations General Assembly declared 6 November of each year as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict (resolution 56/4). In taking this action, it considered that damage to the environment in times of armed conflict impairs ecosystems and natural resources long after the period of conflict, often extending beyond the limits of national territories and the present generation. The Assembly also recalled the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which emphasized the necessity of working to protect our common environment.

For more information on the day visit
http://tinyurl.com/6th-Nov-UN-Day

International Day of Persons with Disabilities
December 3

Them:"Keeping the promise: Mainstreaming disability in the Millennium Development Goals towards 2015 and beyond"

The Day aims to promote a better understanding of disability issues with a focus on the rights of persons with disabilities and gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of the political, social, economic and cultural life of their communities.

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has
147 signatories
98 ratifications

For more information visit
http://tinyurl.com/Persons-with-disabilities

Joy of Learning

2011-07-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

Food History

Focus: Bio-diversity
Subject: Science
Place: Indoors and outdoors
Duration: One day for collection and compilation of information
Group size: Individual
Material: Writing material, food history table

Objective
To become aware of the diversity of food we eat everyday and the concept of loss of bio-diversity.

Activity
Ask each student to interview grandparents and parents and/or neighbours, relatives or others belonging to those two generations.
Students should find out

1) Vegetables, fruits, pulses, cereals, meats and fish that the persons, used to eat when young; dishes cooked for breakfast and other meals on a typical day; beverages (tea, coffee, milk, lassi, buttermilk, etc.) they consumed.

2) Vegetables, fruits, pulses, cereals, meats and fish those were available then, but not any more.

3) Vegetables, fruits, pulses, cereals, meats and fish those were not available then, but now are.

4) Special foods associated with different seasons.

Students can use the 'Food History' to record the information.
Ask students to begin by listing, in the appropriate column, items mentioned by grandparents. Against each item they could put either a tick (P) mark or a cross (x) in the other two columns depending on whether parents and they themselves also eat those items of food. Add any items mentioned by parents but not by grandparents in the 'parents' column and mark, as appropriate, in the other two columns.
Finally the students should add items to their own column which are available now but were not mentioned by either or both of the other groups.
Students should ask both groups why some of the varieties of foods are not eaten or available any more. They could record the reasons in the “Remarks” column.

Extension
The students could find out about the kind of dishes that were customarily made on different occasions like, festivals, rituals, and celebrations like weddings, in all the three generations. Is there any change in the way certain dishes are cooked and prepared today as compared to before? For instance, how is baingan ka bharta made? These days, the brinjals are either roasted on gas stoves or micro-waved, while earlier they were roasted on coals. Have students do a market survey of the five food categories (vegetables, fruits, cereals, pulses, and meats) mentioned above. Ask them to check out what is available in the government ration shops. Does the Public Distribution System sell bajra, jowar and other nutritious cereals? Why is this?

Discussion
List vegetables, fruits, cereals, pulses and meats (e.g. fish, fowl) which seem to have either disappeared from the range of foods available now, or have become rare. Discuss why this might have happened. e.g., loss of forests, grasslands, water bodies, that harboured these plants or animals, monocultures, changing lifestyles.
Ask students to name items that they eat but their parents or grandparents did not. What does this indicate? What is the role of modern agriculture and transportation in this? What is the role of technologies such as refrigeration? Discuss the importance of bio-diversity.

Food History
Food Category	Grand-parents	Parents	Myself	Remarks
Vegetables 1. Tomatoes 2. 3.				Tomatoes were seasonal during my parents time, but are now available in all seasons.
Beverages 1 2 3

2011-07-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

Farmers groups conserve traditional rice varieties in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh is traditionally known as the Rice Bowl of India. Over 20,000 rice varieties have been recorded in the region. These are a result of centuries of rice farming by indigenous communities through selection and adaptation to a variety of soil, water and micro-ecosystems conditions including predators.

Today these varieties are being lost with market forces promoting so called high-yielding varieties and synthetic fertilizer and pesticide-based agriculture that focuses only on yield, as well as the general but incorrect perception of traditional varieties as low yielding. There has also been tremendous loss of traditional knowledge associated with traditional agro-ecosystems and production practices.

Dharohar Samiti, a farmer's organization has been working in 10 villages of Kondagaon Tehsil of Bastar district for over 15 years now to promote agro bio-diversity conservation and secure livelihood and nutrition to farmers. The UNDP GEF Small Grants Program (SGP) has supported Dharohoar Samiti in this mission that is conserving over 260 traditional rice varieties along with other minor millets such as raagi, kodo and kutki.

The activities taken up under the SGP projects advocate organic and high yielding farming, based on successful trials and promotion of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) for traditional varieties and further adaptation of the SRI technique for profitable cultivation of Raagi. Conservation of agro-biodiversity is crucial to the local nutrition security system. The yield of traditional varieties like Basabhog and Asamchudi reaches up to 7 to 8 tonnes per hectare through SRI, which is as good as any High Yielding Variety in the market. Dharohar's work has demonstrated effective ways of agro-biodiversity conservation along with yield enhancement using organic methods that are critical for the ecological integrity of this agro-climatic region of Bastar.
For more information contact: Shivanath Yadav Post: Gorand, Taluka: Kondagaon 494226 Dist: BAstar, Chhattisgarh Phone: 07786-21411, 09406336508 E-mail:bastardharohar@gmail.com

Dharohar provides a platform for farmers to discuss issues related to degradation of environment and loss of traditional varieties developed over centuries. Through village level assemblies of tribal farmers, the techniques of preparation and use of herbal pesticides were tried out and integrated into traditional farming practices. Dharohar also helps to strengthen the linkages with govt. department and other resource organizations.

The community has started bio-diversity documentation through developing people's bio-diversity registers in 5 villages. With focus on non-cultivated food resources, it has documented 47 sources including pot-herb species, tubers, flowers and mushrooms. As many as 8 types of mushrooms were recorded from the area. Efforts are on to document traditional knowledge with appropriate protection measures.
Dharohar sows their rice varieties every year on a 2.5 acre farm in Golawand village and keeps the genetic evolution process going.System of Rice Intensification is an organic farming technique that requires only about 1/10th seed and less water compared to the traditional method of farm flooding and larger spacing between rows. Attention to soil health balance helps in profuse production tillers and increase in yield.

Thirty nine new rice varieties from remote villages of Bastar have been identified and added to existing collection in last two years. Taking technical support from rice scientist Jacob Nellithanam, Dharohar has started scientific characterization of 49 varieties so that they are recognized legally by becoming part of National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resource Collection.The paddy farms get many weeds that compete with rice plants for nutrition. Paddy weeders help in reducing time in de-weeding the farms and less tedious compared to manual labour. However the conventional model available in market is cumbersome, and requires the user to bend down and force push it. Shri Bhakturam Kashyap, a tribal farmer, wood artist and a passionate folk lyricist from Golawand village developed a prototype local weeder using discarded cycle rims, which farmers are finding useful and less cumbersome.

In addition to collection, documentation and in-situ conservation of rice varieties, Dharohar is also involved in distributing the seeds to the farmers in Kondagaon and Narayanpur tahsils, promoting exchange of seeds and herbal pesticide development among framers and wider sharing of information with tribal communities through village-level meetings and Madai-Melas (fairs).

All photograph courtesy: Satish Awate, CEE Central

Reports and announcements

2011-07-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Ethical Framework for a Sustainable World 1-3
November 2010, Ahmedabad, India

The conference “Ethical Framework for A Sustainable World” commemorated the 10th year of the Earth Charter initiative. The conference brought together 600 participants from all over the world that included a variety of stakeholder groups including government officials and representatives of UN agencies. The Earth Charter (EC) is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society. The Conference was specifically held with a view to:

Strengthen efforts at making ESD central to education practice and training
Clarify the role the EC can play in education
Share experiences on the use of EC in education
Strengthen partnerships with the EC
Capture the spirit of the events related to EC + 10 and to use the ideas to discuss and launch the vision for the EC for the next decade (2011-2020)

The conference looked at the effective translation of the Earth Charter from principles to practice. Seven plenary Sessions set the tone and pace for more focused discussions and interactions. The workshop themes included:

1. School Education and Teacher Training

2. Higher Education: Towards a Responsible Future

3. Non Formal Education

4. Reviewing, Rethinking, and Reorienting ICTs for ESD

5. Business & CSR in a Green Economy

6. The Earth Charter and Religion, Spirituality & Ethics

7. Cities, Communities and Urbanisation

8. Ethical Development Practices for Sustainable Livelihoods - Issues and Concerns

9. Global Challenges and Global Governance

10. Bio-diversity & Ethics

For more information visit: www.earthcharterplus10.org

United Nations Climate Change Conference
29 November - 10 December 2010, Cancun, Mexico

The UN Climate Change Conference in Cancún, Mexico, ended on 11 December 2010 with the adoption of a balanced package of decisions that set all governments more firmly on the path towards a low-emissions future and support enhanced action on climate change in the developing world. The “Cancún Agreements” include:

- Industrialised country targets are officially recognized under the multilateral process and these countries are to develop low-carbon development plans and strategies and assess how best to meet them, including through market mechanisms, and to report their inventories annually.

- Developing country actions to reduce emissions are officially recognized. A registry is to be set up to record and match developing country mitigation actions to finance and technology support from by industrialized countries. Developing countries are to publish progress reports every two years.

- Parties meeting under the Kyoto Protocol agree to continue negotiations with the aim of completing work and ensuring there is no gap between the first and second commitment periods of the treaty.

- The Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanisms has been strengthened to drive more major investments and technology into environmentally sound and sustainable emission reduction projects in the developing world.

- A set of initiatives and institutions launched to protect the vulnerable from climate change and to deploy the money and technology that developing countries need to plan and build their own sustainable futures.

- A total of $30 billion in fast start finance from industrialised countries to support climate action in the developing world up to 2012 and the intention to raise $100 billion in long-term funds by 2020 is included in the decisions.

- In the field of climate finance, a process to design a Green Climate Fund under the Conference of the Parties, with a board with equal representation from developed and developing countries, is established.

- Governments agree to boost action to curb emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries with technological and financial support.

- Parties established a technology mechanism with a Technology Executive Committee and Climate Technology Centre and Network to increase technology cooperation to support action on adaptation and mitigation.

The next Conference of the Parties is scheduled to take place in South Africa, from 28 Nov to 9 Dec 2011.

For more information visit: http://unfccc.int/2860.php

Launch of the International Conference to celebrate the 10 years of the Earth Charter and to chart its vision for the next decade.

Resources

2011-07-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

Young in Green Action : Inspiring stories

The National Green Corps (NGC) is a programme of the Ministry for Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India. It is a remarkable initiative in the Environment Education field where school children form the crux of the initiative which works through an extensive network of over 1.2 lakh Eco-clubs across the country. This is one of the largest programme of schools for the environment. Paryavaran Mitra taps in on NGC's massive network of schools to reach its target of 2 lakh schools in over

15 languages to create 2 crore Paryavaran Mitras.

NGC celebrates 10 years since its inception in 2000, this year, and is commemorating this milestone with this publication titled, 'Young in Green Action-Inspiring stories from the National Green Corps'. It is a compilation of 100 case studies in various themes representing the achievements of the Eco Clubs carrying out Handprint actions to increase their positive impact on this planet.

The case studies in the book are categorized in the following themes:

Conserving our water resources
Protecting Bio-diversity
Sourcing Energy
Greening the land
Managing Waste
Tradition, Culture & Conservation
Propagating Health & Sanitation
Towards Sustainable Agriculture
Climate Concerns
Actions for diverse issues

The case studies may be downloaded from

http://www.paryavaranmitra.in/NGCcasestudy.htm

Earth Charter and Gandhi: Towards a sustainable world

Compiled by Kartikeya Sarabhai, Meena Raghunathan and Amishal Modi, Foreword by Steven Rockefeller

The central concepts of sustainability like freedom, respect for all life, using resources wisely and within limits, eradication of poverty, empowerment, non violence, truth, consciousness of ends and means and trusteeship were principles that Mahatma Gandhi advocated and practiced. Gandhi considered humanity as one large family, he believed that dignity of work was as important as creating employment, and that conflict could not be solved by violence. He insisted that the spinning of khadi was as much about dignity of labour and decentralization of production as it was a means of employment. The principles of the Earth Charter correspond with those advocated by Gandhi over half a century ago.

Steven Rockefeller, co-president of the Earth Charter International Council says “Gandhi's life and thought influenced the writing of the Earth Charter, which is a declaration of global interdependence and universal responsibility with fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful world.”

The book, Earth Charter and Gandhi, lists quotations from Gandhi that speak to every principle of the Earth Charter.

In the words of Rockefeller, the book “provides Earth Charter activists and proponents of sustainable development with an opportunity to reflect on how Gandhi's wisdom and nonviolent approach to social change can illuminate the way forward in the face of today's formidable environmental, economic and social challenges.”

The hope is that it will lead to a further interest in Gandhi and the Earth Charter, and discussions about our path of development.

Published by Centre for Environment Education, November 2010, 69 pages, Price: INR 50 (postage extra)

Write to:

Edutech, Centre for Environment Education

Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad 380054

Email: edutech@ceeindia.org

Methane and Climate Change

Edited by Dave Reay, Pete Smith and Andre van Amstel

May 2010 • 272 pages • 240 x 170mm

ISBN 9781844078233

Methane is, after carbon di oxide, the second most important green house gas affected by human activities. Though methane has a relatively short life time in the atmosphere, it has a high global warming potential. Editors, Dave Reay, Pete Smith and Andre van Amstel, of Methane and Climate Change, suggest that significant reductions of methane emissions due to human activities can have a considerable effect in reduced climate forcing in a few decades, and that it is technically and economically feasible to do so.

The book begins with an overview of the global methane budget. The second chapter explains the production of methane by microbial action. The various sources of methane and the changes in status of these sources are dealt with in detail in individual chapters on wetlands, geological methane, termites, vegetation, biomass burning, rice cultivation, ruminants, waste-water, landfills, and fossil energy. The editors' summary highlights the challenges in developing methane inventories, not least because biological processes are involved in the production and release of methane, such as from soils and wetlands.

The chapter on options for methane control provides an overview of a number of options for control of emissions and recovery, suggesting that it is both technically possible and cost-effective in many cases.

For more information visit:

http://tinyurl.com/Methane-Climate-Change

Editorial Vol.16.No.2

2011-04-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

In this Issue

The consultations conducted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests for gathering inputs for the formulation of the Green India Mission brought out the diversity of issues in different regions based both on the impacts of climate change and the type of efforts citizens and citizens groups are already making towards adaptation and mitigation. The need for decentralized and citizen-owned efforts for ecosystems regeneration and natural resource management echoed in all the consultations. EfC brings you a flavour of the GIM consultations.

Even as the Ministry puts the final touches to the Green India Mission plan, an energizing new school-based sustainability education programme 'Paryavaran Mitra' has been launched in the country. More information about Paryavaran Mitra is inside as well as a sustainability education activity.

Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam being felicitated as the Paryavaran Ambassador by Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests in the culmination of the nation wide campaign “Kaun Banega Bharat Ka Paryavaran Ambassador”

2011-04-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

Days in the quarter

International Co-operative Day

3rd July

International Co-operative Day is an annual celebration of the co-operative movement observed on the first Saturday in July since 1923 by the International Co-operative Alliance. The day aims to increase awareness on co-operatives and promote the movement's successes and ideals of international solidarity, economic efficiency, equality, and world peace. The International Day also aims to strengthen and extend partnerships between the international co-operative movement and other actors, including governments, at local, national and international levels.

Co-operatives around the world celebrate the day in various fashions and each year the organising institutions agree on a theme for the celebrations. The 2010 theme is Cooperative Enterprise Empowers Women which links to the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing+15) which sets out the internationally agreed agenda for women's empowerment.

For more information on the day, visit:

http://www.ica.coop/activities/idc/2010.html

World Humanitarian Day

19 August

19th August is commemorated as World Humanitarian Day for the second consecutive year. This is an effort by the United Nations General Assembly to raise public awareness of humanitarian assistance. The day honours those who have lost their lives in humanitarian service and those who continue to bring assistance and relief to millions. It also seeks to draw attention to humanitarian needs worldwide and to explain what humanitarian aid work entails. There are three main areas of focus for the commemoration of the day:

To draw attention to humanitarian needs worldwide;
To explain, in simple, visual terms what humanitarian aid work entails;
To remember those who have lost their lives in humanitarian service.

For more information on the day, visit:

http://tinyurl.com/19-Aug-WHD

World Tourism Day

27th September

World Tourism Day is commemorated with an aim to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value.

World Tourism Day 2010 takes place under the theme 'Tourism and Biodiversity', in line with the United Nation's Internatinal Year of Biodiversity and will raise awareness of the close relationship between tourism development, biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction. The host country rotates among regions, this year the official celebrations is being hosted by China on 27th September, with many other events taking place around the world.

For more information visit:

http://www.unwto.org/worldtourismday

International Year of Youth (IYY)

12th August 2010 - 12th August 2011

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on 18 December 2009, proclaiming the year commencing on 12 August 2010 as the International Year of Youth. In line with the theme for the International Year, the theme for this year's International Youth Day is “Dialogue and Mutual Understanding”.

The theme aims to provide a concrete framework for collective efforts during the Year, with focus on three key areas:

Create awareness (increase commitment and investment in youth)
Mobilize and engage (increase youth participation and partnerships)
Connect and build bridges (increase intercultural understanding among youth)

For more information on the day, visit:

http://social.un.org/youthyear/index.html

“Youth should be given a chance to take an active part in the decision-making of local, national and global levels." - Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations

2011-04-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

Joy of Learning

Care and Share

Thrust Area: Cooperation for Sustainable Development

Group Size: Up to 60

Time: 15 Minutes

Material: None

Objective

To help participants realize the importance of sharing and working together for achieving a common goal.

Procedure

Divide the group into teams of about 10-15 players each. There is no limit to the number of teams, but the teams should have equal number of players ( as far as possible).

The players should not carry any object other than what they already have on themselves, e.g: they are not allowed to carry books, but they are allowed to keep on their watches, ribbons and other things they have on them.

After the players are ready, tell them that each team represents a country.

The task for each team is to make a 'line'. The line represents their progress on the path to Sustainable Development. They cannot draw a line in the real sense, but they are to make a line using the objects they have with them. The time given for making the line is 60 seconds.

The team which has the longest line wins.

Discussion

Can the environmental crisis be resolved through cooperation within and amongst nations?

Just as all individuals can contribute to conserving the environment, all nations also have a role to play. The roles may be different depending on the country (just as the contributions that made up the line are different). For example, a developed country may have to concentrate on reducing the highly consumptive life style of its people. It may have to help its citizen's adopt more environment friendly goods and technology, whereas another country may have to concentrate on reducing the growth of its population and on decreasing poverty.

What is the significance of individual contributions in a common cause?

Environmental problems – pollution, deforestation, green house effect, ozone hole – all seem large and complex. But the solutions for these problems are not all big and complex. Even small actions can contribute to solving the problems. Small actions alone will not solve the problems…..but they will help. Every individual has a role in contributing to environmental conservation and Sustainable Development. Actions that individuals take in different capacities at different levels can help in progress towards Sustainable Development.

Source : Meena Raghunathan and Kalyani Kandula (1999) 'Towards a Green Future: A Trainer's Manual on Education for Sustainable Development', Centre for Environment Education.

2011-04-06T05:31:00.000-07:00

Paryavaran Mitra

Climate change education programme

Launched on 24 July 2010

Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam recently launched Paryavaran Mitra which is an initiative of Centre for Environment Education in partnership with Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and ArcelorMittal.This programme is the largest climate change and sustainability education programme in the world, for schools.

The programme aims, over three years, at creating 2 crore Friends of the Environment in schools across India, who would undertake action towards reducing Footprint and increasing Hand Print for environmental sustainability. The programme will involve students in hands-on projects to provide them an understanding about their immediate environment; their school, neighbourhood, village or city and national and international issues. The Paryavaran Mitra would be someone who has taken part in activities in the following areas: Waste Management; Biodiversity, Wildlife and Forests; Energy; Water; Culture and Heritage. Here is a brief on the programme and how teachers and students can take part.

An Action-based Programme

Paryavaran Mitra is a programme for students that envisions creating Paryavaran Mitras (Friends of the Environment) in schools across India.

The goal of the Paryavaran Mitra programme is to create anetwork of young people across the nation who have the knowledge, awareness and commitment to meet the challenges of global citizenship and Climate Change.

The project aims to guide, facilitate, capacity build students through curriculum-linked activities and co-curricular action projects to take positive environmental action at individual, community, national and global level.

The Paryavaran Mitra project seeks to reach students in classes from standards 6–9 (age group 11-15). The first phase of the programme is for a period of three years from 2010-2013.

2 lakh schools and 2 crore school students across the country will be reached in the first phase. These students will be from schools in every state and every district of India. It is envisaged that the programme is built on a variety of networks and partnerships. The goal is to create Paryavaran Mitra in all schools in India.

What is Hand Print?

Everyday actions of individuals add up and have a global influence both positive and negative. The Hand Print is a measure of positive environmental action—action that is directed to decrease the human Footprint.

The Footprint is the negative effect we leave on global resources. Footprint measures the impact of our everyday actions and the way we live.

Everything we need and use in our daily life involves exhaustive use of materials and energy. This consumption is linked with the way we live, what we buy and how we use our resources—in other words, our lifestyle.

How can we know how much materials and energy each of us utilizes to maintain our lifestyle? The Ecological Footprint is an estimate of earth's productive land area
and water that it takes to supply the resources that an individual or group demands, and to absorb the waste that the individual or group produces. Every human that lives has an Ecological Footprint!

Hand Print refers to each individual's efforts that help to improve the conditions for life on our planet, today and in the future. The Hand Print actions positively impact the three aspects of sustainability: environment, society and economy.

Some Footprint websites

http://www.myfootprint.org/

http://www.ecologicalfootprint.com/

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php

http://www.zerofootprint.net/bestfootforward.com

www.openeco.org

Paryavaran Mitras have Personal Commitment

A Paryavaran Mitra is a child, a teacher, or any individual who has a personal commitment to take positive environmental action. The commitment usually begins with an awareness of one's immediate environment. But awareness alone may not automatically lead to action.

For example: There is awareness about the ill-effects of plastic carry bags but despite this, its usage is widespread. But it is not always that we consciously say no to plastic bags. Effective and sustainable action is the outcome of a process that may begin with awareness, and include acquiring knowledge, developing values and attitudes, and building skills. The process must also involve making a critical examination of our priorities, habits, beliefs and values with respect to how we live and how we use our resources.

A Paryavaran Mitra is a one who has taken the steps from awareness to positive action, and who reflects this commitment in every aspect of life. This is also someone who takes up a leadership role, initiates cooperative action at home, school, community and beyond.
A Paryavaran Mitra will play an active role as an informed and responsible citizen, and will contribute to social and environmental well being.

Students of SGVP International School, Ahmedabad, have taken up plantation as part of their Paryavaran Mitra activity.

Why Paryavaran Mitra in Schools?

School is a place where students spend anywhere from 5-8 hours a day, for an average 200 days of a year. In fact, this is where a considerable time of their waking hours is spent. The school time and space provide a wonderful opportunity for not only syllabus related learning, but equally, the development of life-skills through extracurricular and co- curricular activities, and interactions with peers. The school provides a structured
opportunity to make every child a change agent. And every child takes back the experiences and learnings from the school to his/her home/community. This way, the Hand Print messages and actions will reach to at least 2 crore households across India.

What does a school have to do once it joins Paryavaran Mitra Project?

Schools have to involve students in class rooms, in eco-clubs, and in the whole school in action-oriented activities and carry out projects under five themes: Water, Waste Management, Energy, Biodiversity, Culture and Heritage.

The students have to carry out and complete at least five activities in each of these five themes. Most of the activities will be carried out in the school.
The eco club students would carry out the activities in greater depth and spend more time on these.

Of these activities, at least one has to be carried out in the student's family or community.
The schools/Eco Clubs would need to document the activities undertaken and report the quantifiable changes observed.

What is the role of a teacher?

The teacher is the key motivator and facilitator of this project. The teacher, working closely with students, needs to identify the local issues, curricular linkages to plan and schedule the activities to be undertaken, and provide the necessary guidance to students to undertake the activities in a systematic manner, taking care that the objectives are achieved. The teacher should encourage students to document and share the experience, processes and learnings from the activities. Teachers will prepare and submit reports in the required format.

For more information contact:

Paryavaran Mitra Secretariat
Centre for Environment Education
Nehru Foundation for Development,
Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad 380 054
Phone: (079) 2685 8002 - 05 Fax: (079) 2685 8010
Email: paryavaranmitra@ceeindia.org
Website: www.paryavaranmitra.in

Paryavaran Mitra participation in the Kankaria Carnival 2010, Ahmedabad, Gujarath

Reports and Announcements

2011-04-06T05:22:00.000-07:00

National Mission for a Green India

Public consultations

The National Mission for a Green India, as one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), recognizes that climate change phenomena will seriously affect and alter the distribution, type and quality of natural resources of the country and the associated livelihoods of the people. The Mission acknowledges the influences that the forestry sector has on environmental amelioration though climate mitigation, food security, water security, biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest dependant communities.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests invited CEE to organize a series of Consultations at seven locations across India to help finalize the Draft Mission Document for the Green India Mission.

During these consultations, several hundred representatives from NGOs, research and expert institutions, Joint Forest Management Committees, media, Government Departments, environmental consultants and business groups, citizen forums and citizens offered their inputs on the Draft Mission Document.'

The first consultation in Guwahati focused on North-East relevant issues like wetlands, grasslands, community forests (Sacred Forests) and corridor conservation. The role of community participation and involvement of other line departments as stakeholders in the project has been highlighted in the consultation.

At Jaipur, local issues like need for a focus on all ruminants instead of only cattle species; grasslands, and impacts of the Indira Gandhi Canal on the land use pattern etc. were brought up. Many expressed the need for a better definition of the role of communities and Gram Sabha in the document, stating that communities and community organizations must be seen as partners in development. Suggestions to strengthen Performance Review Institutes and enhance role of women during implementation of the Mission were key concerns among others.

The Consultation at Pune brought out a different set of issues like role of education and awareness to enhance understanding of the ecosystem restoration, need of quantified targets for the institutions gaining support fromthe Government under the Mission, synchronizing management efforts of natural resources like soil and water which are crucial for greenery, degradation of ecosystems in urban areas, and integration of the Mission into core activities like Town Planning and Fiscal Budgeting of Municipal Corporations.

The consultation at Dehradun saw discussions on issues related to management of Himalayan fragile ecosystem. Need for maintaining the balance between environment and development, maintaining the quality of forests were other key concerns expressed.

In Bhopal environmental situations ranging from de-greening - mining in forest areas, ravine spread and desertification, and threatened forest-based livelihoods were discussed. Community-related issues such as community empowerment, the need for stronger implementation of provisions like the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA), and need to tackle village level divisive politics that harm conservation and development were highlighted. Participants also presented success stories related to Joint Forest Management, People's Biodiversity Register and the importance of role of youth, and involvement of school children. Need for policy changes to provide an enabling environment for plantations and agro-forestry by farmers, help in certification and benefit sharing at the community level.

At Visakhapatnam, local issues of concern such as the destruction of sanctuaries and forest habitats particularly the Kambalakonda wildlife sanctuary, threat to bauxite mining near Visakhapatnam and the existing wetlands at Sompeta and Bheemunipatnam, monoculture practices, improper solid waste disposal techniques, Podu cultivation practices and rise in the number of industries in the region were highlighted.

For detailed report visit:

http://tinyurl.com/Report-GIM

The Green India Mission public consultation being presided by Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests (IC). Total seven consultations were facilitated across India.

Resources

2011-04-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

Slow Travel and Tourism by Janet Dickinson and Les Lumsdon

July 2010 240 pages 234 x 156mm ISBN 9781849711128

It is widely recognized that travel and tourism can have a high environmental impact and make a major contribution to climate change. It is therefore vital that ways to reduce these impacts are developed and implemented. “Slow travel” provides such a concept, drawing on ideas from the “slow food” movement with a concern for locality, ecology and quality of life.

The aim of this book is to define slow travel and to discuss how some underlining values are likely to pervade new forms of sustainable development. It also aims to provide insights into the travel experience; these are explored in several chapters which bring new knowledge about sustainable transport tourism from across the world. In order to do this the book explores the concept of slow travel and sets out its core ingredients, comparing it with related frameworks such as low-carbon tourism and sustainable tourism development. The authors explain slow travel as holiday travel where air and car transport is rejected in favour of more environmentally benign forms of overland transport, which generally take much longer and become incorporated as part of the holiday experience. The book critically examines the key trends in tourism transport and recent climate change debates, setting out the main issues facing tourism planners. It reviews the potential for new consumption patterns, as well as current business models that facilitate hyper-mobility. This provides a cutting edge critique of the 'upstream' drivers to unsustainable tourism. Finally, the authors illustrate their approach through a series of case studies from around the world, featuring travel by train, bus, cycling and walking. Examples are drawn from Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. Cases include the Eurostar train (as an alternative to air travel), walking in the Appalachian Trail (US), the Euro-Velo network of long-distance cycling routes, canoe tours on the Gudena River in Denmark, sea kayaking in British Columbia (Canada) and the Oz Bus Europe to Australia.

For online orders visit:
http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=102359

Ri Gyancha – a biodiversity kit for educators in Ladakh

The cold desert landscape of Ladakh supports numerous plant and animal species that have adapted to the region in many different ways. Much of Ladakh's wildlife has survived until the present, offering a unique window to a special ecosystem. This fragile ecosystem is, however, threatened by increasing disturbance and degradation of the natural habitat.

'Ri Gyancha: A biodiversity resource kit for educators in Ladakh' has been developed by Kalpavriksh, Pune and Snow Leopard Conservancy-India Trust based in Leh, to address some of these issues through conservation education. The kit was released in July 2010 by Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh in Leh at a national conference organised by Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) on seabuckthorn.

Ri Gyancha which means ”jewels of the mountain” has been developed as part of a conservation education programme in Ladakh, focusing on the conservation of wild biodiversity. The resource kit has evolved over four years of devloping and testing the education programme in schools in Leh and Kargil districts.

Ri Gyancha provides useful resource material for educators who wish to implement a locally relevant environmental education programmes. It contains a handbook with information on the following topics:

Biodiversity
Ecosystems of India
Wild animals of Ladakh
Wild plants of Ladakh
Threats to Ladakh's wild biodiversity
Conservation actions

The handbook has a large number of photographs and drawing, and detailed descriptions of 80 educational activities. The kit includes a set of ready-to-use posters, a board game, worksheet, puzzles and game cards.

Contributory amount is Rs 350/-

For copies contact:

Kalpavriksh
Flat 5, Shree Dutta Krupa Apartments
908, Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004
Ph: 020 25654239, 25675450
E-mail: kvbooks@gmail.com

Editorial Vol.16.No.1

2011-04-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

School Sanitation

The National School Sanitation Initiative (NSSI) was launched in late April 2010, as a joint endeavour of the Ministries of Urban Development and Human Resource Development in collaboration with CBSE and GTZ. The expectation is that this new initiative could play a large role in improving sanitation levels in the country, in conjunction with the National Urban Sanitation Policy (www.urbanindia.nic.in). More information about the NSSI is on http://www.schoolsanitation.com/

Schools, NGOs and community groups are also taking their own school sanitation improvement initiatives. A key learning has been that the quality of education and infrastructure are complementary.

The design of water and sanitation infrastructure and other spaces like classrooms, lunch areas, play areas should be done with the involvement of the school community including students and parents. A wealth of experience material and approaches is available which would help in further development and implementation of the NSSI.

World Environment Day was observed across India by community groups, schools, colleges and institutions.

Picture courtesy :CEE Himalaya Photo Bank

2011-04-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

Anandshala

Parth Shah, BPS Architects and Atul Pandya, CEE

The CEE Rural Programmes group has been exploring participative sustainable natural resource management and livelihoods with villages in Gujarat for over two decades. The team mainly worked with the adult and youth community, but long felt the need to do something about the poor state of affairs with primary schools. Especially in areas and districts that are economically weak, schools are left to fend for themselves. Typically, the schools score very low on attendance, retention of children, the pass out rate, status of infrastructure, condition of play and green area etc. This affects the overall development of children in all spheres of life including their future livelihood options.

When UNICEF approached CEE with the proposal to develop the clean, green school concept, the RPG team brought in this larger development context and the community linkages. CEE facilitated discussions with UNICEF, BPS Architects and the Gujarat State Education Department about how to rebuild schools where the quality of education and physical infrastructure complement each other.

Collective thinking yielded the following as some key aspects to be explored through a project with 10 schools each in Dang, Valsad and Baroda districts:
a) How might the physical and built space act as an aid to provide an enabling environment to children in their learning?

The underlying idea is that infrastructure should not be looked upon only as physical facilities. Certainly the quality and upkeep of school infrastructure have a significant impact on enrolment, attendance and retention of children in school.

However, it is also well known that children learn from their environment. The physical conditions of the schools were such that no good practices of caring for the immediate environment or keeping surroundings clean were being demonstrated in the schools. But could this be reversed, so that the infrastructure and physical environment of the school and its maintenance would provide the opportunity for developing positive attitudes towards cleanliness, care of the environment, participation and group work etc.

b) Clean, usable toilets for boys and girls, safe drinking water facilities, hygienic environment for mid day meals, learning corner for children, overall aesthetic look for children are non-negotiable elements of school infrastructure. The design and development of these facilities should be locale-specific, as also the maintenance arrangements. While there is some standardization of designs, the physical implementation of the designs has to be done in a manner that takes the local situation into account.
The Approach

Having developed this concept, the team now put its mind to how the concept would be implemented. After all, the team was an external actor. Would the school and village communities and the government institutions and officials also be excited about this approach to rebuilding the school habitat and learning? Could this become a shared vision?

A lot of time was spent on participatory visioning exercises, developing and evolving the idea with the teachers, students, and parents regarding their view of how their school should be and also discussing the key concepts of the Anandshala project.

Detailed consultations with the client to understand how the physical space is used and how it could be re-designed for enhancing comfort or wellbeing are an integral part of an architect’s approach to his craft. Understanding the psychology of the children and the school-teachers and providing spaces for their aspiration was an important aspect for developing the designs of the physical infrastructure. For this, architects Brinda and Parth Shah developed a tool-kit with prototypes which served not to push preconceived functional structures, but as a guide help the school community visualize the making of their own place.

The main elements were

Sanitation Unit: Repair existing facility or new construction
Drinking water: Roof water harvesting unit and water storage
Common meeting place: Paved area / stage / roof water harvesting unit
Fencing: Wire fencing, bamboo fencing, low wall fencing, repairs of existing compound wall or fence
Paved Areas: Around classrooms and pathways
Greening Activities: Nursery, herbal garden, vegetable garden, plantation around the fence, garden etc.

Using the Physical Environment as a Teaching Aid

Innovations were tried out with individual schools depending on the kind of infrastructure that was available. At places classes were conducted in the open, amphitheatres were designed to help in face-to-face interactions, demonstrations and presentations. At other places ceramic-tile waste (a big problem in Saurashtra) were used to design the pathways creatively, such as making mosaics depicting the numerals from 1 to 10 and shapes like triangle, square and circles.

Discussions on Operation and Maintenance

Both the teachers and students were involved in discussions on operation and maintenance of the school infrastructure. Students regularly tend to gardens they grew in the school premises, for meeting water needs for these and other use rain water harvesting structures were erected in the school premises. The designs for the rain water harvesting structures were made such that they are not hidden. The collecting duct, the storage tank etc are all in the open.
Students can practically see how rain water is collected, and to be used. The operation and maintenance of these structures are shared with students by the teachers as part of their routine.

Scale-up

The project has got widespread acceptance in Gujarat as well as nationally. The Gujarat Government extended the approach to about 2200 schools in the state, and has accepted the approach and amended its existing rules and regulations regarding primary education methods in the state. UNICEF has approved this project as a model project for its funding programmes for similar schemes in other states of India.

Extension

Plan India has used the Anandshala approach in ten schools of earthquake-affected Baramula district of Jammu and Kashmir. With support from Education department and Rural Engineer this approach is also being used in 16 schools in Farfaud cluster of Arang block in Raipur district. CEE has initiated similar work in Wagodia taluka in Vadodara, with support from Synefra Engineerings and Consultants Ltd, a company of Suzlon.

For more information contact:

Parth Shah, BPS Architects
Natvarlal Nyalchand House, 2,Collegewadi,
Dr. RadhaKrishnan Road, Rajkot-360 001
Phone: 0281 2465704
www.ourpeopletree.co.in

Atul Pandya, Rural Programme Group
Centre for Environment Education
Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad–380054
Ph: 079-26858002 to 9 Fax: 079–26858010
E-mail: atul.pandya@ceeindia.org

National School Sanitation Initiative Launched

2011-04-06T02:46:00.000-07:00

National School Sanitation Initiative Launched

27 April 2010

On 27th April the Ministries of Urban Development and Human Resource Development in collaboration with CBSE and GTZ launched the National School Sanitation Initiative with Mr. Aamir Khan as the Brand Ambassador.

Under the initiative Health and Wellness Clubs will be set up in schools, which will instill among children values of good health and sanitation.

Several programmes are already on in the country focused on school sanitation and hygiene education.

The approach include baseline surveys, participatory need assessment & visioning, textbook analysis, development of need based IEC material, capacity building, exposure visits, development of hardware designs etc. These initiatives have useful learnings to offer for the development and implementation the National School Sanitation Initiative.

Various IEC materials targeting stakeholders have been developed under the WASH Programme, these include posters, flash cards, specialised kits, wall paintings, games, charts, booklets, flip charts, guide book, manuals, labels, stickers.

AnandShala - ‘School of Joy’is being implemented in 19 schools in a cluster in Arang block of Raipur district, Chhatisgarh. Aimed at improving the infrastructure of the existing school and the quality of teaching-learning process, school improvement plan is prepared through participatory approach for each schools. The activities include capacity building of teachers, students, school management committee, Sarpanch, Mistry and Self help groups. The programme is supported by the Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Mission of Chhattsigarh state.

A campaign to create awareness on water and sanitation in schools was taken up in 300 schools of Andhra Pradesh to facilitate participatory assessment involving students and teachers and initiate actions involving various stakeholders like PRIs, community groups and line departments.

The Human Value Based Water Sanitation Hygiene Education classrooms is a resource centre that provides time and space to learn creatively, link curriculum with real-life situations and interactive environment for hands-on learning.

The classrooms developed, in 4 cities of Madhya Pradesh in collaboration with the UN Habitat and local Education Department and Urban Civic Authorities and CEE are equipped with panels, poster, and models. Simple equipment to carry out water quality testing, activities for value based learning’s is run by trained school teachers. The classrooms are meant for creating awareness among the community as well.

Using a participatory approach, the WASH programme in Pune looked at facilitating improvements in infrastructure in municipal schools and help evolve sustainable, appropriate operation and maintenance systems of WASH facilities in the schools. This is a collaborative programme of the Kirloskar Foundation and CEE’s Urban Programme.

Days in the quarter

2011-04-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

22nd April, Earth Day

One Lakh Cloth Bag Campaign in Dehradun

Schools in Dehradun celebrated the Earth Day by participating in One Lakh Cloth Bag campaign. An initiative of ‘the Soldiers of the Earth programme’ the OLCB campaign took the

initiative of making one lakh cloth bags for the city of Dehradun, in an effort to reduce the use of plastic bags. About 600 children from 20 schools participated. Paper bags were made and donated to shop keepers for their use and students also made cloth bags for their use.

The DAV Public School, Dehradun won the OLCB competition, while Convent of Jesus and Mary and Doon Cambridge were the runners up having made hundreds of cloth bags. Many other school children participated in the environmental quiz, Kabaad Se Jugaad, poster making and paper bag making and won loads of prizes.

MSc students of the Environment and Ecology Dept of the Forest Research Institute also participated to conduct environmental quiz with the students.
The OLCB campaign is a joint programme of the TERI and ONGC, as part of the Soldiers of the Earth programme and organised by TITLI TRUST in Dehradun.

For more information on the campaign contact:Sanjay Sondhi / Anchal Sondhi
TITLI TRUST No 49, Rajpur Road Enclave,
Dhoran Khas, P.O. Gujrada, DehradunPh: 9412052189
E-mail: sanjay.sondhi1@gmail.com

20th March 2010, World House Sparrow day
“Help House Sparrows”

20th March is celebrated as the World House Sparrow Day in different parts of the world to raise awareness and highlight the need for the protection of the House Sparrow and its habitat. The annual event plans to celebrate not only the beauty of House Sparrows but all the common birds and local biodiversity. It also aims to to bring together individuals and organisations working on the conservation of House Sparrows and urban biodiversity on a common platform.

When we discuss the fate of sparrows, it would be better if we do something for them. Here is what Dr Bharat Bhushan, an ornithologist from Pune has to say-

Sparrows used to be in old cities and in gaothans inside cities, and near forested semi-forested groves, playgrounds, grass hedges and industrial compounds - they could get food, nesting habitat and nesting material.
Today, cities are cleaner, the gaothans are gone to road widening, groves are replaced by manicured gardens, playgrounds are rented out to marriage parties, grass hedges are replaced by encroachments and industrial compounds have increased parking areas for bikes and cars.
Earlier sparrows used to get a lot of food and feeding opportunities near unkept grocery shops and market areas. Today, these grocery shops and markets are very clean and are replaced by air conditioned malls at some places.

Does this mean that sparrows are extinct? No, but they could use your help.

Sparrows are around. Give them a reason to let them show themselves to you.
Provide birdfeed, nesting material and nest boxes. Provide protection to nesting areas. Teach children to do so.
Let us also focus on the other Passerine species in this time when we focus on the House Sparrow. It is the other Passer species that are really being crushed out.

For more information and engaging activities on the House Sparrow visit:
http://www.worldhousesparrowday.org/

Resources

2011-04-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

School Health Manual

Comprehensive School Health Teachers Activity Manual

The School Sanitation Manual was released by Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development during the launch of National School Sanitation Initiative on 27th April 2010. The manual is part of the CBSE curriculum and consist of 4 manuals.

The first Manual Vol 1 is addressed to all stakeholders concerned with school health. The other three manuals are activity based manuals for teachers.

For more information on the manual visit:
http://www.schoolsanitation.com/publication.php

Hygiene and Sanitation Software an overview of approaches

Authors: Andy Peal, Barbara Evans,and Carolien van der Voorden

Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council, Geneva, Switzerland

Brought out by the WSSCC secretariat to assist their national coordinators and WASH coalition, the document describes the various hygiene and sanitation ‘software’ approaches that have been deployed over the last 40 years by NGOs, development agencies, national and local governments in all types of settings – urban, informal-urban and rural.
There are many different software approaches and there is often confusion over for example, what a particular approach is designed to achieve, what it comprises, when and where it should be used, how it should be implemented or how much it costs.

The purposes of this document are to clarify some of the confusion in the sector about the terminology and language used and provide a ‘ready reference’ or introduction to some of the more commonly-used approaches. It is intended to be used as a resource tool by both a newcomer to the subject and by the more experienced practitioner who wishes to gain knowledge of other approaches with which he or she is not familiar.

To access the document visit:http://www.wsscc.org/en/resources/publications/index.htm

Earthscan Reader in Poverty and Biodiversity Conservation

ISBN: 9781844078424
Pages: 416
Biodiversity loss and persistent poverty in developing countries have been recognised as major international problems that require urgent attention. However, there is debate on the nature and scale of the links between these two problems, and the efforts to address them. The Earthscan Reader in Poverty and Biodiversity Conservation provides a guide to, and commentary on, the different strands of the current conservation-poverty debate. Among the areas of debate covered are:

The lack of attention to biodiversity concerns in international development policy
The social implications of protectionist conservation policy
The roles and responsibilities of conservation NGOs towards local communities
The links between climate change, biodiversity and poverty reduction, and in particular the implication of discussions around reduced emissions from deforestation (REDD) as a climate change mitigation strategy.
For more information visit:
http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=101812

World Environment Day: “Many Species. One Planet. One Future”

Commemorated on 5 June since 1972, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political atte

ntion and action.

The year 2010 has been declared as the International Year of Biodiversity. It is an opportunity to stress the importance of biodiversity for human well-being, reflect on our achievements to safeguard it and encourage a redoubling of our efforts to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss. The World Environment Day reflects this concern in its theme for the year - “Many Species. One P

lanet. One Future.” It emphasises the urgent call to conserve the diversity of life on our planet. A world without biodiversity is a very bleak prospect. Millions of people and millions of species all share the same planet, and only together can we enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

Editorial Vol.15.No.4

2010-03-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

International Year of Biodiversity 2010

The year 2010 was a deadline to achieve significant reduction in the rate of loss of biodiversity. We are far from reaching this goal, but 2010 is still significant. The aim this year, declared the international Year of Biodiversity, is to reflect on what needs to be done to change this trend.

Sustainability educators have the challenge to enhance understanding about how biodiversity relates to everyone’s daily needs, so that everyone feels responsible for stopping the loss. There is also the challenge to ensure science, policy and politics play an equal role in decision making. It means linking livelihoods, combating poverty, and planning development and new infrastructure sensitively. The 2010 International Year of Biodiversity is a unique opportunity to understand
the vital role that biodiversity plays in sustaining life on Earth and to stop this loss.

(Based on content from http://www.unep.org/iyb/)

The recently conducted public consultation process on the commercial release of Bt Brinjal is one example of how science and politics and concern for livelihoods can be brought together in policy-making, especially in relation to biodiversity. Picture courtsey: CEE Central Photobank

2010-03-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

A day in the life of a waste picker

Yoshita Kulkarni and Anusha Menon, Std IX, St Joseph High School, Pashan, Pune

Gandhiji said, “No matter how insignificant the thing you have to do, do it as well as you can, give it as much of your care and attention as you would give to the thing you regard as most important. For it will be by those small things that you shall be judged.” His thoughts on the dignity of labour are entirely relevant in addressing solid waste management in our cities. If we take the care to segregate different types of waste materials, and also understand why we must, much of the problem would be solved. Yoshita and Anusha’s EVS project shows why.

We selected Solid Waste Management as the theme for our Environment Project. We investigated the methods of waste management in the neighbourhood. We interviewed the people who collect garbage from our doorstep, and visited the places where they separate out and categorize the different waste materials. They had much to say about the problems and hazards they face while doing their job, such as getting injured by sharp items in the waste. Also about how frustrating it is to segregate the waste, the pay and the attitude of the people towards them. So we decided to present a short 2 minute play to our class depicting the problems the waste pickers face. The script:

Cast: Sutradhar, Mrs Tupe, Waste Collector, Mrs Sushila, Waste Collector 2, Mrs. Nair, resident Daughter, Neighbor and Sanitary Inspector

Sutradhar: This is a snapshot of our everyday lives. The city of Pune exports tons of garbage everyday to Urali Devachi. Waste Collectors take away the waste we generate everyday from our
doorstep. The problem starts there and so does the solution.

— Enter Mrs Tupe, Waste Collector —

Mrs Tupe: Knock, Knock!

Mrs. Nair: Who’s there?

Mrs Tupe: Waste Collection Service.

— Mrs. Nair Opens the door and gives the Waste Collector a bag
of garbage —

Mrs Tupe: What? Only one packet?

Mrs. Nair: Why, what did you expect?

Mrs Tupe: Well… two! Dry and wet.

Mrs Nair: Ok, from tomorrow I’ll give it to you in two packets. (Shuts the door)

— Mrs Tupe and Mrs Sushila sorting waste at the sorting shed —

Sutradhar: After collecting the waste of 200 houses, the Waste Collectors sort through the Dry Waste to further categorize the materials into paper, plastic, glass and metal. But there are many
occupational hazards.

Mrs Tupe: OW!

Mrs. Sushila: What happened?

Mrs Tupe: Broken glass … ouch. I’ve cut my hand. That Mrs. Nair! Not only did she not keep dry and wet separate, she also put broken glass directly into the garbage bag!

Mrs. Sushila: You should report to the Supervisor. I don’t know when citizens will learn! Hunh!

Sutradhar: The next day

Mrs Tupe: Knock, knock, Waste Collection!

Mrs. Nair:(opens the door and brings only one bag) Here you are!

Mrs Tupe: (In a loud angry voice) What again only one bag? I can not accept unsegregated waste – it’s a rule. Mixed waste is difficult to recycle.

Neighbor: What’s this noise, what has happened?

Mrs Tupe: Madam you give me dry and wet waste separate but this madam does not. See I cut my hand on broken glass from their house yesterday.

Daughter(coming to the door): Mama, I told you I can help to make the new system. We have learnt this in school. Its also my EVS project. See I got the compost kit also.

Daughter (to Mrs Tupe): Don’t worry, from tomorrow I will make sure you get dry waste separately and no wet waste Sutradhar: Just then, a Sanitary Inspector from the municipal authority arrives at the scene.

Sanitary Inspector: Mrs. Nair, I have come to check your compost pit. I see it is not working. You will be fined Rs 1000.

Mrs. Nair: Oh no! Please excuse us for this time. My daughter and I are just going to restart the compost pit.

Sanitary Inspector: Madam, If you restart the compost pit you will get 5% rebate on property tax.

Daughter (in a panicky voice): But the problem is… I don’t know how to operate the compost pit!

Neighbor: I’ll help you with that! A box of size 3x2x2 feet is all right for 1 kg of wet waste. You first put a layer of brick pieces then a layer of sand, and then another layer of leaf litter. Over that just spread a layer of soil containing earthworms. Give them a few days to adjust to their new home. After that, they’re ready to work their magic.

Sanitary Inspector: Right then, I’ll check again in a month to see whether you have to pay a fine or get a rebate. Sutradhar: Peace returned to the neighborhood. And the moral of the story is ‘segregate your waste and compost your wet waste’.

The article first appeared in CEE’s Earth Care page in Sakal Young Buzz, January 29, 2010.
Available online at www.kidsrgreen.org/sakal/index.htm

2010-03-29T23:27:00.001-07:00

Days in the quarter

World Wetlands Day 2010
Theme: Caring for wetlands - an answer to climate change

2 February

World Wetlands Day is celebrated on the 2nd of February each year to marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in Ramsar. The day is celebrated by events that are aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits.
This year’s theme ‘Caring for wetlands – an answer
to climate change’ highlights the opportunity to manage
biodiversity wisely to help cope with climate change.

For more information on the Ramsar Convention and
events celebrated across the world visit:
http://www.ramsar.org/

World Forestry Day

21 March

World Forestry Day is celebrated around the world on 21 March, the day of the autumn equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. This day commemorates the contribution and value of forests and forestry to the community. The greenteacher website suggests various ways students can
contribute towards conserving tree resources:

Use forest, its products or management as the theme of a project at school. This will help students learn more on forests.
Students can grow/plant trees and shrubs at home, in their neighborhood. One can use ice cream cups for planting the seedlings.
Recycle paper: Students can tear out unused pages from old notebooks and use them. This can be made into an excellent slam book, with papers of different colours, shades and sizes!
Students can reuse greeting cards by cutting out the picture and writing their message behind it. This is a good way to save money and to save trees! And yes ask them to think before they throw away anything, they may be able to use it again.
Plants and trees attract a lot of birds, butterflies and other insect life. Encourage students to invite birds by building bird feeders and nesting boxes on the trees.

For more activity ideas visit:

http://www.greenteacher.org/?page_id=152

World Water Day
Theme: Clean Water for a Healthy World
22 March
International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United
Nations General Assembly responded by designating
22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. World Water Day 2010 is dedicated to the theme of water quality, reflecting its importance
alongside quantity of the resource in water management. Its campaign is envisaged to:

Raise awareness about sustaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being through addressing the increasing water quality challenges in water management and
Raise the profile of water quality by encouraging governments, organizations, communities, and individuals around the world to actively engage in addressing water quality e.g. in pollution prevention, clean up and restoration.

For more information:

http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/flashindex.html

2010-03-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

Facilitating ESD in schools through the use of ICT and GIS technologies

Experiences of a pilot project from India

Shefali Atrey, Aradhana Singh and Shivani Jain, CEE

The Premise
Constructivism states that learning is an active and contextualized process of constructing knowledge based on ones own experiences, rather than acquiring it from someone else.
Knowledge is constructed based on personal experiences and hypotheses of the environment. Learners continuously test these hypotheses through social negotiation and each learner arrives
at a different interpretation and construction of knowledge process.

Self-constructed and validated knowledge leads to better and life-long learning. In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can be brought about by a number of different teaching practices. In pedagogical sense, it would mean encouraging students to use active techniques (experiments; data analysis and interpretation; real-world problem solving, etc.) to create their own world-view based on their own experiences and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing.

The teachers’ role in such situation becomes that of a facilitator, providing learners the appropriate experiences and guiding them through these experiences and helping them then build on them. ESD is about helping learners become global citizens with critical thinking skills; sensitivities and respect for the natural environment; and pragmatism towards the socioeconomic environment.

This article presents an experiment in exploring the effectiveness of ICT and GIS enabled teaching-learning techniques in providing learning environment in school classrooms which is congenial for self-realized and self-constructed learning, and which eventually supports realizing the mission of education for sustainable development in formal education.

CEE ka Biscope
An experiment on ICT-GIS and ESD
In January 2009, Centre for Environment Education (CEE) initiated to venture in the field of direct application of ICT tools in supporting the school curriculum. The programme called CEE ka Biscope is an educational module meant for students in the age group of 10-16 years. Practice-based learning for interpreting the local environment and surroundings is integral to the philosophy
of this module. The module involves interaction of students with maps, satellite imageries and several computer enabled data interpretation applications, appropriately combined with several other teaching techniques including field trips, classroom sessions, games and activities.

Since the activities are based on school syllabus and text-books, CEE ka Biscope further facilitates the use of internet enabled computer labs at the schools towards meeting up learning goals in
several subjects. With focus on learning for life, the activities of the module help integration of Environmental Studies, Science, Mathematics as well as Social Sciences.

The Pilot Project
From knowledge to attitudes

The pilot project is being carried out in a city-based school in Ahmedabad, Gujarat India with about 90 children (45 at a time) in each of the two grades—grade VII and grade VIII.

The hypothesis of the pilot work is that use of ICT in school education will not only lead to inculcation of latest technologies in teaching-learning schools, but will ensure learner centered, real-life based, experiential learning. It is hoped, that such learning environment, eventually over a period of time, will impact the psycho-affective domain of the learner facilitating a positive attitudinal and behavioural change in them.

The whole idea of using ICT (including the GIS) revolves around the efforts to present real-life based information on the students’ immediate local environment through a medium that this generation children is very familiar with, but mainly for nonacademic interaction and processes.

Project Methodology
Experimenting two ways of integrating ICT in the school’s plan

With the two grades (VII and VIII), two different approaches of integrating use of ICT and GIS in the school curriculum, are being followed. With one of the standards the project has tried to follow the teaching-learning calendar, as planned by the subject teachers (science and social science) at the beginning of the school academic year. This approach has required immense cooperation from various subject teachers as the project team did not restrict itself to any specific teaching-learning theme. Numerous ways of using ICT and GIS expertise with the preplanned calendar have already been invented.

The pilot project, through this approach has led to creation of innovative applications of ICT in supporting teaching-learning of several subjects, including Mathematics, Science, History, Geography and Environmental studies. It was exciting to learn from and note the learners’ responses to such an experience.

Pic courtsey: Shefali Atrey
CEE Students exploring mapping software in school computer lab as a part of an interactive activity on agriculture

Ravi Panchal, CEE
A session on ocean water movement, global warming and climate change with help of interactive maps in progress

Overall, the learners found innovative use of ICT and GIS very refreshing for them as they experienced a very novel way in which a subject was being introduced to them and they found the
learning process very real-life based. With the higher standard, the project team experimented by using ICT and GIS applications for an identified theme-based module. Of course the them
selected was taken from the syllabus of the school.

This module of 14 sessions (of 80 minutes each) spread over a period of 7 months focused on the theme of ‘Agriculture’ (a part of both Sciences as well as Geography of Grade VIII) was planned in discussion with the learners as well as their teachers. The feedback from learners shows that they re-discovered the science and art of agriculture in a manner which was very different from what was provided in their text-books and discussed in their regular classrooms. During this module, along with the theorybased sessions there were practical sessions, conducted in computer labs where students made use of global mapping tools, animations and various ways to interpret and analyze a given set of data. A field trip was conducted for students which made them interact with a community of farmers—from rich farmers to land labourers. Here ICT and GIS were used as interpretation tools that helped students in establishing relation between social, economic and environmental aspects of Agriculture, the major economic activity of their country.

Emerging Trends from the Pilot

The pilot project is still on and formulative feedback from learners and their teachers has been encouraging for the project team as well as the school; the trends emerging out of the feedback received so far, are also supportive of the pilot project hypothesis.

During the last 4 months of this pilot project, most students seemed to have enhanced their analytical, interpretation as well as visualization skills. Such skills and direct interaction and interpretation of local environment-based data have provided the learners a justified reasoning to take action towards conserving and appreciating their surroundings. Besides this, the project has also encouraged peer-based learning processes in the classrooms.

The use of ICT has enabled to turn the local- environment related information into knowledge for the learners, which in turn is hoped to bring an attitudinal change in them towards their immediate environment. CEE ka Biscope has been a learning experience for the project team to explore and experiment with the use of modern ICT advancements in creating a learning environment which supports the learners in facilitating their own learning process through exploration, discovery and real-life based data analysis and interpretation.

This article first appeared ‘Education and Sustainability’ Journal, Number 2, February 2010.

For more information contact:

Shivani Jain
Centre for Environment Education,
Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad–380054
Ph: 079-26858002 to 9 Fax: 079–26858010
E-mail: gis@ceeindia.org

2010-03-29T23:26:00.000-07:00

Six years of the Biological Diversity Act in India:
The Status Report: Why and how we examine implementation

Compiled by Kanchi Kohli, Mashqura Fardeedi (Kalpavriksh) and
Shalini Bhutani (Grain), 2009

Kalpavriksh and GRAIN; Contributory amount: Rs 75/-

The report takes stock of the nature and extent of implementation of the
Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the associated Rules. The analysis
is presented against the backdrop of the existing political economy
which exerts a powerful influence on conservation legislation such as
this Act. It accesses the extent to which principles of conservation
find expression in implementation of this law.

The report draws on for many voices from the ground, recorded during the series of regional workshops organized as part of an ongoing campaign for Conservation and Community Control over Biodiversity. The authors especially focus on the directions that implementation has taken regarding decentralized decisionmaking on biological resources, conservation of these resources and related knowledge, and the empowerment of communities.

For more information contact:

Kalpavriksh
134, Tower 10, Supreme Enclave, Mayur Vihar 1,
Delhi 110091; Ph: 011- 22753714
Email: kalpavriksh@vsnl.net; Website: http://www.kalpavriksh.org/

Materials from National Green Corps (NGC) Programme,
Maharashtra

Green Legacy
A film on NGC programme in Maharashtra

This 17 minute film produced by Social Forestry Directorate and directed by Bharat Rawal describes the implmentation in Maharashtra of the National Green Corps programme of the
Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt of India. The Social Forestry Directorate is the nodal agency and Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research is the resource
agency for NGC.

The film begins with an overview of some global issues. It then goes on to provide a short description of the National Green Corps Scheme as a platform for school students to be involved in local action. Most of the film then depicts several activities being undertaken by NGC club members in Maharashtra: safe,
green festivals, plantation, clean-up campaigns etc. NGC Parks have been created in a few locations where students can explore nature and play eco-games, put up bird boxes, etc. NGC parks are being set in each district. The parks have mini weather observatory, butterfly garden, medicinal plant garden, nakshatra van, shraddha van (which is a modern day version of the concept of sacred grove) etc.

Harit Chalwal ... Ek Disha

This publication describes a variety of old and new festivals and ‘environment days’, with examples of projects and activities that schools can take up. Attractively written, illustrated and designed, this publication conceived of by Mr Prakash Thosre, Social Foresty Directorate, Govt
of Maharashtra is a useful resource for schools and nonformal educators as well.

For more information contact:
Mr Prakash Thosre
Nodal Officer, NGC Maharashtra
and Director, Social Forestry
Govt of Maharashtra
Central Building, Pune 411001.
Email: pjthosre@hotmail.com and dirsfdpune@gmail.com (attn. Mrs Kukdolkar)

Our Toxic World
A Guide to Hazardous Substances in our Everyday Lives

TOXICS LINK, New Delhi
Price: Rs 395; Pages: 180; ISBN 9788132103066

The Sachdeva family is like many others. A father with a government job; his wife a homemaker; a son starting a career; and a daughter in high school. And like most other families in a big city, the Sachdevas are surrounded in their everyday lives by a cocktail of toxic substances they are hardly aware of. Following these four—and some others who come in and out of their circle of existence—‘Our Toxic World’ takes a close look at these hidden perils, and at what we can do to make our own lives, and the world around us, a little cleaner, a little safer.

For more information visit:
http://www.sagepub.in/browse/book. asp?bookid=1461&Subject_Name=&mode=3#toc

2010-03-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

National Noise Monitoring Network setup, Amendment to ‘Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000’ Notified

The Ministry of Environment & Forests has amended the ‘Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000’ to make them more stringent. This includes the setting up of a ‘National Noise
Monitoring Network’ across various cities. The following issues have been addressed through the amendments to Noise Rules, dated 11.01.2010:

Stress has been laid on making the night peaceful. The ‘night time’ has been defined (10.00 pm to 6.00 am) and restrictions have been imposed on the use of horns, sound emitting construction equipments and bursting of fire crackers during night time.
‘Public place’ has been defined and the occupant of a public place has to restrict the volume of public address system, etc so that the noise emitting from its activity would not exceed the noise limit more than 10 dB (A).
Similarly, the occupant of a private place has to restrict the volume of music system, etc so that the noise emitting from its activity would not exceed the noise limit by more than 5 dB (A).
A duty has been cast upon the concerned State Governments to specify in advance, the number and particulars of days, not exceeding fifteen in a year, on which 2 hours exemption (10.00 pm to 12.00 midnight) would be operative. State would be the unit for such an exemption.
These amendments are in line with the Supreme Court orders from time to time.

For more information visit:

http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Noise%20 Pollution_press%20note.pdf

Bt Brinjal Public Consultations
13th January - 6th February 2010

Bt Brinjal, a transgenic brinjal created out of inserting a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus huringiensis, has generated much debate in India. The commercial introduction of Bt Brinjal
would represent the first GM food crop in the country. While Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has approved the commercialisation, there is a wide spectrum of opinions
both for and against the introduction of the crop from different stakeholders.

In this context, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India asked CEE to undertake 7 public consultations across the country to gather views from scientists, agriculture experts, farmer organizations, consumer groups, NGOs, Government officials, media and concerned citizens. Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests chaired the consultation meetings.

The first public consultation on the proposal to introduce commercialisation of Bt Brinjal was held in Kolkata on 13 January. CEE facilitated six more consultations on Bt Brinjal at different
locations in the country at Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Bangalore between January and February 2010.

The consultations were held to elicit views of different stakeholder groups regarding the commercial introduction of Bt Brinjal (transgenic brinjal by inserting cry1Ac gene from Bacillus
thuringiensis).

The Minister, chaired all the consultations and listened to opinions and concerns of various stakeholders. More than 8000 people participated in the consultations from across different states.
Over 9000 written submissions were received from different consultations and through mails and letters at CEE Bt Brinjal Secretariat.

On 9th February, 2010 Mr Jairam Ramesh declared “It is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary principle-based approach and impose a moratorium on the release of Bt Brinjal, till such time independent scientific studies establish, to the satisfaction of both the public and the professionals, the safety of the product from the point of view of its long-term impact on human health and environment, including the rich genetic wealth existing in brinjal in our country”.

The full text of the Minister’s statement is available at
http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/minister_REPORT.pdf and

the report of the consultations is available at www.ceeindia.org

CEE Central Photobank

A participant making her point on introducing BT Brinjal in market at consultation process in Nagpur. 7 cities were selected by the MoEF for holding the consultation in order to get a sample of the perspectives of different stakeholders.

2010-03-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

Simplifying Climate Change
Based on the findings of the IPPC Fourth Assessment Report;
140 pages, Price: Rs 295

Simplifying Climate Change aims to simpify the scientific details outlined in the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report and produce a document that can be understood by the general reader. It presents a review of the focus laid under each of the Working Group reports on the science, impacts, adaptation and vulnerability and mitigation issues in a reader-friendly manner. The book is a useful resource for all those concerned with the environmental and social consequences of changes in the climate - students, researchers, policy makers and practioners in the field of natural sciences, social science and hazard management, economics and public health, and stakeholders in the corporate sector. Key features

• Provides the most up-to-date and reliable knowledge on the scientific aspects of climate change.
• Presents extensive scientific and technical knowledge in a simplified form.
• Figures and tables also simplified for easy comprehension.
• Contains an extensive glossary of technical terms.
• Useful reference for a wide audience.

For more information contact:

The Energy and Resources Institute
Darbari Seth Block, IHC Complex, Lodhi Road,
New Delhi - 110003
E-mail: teripress@teri.res.in
Ph: 011 24682100 or 41504900; Fax: 011 24682144
Website: http://bookstore.terriin.org/

Environmental Concerns And Sustainable Development:
Some Perspectives From India

Author: Sakarama Somayaji; ISBN: 8179932249
Binding: Hardcover; Publisher: TERI Press

Industralization and development have brought about a radical shift in production and consumption patterns all over the world, including India. However, the impact of these trends on the earth’s climate and various natural resources has been quite serious. There is a need to bring about a major transition, whereby this generation, and more importantly, generations yet to come do not suffer from the ill effects of today’s development, which is clearly not sustainable. The human race has to bring about a rapid transition to a pattern of growth and development that is genuinely sustainable. Key features

Focuses on immediate environmental concerns that impinge on sustainable development in India
Includes contributions from 16 scholars working in the field of environment, society, and development interaction.
Articles divided into two major themes development and environmental concerns and sustainable development practices.
Well researched articles on major issues pertaining to environment and sustainable development includes well known case studies.

State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World - Indian edition

The “State of the World” book series, produced by the Worldwatch Institute, is focused on building an ecologically sustainable society that meets human needs. Each year, the State of the World book series focuses on a particular theme which might address energy, community, food and agriculture, population, health, trade policies and natural resource use, just to name a few. The book carries information on interdisciplinary research and analysis that a non-scientific mind can comprehend.

The Indian version of “State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World” has been produced by CEE for better outreach in India.

Launch events for the promotion of the Indian edition of the State of the World 2009 were held by CEE in 6 cities - Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Guwahati, Bhubneshwar and Bangalore. At each location panel discussions were held to debate and discuss on local issues based on the discourses in the chapters of the book. Panelists in different cities included educators, policy makers, scientists,
representatives of business and industry etc.

Available from:

Paryavaran Edutech, CEE
Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad–380054
Ph: 079-26853739; E-mail: edutech@ceeindia.org
Website: http://www.edutechindia.org/

The report of the events is at http://www.ceeindia.org/

More information about SoW 2009 at http://www.worldwatch.org/sow09

2010-03-29T23:13:00.000-07:00

Celebration of our Living Culture - ACCU Asia/ Pacific ESD Photo Caravan comes to India

CEE is one of the international hosts of the ACCU Asia Pacific ESD Photo Message Exhibition titled “Letters to Tomorrow: Celebration of Our Living Culture”. As a part of this, CEE held the photo-exhibition in three cities - Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Pune.

In collaboration with partner agencies CEE organised a series of events to reinforce the importance of “living culture” in shaping our path to sustainable development. The exhibition focused to develop an understanding and respect for different cultures and traditions. It also provided an opportunity for critical reflection and dialogue with practitioners and interaction with community on culture, society and sustainability issues of not only conserving culture as a Heritage form but also about how relevant it is for us to perceive culture (role of human value system) as one of the significant element and mode of achieving
goals of Sustainable Development.

About 800 students visited the ACCU exhibition in Pune. Informal interaction with the students revealed that they not only enjoyed the exhibition but learnt a great deal about the similarities in cultural practices of ‘our neighbouring countries’.

The Photo Caravan is a collection of over 80 prize winning photographs from a photo contest organised by the UNESCO Asia Pacific Cultural Centre last year as part of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

The photo caravan was exhibited simultaneously in three countries of Asia Pacific i.e. Mongolia, Japan and India. Day long events including interactive cultural exchange sessions with groups visiting the exhibition at all three venues in India.

For more information on the events in India visit:
www.desd.org

20th Anniversary of Basel Convention

17 November, Basel, Switzerland

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal celebrates the 20th Anniversary of its adoption on 17th November 2009. The treaty, which regulates the transboundary movements and management of hazardous and other wastes, was adopted in Basel, Switzerland, on 22 March 1989 and came into effect in 1992.

172 countries are signatory to the convention. Achievements of the convention in the past 20 years:

By applying the “Prior Informed Consent” procedure the Basel Convention put in place a regulatory framework to control the transboundary movements of hazardous
and other wastes. Only shipments between consenting Parties are legal and all shipments made without such consent are illegal.
The Convention requires its Parties to ensure that hazardous and other wastes are managed and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner, including within their boundaries.
In the past twenty years the Convention has seen the emergence of 14 Regional and Coordinating Centres for Training and Technology Transfer, in various parts of the world. The Centres support developing countries and countries with economies in transition in the implementation of the Convention.
Over the years, the Basel Convention adapted to newly emerging problematic waste streams. In the area of e-waste, it has put in place successful partnerships with the private sector and NGOs.
In 2008, the Convention launched the Partnership for Action on Computing Equipment, a multi-stakeholder partnership that provides a forum for to tackle the environmentally sound management, refurbishment, recycling and disposal of used and end-of-life computing equipment.
The convention recognises the fact that many countries still lack the capacity to implement the Convention. As a result, illegal traffic in hazardous waste is still a reality.
The Convention adopted Bali Declaration on Waste Management for Human Health and Livelihood. The Declaration specifically recognizes the implementation of the Basel Convention as an essential component of attaining the MDGs.

For more infromation visit:
http://www.basel.int/index.html

2010-03-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen

On this page Rixa Schwarz from CEE Germany reports on the international negotiations on climate change both pre and during the conference*

Did you already notice the first impacts of climate change? Extremeweather events like heat waves in North India, droughts, storms and changes in the pattern of the monsoon in Western India? Scientists
predict even more serious impacts if the main causes for climate
change are not controlled. Probably you agree with me when I say
IT’S TIME TO ACT!

Government representatives from all countries met in Copenhagen, Denmark from 7 December to 18 December 2009 for exactly this reason - how can human kind control the root
causes of climate change?

The international body for climate issues, the United Nation Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gathers representatives from all countries around the world once a year (with one
preparation meeting) at meetings called ‘Conference of the Parties’ (COPs) to discuss the protection of the earth’s climate and adaptation to climate change impacts. The year of 2009
was different though: we had five preparation meetings for the crucial COP 15 in Denmark.

Why was the Copenhagen COP important?
The Kyoto Protocol (1997) was the first international treaty that committed industrialized countries to limit their greenhouse gas emission. It is valid until 2012. Scientific understanding about
climate change has increased since 1997; scientists say that the amounts of green house gases in the atmosphere are already very high and still rising, which might make it difficult to prevent
dangerous climate change. Governments were to prepare a treaty coming into force 1 January 2013 to replace the Kyoto Protocol and avoid dangerous climate change.

What was the expectation?
The vision for the new agreement that the 192 countries discussed at COP 15 in Copenhagen includes amongst others:

50% global reduction of climate threatening greenhouse gas
emissions by 2050
Agreements on large emission reductions for industrialized countries that have historically been the biggest emitters, like the USA and Europe - and maybe others like China.
Industrialized countries shall provide money and technologies to less-industrialized countries to adapt to impacts of climate change.

Differing Opinions
Countries have differing opinions on the responsibility for the changing climate and the cost sharing. The difficulties are

Several high income countries as well as growing economies depend on energy from
burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas that all emit greenhouse gases
The shift to renewable energies such as solar or wind power is seen be costly (while in fact inaction is more costly)
Certain industrialized countries do not want to take full responsibility for emission cuts but ask countries in transition (mainly China) to also lower their emissions
Countries in transition request industrialized countries to act in accordance to their historical responsibility to reduce emissions before they themselves cut their emissions
The USA as one of the key players has not yet made national policies and so are not fully prepared for negotiating international targets.

What happened?

High Expectations
We went to Copenhagen with high expectations. During the previous two years experts had worked on technical preparations for an international deal for climate protection replacing the Kyoto Protocol. This deal was supposed to be sealed at the UN climate summit, the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) held in Copenhagen, Denmark 7th to 18th December 2009. We were hoping for a fair, ambitious and binding deal, a FAB deal, amongst the 192 nations out of which 119 were represented by their heads of states in person.

What is FAB?
Fair, ambitious and binding – those were the attributes that the NGO community asked for: the deal should be fair amongst the countries, ambitious enough to limit global temperature rise to a maximum of 2°C and legally binding in order to make countries fulfil their targets in terms of emission reduction and adaptation funding. This was the checklist that was prepared to measure the outcome of COP 15.

What did we get?
The Copenhagen outcome disappointed many expectations. Instead of a binding deal a ‘Copenhagen Accord’ was agreed upon. The Accord lets countries take note of the 2°C limit but
does not make it their goal to avoid a warming of that extent. No ambitious emission reduction targets were set for developed countries. And many countries from the so-called global South
felt excluded from the negotiations amongst the big players like the USA, China, India, Brazil,South Africa and Europe. Conclusion: The Copenhagen Accord as a political agreement does not fulfil the essential criteria identified by civil society and other stakeholders.

What went wrong?
Several reasons are to name in order to explain the failure of the Copenhagen Summit: at first, several countries came to Copenhagen with their prepared positions but without room for negotiations in these positions. President Obama could not promise any further action in Copenhagen than what he had discussed on national level before. China refused to recognize
its leading position while the European Union was overstrained. Others - like India - blocked the outcome to be legally binding. Secondly, the trust between developed countries, emerging
economies and developed countries was broken which made it hard to achieve compromises. But not all was lost…

The positive side
Despite the weak outcome of Copenhagen some positive changes occurred. We have to recognize that the power balance in the world is changing: the USA and China were negotiating as equal partners and even other countries like India made a stronger voice being heard. The same is true for the small island state of Tuvalu that called for ‘island survival’ to be reached by a maximum
temperature rise of 1.5°C (instead 2°C). The Copenhagen Accord does show some achievements on financial support and technology cooperation for developing countries, protection
of forests, and more international transparency regarding the climate protection activities of countries. This could be a basis for this year’s negotiations.

What now?
The Copenhagen Summit is over, but the negotiations will have to and will continue. The next COP is going to be held in Mexico end of 2010. Preparations will begin early and hopefully we will see a
FAB deal as the outcome of another year of hard work. But, actually, the Copenhagen Summit made one thing evident for me: when political negotiations fail, social movements become more important. The Summit raised a lot attention to the challenge of tackling climate change and people all around the world are getting active on living less carbon-intensive lifestyles. People showed during the global action day on 12th December that the pathway towards a climate-friendly society
does not need to be lead by politicians only.

Communities have the power to get involved and start a climatefriendly future from the grass-root level. Would you like to be part of it?

For more information visit:
http://unfccc.int/2860.php

* The article first appeared in CEE’s Earth Care page in Sakal Young Buzz, December 4 2009 and January 1 2010.

For India’s national action plan for climate change (NAPCC)
visit: http://moef.nic.in/downloads/home.pdf

Intervention made by India’s Environment Minister at the Pre-COP meeting at Copenhagen on November 16 2009

India is prepared to reflect in any agreement its commitment to keep its per capita emissions below that of the developed countries. India´s per capita approach has drawn wide support including from two Nobel Laureates (Schelling and Spence) and from the German Council for Climate Change, an influential think tank. India´s per capita emissions are now around 1.2 tonnes of CO2 equivalent and are expected to be around 2 to 2.5 tonnes by 2020 and 3 to 3.5 tonnes by 2030. The per capita limit is an onerous limit that India has imposed on itself.
India has several nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) which it is considering to convert to nationally accountable mitigation outcomes (NAMOs) by indicating specific performance targets in industry, energy, transport, agriculture, buildings and forestry for the year 2020 and 2030. These NAMOs could be institutionalised through either legislative or executive action and are derived from the National Action Plan on Climate Change and the 11th Five Year Plan document.
India is prepared to submit a National Communication once every two years to the UNFCCC covering both supported and unsupported actions and their outcomes as well as their impacts on emissions. This National Communication could be used as a basis for international consultations with the UNFCCC. This will more than meet the demand for international reflection of domestic commitments and obligations taken on unilaterally. The format of reporting could be decided by the UNFCCC after discussions and consensus among Parties.
India will make low carbon sustainable growth a central element of its 12th Plan growth strategy. This will mean taking on commitments to reduce energy to GDP intensity and corresponding emission reduction outcomes for the year 2020.

For more information visit:

http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Intervention_copehagen.pdf

2010-03-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

Days in the quarter

World Food Day
Theme: Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis
16 October

World Food Day is observed each year on 16 October. The lead agency for the day is United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The objectives of World Food Day are to:

enhance attention on agricultural food production and to stimulate national, bilateral, multilateral and nongovernmental efforts to this end
encourage economic and technical cooperation among developing countries
encourage the participation of rural people, particularly women and the least privileged, in decisions and activities influencing their living conditions
heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger
promote transfer of technologies
strengthen international and national solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty and draw attention to achievements in food and agricultural development.

For more information visit:
http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/

Universal Children’s Day
Theme: Right to Play
20 November

The UN General Assembly recommended to celebrate Nov 20th as the Universal Children’s Day and with activities devoted to promoting the ideals and objectives of the Charter and the
welfare of the children of the world.

First proclaimed in 1954, Children’s Day was established to encourage all countries to institute a day, firstly to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world’s children. The Date was chosen as for marking the Universal Children’s day as it marks the adoption of Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

In India, Children’s Day is celebrated on the 14th of November, the birthday of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, as a tribute to his love for children.

For more information visit:
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/children_day/

International Day of Persons with Disabilities
Theme: Making the Millennium Development Goals disabilityinclusive: Empowerment of persons with disabilities and their communities around the world
3 December

The annual observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December, aims to promote an understanding of disability issues, the rights of persons with disabilities and gains
to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of the political, social, economic and cultural life of their communities. The Day provides an opportunity to mobilize
action to achieve the goal of full and equal enjoyment of human rights and participation in society by persons with disabilities.

For more information visit:
http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1484

International Mountain Day
Theme: Disaster risk management in mountains
11th December

The UN General Assembly proclaimed 11th of December as International Mountain Day in 2003, and since then it has been observed each year with a theme relevant to sustainable mountain development.

Mountains are hazardous places. Many mountain communities live under the threat of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, landslides and floods. Many are the factors that cause people to
live in these vulnerable situations: ties of kinship and community, a culturally different notion of risk and poverty.

International Mountain Day is an opportunity to create awareness about the importance of mountains to life. The day highlights the opportunities and constraints in mountain development. It
gives an opportunity to build partnerships to bring about positive change to the world’s mountains and highlands.

For more information visit:
http://www.fao.org/mnts/intl_mountain_day_en.asp

Villagers in Uri, Baramulla district, Jammu and Kashmir preparing “Village Contingency Plan” for their village as a part of the International Mountain Day celebrations with CEE Himalaya. CEE Himalaya has been working in mountain
areas since 2005. Currently CEE has taken up VCPs in 50 villages from 5 selected districts of Kashmir Valley, areas falling under zones 4&5 of seismicity.

Pic courtsey: CEE Himalaya

2010-03-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

Finally an Accord!

Kartikeya V Sarabhai, Director, CEE

It was always an exercise of walking on thin ice. The world was not divided into the developed and developing nations, but there were many sub groups who did not see things from the same perspective. As the Conference went through its two weeks of deliberations one saw the G 77 plus China, the group representing the developing nations, go from one voice to breaking into many. The AOSIS, the Association of Small Island States was one of the first to put forth a separate
proposition. To them it was a matter of survival. They felt even the 2º C target was too high and that we needed to work towards a 1.5º C target. The African nations held several consultations separately. Adaptation, and finance for that was crucial from their point of view. But a strong group that emerged at Copenhagen was what was called BASIC – Brazil, South Africa, India and China; the so called emerging economies, the larger and stronger of the developing countries. In the final analysis it was this group that finally Obama decided to convince. BASIC, The USA and the EU came up with the draft that will finally become the Copenhagen Accord. As President Obama said as he left for the US, “A more binding agreement was not achievable at this Conference”. And he is perhaps right. This is as far as
Copenhagen could have gone. A signed and binding treaty that would follow the Kyoto Protocol was perhaps more than what we could expect at this stage. According to Jairam Ramesh, Minister
for State for Environment, India the accord that BASIC agreed upon was “good for the entire developing world”.

At Copenhagen, waste pickers spoke about the need to promote recycling instead of burning wastes. Source for picture:Source: http://dciplep.smugmug.com/Other/Copenhagen-2/

But many were deeply disappointed with what has happened. The AOSIS countries, the African States and the less developed nations feel that the process has been hijacked by the powerful,
even from their own G 77 plus China group. While the accord has tried to address the concerns of all the G 77 group it has clearly not been able to reach any legally binding targets or commitments. The accord mentions that the long term goal is to limit the increase in global average temperatures to 1.5º C which was a key demand of AOSIS. It also talks of “supporting the implementation of adaptation actions aimed at reducing vulnerability and building resilience in developing countries,
especially in those that are particularly vulnerable, especially least developed countries, small island developing States and further taking into account the need of countries in Africa affected by drought, desertification and floods”. One of the concerns of the G 77 was the mechanism through which funds would be arranged.

Many multi-lateral funds like the World Bank do not have the type of democratic structure that the UN has. In the accord an in-between solution has been found in the form of creating a new multilateral funding for adaptation “with a governance structure providing for equal representation of developed and developing countries”. The principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities with respective capabilities” that India and other developing countries have insisted on has been
incorporated in the first para of the accord. The mention of the Kyoto Protocol being the continuing legal instrument in the post 2012 scenario, another important demand of the G 77 is also in
place. In fact Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it clear that no new legal treaty could be negotiated since we already have the Kyoto Protocol. But all this was still a big disappointment for
the smaller countries of the G 77. As Sudan’s Ambassador who is the spokesperson for the G 77 said that his first reaction to the accord was that this was “ the worst development in the fight
against climate change”.

To some extent the strong negative comments that were the immediate reaction are from the process rather than the outcome itself. At the end the negotiating methodology that involved all
countries was given up and a deal made between the powerful which included the BASIC countries. But in fairness to India and the other members of BASIC they did not abandon the concerns of the larger group they represented and in fact have helped the Copenhagen process from leading to a collapse. A foundation has been now laid for reducing emissions by 50% by 2050 in comparison to 1990 levels and in the case of the developed countries reducing their emissions by at least 80% . While this is not legally binding yet the accord sets a goal of converting all
this into a legally binding agreement by the end of 2010 and an overall review of the Accord and its implementation by 2016.

On funding too initial commitments have been made committing additional resources of 30 billion dollars for the period 2010 – 2012 and a commitment to “ developed countries supporting a goal of mobilizing jointly 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to address the needs of the developing countries”. While many developing countries wanted these funds to come from public funds meaning Government resources of the developed countries, the Accord talks of a wide variety of sources “public and private, bilateral and multilateral including alternative sources of finance”. Jairam Ramesh feels that it is unrealistic to expect all this money coming from public sources alone and it is more important for us and other developing countries to now show our commitment and use these resources well for climate change, mitigation and adaptation. The COP 15 at Copenhagen did not achieve what many had hoped for but what it did do was to take a major step in the world working together to solve what perhaps is the biggest problem facing the world today.

This article first appeared in DNA, Ahmedabad edition on 19th December 2009

2010-03-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

Conservation Education in Mizoram

Nimesh Ved, Samrakshan Trust, Mizoram

The things we have to learn before we do them, we learn by doing them (Aristotle)

Saiha in Mizoram houses some of the best remaining rainforests in these parts of our country. Forests, that people share with wild species, across the landscape.

Samrakshan’s Mizoram field Base is engaged in conservation education at Saiha in a variety of ways, for school going children, members of youth groups, village councils (governing bodies) and forest department personnel. We try to integrate conservation education with regular education and social action in the landscape thus mainstreaming it. Care is taken to be sensitive to cultural values and mores; both in content and tone. These are documented to allow us to further immerse in the process, get energized for further actions as also to seek feedback.

A film show and discussion both before and after the screening helped students absorb the importance of forests and wildlife and brought them closer to the natural environment.

I take this space to share some of our experiences, moments that have taken us and the programme forward. Interactions with students have made me realize that when putting across a novel idea, concept or even a name of wild species, comparisons and examples are of immense utility. While talking of serow (Naemorhedus sumatraensis), the state animal, we discussed how its ears resembled that of a domestic donkey while its body was larger than that of a domestic goat.

While discussing Mizoram’s wildlife where we talked of National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Important Bird Areas, State Bird and State Animal; to put across the concept of state bird and state animal as being species that were relatively more charismatic than other species, we discussed how select political leaders were more charismatic than their counterparts!

And when the focus shifted to National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, to share with the participants that these were not necessarily “large areas of forests away from towns and full of wild animals” we gave examples with photographs; making attempts to restrict the examples to
this part of our county so as to enable the participants to relate better.

We talked of the Nokrek National Park (West Garo Hills, Meghalaya) that has primarily been created to preserve the citrus species occurring in wild in the landscape and the Pitcher Plant Sanctuary (South Garo Hills, Meghalaya) that is less than 1 sq km in area and has been created
(primarily) to protect primarily one plant species – the pitcher plant (Nepenthis khasiana).

Another issue has been pace. We have realized that pace of our “implementing” planned action with students needs to vary depending on factors ranging from the location of school (a school located in an small and remote village was different from the Don Bosco School at district headquarters) to the familiarity of the topic to the students (Palak lake of the myths and folklores was different from the Palak lake that was an Important Bird Area).

At Kaisih (near Phura) during interactions on “Wildlife in Saiha” during the initial 15 minutes I discovered new levels of lack of interest with one 1 student out of 14 coming up with any kind of responses! We took an unplanned “water break”. As the students returned (afresh after a playful encounter with water) we began to discuss issues on their village that they possessed proficiency on and got them talking and involved and then got them one by one to read the slides that we had prepared. They enjoyed a break, the pace slowed down and programme got a boost!

On similar lines, during a session focusing on “Hoolock Gibbons” at Donbosco School, Saiha, I figured that on account of our familiarity with the topic we were rushing away without forging the desired level of connect with the students (read failing in our efforts). Changing gears we slowed down the pace by talking, one after another, in Mizo (local language) and English in lieu of only one language and also got on to lengthier interactions on local names of wild species by asking students to come and write the respective names on the board.

Inquisitive eyes during an interaction

The degree by which I have been, and continue to be baffled by simplicity (in communications) far exceeds the concern it generates for the programme! Listening to some views on our programme made me realize that we need to work on becoming simple with respect to our communications
else we were simply not communicating or worse in some cases espousing miscommunication!

I recall using “herpetofauna” in the slides meant for middle school children! The connect that the earlier slides had helped establish and interest that the pictures had generated took very little time to vanish. Pondering over it later during the same day I wondered why we had not thought of using “frogs - snakes - lizards” earlier. My colleagues and I have perhaps found this task ‘of making
this simple’ to be the most invigorating and difficult task; “wildlife values” is now “wild animals and birds” and so is “fauna and avian fauna” while “memorandum of understanding” has changed to “partnership”!

Inculcating feed back within our ongoing conservation education and awareness programme is an action the need for which we have ever agreed upon but seldom moved beyond! Seeking feedback by way of feedback forms towards end of sessions is an idea that has never appealed to me, however, select communications in course of our efforts; have led me to understand that the programme is moving ahead on desired lines.

A student from Don Bosco school met me recently in the market and asked if we would during the coming academic year organize programmes for the class he has just moved to? The smile and affirmative nod on my face had him immediately suggest that unlike the previous year where
we only ‘talked’ of usage of binoculars we should arrange for him and other participants to feel and use them! I loved the excitement in his eyes!

The other day I got a call from a teacher at Don Bosco who has been closely associated with our programmes saying he had just returned from a visit to a friend where he had seen a pet ~ a baby monkey from the wild. He thought it was the Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) that we had
discussed (with help of pictures) in course of our sessions but was unsure on account of the baby being very young. He asked if I could come with him, take pictures and explore possibilities of the ape getting to its ‘actual’ home. I look forward to many such moments. They add spark not
just to the programme but to life as well and make me look towards an equally exciting tomorrow! Amused at it all!

For more information contact:

Nimesh Ved
Samrakshan Trust, House Number 153

Opposite Tourist Lodge, New Saiha (West)
District: Saiha, Mizoram: 796901
Ph: 0 3835 222229; E-mail:nimesh.ved@gmail.com

Visit Nimesh’s blog for several more insights from his experiences at Saiha and around
http://mizoram-samrakshan.blogspot.com

(Nimesh Ved is associated with Samrakshan Trust, an organization that works towards wildlife conservation in India. The programme currently focuses on conservation education and wildlife research. These efforts are undertaken in collaboration with the Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC) and educational institutions & youth associations active in the region)

2010-03-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

Joy of Learning

Population, Consumption and Environment

Thrust Area: Population Education
Place: Indoors Group Size: whole class
Material: none; Subjects: Civics, EVS; Duration:30-40 minutes

Objectives: To draw the attention of students to the role of over-population and over-consumption on the environment.

Activity
1. Share the following facts with your students

In 2001 with a population of 1,027 million persons, India ranked as the second most populous country in the world. The USA’s population was 281 million.
The consumption of food grains per person in India is less than 200 Kg per year. Diets in India are generally dominated by a single starchy staple for instance rice or wheat. An average American, on the other hand, consumes 800 kg of grain each day,directly or
indirectly,in the form of beef, poultry, pork eggs, milk, cheese, ice-cream and yogurt.
Only about 28 % of the people in India have access to sanitation facilities. In the USA,100 % of the population is reported to be served by municipal services.
In 2000, electricity consumption per capita in India was equivalent to 335 kilowatt-hours. USA’s per capita electricity consumption during the same period was 12331 kilowatt-hours.
The USA usages about 25 % of the world processed mineral recourses and non-renewable energy compared to India’s 3%.
The USA produces at least 25 % of the world population and waste, including 18 % of the global emission of greenhouse gases and 22 per cent of ozone – destroying CFCs. India produces about 3 per cent of the worlds pollution and waste including about 4 % of the global emission of greenhouse gases and 0.7 per cent of Ozone destroying CFCs.

2. Discuss

Which country consumes more resources?
Which country generates more waste?
Which country population has access to basic facilities such as sanitation required for and resulting in a healthier and safer living environment?
What are the links between population, consumption, environment and development?

3. Draw the attention of students to the following

Total Impact: India has more people consuming fewer resources and contributing less pollution. But because they are many in number, the total impact is significant.
On the other hand the USA has fewer people with affluent lifestyles. Though they are not many in number, because of their lifestyle they consume considerable resources and
produce considerable pollution and waste.

Quality of Life: Another significant aspect is the quality of life of the people. The majority of Indians live in undesirable conditions with poor access to basic facilities such as sanitation education health facilities etc. This leads to a more direct adverse effect on the environment
and also limits opportunities for a better quality of life.

Impact on Environment: What does this have to do with the environment? Does the number of people influence the well-being of the environment? Does the way people live and what they consume their lifestyle – also determine their impact upon the environment?

Environmental Degradation: consider both – population size and consumption levels: The USA which has only a third of India’s population has a far greater impact on the environment. The environmental impact of 28.1 crore Americans is equivalent to that of 1400 crore Indians at their current levels of consumption. Therefore, while India suffers from ‘people overpopulation’, the USA suffers from ‘consumption overpopulation’. So, when we think of environmental degradation, we have to simultaneously think of population and consumption.

Source: Kandula, Kandula (2004) ‘Population, Consumption and Environment’ in understanding Environment (Kiran B. Chhokar, Mamata Pandya, Meena Raghunathan, editors).
Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd, New Delhi

2010-03-29T22:52:00.000-07:00

Days in the quarter

UN World Population Day, 11 July 2009

This year’s Population day theme ‘Fight Poverty: Educate Girls’ is a chance to build awareness of the importance of educating girls to a wide range of development issues, including poverty, human rights and gender equality. Investments in education and health for women and girls have been linked to increases in productivity, agricultural yields, and national income.

For more information visit:
http://www.unfpa.org/wpd

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, August 9

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is celebrated on August 9 each year to recognize the first UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations meeting in Geneva in 1982. The day aims to strengthen international cooperation for solving problems faced by indigenous peoples in areas such as culture, education, health, human rights, the environment, and social and economic development. This year’s theme focuses on ‘Indigenous Peoples and HIV/AIDS’.

“Indigenous peoples also tend to suffer from the low standards of health associated with poverty, malnutrition, environmental contamination and inadequate healthcare. With that in mind, this year’s observance of the International Day focuses on the threat of HIV/AIDS. It is essential that indigenous peoples have access to the information and infrastructure necessary for detection,
treatment and protection.”

- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, United Nations

For more information visit:
http://www0.un.org/en/events/indigenous/2009/

International Youth Day, 12 August

The day provides an opportunity to focus the world’s attention on issues like education, employment, the environment, health and drug use that are important to young people. This day also provides chance to young people to voice their concerns and encourage them to
continue to contribute to society.

The theme of this year’s International Youth Day – “Sustainability: Our Challenge. Our Future” – is a global call to action for young men and women.

For more information visit:
http://social.un.org/youthyear/

International Literacy Day, September 8

The international literacy day was proclaimed on 8th September 1967, as one of the recommendations of the World Conference of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy, in Tehran, Iran. This years theme ‘the power of literacy’ puts spotlight on the empowering role of literacy and its importance for participation, citizenship and development.

‘Literacy and Empowerment’ is also the theme for the 2009-2010 biennium of the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012).

For more information visit:
http://www.unesco.org/en/literacy/advocacy/ international-literacy-day/

International Day of Democracy, 15 September 2009

On 8 November 2007, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 15 September as the International Day of Democracy, inviting Member States, the United Nations system and other regional, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to commemorate the Day.

This year’s commemoration is the second International Day of Democracy, which provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world.

The ideals of democracy can be made into reality and enjoyed by all only when there is full participation of and support by the international community, the national governing bodies, civil society and individuals.

Democracy is not only an end in itself; it contributes powerfully to economic and social progress, international peace and security and respect for fundamental rights and
freedoms.’
- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, United Nations

For more information visit:
http://www.un.org/en/events/democracyday/index.html

Editorial Vol 15.No.2

2010-03-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

A large population with a low per capita footprint or a small population with a high per capita footprint might mean much the same as far as contribution to climate change goes. But the unequal per capita footprint currently has a major implication for the well-being of people in the first situation. Educators can discuss the debates related to climate change with students using the Joy of Learning Activity in this issue of Education for Change.

Educators of course have to go beyond the current perceived link between energy consumption and standards of living and explore models of sustainability that mean a good life with a small footprint. As is being increasingly recognized, the knowledge, technology and skills already exist to turn around unsustainable development models. The Directory on Community Conserved Areas and other publications profiled in the Resources section provide some examples.

Samrakshan’s Mizoram- field Base is engaged in
conservation education at Saiha, in a variety of ways.

2010-03-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

International Events

The 2009 G8 Summit
8 to 10 July, L’Aquila, Italy

The G8 summit is attended by eight of the world’s most powerful heads of government. 2009 saw representation from 90% of the world’s economy at the Summit from both emerging countries,
Africa and the main International Organizations. The main issues for discussion were:

a response to the global economic and financial crisis
restoration of grassroots confi dence and a boost to growth on a more solid and balanced basis, also through the defi nition of new, shared ground rules for economic activities
a focus on the social aspect of employment, to help the weaker sectors of society both in the industrially advanced countries and in the poorer countries
the struggle against protectionism and the deregulation of world trade for everyone’s benefit
the resolution of regional crises
food security and safety; and
the struggle against climate changes.

For more information visit:
http://www.g8italia2009.it/G8

4th South Asia Renewable Energy Conference
29th July 2009, New Delhi

The Conference aimed to promote renewable energy enterprise development by removing barriers that impede Renewable Energy use. Participants will be able to raise issues, exchange
information, share experiences and best practices. Participation is expected from experts, investors and other stakeholders for promoting renewable energy in our region at a large scale.
Organized by ASSOCHAM with support from the Government of India Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, ACME, TERI, CEE and GTZ and other partners.

For more information visit:
http://www.assocham.org/4asia/

‘Cities and Climate Change: Responding to the Urgent Agenda’
Urban Research Symposium, 28th June - 1st July 2009, France

‘Cities and Climate Change: Responding to the Urgent Agenda’ was the theme for the 5th Urban Research Symposium that took place in Marseille, France. The symposium was co-organized
by the World Bank, the French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning, and the French Agency for Development. The even brought together
over 600 participants from 82 countries and aimed at advancing the research agenda on climate change from a city’s perspective. The meeting focused on:
1. understanding and measuring how cities impact, and are impacted by,
2. climate change; planning effi ciently and effectively to increase the resilience of cities
3. improving management, coordination, and planning of cities to meet climate change challenges
4. understanding how and why cities respond to climate change
5. understanding and reducing vulnerability of urban populations to climate change

As a follow-up to the symposium, a handbook with practical applications of dealing with challenges of CC and cities targeting the decision makers and a collection of research papers are expected to be produced. The collection of research papers target academics and researchers. Both the publications emphasize policy implications, including mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as new options for fi nancing policies and technologies.

For more information visit:
http://www.urs2009.net:80/

Seal the Deal Campaign
The UN-led Seal the Deal Campaign aims to galvanize political will and public support for reaching a comprehensive global climate change agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009. “Seal the Deal” campaign encourages users to sign an online, global petition to seal a fair, balanced and effective agreement on climate change.

This is planned to be presented by civil society to the governments of the world. UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and about 128 staff members have signed the “Seal the Deal” petition on 12th June, UNESCO Staff Day.

On December 7, when governments gather in Copenhagen, Denmark to respond to one of the greatest challenges facing humanity – climate change —the main question will be how protect the planet and create a green economy that will lead to long-term prosperity. Reaching a deal by
the time the meeting ends on December 18 will depend not only on complex political negotiations, but also on public pressure from around the globe.

For more information visit:
http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/

2010-03-17T05:09:00.000-07:00

Resources

Population Education: Resources
Worldmapper is a collection of world maps, using equal area cartograms where territories are re-sized on each map according to a particular variable. For example, one set shows a map with territories in proportion to their land area and another map showing territories in
proportion to their population. The site has maps on variables other than Population as well.
See http://www.worldmapper.org/

Gapminder has videos, Flash presentations and PDF charts showing major global development trends with animated statistics and colorful graphics. See http://www.gapminder.org/

Everything About Population pages from the Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques include animations, documents and fact sheets about population issues. See www.ined.fr/en/everything_about_population/Community

Conserved Areas in India – A Directory
Neema Pathak; Page 811, Price: Rs 500
Community Conserved Areas (CCAs) today are an internationally recognised phenomenon. The directory compiled by Kalpavriksh is the first countrywide compilation and analysis of CCAs. The 800 page directory describes a diversity
of such initiatives, attempting to gain a deeper understanding
of conservation of biological diversity, local livelihoods,
people’s rights and development, through around 140 case
studies across 23 Indian states.

For more information contact:
Kalpavriksh, Apt 5, Shree Dutta Krupa,
908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune- 411004
Ph: 020 – 25675450;E-mail:kvbooks@gmal.com
Website: http://www.kalpavriksh.org/

ESD Currents: Changing Perspectives from the Asia-Pacific

The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development completes 5 years in 2009. The publication is a peep into the past 5 years of the UNDESD in Asia and the pacific region.

ESD Currents consists of a collection of articles from the region, each giving a snapshot of action-oriented activities under the widening umbrella of ESD. The publication shares lessons learned best practices as well as refl ections upon challenges and future possibilities for ESD in the Asia-Pacifi c, in hopes to stimulate discussion for all players as to what the latter half of the ESD
Decade will look like and in what direction we are headed.

For more information and free download visit:
http://www.unescobkk.org/education/esd/resources/ publications/

Indigenous Knowledge and Disaster Risk
Reduction: From Practice to Policy
Editors: Rajib Shaw, Kyoto Univ., Sakyo-Ku, Kyoto, Japan, Anshu Sharma, SEEDS, New Delhi, India and Yukiko Takeuchi, Kyoto Univ.,Kyoto, Japan

The book is for professionals, practitioners, researchers, and graduate students.
Indigenous Knowledge (IK) has been practiced in communities over time. There is news after major disasters on how IK has been effective in the protection of the lives and properties of people and communities.

Some IK has been orally transmitted, and some are documented by local organizations sporadically. People and communities have developed their coping mechanisms over time, which is refl ected in the form of IK.

While many organizations recognize the importance of IK for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), there have been few systematic studies that analyze the principles of IK and its applicability to the modern context. This unique book is one of the fi rst attempts of systematic study of IK in
DRR. The book is a useful reference material for decision making, research, implementation, and documentation.

For more information visit:
www.novapublishers.com

2010-03-17T04:44:00.000-07:00

Herbal Gardens in Schools of Andhra Pradesh

Srinivas Gorantla and Vanitha Kommu, CEE Andhra Pradesh

Suryamashi a std 8th student from B.V & B.N school, Jandrapet, Praksham prepared an ointment from the Kasinda plant that he grew in his school herbal garden. He and D.Chiranjeevi, B.Vinay, N.Umamaheswari, G.Maheshwari, B.Latha, P.Madhu, A.Chinni, G.Sujatha of 6th standard maintain a register of herbs in school.

Students of Gangavarm School have got in touch with a local Ayurvedic medical stores to supply them with plant products for the preparation of medicines.

Mr.Mallaiah, Mr.Dastagiri and Mr.John, the village elders of Inkollu, Prakasam districts regularly interact with school students on the maintenance of the herbal garden.

These are some of the ongoing efforts under the herbal garden project running successfully in 101 schools of Andhra Pradesh. The programme started in 2008 with an objective to sensitise school students on the importance of medicinal plants in daily life and to involve local communities in developing herbal gardens. Centre for Environment Education (CEE) with support from National
Medicinal Plants Board and AP Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Board (AMAPB) is running the programme in all 23 districts of the state. The project operates with CEE’s existing set up of EESAP clusters, i.e., school and NGO linkages. The schools were selected on the basis of:
• Willingness of schools to develop a herbal garden
• Presence of the compound wall and water facility throughout the year
• Availability of about 1000 sq. of land in the school for developing herbal gardens and owned by the school.

An NGO was involved in each district to provide assistance for developing the herbal gardens and facilitate the project.

The process
Orientation workshop to NGOs
CEE began the programme with a two-day orientation workshop for NGO representatives to the concept of herbal garden project and its management. It also focussed on the content of the teachers’ manual developed specifically for the project. Participants were provided with seeds
of ten plant species five each from CEE and the forest department. This team was now ready to orient school teachers further on the implementation of the project.

Teacher training programme
The representatives from 12 NGOs after going back to their respective regions organised a training programme for the selected teachers of their cluster. The teachers were introduced to the project, implementation process and explained about the expected outcomes. During the
programme, the participants were provided with a set of teachers manual and 10 different herbal plants (saplings / seeds).

As part of the training programme, participatory garden planning exercises were performed in school with the involvement of the community. The planning exercise dealt with the entire range of activities like initiation to the maintenance and management. The garden development was initiated on the same day of the training with the participation of the community, teachers and the
students.

Once the NGO and teachers training was completed, the NGO representative from each district, the school teachers and students along with the community members got involved in clearing and preparing the land for cultivation.

Preparations for gardens and taking care of saplings
A single stretch of land was preferred for the gardens. In some places schools also managed with small patches based on availability of land. Also it was ensured in the beginning that the land used for the garden was not a play ground and was not planned for any other use like sanitation or construction.

In some areas the community helped by lending their tractors and bullock carts for land preparation while in other areas the students were allowed to use the public tank for watering the plants. The partner NGOs collaborated with the forest dept nursery to procure saplings for the gardens. The partners also encouraged organic farming by providing the vermi compost to all the project schools.

Nursery beds were prepared and fencing was done with naturally available material like thorny bushes, dry sticks etc. Seeds were sown in these beds. The beds were prepared keeping in mind both annual / biannual herbal plants like Tulasi, Senna, Nelavemu and Ashwagandha. Special care
was required for plants like tulsi, whose seeds were sown not more than 2 inches deep and approximately after 45 days of sowing the seeds, saplings were transplanted.

Care was taken to transplant Usiri, Neredu, Velaga and Vepa saplings at a distance of 4 mts and at a depth of 2 ½ - 3 ft. Suckers like Aloe vera were transplanted at a distance of 45-90 cms. Big trees were planted at a distance of 4 meters with small herbs in between.

Garden management
One teacher from each school was appointed as in-charge for the development of herbal garden. The head master / principal acted as the chairperson. The in-charge teacher, head master and the students formed a committee to manage the gardens. The teacher, a few students and other members of the committee looked after aspects like fencing, protection from pests, insects and animals, irrigation, harvesting, storage and using the yield. In some schools, each student was given responsibility of one plant.

Monitoring visits to schools
Monitoring visits to each school were undertaken by CEE to provide any required inputs to the teachers and students in developing and maintaining the gardens. Teachers and students got an opportunity to share their technical and financial problems during these visits.

Teacher’s manual on developing Herbal gardens

In order to familiarise the teachers with the setting up of and nurturing the herbal plants, a guidebook was developed by CEE. The teachers’ manual comprised of the information on commonly available medicinal plants like Tulasi, Senna, Nelavemu, Ashwagandha, Neem etc., along with technical details such as the distance to be maintained while transplanting / sowing, irrigation methods, pest protection, harvesting and usage of the plants as medicines. The manual was developed to help:
• Teachers and students to study and acquire basic knowledge of medicinal plants available locally.
• Learn to understand and protect plants in their original habitat without being exploited.
• Help students recognise at least 10 species of herbal plants, their useful parts and use.

Once the gardens were established, students nurtured and cared for the plants. Information boards were prepared by students giving details on the plant name, parts used and its medicinal use. They learnt about plant cycles, their fruiting and flowering seasons, medicinal parts being used, their use etc. Students got an opportunity to learn and understand about local medicinal plants from the
teachers, elders, NGO representatives and their friends. To share these year-long learnings with the wider community herbal garden event was organised at the year end.

The event was an opportunity to display products/plants and disseminate the knowledge and skills gained by the students to others. There was a sharing of experiences and knowledge where the suggestions and opinions of the visitors were taken into consideration for the betterment of the gardens and proper usage of herbal plants.

The medicinal plants were planted in free spaces available on the school campus.

Looking at the success of the herbal gardens, the AP Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Board approached CEE to focus on Amla plantation in these schools and spread awareness on medicinal values and benefits of the plant. Each school has been given about 50 saplings to grow on their campus. The plantation activity is currently underway at the schools.

Appropriate distance was maintained between two saplings depending on the plant type in order to help it grow

For more information contact:
Centre for Environment Education
Andhra Pradesh State Office
6-3-348/2, I Floor, Dwarakapuri colony,
Panjagutta, Hyderabad – 500 482
Phone: (040) 23352596 Fax: (040) 23352586
E-mail: ceeandhrapradesh@ceeindia.org

2010-03-17T04:43:00.001-07:00

In this issue
It’s the half-way mark for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. A three day
World Conference was organized in Bonn in April 2009 to highlight the relevance of ESD to all
of education; promote international exchange on ESD, especially between countries of the North
and the South; carry out a stock-taking of the implementation of the UN Decade, and develop
strategies for the way ahead. The conference, titled ‘Moving into the Second Half of the UN Decade’, was organized by UNESCO and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, in cooperation with the German Commission for UNESCO.

The conference’s final declaration recognized that the knowledge, technology and skills already exist to turn around unsustainable development models. It is now imperative for developing and developed countries, civil society and international organisations to act to bring about long-term change. The proceedings of the Bonn Conference on ESD are available at http://www.esd-world-conference-2009.org/

While education must help people with large footprints change their lifestyles, education must
also empower young people to improve their quality of life and access to self-reliant healthcare
and nutrition. This issue of Education for Change describes a school medicinal garden project
in Andhra Pradesh which could be a small step towards this goal.

“ESD emphasises creative and critical approaches, long-term thinking, innovation and empowerment for dealing with uncertainty, and for solving complex problems.- Bonn Declaration, UNESCO World Conference on ESD, 2009”

2010-03-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

Resources

Schools Water Portal
The Schools Water Portal is a unique platform for educators, students and school management to share learning resources on water. The portal is part of the India Water portal. The portal contains several colourful presentations, plays, debate topics, quizzes, poems and jingles all with water as the focal theme. The busy teacher could use these for enlivening the class, or ease an otherwise difficult topic. All these materials follow the set syllabus, and are free to download. Students can search for project ideas, and watch videos of student projects. The Principals corner is for proactive school management interested in conducting a water audit or implementing a rainwater harvesting system in their schools. Some links on the site:
Activities: Several hands-on activities on science and geography concepts, are available on the link. These can be conducted either in class or at a water site.
Case studies: the section highlights, small initiatives taken up by school students/community that help conserve water.
Project ideas: This section focuses on projects that students can work on to get a better understanding of our environment. Three types of projects are outlined in this section – descriptive,
scientific and implementation of solutions. Some of these projects have been suggested by water experts while others are projects that students have worked on.

Announcements: Children can know about and participate in national and international competitions.
Water week: The link has water related quiz, plays, jingles, poems, acitivites, debate, guest lectures etc.

For more information visit: http://schools.indiawaterportal.org

MA in Education for Sustainable Development, York University

The MA course in Education for Sustainable development being offered by York University, UK is aimed at any teacher who is doing something in the area of sustainability, either in the classroom,
through seeking Eco-School status or in its relations with the local community, or through any of the 8 doorways policy framework for shcools into becoming a sustainable school. ‘Sustainability’ is
interpreted broadly to include participation, global citizenship as well as environmental issues such as energy and water, buildings and grounds, travel and transport, purchasing and waste, food and drink.

It is available as a part-time course. Practitioners in education and related areas can undertake a piece of research over a two year period.

In the first term participants attend 8 evening lectures on research methods at York. They are allocated a supervisor and over the next year and a half investigate their chosen area and write a
dissertation. This leads to an MA in Education by Research.

For more information visit:
http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/educ/gsp/maesd.htm
E-mail: jp24@york.ac.uk

Centre for Excellence on Animals and Environment
The Ministry of Environment and Forest in April 2009 declared Centre for Animals and Environment as a Centre of Excellence for animals and environment. The main objectives of the newly appointed Centre are:
• to foster the Man-Animal-Nature relationship
• prevention of cruelty to animals
• protection of environment from pollution
• conservation of ecology
• inculcation of spiritual values in our approach to animals and nature
• promoting vegetarianism and animal welfare work.

For more information contact:
Centre for Animals and Environment,

CARTMAN, Koramangala, 6th Block, Bangalore – 550 095, Karnataka
Phone: 080 25530304; E-mail: indheritage@hotmail

2010-03-17T04:42:00.000-07:00

Days in the quarter

World Health Day, 7th April
Theme: Save lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies World Health Day 2009 focuses on the safety of health facilities and the readiness of health workers to treat emergencies. Health centres and staff are critical lifelines for vulnerable people in disasters - treating injuries, preventing illnesses and caring for people’s health needs. Often, already fragile health systems are unable to keep functioning through a disaster, with immediate and future public health consequences.
This year, WHO and international partners are underscoring the importance of investing in health infrastructure that can withstand hazards and serve people in immediate need. They are also urging health facilities to implement systems to respond to internal emergencies, such as fires,
and ensure the continuity of care.

International Day of Families, 14 May
Theme: Mothers and Families: Challenges in a Changing World

The day focuses on the important role of mothers for families and communities around the world. It aims to highlight the critical role of mothers in a family towards social cohesion, as a care giver and bread winner, and their plight in the society and continuity to face major – and even life threatening – challenges in motherhood. The year aims to focus on:
Childbirth: aim to provide safer pregnancy and childbirth, enabling health systems to provide family planning, skilled attendance at birth and emergency obstetric care.
Violence against women: ending and preventing violence against women as a key priority for all countries.
Universal access to education: The benefits of educating women and girls accrue not only to individual families but to whole countries, unlocking the potential of women to contribute to broader development efforts.

Besides these measures the day also focuses on the need to expand family-friendly policies and services, such as child care centres, that would reduce some of the workload placed on women. Women and men alike need stronger public support to share equally in work and family responsibilities. Families built on the recognition of equality between women and men will contribute to more stable and productive societies.

For more information visit:
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/family/idf09.html

World Environment Day, 5 June
Theme: Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change’

Established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, the world environment day (WED) is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.

The day’s agenda is to:

Give a human face to environmental issues;
Empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development
Promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues
Advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future. The theme for WED 2009 reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.

For more information visit:
http://www.unep.org/wed/2009

World Ocean Day, 8 June
Theme: Our Oceans, Our Responsibility
The oceans are essential to food security and the health and survival of all life, power our climate and are a critical part of the biosphere. The official designation of World Oceans Day is an opportunity to raise global awareness of the current challenges faced by the international
community in connection with the oceans.

For more information visit:
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/reference_files/
worldoceansday.htm

2010-03-17T04:37:00.000-07:00

International Events

Mid-term Review of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
31st March - 2nd April 2009, Bonn, Germany

This conference Conference on Education for Sustainable Development represented UNESCO mid-term review of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The conference was organized by UNESCO and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, in cooperation with the German Commission for UNESCO.

The conference brought together nearly 900 participants – including over 50 ministers and deputy ministers – to exchange best practices on Education for Sustainable Development and
implementation of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UN-DESD) from all world regions. Key objectives of the conference included:
• highlighting the relevance of ESD to all of education;
• promoting international exchange on ESD, especially between the North and the South;
• carrying out a stock-taking of the implementation of the UNDESD; and
• developing strategies for the way ahead.

In addition, participants discussed regional, national, and cultural differences as well as challenges in the implementation of the UN-DESD. At the end of the conference, Member States adopted a declaration, referred to as The Bonn Declaration, reflecting the debates and proposing guidelines for the implementation of the UN-DESD in its second half.

For more information visit:
http://www.esd-world-conference-2009.org/en/home.html.

During this Conference an Earth Charter Special Event entitled ‘Integrating the values and principles of sustainability into education; the promise of the Earth Charter’ was held on
Thursday, 2 April 2009. This special event was built on the overall goal of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development which seeks to integrate the principles, values and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning and on the 2003 resolution adopted by UNESCO which ‘recognizes the Earth Charter as an important ethical framework for sustainable development.’ A guide for using Earth Charter in Education was launched.

For more information on The Earth Charter visit:
http://www.earthcharterinaction.org

The Forgotten Priority: Promoting Gender Equality in ESD
Another event held at the same conference on 2nd April was ‘The Forgotten Priority: Promoting Gender Equality in ESD’. The event was a forum for participants to discuss activities, best practices, and challenges, and suggested recommendations in promoting gender equality in ESD. The discussions centered on the need to highlight synergies between gender equality and sustainability at the policy level and in educational practices. The conference ended with participants recommending following action plans to be implemented at the national and local level:
• raising awareness on gender roles and their impact as early as possible, starting preferably in early childhood education, so as to sensitize students’ later learning experiences;
• mainstreaming gender into ESD at all levels of education, especially into teacher training, teacher in-service training, and university lecturer training;
• and linking gender issues in ESD with the wider social context, including topics such as
• ethnicity, socio-cultural background, and race.

For more information visit:
http://www.esd-world-conference-2009.org/en/specialevents/
2-april-2009.html#c2126.

The Bonn Declaration stresses that Education for Sustainable Development needs to be based on values of justice, equity, tolerance etc. It also recognizes that the progress of ESD remains unevenly distributed and requires different approaches in different contexts.For full text visit: www.esd-world-conference-2009.org

5th World Environmental Education Conference
10-14 May 2009, Montreal

“Earth as our common home” was the vision for the 5th World Environmental Education Congress that was held from 10-14th May in Montreal. The Congress gave nearly 2,200 stakeholders from 106 different countries the opportunity to join forces in exploring new ways by which we can better live together in our schools and institutions, our neighbourhoods and businesses, our cities, towns and regions, in short, on Earth, our common home. It was a journey of discovery that allowed them to share knowledge on best practices, chart new and promising paths for political action and celebrate the plethora of approaches to environmental education.

For more information visit:
http://www.5weec.uqam.ca/EN/

2010-03-17T03:46:00.000-07:00

Joy of Learning

A journey during spring towards environment education

A set of ideas for activities which may be developed for various standards by teachers.

Goal: Developing sensitivity and understanding about the immediate environment

Objective: To learn about the environment through seasonal changes.

Method and approach: Learning with the help of various subjects and approaches.

Subject: Palash (Dhak, Chila, Flame of the Forest; Scientific name – Butea monosperma) flowering during spring.

Introduction
Spring is the season for the holi festival. It is also the season for the flowering of Palash. Its beautiful orange-red flowers appear during the same time.

Concepts and activities

Artificial colours are harmful for skin, hair and eyes. There is a long tradition of developing colours from minerals, flowers, bark and seeds (research needs to be done in library and on the internet for a few examples)

Palash flowers are beautiful (this needs to be appreciated through observation of a single flower nd the whole tree in flower). The tree is also known as the Flame-of-the-Forest (the petals are shaped like flames and the sepals are black/dark green in colour like coal!). The tree and individual flowers may be drawn during art class

Holi colour may easily be made by soaking dry flowers in water overnight. On the next day the water may be boiled with flowers to produce the water colour (craft activity). Only dry flowers that have fallen on the ground should be picked up and utmost care should be taken that ants and other insects are not picked up, if these are present then they should be removed by dropping the flower on ground a few times. This care will help in developing sensitivity towards environment

The resultant water colour may be used for playing Holi! (social activity)

This water colour is an excellent natural moisturizer which does not harm skin adversely (some oher examples of natural and artificial moisturizer may be searched and the information given to students. They may be asked about the origin of Vaseline).

The next step is observation of the tree with flowers. A binocular, a bird field guide and a person who has a basic knowledge of birds will be useful for the activity. Birds, animals and insects are attracted towards the nectar found at the base of petals (Botany). Birds like sunbird, Rosy Pastor (a migrant and related to Mynas), various other species of resident Mynas, Tailor bird etc. may be seen on the tree during flowering season. Many insects, reptiles and mammals also visit the flowering tree (Zoology). Students should make notes of their observations. Children may estimate the number of flowers on the tree (Maths). Their observations should lead to an understanding of the various linkages of the tree.

Tree – flower – birds – pollination - seeds

Tree - soil - water - sunlight – growth

Tree – flower – water colour – social activity -natural moisturizer

Needs of the tree – needs of the animals dependent on the tree - Our needs (The tree also
provides an excellent gum).

If the tree is cut for wood then we will lose flowers, gum and.......

This is also the right time for starting the process of making its saplings (gardening) so that the saplings will be ready by Monsoon for planting.

Performing arts presentation may be done by the students around the tree.

Concept and text developed by Santosh Gupta, Centre for Environment Education
E-mail: santosh.gupta@ceeindia.org

2009-07-21T04:08:00.001-07:00

Education and Participation Help Conserve the Dal Lake

Rashmi Gangwar, Centre for Environment Education

Dal Lake: the Pride of Kashmir
Dal Lake, is a Himalayan urban lake, famous for its pristine beauty. It harbours a rich biodiversity of plants and animals. There is a very rich presence of birds. Several migratory bird species arrive every year. A variety of fish are found in the Lake, some are rare and endangered ones. Referred
to as ‘Heaven on Earth’, Dal Lake is a favourite tourist destination. It attracts thousands of tourists every year. Shikaras or houseboats are a major attraction to enjoy the pristine beauty of the Kashmir valley while living on the Lake. The Dal Lake is also one of only very few water bodies in the world having permanent human settlements within its confi nes. It is an important source of livelihood for above 60,000 local people residing in 125 hamlets, 602 houseboats and 272 doongas (smaller boats for ferrying people and goods) though the services like tourism, water sports, fi shery, cultivation of vegetables on the ‘floating gardens, providing a variety of products like lotus seeds and rhizomes, vegetables and fruits etc. Many aquatic plants growing in the lake are used as food, fodder and compost for agricultural fi elds. Lotus grows abundantly. The lotus rhizomes are harvested and sold for use as a vegetable and fetch a good price.

There are many old buildings having rich traditional architecture. The life in the interiors of the Lake depicts a live picture of the rich traditional skills like carpet weaving, embroidery, paper mashie, arts and crafts etc. The Water of the Lake is supplied for drinking and other domestic purposes to some Srinagar localities. The Lake is also a sink for the sewage from human settlements in and
around it.

Major Threats
Due to rapid and unplanned urbanization, large quantities of untreated sewage are discharged in the lake water, which might pose health problems in the near future. The unhealthy infl ux of nutrients in the form of sewage mostly comprising of nitrogen and phosphorus acts as a superfertilizer.
This results in an explosive growth of duckweed, water ferns, and algae that eventually deplete the oxygen of water vital to fi sh and other aquatic life. Eutrophication or excessive weed growth is prevalent throughout the lake.

Large peripheral areas have been reclaimed and converted into floating gardens. Expanding agriculture in the Dal catchment area also contributes serious levels of fertilizer and other agricultural chemicals through run-off. Rapid deforestation in catchment area of the Lake has accelerated soil erosion. Over 80,000 tons of silt are deposited in the Lake each year despite the siltation tanks constructed by J&K Lakes and Waterways Development Authority.

The Lake drainage system is clogged with little wind to aerate the water and the result researchers refer it as ‘a Lake in peril’. The anthropogenic factors have resulted in astonishing shrinking of the Lake from 24 to 11.41 square kilometers in the past 50 years. Experts predict that if pollution in lake continues at the same rate it will perish
within next few years.

Impact of Pollution in Dal Lake on the Lives of People

Sringar, the summer capital of Jammu & Kashmir state although surrounded by lakes, streams, rivers and mountains faces shortage of a clean drinking water supply for domestic use! An appallingly high infant mortality of 1 in 5 due to common water borne infectious diseases is directly related to unclean water supplies throughout the valley. Forty percent of all illnesses are related to polluted water supplies, resulting into frequent outbreaks of ineffective hepatitis, gastroenteritis, poliomyelitis, typhoid and cholera.

Designing an Educational Intervention
A survey found that 90 percent of the lake residents were not fully aware that they were contributing to the degradation of Lake. CEE initiated an educational initiative with a view to focus attention of the local people and other stakeholders on the status of the Lake, the practices and systems contributing to the deterioration and possible ways to address the deterioration.

The school system was considered on priority to strengthen ongoing Dal Lake conservation efforts of the local government. The programme also involved community members including, boatmen, women, religious leaders and youth.

The School Programme
With support from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, CEE Himalaya initiated the Dal Lake Conservation through Education programme in 2004.
Twelve schools from within the Lake and eight from the main catchement area of Dal Lake were chosen to begin with. Principals/Head Masters of these schools were oriented about the need for and simple ways of lake conservation. Local leaders, government officials, J&K Lakes and Waterways Development Authority and academicians were also involved in the process. It was
observed that the children and their parents living in the Dal lake, interacting with Lake environment day and night and earning their livelihood from it do not have anything about Dal lake environment in their syllabus and curriculum. To supplement the curriculum and make school education locally relevant, some educational material was developed for both teachers and students.

For teachers a resource book on Dal Lake, the related aquatic environment and water quality monitoring has been developed. The students’ book contains ideas for small scale conservation projects in their schools and locality to contribute their bits to keep lake clean.

Eco-clubs were formed in each school. The teachers in charge of the eco-clubs were trained in organising students, maintaining records and accounts, writing reports and conducting ecoclub activities. Methods of monitoring the local environment and to understand pollution in the Lake were explained in great detail. CEE’s portable water quality monitoring kit was used and demonstrated
for monitoring physical characteristics like odor, colour, suspended particles, pH, hardness, dissolved oxygen etc. In addition, the relationship of biodiversity, solid and liquid wastes to the health of the lake was discussed.

Teachers were guided to produce their own locale specific education material and to facilitate real life learning for the students. Small scale conservation projects were designed with the help of teachers through which the students could study the threats to the Lake and think about solutions.
The students collected local environmental status data such as on water quality and solid waste. This helped the students as well as the larger community understand the damage to the Lake much more vividly. This also inspired them to take corrective measures that were easy and possible for them. Some Student Activities

The things we eat (the contribution of the Lake to the local diet)
Algal Bloom (to understand lake pollution)
Biodiversity Register of Dal Lake (richness of biodiversity the Lake harbours, demographic changes in recent years, local fi sh, fruits losing out to exotic ones)
Let’s Make a Dustbin (red and green coloured) (demonstrated segregation of solid waste and its proper disposal)
Drop of water (explained the value and availability of water and fresh water being so scarce on earth)
Filter your own water (demonstrated purifi cation of water through simple, low cost methods promoting hygiene and avoiding water borne diseases)
Making a Compost pit (to teach proper disposal of wet waste, how to reduce waste to be disposed off and making good use of it in kitchen gardens)
Water Use Chart-Let’s Calculate!(promoting conservation of water and avoiding its misuse and wastage)
Waste segregation into biodegradable and nonbiodegradable, paper recycling
What’s the news? (advocacy of important environmental issues) Who am I? (demonstrating interactive and interesting way of teaching and learning)
Seed Bank (about local crops and richness of varieties and their importance)
Reach out to the Community (creating awareness and seeking community participation in improving quality of environment and quality of life of people)
Convincing the Tourist (promoting environment friendly tourism, providing tourists simple dos and don’ts)

Community Awareness Programme
A number of formal and informal meetings were done with the local community including, boatmen, women, religious leaders and youth etc. about the deterioration of Dal Lake and its impact on the quality of life of the people living in the Lake. Dal-dwellers recognise Dal Lake as their cultural
heritage and were unhappy with the government policies and initiatives for conservation of the Lake.

The discussions highlighted the direct relationship between deterioration in Dal Lake and the livelihoods of people. Citizens expressed their anxiety on Dal Lake being used as sewage disposal site for Srinagar city. Other issues like rehabilitation of people in the city and poor infrastructure facilities for the Dal Lake inhabitants emerged during the meetings. People shared how clean the water of Dal Lake used to be some years ago that it was being used for drinking.
They agreed that infl ow of untreated sewage into the lake was one of the major causes for its deterioration.

In addition, awareness programme on the impact of using polluted water on the health of community, the need for sanitation and personal hygiene were done with the help of J&K Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Srinagar. Health camps organized focus on educating the people about the need for keeping the lake clean and that the outbreak of various diseases is due to polluted water.

Besides local NGOs, concerned government departments like J&K Lakes & Waterways Development Authority (LWDA), Department of Education, Forests and Wildlife, State Pollution Control Board, Tourism etc. were involved in the programme implementation.

Women and adolescent girls living in the Lake are important stakeholders in the management and conservation of the Lake. With support from the Mridula Sarabhai Foundation, a project titled “Women’s Participation in Dal Lake Conservation through Environmental Awareness and Appropriate Technology Demonstration” was taken up. This support helped in addressing sanitation, health and hygiene issues of women and adolescent girls to some extent, through awareness programmes and health camps.

Citizens also expressed the need for more dustbins and for more frequent clearance of dustbins. Awareness campaigns were done to bring about an understanding about techniques of domestic waste minimisation and management through segregation and composting. The consequences of direct disposal of solid waste and sewage into the Lake on water quality were described.

Local NGOs have become interested in waste management programmes in the confi nes of Lake. The LWDA has now arranged door to door collection of household waste which is brought outside the Lake and taken to the municipal dump site. Dustbins have been installed at suitable places
and people are encouraged to use them and to not litter the Lake and surroundings. Use of plastic carry bags is banned in the Lake area. People are now using dustbins provided by the local administration, thereby reducing the direct disposal of solid waste into the lake.

For more information contact:
Abdhesh Gangwar
CEE Himalaya
Kanli Bagh, Baba Rishi Road, Baramulla
Jammu & Kashmir 193 101
Ph: 095-2210440, 095-2235695
E-mail: abdhesh.gangwar@ceeindia.org
Website: www.ceehimalaya.org

2009-07-21T03:42:00.000-07:00

Prakriti Environment Education Bus
Gopal Kumar Jain and Keren Nazareth, Centre for Environment Education

The green bus with its vibrantly painted exterior is now a familiar sight in Ahmedabad, Surat, Bharuch, Gandhinagar, Vadodara, Tapi and many other places around Gujarat.

The idea for such a bus came fi ve years ago from the Club of Youth Working for the Environment (CYWEN). They felt:
• Young people could be Environment Educators

• Young people need resources to carry out awareness programme

CEE started to explore concept of a mobile resource centre – Prakriti Environment Education Bus – with support from BG India and Gujarat Gas Company Limited (GGCL). The content and communication design was decided through discussions with teachers, youth, educationists etc.

Prakriti was launched in September 2005 by Shri Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat in Gandhinagar. The launch began an era of CNG as well as accessible environment education beginning with the districts of Ahmedabad, Surat and Bharuch.

The Bus Structure
The bus is built on a Swaraj Mazda chassis and it runs Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). The sides have been modifi ed to make information panels. While the bus is moving, these sections are closed and covered by glass shutters. The side panels have:

A collage featuring people, lifestyle and places (cultural heritage) of Gujarat appears on one side of the bus Panels on natural heritage highlighting the richness of biodiversity.

The back of the bus is used to display 3D models and to screen fi lms. The bus carries with it a screen, speakers, LCD projector, generator, computer system and a public address (PA)system.

The bus is a one stop-shop for environment education. Users can set up an exhibition, activities, games, film shows, demonstrations, puppet-shows and conduct group discussions. Reference resource materials on various issues are also placed inside the bus, for those interested in more
details on any particular issue.

Prakriti Visits and Partnerships Having created the bus, the next step was to organize its
visits, mainly to areas where access was limited or existing systems had not been able to reach.
CYWEN chose to partner with local organisation working with youth: Nature Club Surat and the Nehru Yuva Kendra, Bharuch. Both these local partners have a strong youth volunteer base and youth were trained and oriented to carry out Prakriti programmes in their respective districts.

The first point of entry of the bus was through rural and urban schools. Over the years this expanded to events, programmes organised by groups, companies, corporate social responsibility projects, colleges and schools in neighbouring districts such as Gandhinagar, Tapi, and Vadodara.

A typical activity includes the bus exhibition, games, activities, fi lm shows, demonstrations and discussions. All these require well grounded, patient and enthusiastic individuals. The core team comprises one programme staff, one project staff, two interns, and the most important member, the driver of the bus. The strength of the Prakriti bus is its core team and the volunteers that help organise and carry out events.

Prakriti works on strengthening existing forums and platforms by providing resources, support, guidance and expertise over a period of time, to help such forums conduct their activities more effectively.

Prakriti also reaches out to schools through the eco-clubs set up and run as a part of the National Green Corps programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Eco-clubs have taken up the issues of health, biodiversity, plastic management, renewable energy, herbal medicines and plants, deforestation, noise pollution in their yearly projects.

Prakriti Projects
Projects have been undertaken by schools on concerns in their immediate environment. One such issue focussed is biodiversity. Projects include those on Spiders, Birds, Mosquitoes and their impact on health; medicinal plants and how they can be used to make home remedies for various ailments. A school in Surat has also done a survey on the types of trees in Surat city. “The children
interviewed doctors from the local hospital to get their expert advice on the types of mosquitoes, their life cycle and the diseases they cause.” Eco-club teacher, Bharuch “The children were shocked to fi nd out the number of birds that had either gone extinct or were on the verge of
extinction in their areas.” Eco-club teacher, Bharuch.

Few eco-club Prakriti schools focussed on maintaining the greenery on the school grounds and also cultivated green patches with fl owering plants; vegetable plants and medicinal plants. Two schools have initiated the practice of giving children from the eco-clubs saplings to plant in
their homes and take care of them. “We do a continuous follow up with the children as to how their plants are faring. Those who don’t have space around their houses, we’ve given them potted plants.” Principal of Anjuman-EIslam High School, Ahmedabad.

At the end of the year an event which brings together the entire year’s learning, partners, ollaborators, groups of youth and children is organised. It is a meeting of ideas, innovation, creativity and a platform to share and learn from the experiences of the students, teachers and youth volunteers. The event is held either at a district level or at the State level and has competitions, presentations, training sessions, workshops, cultural programmes, bird watching sessions and other excursions. The event also provides an opportunity for the Prakriti
team to evaluate the year gone by and plan for the up coming year.

Prakriti’s programmes have evolved over the last three years from generic outreach to all NGC schools to a more focussed one with selected schools that are interested in collaborating with Prakriti.

Prakriti has also collaborated with the Gujarat Paguthan Energy Corporation (GPEC), for their CSR programme in ten villages in Bharuch. In the past year (2008) Prakriti focused on “Ecofriendly festivals” to convey the impacts of synthetic colours used during holi on health and the
environment, while also providing an option of organic colours. During the last three years, over 100 youth particularly from the three project districts have been involved as educators for conducting programmes. For these young people, engagement with Prakriti was a good learning experience.
Using the Prakriti experience, a youth organisation in Vallabhvidyanagar has initiated its own resource centre. Nature Club Surat too is developing a programme to provide opportunities for youth to play the role of educators. Resource centres such as these are good tools for environment education.

For more information contact:
Gopal Jain
Centre for Environment Education
Nehru Foundation for Development
Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad 380054
Ph: 079 26858002; Fax: 079 26858010
Email: gopal.jain@ceeindia.org

Prakriti used innovative media to disseminate information on environment and create awareness among the target audience. These included panel exhibitions, quiz competition, games and activities, interactive models, activities, fi lms and slide shows, puppet shows, role plays and printed material such as activity manuals, posters, pamphlets and brochures.

2009-07-21T02:54:00.000-07:00

Reports and Announcements

World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development
31 March - 2 April 2009, Bonn, Germany

Five years into the Decade, the conference at Germany followed four objectives:

To highlight the essential contribution of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to all of education and to achieving quality education
To promote international exchange on ESD
To carry out a stock-taking of DESD implementation
To develop strategies for the way ahead

The conference, attended by participants from 150 countries exchanged best practices on Education for Sustainable Development from all world regions. The participants developed mechanisms for enhanced cooperation in the implementation of the UN Decade, especially focusing on the exchange between developing countries, those in transition and industrialized countries.

At the end of the conference, a declaration reflecting the debates and proposing guidelines for the implementation of the UN Decade was adopted. The conference was organised by UNESCO and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, in cooperation with the German Commission for UNESCO.

For more information visit:
http://www.esd-world-conference-2009.org/

2010 International Year of Biodiversity
Highlights from the statement of Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, at the occasion of the DPI Briefi ng for the community of NGOs on Biodiversity - The Basis for Human Well-Being: Celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010

Call for Assistance in Enhancing Public Awareness We need your assistance with increasing public awareness of the importance of biodiversity. We need your assistance to ensure that environmental issues become a core component of decision making across a variety of sectors.
We also need you to help us to integrate out work across a variety of issue areas.

Biodiversity loss is not a stand alone problem and cannot be tackled through separate initiatives that merely target species lost as an issue separate from poverty, climate change, water scarcity, growth in demand, development, confl ict, and the many other challenges that face our world. Civil society can act to support these efforts – to provide support, advice and vigilance such that they continue. There is increasing recognition that the true value of biodiversity and the services provided by ecosystems must be refl ected in our economies.

It is hoped that the study on the ‘The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB), led by Mr Pavan Sukhdev, will provide the rationale for the gradual internalization of the costs of biodiversity loss and other environmental degradation into our accounts.

Civil society organizations can support this, provide research, and examples of “green success stories” for 2010, which can demonstrate the validity of these approaches. In this climate of economic crisis, we all need to identify opportunities for major shifts towards a green economy
as UNEP is proposing. The International Year offers you an opportunity to highlight the relationship between biodiversity and a number of other issues and influence the international agenda in 2010 and beyond.

For more information visit:
http://www.cbd.int/doc/speech/2009/sp-2009-04-30-dpi-en.pdf

How BD contributes and extent of degradation
By the year 2000, only about 73% of the original global natural biodiversity was left. The strongest declines have occurred in the temperate and tropical grasslands and forests, where human civilizations fi rst developed. In the last 300 years, the global forest area has shrunk by approximately 40 per cent. Forests have completely disappeared in 25 countries, and another 29 countries have lost more than 90 per cent of their forest cover. Since 1900, the world has lost about 50% of its wetlands. Half of wild marine fi sheries are fully exploited, with a further quarter already overexploited. A striking aspect of the consequences of biodiversity loss is their disproportionate but unrecognized impact on the poor. For instance, if climate change resulted in a drought that halved the income of the poorest of the 28 million Ethiopians, this would barely register on the global balance sheet – world GDP would fall by less than 0.003%.

2009-07-21T02:18:00.000-07:00

Research Abstracts

Blaming cities for climate change? An analysis of urban greenhouse gas emissions inventories

David Dodman, IIED, 3 Endsleigh Street, London WC1H 0DD; david.dodman@iied.org

Cities are often blamed for high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. However, an analysis of emissions inventories shows that — in most cases — per capita emissions from
cities are lower than the average for the countries in which they are located. The paper assesses these patterns of emissions by city and by sector, discusses the implications of different methodological approaches to producing inventories, identifi es the main drivers for high
levels of greenhouse gas production, and examines the role and potential for cities to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 21, No. 1, 185-201 (2009)
http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/21/1/185

“This is no longer the city I once knew” Evictions, the urban poor and the right to the city in millennial Delhi
Gautam Bhan, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, gbhan@berkeley.edu

Between 1990 and 2003, 51,461 houses were demolished in Delhi under “slum clearance” schemes. Between 2004 and 2007 alone, at least 45,000 homes were demolished, and since 2007, eviction notices have been served on at least three other large settlements. Fewer than 25 per cent of the households evicted in this period have received any alternative resettlement sites. These evictions represent a shift not just in degree but also in kind. They were not ordered by the city’s planning agency, its municipal bodies or by the city government. Instead, each was the result of a judicial ruling. What has this emergence of the judiciary into urban planning and government meant for the urban poor? This paper analyzes the dictums of verdicts on evictions in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India from 1985 to 2006. Using these judgments, it explores
the “misrecognition” of poor that became dramatically apparent in the early 1990s and that underlies and justifies evictions. This shift is then located in the larger political, economic and aesthetic transformations that are reconfiguring the politics of public interest in Indian cities.

Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 21, No. 1, 127-142 (2009)
http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/21/1/127

A tale of two wards: political participation and the urban poor in Dhaka city
Nicola Banks, University of Manchester, nicolabanks@gmail.com

This paper investigates the extent of political participation of the urban poor in Dhaka, identifying the actors with whom the urban poor interact for problem solving and gaining access to services. Through a comparison of different experiences of “active” and “non-active” poor residents across two wards, the research identifies barriers to effective political participation; it then considers how
opportunities for participation can be advanced. The experience of the Coalition for the Urban Poor’s Basti Basheer Odhikar Surakha Committee illustrates how collective mobilization of the poor has been successful in incorporating the urban poor into municipal governance. Alongside its successes, the research also investigates constraints to such initiatives in terms of securing national commitment to urban poverty reduction.

Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 20,No.2,361-376 (2008)
http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/20/2/361

Between Constructivism and Connectedness
Mordechai Gordon, Quinnipiac University; mordechai.gordon@quinnipiac.edu

Parker Palmer is correct in his claims that good teaching depends more on capacity for connectedness than on technique and that helping teacher candidates cultivate a strong sense of personal identity is crucial. To whatextent are Palmer’s claims compatible with the various
constructivist models of learning that are now prevalent in many colleges of education? And, how are the goals of Palmer’s approach integrated with those of constructivism?
This essay responds to these questions and negotiates between constructivism and Palmer’s educational approach. First the author lays out a predominant constructivist model of teaching and learning. Next, he explores some potential limitations facing constructivism and argues that
Palmer’s notion of connectedness can help mitigate some of the shortcomings of constructivism. Finally, the author examines a specifi c example from an English methods course that represents an attempt to integrate the virtues of Palmer’s approach with those of constructivism.
http://jte.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/59/4/322

2009-07-21T01:23:00.001-07:00

Environment Days

World Forestry Day - 21 March

‘World Forestry Day’ is celebrated on 21st of March each year to commemorates the contribution and value of forests and forestry to the community.

It was in 1971 at the 23rd General Assembly of European Confederation of Agriculture it was decided to celebrate Forestry day. Later the same year United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization gave support to the idea believing that the event would contribute a great deal to public awareness of the importance of forests and agreed that it should be observed every year and so March 21, the autumn equinox in the Southern Hemisphere and the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere was chosen as the day to be celebrated offering information about protection, production and recreation of forests.

Every year, on this day people the world over take time to consider the benefi ts of forests, of goods and services obtained from the forests. People can learn about how forests can be/should be managed and used in such a way that we continue to get all these benefi ts (without any harm to the forest ecosystems) and save them for the future too.

This years theme for celebrating WFD is “Biodiversity and Climate Change”.

2nd February - Wetlands Day
‘Upstream – Downstream’ Wetlands connect us all 2nd February each year is World Wetlands Day. It marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. WWD was celebrated for the fi rst time in 1997 and made an encouraging beginning. Each year, government agencies, nongovernmental
organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefi ts in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular.

Parties to Ramsar Convention: 159
Number of designate ramsar sites: 1834
Total surface area of designated Ramsar sites:
170,427,084 hectares

The theme for 2009 ‘Upstream – Downstream’ Wetlands connect us all is an opportunity for people to look around at their own wetland and its interconnections with the environment around it
– how the wetland benefi ts the surroundings and, of course, how activities throughout the river basin may affect their wetland.

ENVIS Centre on Wetland Ecosystems
Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History is the ENVIS Centre on wetland ecosystems that aims to facilitate generation and dissemination of information on various facets of wetland ecosystems. The Centre work towards fulfi llment of the following objectives:

Database creation on Wetland Ecosystems on internet with regional language interface.
To establish and operate a distributed clearing house to answer and channel queries related to wetland ecosystems.
To establish linkages with information users, carriers and providers from government, academic, business and Non-Governmental Organizations.
Identifi cation of information/data gaps on wetland ecosystems.

For more information visit: http://www.wetlandsofindia.org/

22 March, World Water Day

Transboundary waters: shared water, shared opportunities

An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. The United Nations General Assembly responded
by designating 22 March 1993 as the fi rst World Water Day. The day is designated to draw attention on the importance of freshwater and advocate sustainable management of freshwater
resources. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. 2009 focuses on transboundary waters. The theme this year is ‘Shared Water - Shared Opportunities’.
Transboundary waster refers to lakes, rivers and aquifers (ground water) which are shared between more than one country.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are the lead agencies for World Water Day 2009.

For more information visit:
http://www.worldwaterday.org/

2009-07-21T01:04:00.000-07:00

Resources

National Hazardous Waste Management Strategy

In March 2009, the Ministry of Environment and Forests issued a draft National Hazardous Waste Management Strategy. The overarching objective of the National Hazardous Waste management Strategy is to reach the goal of ‘Zero Disposal of Hazardous Waste’, adopting a holistic approach encompassing reduction at source, reuse, recycle and recovery through infusion of cost-effective innovative technologies, processes, and practices.

Further, the management of ‘end of life’ consumer products, having hazardous constituents, such as used lead acid batteries, waste electrical and electronic equipment etc., must give primacy to reuse, recycling and recovery. Hazardous waste which is not amenable to reuse, recycling and recovery has to be subjected to physico -chemical/ biological treatment, incineration or disposal in the secured landfill.

The Strategy also addresses the issue of import of recyclable, recoverable or reusable hazardous waste not only to meet the growing needs of certain materials like non-ferrous metals but
also to reduce negative environmental footprints. Import of hazardous waste from any country to India for disposal shall not be permitted.

The Draft Strategy, will act as a guiding document to facilitate minimization, recycling, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes in an environmentally sound manner.

For more information visit:
http://moef.gov.in/divisions/hsmd/NationalHazardous.pdf

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

Published by Emerald Insight. ISSN: 1467-6370

The International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education is a fully-refereed academic journal. Published in conjunction with the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable
Future (ULSF), the journal aims at addressing environmental management systems (EMS), sustainable development and Agenda 21 issues at higher education institutions, worldwide. It intends to act as an outlet for papers dealing with curriculum greening and methodological approaches to sustainability. In addition, the journal will report on initiatives aimed at environmental
improvements in universities, and the increased competitiveness of self-regulatory mechanisms such as environmental auditing and maintaining EMS. IJSHE disseminates case studies, projects
and programmes whilst still considering the market opportunities available.

http://emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContainer.do?container Type=Issue&containerId=6013499

Sand in My Hands!
An Activity Book on Sandy Beaches and Sand Dunes for Children

Published by ATREE, UNDP, Handesign; Pages 54

The book is primarily meant for students/ children. Information is presented in a workbook format, and covers coasts, map making, formation of beaches, waves and tides, intertidal creatures,
birds, fl ora etc. Children are encouraged to make observations in text and drawing, conduct interviews etc. Educators, especially in coastal states, would fi nd it a useful school resource.
Written simply and attractively illustrated, it was developed as part of the Post-Tsunami Environment Initiative, jointly taken up by Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore and the Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG), Chennai. The aim of the book is to generate interest and awareness about the signifi cance of coastal ecosystems.

For more information contact:
Aarthi Sridhar at aarthi77@gmail.com or
Peeyush Sekhsaria at peeyush.sekhsaria@gmail.com

2009-07-21T00:38:00.001-07:00

Resources

EE resource books for teacher educators
This set of three books aims at helping teacher educators (at diploma, bachelors and masters level) to effectively oranize Environmental Education programmes as part of their training.
All the three resource book have content on Environment and Development, Environmental Education, Evaluation and Education for Sustainable Development.

Environmental Education: A Resource Book for Teacher Educators, Level 1 (D.Ed)
ISBN No: 978-81-89587-26-0; Cost: Rs 280/-
The resource book is meant for use by Teacher Educators or trainees who would teach at the Elementary Level or Primary Teachers. The resource book has material on content and
transaction and is based on the syllabus of Environmental Education for the Elementary Level and NCTE’s EE curriculum guidelines for D.Ed programmes. It has seven units.Each unit has
sections on

Teaching Methods – provide an overview of the teaching resources, and pointers on how the Teacher Educator might introduce these resources to the trainees
Teaching Resources (labeled A, B, C …) – activity plans for use in the school situation, and which may be tried out with the trainee teachers to provide practical insights into EE and
content.

The Teacher Educator is expected to draw attention of trainee teachers to the range of teaching methods, help with actual use of these and adapt them according to the local situation. These
aspects are discussed at the beginning of the Teaching Resources section in each Unit.

Environmental Education: A Resource Book for Teacher Educators, Level 2 (B.Ed)
ISBN No: 978-81-89587-27-7; Cost: Rs 280/-

The objectives of the resource book are to

Provide teacher educators/trainers with a background of EE– Concepts, historical perspective, objectives, guiding principles, etc.
Help infuse contents and methodologies
Oranize EE related activities, projects, workshops etc.
Use activity oriented and interactive modes of training methodologies

Considerations underlying the Resource book:

Activity and interactive modes of teaching-learning
Self-contained
Local examples,environmental Issues and case studies
Flexible for use in pre-service/in-service training.
Refl ect the content outline in EE developed by NCTE
The likelihood of EE introduced as a foundation paper at B.Ed as against an elective/additional subject
Heterogeneity of teacher trainees and teacher trainers with respect to their subject specialization
Knowledge of content and methodologies of EE required by teachers for infusing/ teaching environmental topics in schools
Educational aspect of EE than just ecological concepts
Availability of teaching resources in EE in B.Ed colleges

Environmental Education:A Resource Book for Teacher Educators, Level 3 (M.Ed)
ISBN No: 978-81-89587-28-4; Cost: Rs. 280/-

This resource book intends to:

Enhance understanding on EE and ESD
Sensitize teacher educators about environmental issues and concerns
Provide an understanding of the concept of SD and its dimensions
Introduce skills to communicate the concepts of ESD
Give an overview of the action projects on SD

The resource book will help teacher educators to incorporate environmental consciousness leading to sustainable development in their teacher education programmes and improving in the effectiveness of transacting concepts, values, ethics, competencies with regard to environmental consciousness and SD.

For more information contact:
Shivani Jain, Centre for Environment Education
Nehru Foundation for development, Thaltej Tekra,
Ahmedabad 380054, Ph: 079 26858002
E-mail: shivani.jain@ceeindia.org

Changing Thinking about Learning for a Changing World

Joe E. Heimlich, Ohio State University, USA
Martin Storksdieck, Institute for Learning Innovation, USA

The purpose of this paper is primarily to describe the main characteristics of what the author’s refer to as free-choice learning for the environment, and to draw some conclusions on how this understanding can infl uence informal environmental education. The author’s argue that a common perspective on education, namely that ‘learning’ results only or mostly from education, and that education occurs in schools and school-like environments, is too narrow a perspective in a world in which lifelong or lifespan learning outside formal schooling is becoming increasingly more important, and increasingly more recognized.

http://www.eeasa.org.za/publications/063_heimlich_et_al.pdf

2009-07-21T00:31:00.000-07:00

Research Abstracts

Developing new approaches for people-centred development

Jockin Arputham SDI, PO Box 9389, Mumbai 400 026, India

Jockin Arputham founded the National Slum Dwellers Federation in India and is president of Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI). This paper describes Jockin’s life and work and the many different methods he has used to fight eviction and get government support for people-centred
development over the last 40 years. This includes the long fight to protect Janata colony in Mumbai from eviction, working with Bangladeshi refugees, and the formation of the federation of slum dwellers, fi rst in Mumbai and then for all of India.

Key Words: community organizations • evictions • federations• grassroots

Environment and Urbanization,Vol. 20, No. 2,
483-499 (2008); DOI: 10.1177/0956247808096124
http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/20/2/319

“Negotiated spaces” for representation in Mumbai: ward committees, advanced locality
management and the politics of middle-class activism

Isa Baud University of Amsterdam, Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, baud@wxs.nl

Navtej Nainan University of Amsterdam, navtejnainan@gmail.com

In Mumbai, new forms of cooperation between local government and citizens seek to improve local
representation and the quality of services. This paper examines which residents are represented or excluded in these arrangements, the mandates anda processes by which the arrangements are negotiated and the outcomes. Local representation through elected councillors is compared with
that through voluntary neighbourhood groups (Advanced Locality Management groups, or ALMs), which work with the executive wing of local government. ALMs, involving middle-class groups, work on environmental, security and upgrading issues. They are expanding their claim to both political and public space, often excluding “unwanted” people. Elected councillors are channels mainly for low income groups, addressing issues relevant to municipal services but also responding to personal grievances and concerns. Confl ict between political representatives and their parties and ALMs is not unusual. Both of these “negotiated spaces” give citizens some way of holding
government to account, although middle-class citizens are finding greater scope for action.

Key Words: citizenship • civil society participation • India •urban governance • middle-class activism • Mumbai • spaces

Environment and Urbanization,
Vol. 20, No. 2, 483-499 (2008)
http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/20/2/483

Climate, climate change and human health in Asian cities

Sari Kovats, Centre on Global Change and Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK, sari. kovats@lshtm.ac.uk

Rais Akhtar, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, India, raisakhtar@hotmail. com

Climate change will affect the health of urban populations. It represents a range of environmental hazards and will affect populations where the current burden of climatesensitive disease is high — such as the urban poor in lowand middle-income countries. Understanding the current impact of weather and climate variability on the health of urban populations is the fi rst step towards assessing future impacts. The authors review the scientific evidence for the effects of temperature, rainfall and extreme events on human health, in particular the impacts of heat waves and fl oods. The methods for assessing the risks of climate change are undergoing development, and there is
a need to shift the focus from global and regional to local studies. Sectoral approaches to climate change impact assessments often ignore the effects on health. There is a need to better describe the risks to health from extreme weather events as well as improve the effectiveness of public health interventions. Improving the resilience of cities to climate change also requires improvements in the urban infrastructure, but such improvements may not be achieved quickly enough to avoid an increased burden of disease due to global climate change.

Key Words: cities • climate change • diarrhoeal disease • floods • heat stroke • heat waves • mortality

Environment and Urbanization,
Vol. 20,No.1,165-175 (2008)
http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/20/1/165

2009-07-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

Reports and Announcements

International Conference of the Social Ecological Research Programme
Berlin, 22 - 23 February 2008

The conference addressed ‘Long-Term Policies: Governing Social-Ecological Change’ and provided opportunities to bring social-ecological research into international debates and the future perspectives of this fi eld. This conference was the eighth event in the series of annual European Conferences on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, which began in Berlin in 2001.

The conference was organised by Oldenburg Centre for Sustainability Economics and Management, CENTOS, Oldenburg University and the Environmental Policy Research Centre, Freie University, Berlin.

The Berlin conference brought together recent research and conceptual developments from scientific approaches and discussed the current challenges, research tasks, practical solutions and possible strategies for long-term policies. A mutual exchange between the different actor
groups was facilitated and the practicability of problem solving trans disciplinary work was discussed.

Representatives from particular actor groups such as businesses, civil society and NGOs, politics and the natural and social sciences took active part to integrate their particular expertise.

For more information visit:
www.fu-berlin.de/ffu/akumwelt/bc2008

EE in Teacher Education
Resource book Dissemination Workshops

National Council for Teacher Education and Centre for Environment Education have worked together over the last 2 years towards strengthening environmental education in teacher education in the country.

A set of 3 Resource Books on Environmental Education (EE) has been developed and published in English and Hindi. Experts in teacher education and environmental education guided the development of these Resource Books. They are based on the NCTE-developed curriculum of EE in teacher education and are suitable for use by teacher educators at D.Ed, B.Ed and M.Ed levels.

The books are being disseminated to teacher education institutions by NCTE and through a series of six workshops being conducted by NCTE and CEE. The first workshop was organized in Lucknow in November 2008 for faculty from teacher education institutions in some northern Indian states. Prof. M.A. Siddiqui, Chairperson, NCTE, New Delhi inaugurated the workshop. Participants discussed the opportunities and challenges of infusion of environmental education into teacher education, as well as special projects and courses taken up by them. Sessions
on the use of action projects, ICT, resource materials etc were useful opportunities for sharing of experiences.

Over the coming months and in the next academic year, the institutions participating in the workshops would be developing methods to strengthen EE in their courses. They would also provide their insights into the use of the Resource Books to NCTE and CEE. The next 5 workshops will be held over Dec 08 to Feb 09.

For more information contact:

Shivani Jain, Centre for Environment Education
Nehru Foundation for Development, Thaltej Tekra,
Ahmedabad 380054; Ph: 079 26858002;
Email: shivani.jain@ceeindia.org

COP 10 Wetland Conventtion

The 158 contracting parties to the Convention on Wetlands met in Changwon, the Republic of Korea for COP 10 between 28 Oct – 4 Nov 2008.

The Changwon Declaration presented at the conclusion of the conference gave an overview of priority action steps that together show “how to” deliver some of the world’s most critical environmental sustainability goals.

The Declaration, emphasizes the signifi cance of wetland governance; actions people may take to ensure the effectiveness of wetlands in the fi ght against Climate change; the interconnection between people’s livelihoods and health on wetlands; the effects of land use change
and Biodiversity loss; planning and Sustainable financing; as well as sharing knowledge and experience in wetland Conservation management.

The 10 Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity actively participated in the COP 10 as wetland management plays a crucial issue in biodiversity conservation in Southeast Asia.

The Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award in the category of Education was awarded to Dr. Sansanee Choowaew of Mahidol University, Thailand.

For more information visit: www.ramsar.org

Coastal Management Notification - Public Consultations

The Central Government has proposed a new framework to be brought out into force “for managing and regulating activity in the coastal and marine area for conserving and protecting the coastal area for considering and protecting the coastal resources and coastal environment, and for
ensuring protection of coastal population and structure from risk of inundation, due to natural hazards, and for ensuring the livelihoods of coastal population or strengthen by superceding the said coastal regulation zone, notifi cation, 1991.”

In this regards, the government has issued a draft notification, “to be known as coastal management zone (CMZ) notifi cation 2008 for the information of public” in May 2008, in the gazette of India. This was republished in 21st July 2008. In order to get view points on the
CMZ notifi cation 2008 from various stakeholder groups particularly from local communities and NGOs working in the coastal stretches, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, commissioned CEE to facilitate public consultation in the coastal states.

CEE brought out salient features of CMZ notifi cation 2008 in various state languages, widely publicized the consultation workshops, organized these consultations in partnerships
with local NGO’s and CBOs.

Thirty five public consultations were organized in the nine states between 26th July and 13th September 2008. Over 3500 individuals belonging to various stakeholder groups participated. These included representatives of

local community (individuals from coastal communities, panchayat members and fi sher - farmers association)
NGOs and trade (working in coastal stretches)
public authorities (municipal corporation, block, district and state offi cials and political leaders)
other’s (academic and research organization, legal experts and media)
corporate bodies (tourism and allied industries participated in this consultation processes and contributed to the discussion.

About 73 percent of the participant represented the local fisher communities. A summary and detailed report of this consultation has been compiled and submitted to the Ministry of Environment
and Forests. Written responses, petitions, documents received during the consultation workshops and audiovideo recordings of the workshop proceedings have also been submitted.

For more information on consultation responses visit:
http://www.ceeindia.org/cee/campaigns/cmz_2008.html

2009-07-21T00:09:00.000-07:00

Joy of Learning

Activity for Teacher Educators: Impacts of Degraded Ecosystems

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was launched by United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan. Initiated in 2001, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) involved over 1360 experts world-wide, in an assessment of the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. Their fi ndings, contained in fi ve technical volumes and six synthesis reports, provide a state-of-the-art scientifi c appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide (such as clean water, food, forest products, fl ood control, and natural resources) and the options to restore, conserve or enhance the sustainable use of ecosystems. http://www.milleniumassessment.org

For the Teacher Educator
Discuss the use of websites for obtaining information with the trainees. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using websites?

There are several websites, including those of UN organizations, government bodies, NGOs etc that provide a huge amount of information on projects, research experiments, data on environmental status and quality, etc.

Let the trainees share information on websites they have found useful.

Ask the trainees to suggest ways in which they could use specific websites as teaching resources for school students during school hours. Caution the trainees on inappropriate content for children, and the need for adult supervision.

Impact of Degraded Ecosystems
Objective: To understand the impacts of disturbance of ecosystems, on human beings
Material: Internet access
Duration: One session
Method
Ask the trainees to visit the http://www.greenfacts.org/ecosystems/index.htm website. It provides information based on the studies of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment project.
The material is organized as the following ten questions:
1. How have ecosystems changed?
2. How have ecosystem services and their uses changed?
3. How have ecosystem changes affected human well-being and poverty alleviation?
4. What are the most critical factors causing ecosystem changes?
5. How might ecosystems and their services change in the future under various plausible scenarios?
6. Why are both global and sub-global assessments of ecosystem change useful?
7. How do ecosystems change over time?
8. What options exist to manage ecosystems sustainably?
9. What are the most important uncertainties hindering decision-making concerning ecosystems?
10. Conclusion: main fi ndings
They may explore all the ten questions. Question 3 provides information on effects of ecosystem change on human well-being. The tasks for this activity are as follows:

Click on Question 3 and read the text under Level 1 Summary and Level 2 Details.
Write a short note on how ecosystem change most affects poorer people.
The trainees should also think about the city, town or village where they are located and try to identify examples of wateror soil pollution, poor air quality or any other ecosystem degradation. Who is most affected by such degradation? What is the impact of polluted or risky ecosystems on health?
The trainees may work in groups, pairs or individually. The examples of effects of ecosystem degradation can be shared in class.

Source: NCTE and CEE (2007) Environmental Education - A Resource Book for Teacher Educators, Level 1 - D.Ed.

2009-07-20T06:23:00.001-07:00

Environment Education and Action Programme for Schools in Delhi

Sharad Gaur,Centre for Environment Education

Cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) of India are
undergoing extremely rapid and uncontrolled urbanization, and the situation has become particularly alarming over the last decade. A whole range of environmental issues linked to this growth process have emerged – loss of natural habitats and native species; waste management problems; scarcity of water; pollution of water, land, air and other resources; and several other pressures linked to this exponential spurt in the human population of the region. In recent years, two issues among these have become most
visible – those of water and waste management.

The problems have manifested themselves in repeated episodes of water scarcity, contamination, failure of waste management systems, and so on. At the same time, there is a felt need for re-orienting public attitudes and behaviour relating to the use and conservation of water, and disposal and management of wastes, especially domestic/municipal solid wastes. The general public perception appears to be that the solutions should be found by the government/ civic/ municipal agencies, and people, while they are aware of the issues, by and large do not identify their own role in this.

In this context, an ‘Environment Education and Action Programme for Schools in the National Capital Region’ was supported by the India-Canada Environment Facility (ICEF) and implemented by the Delhi offi ce of CEE from March 2005 to March 2007. The project aimed at creating awareness and building capacity of teachers and students, on water conservation and solid waste management in 60 schools from 6 selected cities in Delhi.

Activities
The project activities included setting up of
• rainwater harvesting systems
• facilities for waste paper recycling
• solid waste management through composting
• installation of looms for weaving and producing useful material from used polybags

Sixty schools from six NCR cities (10 each from Delhi, Ghaziabad, Sahibabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida) participated.

This project was an attempt to provide the school communities a hands-on opportunity for putting good environmental practices into place, and to practise in
real life at least a part of what the students are taught in theory related to environmental studies. The idea was born out of the belief that schools are not just places for academic pursuit; they are living communities of people that have the potential to infl uence thou-sands of families, neighbourhoods, and society at large.

The work components were carefully designed to ensure that each partner school would in the long run become a nucleus of public awareness about water conservation and waste management issues. At the same time, longterm assets would accrue to each school, and would be instrumental in water conservation and waste minimization.

This project has also led the CEE team to a fairly good understanding of various requirements in the school system related to environmental services, namely:
• sanitation (in particular for girls, which is a critical area and accounts for the large-scale dropout of girl students around the 10-12 year age bracket);
• water supplies, management, and conservation;
• energy resources and management;
• waste management, minimization, and disposal.

Major Achievements
Rainwater harvesting structures, handmade paper units, and composting units have been set up at 58 partner sites (of the 60 sites) and are functioning. Waste-polybag weaving looms have been set up and made operational at 5 sites, and user groups have been trained.

A bank of resource material has been produced in Hindi and English, and disseminated among partner institutions and others users.

Teachers in many schools are using the learnings from the project to enrich their classroom teaching.Partner schools have begun more active efforts in minimizing waste, segregating wastes at source, recovering resources from waste through recycling and composting, and harvesting
rainwater.

The facilities created under this project are now long-term assets of the schools and are also visible to the general public through signage set up at the sites.

The project has had a direct outreach to approximately 15,000 students in 60 partner schools, spread over 6 cities in the NCR. Core groups of approximately 20 to 50 students per school have been set up to continue the activities. Similarly, 120 to 150 teachers, and maintenance staff
of the 60 schools have been covered directly (2-3 nodal teachers per school), and several hundred more teachers and school staff indirectly.

Families of the teachers and students, and communities in the neighbourhoods of the 60 schools have benefi ted indirectly through visiting and observing the facilities and the practices under the project.

Linkage with Government
The Departments of Education in the three States involved (Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana) have been involved right from the beginning of the project, by way of assistance in school selection, issue of necessary permissions, instructions to Principals for ensuring participation, and so
on. Project staff have periodicallygone and briefed them about the progress in various towns, and some of them have informally visited the project sites at the partner schools in their respective towns.

In Delhi, the Department of Environment has taken active interest by way of advising their Eco Club member schools to get involved with the CEE-ICEF project, and inviting CEE to various Eco Club events in Delhi.

The National Bal Bhavan, New Delhi, an institution under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, has partnered actively with the project. Apart from becoming a project site, it also hosted the Eco Fair (Eco Mela) in November 2006.

Sustainability and Replication
All the facilities created under the project are now assets of the partner schools, and are being managed by them. Almost all the facilities are free of recurring expenses and would need only minimal damage repair, which is to be borne by the partner schools.

CEE has already been receiving numerous requests from schools for starting similar units and education programmes there. Most of these requests come as a result of visits made to the CEE-ICEF partner schools and learning about the project. CEE is assisting such institutions with its own
resources.

The project experience on the whole is eminently replicable and can be either scaled up in the same institutions, or carried out to new areas. CEE has been working towards this and has initiated dialogues with a few agencies to explore the way forward.

There is an urgent need for the education departments at city/ state level to incorporate good environmental practices into their design, planning, construction, and estate management. It is evident that even small interventions such as this project can help achieve major improvements in environmental conditions, while at the same time resulting in cost savings for the institutions,
departments, and governments concerned. The project has also helped highlight the need for an integrated approach Resource materials in Hindi and English were produced and disseminated to partners to these issues, instead of the current policy and practice of tackling each issue in a piecemeal manner and more in an emergency-response fashion rather than a long-term,
vision-based planning process.

For more information contact:
Sharad Gaur
Centre for Environment Education
C-40, Ground Floor, South Extension Part 2
New Delhi – 110049
Ph: 011-26262878/ 26262881; Fax: 26262880
E-mail: sharad.gaur@ceeindia.org

Resource materials in Hindi and English were produced and disseminated to partners

Paper Recycling: Easy do it yourself steps
We all use paper in our day to day life. The use of papers has increased mainfold over the last few decades in schools, homes and offi ces. The use of paper results in generation of large quantity of waste or used paper. Increasing manufacture of paper poses a threat to protection of trees as the raw material comes from tree. The booket explains manufacturing paper at the cost of environment and easy ways to reduce, reuse and recycle papers.

Rainwater Harvesting: Easy do it yourself steps
India’s environment witnesses uneven availability of water over the year. The rainfall comes pouring down for 3-4 months between June to September. The booklet on RWH explains the importance, benefi ts, methods and components of harvesting rainwater during monsoons. Pictorially it represents materials required for construction, construction of recharge well and the maintenance of RWH structures. The last section gives details on how to calculate volume of rainfall potential of an area.

Composting: Easy do it yourself steps
The composting booklet gives a brief about the quantity of waste generated, the various categories of wastes and benefits of composting. In detail it explains wastes that can be composted, anaerobic and aerobic composting methods and precautions that need to be followed during composting.

The booklets were brought out under ‘Environment Education and Action Programme for Schools in the National Capital Region’ programme supported by and in partnership with India Canada Environment Facility.

2009-07-20T00:08:00.000-07:00

‘Umang’ School without Walls
CEE Himalaya

“We enjoy studying even in the winter. Umang is so very comfortable and joyful. It provides us not only colorful themes for studying but also prevents us from severe cold. Thank you for doing our school so nicely.”
- Students of the Government Primary School, Salamabad

“We are thankful to CEE Himalaya for doing ‘Umang’
programme in our school. We learnt many new things
about education and especially about earthquake and how we can save ourselves.” - Jahangir Ahmad, Headmaster, Government EGS Centre, Thardhi, Gingal, Uri

‘Umang’ is ‘school without walls’. The concept was developed and made functional for students from Baramullah and Kupwara districts of Jammu and Kashmir, after the devastating earthquake of Oct 8th 2005. Students, left with damaged homes and schools, were scared to visit schools and so were the parents for fear of the unforeseen.
Umang helped students to open up and express themselves to bring out their stress. This involved talking to the students in a friendly and caring manner, involving them in stories, reciting poetry, involving them in arts and crafts, games and other activities.

CEE Himalaya began this education initiative soon after the earthquake, with focus on psycho-social care and
resuming education. It also had a component of teacher’s capacity building on psychosocial care and education for sustainable development. Umang used a combination of formal and informal learning, with partly curriculumbased activities.

The objectives of the programme:

To provide psychosocial care to earthquake affected children of Jammu and Kashmir
Bring back students to schools, most of which were damaged
To ameliorate the fear related to damaged schools
Highlight the need for preparedness
Enhance concern and care about the local environment Selection of Schools

CEE was provided a list of 16 damaged schools by the Chief Education Offi cer, Baramulla. Among them 10 schools were short-listed by the CEE team engaged in the larger Rebuilding Trust effort. The main criteria for the selection of schools were the availability of adequate land for
construction of new class rooms and some open space and the accessibility of the school.

Reconstruction of permanent and temporary damaged schools required time. Providing students with permanent classes was diffi cult. As winter was approaching, interim schools were made with corrugated roof and walls, insulated with foam and with a lining of plywood. These were designed by Centre for Environment Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad.

Winter is very severe in Kashmir with temperatures going below 0°C. So CEE Himalaya conducted the programme in two phases, the fi rst from 26th October, 2005 to 7th December, 2005 and the second phase from 13th March, 2006 to 4th December, 2006. Over one thousand students participated in the programme and 150 teachers experienced Umang programme in the fi rst phase. This phase of Umang concentrated more on adjustment to the trauma and hence the emphasis was on the creation of interest for the students to come to school and continue their studies. The approach was to use games, a lot of fun activities, experience sharing and gradually turning towards academic activities through participatory processes. During this a very warm, soothing and healing atmosphere was sought to be developed, where teachers and students come closer. Interactive games like “Who am I”, “Catch the Leader”, “Blind Faith”, “Jilli Kaka” etc.
were played to make the atmosphere vibrant and joyous, where even the teachers participated.

The programme again continued from 13th March, 2006 to 4th December, 2006. The activities were supported by German Agro Action and Plan India in the four educational zones of the Uri Tehsil in Baramulla district and two educational zones of Kupwara district. Altogether 451
schools were covered under the programme in that phase. Over 33000 students both boys and girls and 1800 teachers benifi ted from the programme.

The second phase of the program was aimed at enhancing awareness among the students about the recent earthquake – its causes, preparation to be taken before, during and after the earthquake. In addition competitions amongst the students were made in the form of quiz,
extempore speech, etc. which aroused the inner talents of the students. CEE Himalaya team visited different schools every working day to impart the concept of environmental education to the students and the teachers alike.

Reconstruction of Damaged Schools as ‘Anandshalas’

Another component of the education initiative was reconstruction of 10 damaged schools in Uri sub-division as ‘Anandshala’ Model schools. ‘Anandshala’ literally means ‘school of joy’. The objective here was to make model rural schools that teach sustainable ways of living. This was done through improving school infrastructural facilities, involving the schools and communities in
planning, implementation and upkeep of infrastructure, imparting life skills to the students through innovative and interactive pedagogy.

Participatory Approach
Anandshalas function with full community participation. Village Level Education Committees comprising of Headmaster, Village Pradhan, Zonal Education officer were formed in each village identifi ed for the Anandshala construction.

The schools were designed in a manner that apart from the earthquake resistant construction, rooms are well lit and bigger than the size normally prevalent in the area. Doors and windows have been strategically designed and place in a manner that the rooms get maximum light and air. Separate toilets were built for girls and boys. Students were involved in the construction by asking them to design the interiors of the class rooms. Open spaces in the school were developed by teachers and students, who were given the freedom to utilise the space as per their choice and
creativity.

Apart from students and teachers, the parents and other community members were constantly involved not only in the construction but also in planning for the ambience, entrance, and other issues to make the Anandshalas as per their liking and promote a feeling of owning the schools.
Regular meetings happen with the VLECs and the parents about the Anandshala philosophy, functioning and to get their views as well. Difficulties/disputes coming during the course of construction are also resolved through community consultations.

For more information contact:
Dr. Abdhesh Gangwar
CEE Himalaya, Kanli Bagh, Baba Rishi Road
Baramulla, Jammu & Kashmir 193 101
Ph: 095-2210440, 095-2235695
E-mail: ceehimalaya@ceeindia.org

2009-07-02T01:50:00.000-07:00

Resources

Advocacy Sourcebook
A Guide to advocacy for WSSCC co-cordinators working on the WASH campaign

The Sourcebook is divided into four sections. Section 1 is an introduction to advocacy work, and considers what is advocacy, the reasons for engaging in advocacy work and some of the issues
surrounding advocacy. The section closes with an outline of some common concerns about advocacy work. Section 2 focuses on how to undertake advocacy work, outlining the planning
process and describing the various tools and approaches which can be used. Section 3 discusses the links between advocacy and project/programme work in the field and issues of capacity
building, while Section 4 lists some of the available resources, publications, networks and other organisations involved in advocacy work and describes some of the key policy actors and
processes in the freshwater sector.

For more information visit: http://www.wsscc.org/fileadmin/files/pdf/publication/Advocacy_Sourcebook_interactive.pdf

Water and sanitation; what will deliver the improvements required for urban areas?

Published: Oct 2003 - IIED
Series: Environment and Urbanization Briefs 08

Around 800 million urban dwellers lack the sustainable access to safe drinking water that the Millennium Development Goals prioritize, and close to 1 billion lack adequate sanitation. This
helps explain why Fifteen years of international agency support for privatization has not produced the hoped-for improvements. The increased focus on water stress as being the problem is still often ill-conceived, as inadequacies in provision for water and sanitation have little to do with inadequate freshwater supplies and much to do with inadequate water management. New directions are desperately needed to stop water and sanitation deficits growing in the increasingly urbanized societies of Africa, Asia and Latin America. There are new approaches based on
partnerships between government and communities that work on a large scale yet require modest resources. This Brief gives examples of community-designed, constructed and managed toilet blocks that serve hundreds of thousands of low-income people in Indian cities, and water points and sanitation blocks that have greatly improved provision that are not classified as “water and sanitation” projects.

For more information visit:
http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=10516IIED&n=9&l=17&s=EUB

Solution Exchange

Solution Exchange is an initiative of the United Nations Agencies in India. It aims to harness the power of Communities of Practice to help attain national development goals and the Millennium
Development Goals. The knowledge, experience and energies of development practitioners are tapped to help evolve articles on status of particular sectors, obtain information on innovations,
etc towards the common objective of problem-solving. The underlyiong idea is that while “expert” knowledge is often well documented, valuable tacit knowledge gained through practitioner experience is typically lost or ignored.

Solution Exchange has been set up as a free, impartial space where professionals are welcome to share their knowledge and experience. Members represent a wide range of perspectives from government, NGOs, donors, private sector and academia.

They are organized into Communities of Practice built around the framework of the Millennium Development Goals. Through moderated e-mail groups, members interact on an ongoing basis,
building familiarity and trust, gaining in knowledge that helps them contribute more effectively – individually and collectively – to the nation’s development challenges.

Today eleven Communities are up and running: Maternal and Child Health, Water, Gender, Food & Nutrition Security, AIDS, Decentralization, Education, Work and Employment, Microfinance,
ICT for Development, and Disaster Management.

Solution Exchange provides these Communities with three basic email-based services:

“Help” offers Community members solutions to questions they raise
“Comment” provides decision-makers with feedback on draft policies, programmes and projects
“Discuss” seeks insights on issues of major concern to the Community
A “Collaborate” service to promote small-group work to take forward members’ ideas or products is to be evolved in the future

For more information visit:
http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/en/

State of the World’s Cities 2008/09 - Harmonious Cities

Half of humanity now lives in cities, and within two decades, nearly 60 per cent of the world’s people will be urban dwellers. Urban growth is most rapid in the developing world, where cities
gain an average of 5 million residents every month. As cities grow in size and population, harmony among the spatial, social and environmental aspects of a city and between their inhabitants
becomes of paramount importance. This harmony hinges on two key pillars: equity and sustainability.

Downloadable from http://www.unhabitat.org
ISBN: 978-92-1-132010-7 ; Pages: 224 ; Year: 2008

2009-07-02T01:13:00.000-07:00

Event Report

3rd International Conference of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) on ESD

The 3rd International Conference of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) on ESD was held from 2-4 July 2008 in Barcelona (Spain), providing an opportunity for the Centres to discuss activities and challenges in development.

The development of RCEs is an initiative of the Education for Sustainable Development (EfSD) Programme at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). An RCE is a network of existing formal, nonformal and informal education organisations mobilised to deliver ESD at local and regional (sub-national) levels. A network of RCEs worldwide will constitute the Global Learning Space for Sustainable Development. RCEs aspire to achieve the goals of the DESD by translating its global objectives into the context of the local communities in which they operate. At the moment, 55 RCEs are acknowledged by UNU all over the world.

Transversal issues such as communications, monitoring, evaluation and reporting were discussed at the conference. Working group sessions on the themes of biodiversity, sustainable production and consumption, teacher training, youth, health and e-learning, and sessions for each continent were part of the conference.

For more information visit: http://www.ias.unu.edu/efsd/rce

Bicing in Barcelona

An increasing number of cities including Paris and London, have
implemented public bicycle rental schemes. RCEs can help governments and other stakeholders learn about such innovations through collaborative educational programmes.

2009-07-02T00:31:00.000-07:00

Resources

Community-driven development for water and sanitation in urban areas: its contribution to meeting the Millennium Development Goal targets

David Satterthwaite, Gordon McGranahan and Diana Mitlin

Community organizations working with local NGOs have been responsible for many of the most cost-effective initiatives to improve and extend provision for water and sanitation to lowincome
urban households. Some have achieved considerable scale, especially where water and sanitation utilities and local governments work with them.

Many of the initiatives that improved and extended provision for water and sanitation were not ‘water and sanitation’ projects but initiatives through which urban poor households developed
better quality and more secure housing – for instance through squatter upgrading and tenure regularization or serviced site schemes.

These were often supported by loan finance that helped households or community organizations to fund improved provision for water and sanitation or to fund the development of new homes with improved provision. Some of these initiatives led to more effective and much less costly ways to develop the trunk infrastructure into which most community- driven water and sanitation initiatives need to integrate in urban areas. These initiatives have considerable relevance for meeting the water and sanitation target within the Millennium Development Goals as

they show how it’s possible to reach even the poorest households in urban areas with improved provision.
they generally have much lower unit-costs per person reached than conventional government or private utility managed initiatives, and greater possibilities of cost recovery.

At the core of most initiatives described in this booklet is the possibility for urban poor groups and their organizations to influence what is done and to be involved in doing it. If the MDGs are to be met, more equal relationships are needed between urban poor groups and local governments and water and sanitation providers. This means a shift from conventional patronage based relationships to relationships that are more transparent, accountable to urban poor groups and within the law.

This is the change that has to permeate all levels – from the lowest political unit (the ward, commune, neighbourhood, parish) through city, provincial and national governments. International agencies will have to increase their support to community-driven initiatives but in ways that are accountable to urban poor groups and that catalyse and support these groups’ own resources and
capacities. And, as importantly, support these groups’ efforts to develop effective partnerships with local governments.

For more information visit: http://www.wsscc.org/fileadmin/files/pdf/publication/Community_driven_development.pdf

2009-07-02T00:21:00.000-07:00

Research Abstracts

Climate change risk: an adaptation and mitigation agenda for Indian cities

Aromar Revi, Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) and the University of Delhi, arevi@taru.org

This paper considers the needed adaptation and mitigation agenda for cities in India — where the urban population is likely to grow by around 500 million over the next 50 years. It considers the likely changes that climate change will bring in temperature, precipitation and extreme rainfall,
drought, river and inland flooding, storms/storm surges/ coastal flooding, sea-level rise and environmental health risks, and who within urban populations are most at risk. It notes the importance for urban areas of an effective rural adaptation agenda — especially in maintaining the
productivity and functioning of rural systems. It highlights the importance of today’s infrastructure investments, taking into account climate changes, given the long lifespan of most infrastructure, and the importance of urban management engaging with changing risk profiles. One important part of this is the need to connect official adaptation initiatives to the much-improved natural hazard risk assessment, management and mitigation capacity that responded to major disasters. The paper ends by describing a possible urban climate change adaptation framework, including changes needed at the national, state, city and neighbourhood levels, and linkages to mitigation.

Key Words: adaptation • climate change • mitigation • urban disasters

Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 20, No. 1, 207-229 (2008);DOI: 10.1177/0956247808089157

The RCE Initiative as a Policy Instrument for Sustainable Development
Can it Match the World Heritage List and the Global Compact?

Yoko Mochizuki, ESD Specialist, Education for Sustainable Development Programme, at the United Nations University–Institute of Advanced Studies, Japan. Email: mochizuki@ias.unu.edu

Concerns have been expressed about the United Nations University’s (UNU) Regional Centres of Expertise on education for sustainable development (RCE) initiative. While many have discussed RCE’s contribution to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development(DESD), there has been no attempt to contextualise the RCE initiative in relation to similar, high-profile UN initiatives such as the Global Compact (GC) and UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and to delineate the potential and limitations of RCE as a scheme to encourage recognition of ‘good practices’ and an institutional mechanism to address sustainable development. With a view to refining and advancing the RCE initiative conceptually and operationally, this article addresses some of the key issues that have been raised regarding the RCE programme. By comparing it to the World Heritage List and GC, the article clarifies the nature of designation of local networks as
RCEs and offers suggestions on how to ensure the quality and validity of the RCE initiative in the long run.

Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, Vol. 2, No. 1, 61-71 (2008);
DOI:10.1177/097340820800200111

Opinion Essay
What We Need to Learn to Save the Planet
Moacir Gadotti, Director, Paulo Freire Institute, Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Sao Paulo, and author of many books on education. Email: gadotti@paulofreire.org

The author argues that education, as we see it today, is more a part of sustainable development’s (SD) problem than a part of its solution because it reinforces the principles and values of an unsustainable lifestyle and economy. He argues for an economy that is not centred on free market and profit, and which circulates wealth with a logic of cooperation rather than competition. Solidarity economy has incorporated the principles of inclusion and social emancipation. Sustainability and solidarity are emergent and convergent themes. Gadotti proposes that without social mobilisation against the current economic model, education for sustainable development (ESD) will not reach its goals. In addition, education for a sustainable life—not only for a sustainable development is required. The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development is an opportunity for formal education to construct a new quality of education, a social-environmental quality, to replace the current education model that has been eroding the planet since the nineteenth century.

Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, Vol. 2, No. 1, 21-30 (2008)

2009-07-02T00:02:00.001-07:00

Joy of Learning

Climate Change and Disease

Level: High School

Objectives: To help students understand the transmission of malaria, describe how climate
affects the life cycle of vectors and think about possible methods to reduce the occurrence and spread of disease and improve treatment facilities for affected people.

Materials: Map of malaria distribution; atlas with weather (temperature, rainfall information
in different regions of India); chart showing lifecycle of the mosquito

Procedure

Have students look at maps of present-day distribution of malaria in order to characterize
the regions where malaria occurs. Specifically, they should consider the climate, such as
average annual temperatures, average nighttime (low) temperatures, and precipitation.
An atlas with maps of temperature and precipitation distribution is probably the easiest
way to search for this information.
Ask students to identify the regions where malaria is currently present and also temperature
and rainfall in these regions.
Ask students to observe the life-cycle of mosquitoes.
Next, guide a discussion by having students consider the following three perspectives:
a. How does climate impact the vector directly?
b. How does climate impact the vector’s (or intermediary host’s) habitat?
c. How does climate impact the parasite?

Climate Change Direct Impact Impact on Vector Impact on Potential Impact on
on Vector Habitat Parasite Disease Transmission
More heat waves
Change in flooding
Change in drought
frequency
Sea level rise
Extreme weather

Discuss with students ways to control malaria in regions where it is likely to spread and enhance treatment for affected persons. You may like to point out the importance of education and awareness among people about the disease itself, and the simple ways to control
spread of mosquitoes.

Resources

A color map showing model projections of changes in malaria distribution with a warming climate can be found in the Epstein (August 2000) Scientific American article.
< http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?colID=1&articleID=0008C7B2-E060-1C73-9B81809EC588EF21 >
Map illustrating the local consequences of global warming http://www.climatehotmap.org/
Climate statistics can be found at http://www.weatherbase.com/

Adapted from the activity Exploring Climate Change Impacts in the booklet Global Warming: Early Warning Signs Curriculum Guide for High School Courses in Biology, Environmental Science, Geography, Earth Science and others focusing on the society environment interface developed by Union of Concerned Scientists: Citizens and Scientists for Environmental Solutions downloadable from www.climatehotmap.org/curriculum/climate_change_guide.pdf

A useful keysheet titled ‘Climate Change Impacts on Human Health in India’ is downloadable from
http://www.defra.gov.uk/ENVIRONMENT/climatechange/internat/devcountry/pdf/india-climate-9-health.pdf

Information for the Teacher

Increasing temperatures will be accompanied by changes in rainfall and humidity, includinga likely increase in the frequency of heavy precipitation events. Some areas will become drierbecause higher temperatures also increase evaporation. Discuss with students ways to control malaria in regions where it is likely to spread and enhance treatment for affected persons. Youmay like to point out the importance of education and awareness among people about the disease itself, and the simple ways to control spread of mosquitoes.
A vector-borne disease is one in which the disease-causing microorganism is transmitted from an infected individual to another individual by an arthropod (e.g. mosquito or tick) or some other agent. Other animals, wild and domesticated, sometimes serve as intermediary hosts. Key vector-borne diseases of concern include malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever and several forms of encephalitis.
Climate constrains the range of many vector-borne diseases (VBDs). They are currently prevalent mainly in tropical and subtropical countries. Mosquitoes, for example, are limited to seasons and regions where temperatures stay above a certain minimum. The winter kills many eggs, larvae, and adults. Climate also influences the availability of suitable habitat and food supply for vectors.
Weather affects the timing and intensity of disease outbreaks. Within their temperature range of tolerance, mosquitoes will reproduce more quickly and bite more in warmer conditions. Warmer temperatures also allow the parasites within mosquitoes to mature more quickly, increasing the chances that the mosquito will transfer the infection. Floods can trigger outbreaks by creating breeding grounds for insects. Droughts can reduce the number of predators that would normally limit vector populations.
Several modeling studies have predicted that increasing temperatures will lead to the spread of malaria and other diseases into previously unaffected areas. Climate change may also affect the severity of the disease at a given location. Socioeconomic factors also affect the distribution of vector-borne diseases.
A good public health infrastructure, including prompt treatment of cases to reduce the risk of spread of the disease, and mosquito-control measures help to limit disease transmission. Land-use by humans can change the availability of habitat for vectors.