Urban employment generation through biodiversity conservation
01 month ago
Urban Diaries from India
Biodiversity Conservation and urban poverty alleviation through employment generation, can they go together? Many will argue that urbanity sustains itself by plundering the biodiversity of surroundings. So the usual answer for it is going to be “No”. For many the whole idea of conservation is very elite. Only those who have time and money will engage in it as a hobby. Why are we trying to bring them together? The scale of resource loss, environmental degradation in cities is massive. The number of urban poor is increasing and will keep amplifying in the context of mass distress prevailing in rural areas and increase in prices of essential commodities in urban areas. Both need ‘Mission’ like approach.
For employment generation and poverty alleviation, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (MHUPA) is envisaging National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM). There are few very important elements in the More >
Crusader of Ganga Prof. Veer Bhadra Mishra departed
02 months ago
by Kabir Arora
in Sustainability
With wet eyes and heavy heart I am making this announcement that our dear friend and crusader of the river Ganga Prof. Veer Bhadra Mishra (Mahant Ji) has departed. Prof. Mishra was the Founder of Sankat Mochan Foundation and initiator of Swetcha Ganga (Clean Ganges) Campaign. Because of his incredible work the Time Magazine named him the hero of the century in 1999. An active member of slow functioning “National Ganga River Basin Authority”, he always pursued the Government of India to take positive action for the betterment of the river. His organization played the role of constructivist and proposed an effective solution apart from acting as a watch dog. As a part of the way out they proposed appropriate technology which relied more on natural ways of treatment. Sadly Dr Mishra died before seeing his dream become a reality, largely because of bureaucratic delays within the More >
Public Private Partnership in Lake Development & Conservation
12 months ago
Verdict is not yet out
Lake conservation has never been a priority in any part of our country. In case of Bangalore the transformation of Dharmabudhi tank to Bangalore city bus stand or Challaghata tank to Golf course reflect this reality. In the new urbanity it seems that lakes are not important as they appear to be encroachments on pricy land which need to be brought in the market. The description holds some truth but due to increasing citizen strokes and for some intelligent reasons of their own the Governments at different levels are now getting into action. In case of Bangalore the lakes were either with the Forest department or Bangalore development Authority (BDA) some were with Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP). With the formation of National Lake Conservation Plan in 2001, Karnataka state government formed Lake Development Authority (a More >
Pakistan Water Programme Provinicial Consultative Workshop
03 months ago
by Mehak Masood
in Sustainability
IUCN Pakistan organised a provincial consultative workshop for Punjab on ‘Pakistan Water Programme’ in Lahore on Tuesday in collaboration with Oxfam-Novib. The objective of the consultative workshop was to discuss priority issues that Punjab is facing with respect to water resources. The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Shahid Ahmad, an eminent expert on the subject.
The event was attended by senior officials from various provincial departments i.e., Punjab Irrigation, Environment, Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries departments and Water & Power Development Authority, representatives from the research institutions, academia including; International Water Management Institute, Pakistan Council for Research on Water Resources, Punjab University and Agriculture University Faisalabad and the Lahore Women University. Representatives of the IUCN member organisations including: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Shirkat Gah-Women Resource Centre and South-Asia Partnership. Eminent experts, Mr. Mohammad Hussain Bhatti of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Organisation and Rana Shabbir Ahmad, More >
