Water Educators Training (WET 2013)                      

Training Dates: 12-21 December 2013

Venue: VIKSAT, Nehru Foundation for Development, Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad

Deadline: October 25, 2013

No of Participants: 30

About WET 2013

VIKSAT has announced a training programme for NGOs and CBOs working on issues related to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH). The training is directed towards creating and nurturing a cadre of educators for better understanding of water and WaSH issues.

Application forms and information at www.viksat.org

Events
7th World Environment Education Congress
9th to 14th June 2013, Marrakesh, Morocco The WEEC Congress, every two year hosts a conference for environmental educators from across the world with a view to share their experiences in the field that result in different thematic niches. The 7th WEEC that is planned to happen in June 2013 in Morocco aims to highlight environment educator’s role in the urban and rural areas and in hybrid spaces between. The conference aims to highlight the concern through 11 thematic niches: 1. Promoting Environmental Education and Networking2. Intercultural dialogues3. Social Movements and building ecological societies4. Communications and the impact of social media5. Ecological economics and green economies6. Ethics, ecophilosophy, human-nature relationships7. Greening education8. Creative impulses9. Pedagogy and learning10. Research in environmental education11. Risk, health, and environment

For more information visit:www.7weec.org
Email: info@weec2013.org

2014 – 2024: The Decade of Sustainable Energy for All 

The period of 2014 – 2024 has been declared as the “Decade of Sustainable Energy for All” by the United Nations General Assembly. In accord with the release of the UN, this initiative is not only necessary for the co-creation of the post-2015 development agenda which will help to shape the future global development framework that ensues the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but also is indispensable for sustainable development. Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Chair of UN-Energy said, “Sustainable Energy for all is essential for achieving our Millennium Development Goals and for opening up new opportunities for growth and prosperity in every country of the world” Until now 1.3 billion people don’t have access to electricity, 2.6 billion use traditional biomass as fuel for cooking and heating and a huge number of people could not afford modern energy supply, even if it was available. Those are obstacles the initiative has to face. Therefore the accessibility of affordable, economically manageable, economically and socially sustainable energy provision has to be enhanced. Together with the Sustainable Energy for All initiative the resolution stresses next to ensuring universal access the need of improvement in energy efficiency and the extension of the share of renewable energy. The objective of the decade is

1. Ensure universal access to modern energy services
2. Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency
3. Double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix

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

Go4BioDiv – Go for Biodiversity
Go4BioDiv is an international forum for young dedicated people from the age of 18 to 29. It gives the youth from all over the world the unique opportunity to share their on-the-ground conservation experience with their peers and the wider public. It enables them to participate in political discussions by engaging with international leaders during the Conferences of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP). Go4BioDiv was Initiated by the German development cooperation and the German National Park of the Bavarian Forest. Go4BioDiv has happened three times until now. After Germany (2008) and Japan (2010), parallel to the COP, it was hosted in Hyderabad in October 2012 where the youths got an opportunity to give inputs forthe Conference of Parties (COP), body of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The theme of the gathering was ‘Conserving coastal and marine biodiversity for sustaining life and livelihoods’. It was participated by 35 candidates from sites all over the world, who spent ten days in the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest in the Bay of Bengal. They studied and discussed about the upcoming topics in workshops. Subsequently during COP 11, they presented their message through their Go4BioDiv Youth Declaration. This was evaluated as very valid by experts of the Conference. The Messengers stayed in Hyderabad during the Conference and expressed their concerns further through drama, exhibition and side-events.

 For more information visit:www.go4biodiv.org or write to info@go4biodiv.org

Handprint – Action Towards Sustainability
‘Handprint – Action Towards Sustainability’ was organized by CEE in the CEPA Fair on experiences and best practices in Communication, Education and Public Awareness at the COP11, 8 -19 Oct 2012. The Handprint concept is the symbol of, measure for, and commitment to positive action towards sustainability. This event helped to share the concept of Handprint and its use in five different ways (positive and tangible action and projects, a tool to calculate, commitment, caring attitude, and networking and collaboration) in different parts of India and the world. Participants and speakers shared their views about how they recognize and identify relevance of their work to the Handprint concept. A resource booklet ‘Handprint – Positive Action towards Biodiversity Conservation’ was developed after this event which includes information about the concept, its use in different contexts, and views in the form of voices of participants.

For information visit:www.handprint.in and www.cbd.int/cepa/fair/2012 

Events, reports and announcements

2011, International Year of Forests

The United Nations General Assembly designated 2011 the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

“Forests for People” is the main theme of the Year, highlighting the dynamic relationship between forests and the people who depend on them. The UN Forum on Forests Secretariat (UNFF) is serving as the focal point for Forests 2011, with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization, in collaboration with Governments, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and other relevant organizations.

Forests are important to nearly all kinds of human activity: providing shelter to people and habitat to biodiversity; as a source of food, medicine and clean water; and play a vital role in maintaining a stable global climate and environment. Forests 2011 provides the opportunity to bring attention to the inter connectivity between people and forests. National, regional and local organizations around the world are encouraged to plan Forests 2011 events in line with their own interests and, in particular, to reach out to those in fields not traditionally considered directly related to forests.

For more information visit:

http://www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011

Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (CRZ) 

 6th Jaunuary, 2011

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has issued the CRZ Notification, 2011 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. In addition, MoEF has also issues the Island Protection Zone (IPZ) Notification, 2011 covering Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. Both these new Notifications reconcile three objectives:

• protection of livelihoods of traditional fisherfolk communities

• preservation of coastal ecology

• promotion of economic activity that have necessarily to be located in coastal regions.

For detailed reports on the consultation and queries on the CRZ visit:

http://tinyurl.com/CRZ-Notification and

http://tinyurl.com/FAQs-on-the-CRZ

Brochure on critically endangered species in India released

India has staggering variety of flora and fauna, including some of the rarest species in existence on the planet. There is so far a paucity of information for the general public on the status, biology, and major threats to the endangered species of our country. As per the latest (2011) quantitative evaluation done by the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) there are 57 critically endangered species of animals in India.

In an joint effort, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Zoological Survey of India has catalogued and share information on these species, which is aimed at raising awareness among people from all walks of life and strengthen efforts at conservation.

The brochure was released on 9th March 2011.

To download the brochure visit:

http://tinyurl.com/critically-endangered-booklet

4th Annual Urban Mobility Conference cum Exhibition-2011 and Sixth Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport Sixth Regional (EST) Forum in Asia: 3-6 December 2011

Theme: 'Sustainable Mobility'.

An Annual Conference-cum-exhibition on 'Urban Mobility' is held in Delhi every year (UMI). The event is being organized by the Institute of Urban Transport, India New Delhi in association with Mirabilis advisory an Economic development consultancy. The conference focuses on

•       Dissemination of information and to facilitate exchange of ideas, and

•       it recognizes good urban transport initiatives by giving awards to selected good practice projects.

The conference would also be co-hosting the Sixth Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum in Asia under the aegis of the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) with participation from 23 Asian countries.

The Conference cum Exhibition aims to bring together technology and service providers in urban transport from India and abroad in various modes; Pedestrians, non motorized transport, Bus operations, BRT, LRT, metro rail, Environment and traffic management, congestion management, Ropeways, Parking and ITS etc. as well as the policy makers, practitioners and officials under one roof.

For more information visit:

http://iutindia.org/urban2011/index.php/conference/programme