Environment Support Group

Commons

Environmental Decision MakingEnvironmental GovernanceForestIssue in FocusIssue in PerspectivePopular

Indian Environment Ministry statement in Parliament confirms Forest Conservation Act (Amendment) Bill 2023 proposed against Constitutional norms

The contents of Forest Conservation Bill 2023 leave no room for doubt that its core purpose is to advance interests of extractive industries, to commercialise forests, and favour Indian and foreign corporates interested in exploiting forests, biodiversity, bioresources and associated traditional knowledge.

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ESG Workshop ReportsLakes

How to Protect Lakes and Raja Kaluves?

A webinar on Lake Conservation was conducted by ESG on 20th December 2022.  This session was mainly organised to benefit activists, researchers, public officials and also concerned citizens to explain how to use judicial orders, government orders and various other laws relating to lakes for the protection, conservation and rehabilitation of tank/lakes, ponds, raja kaluves, and such other water commons.  

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CommonsFeatured ArticlesMediaUrbanUrban Forestry

Concrete galore: The transformation of Bengaluru

The concretising didn’t stop with roads; like a cancer it spread across to pavements, as paved regions into parks, and even into urban forests like Turahalli where, thankfully, public resistance stopped it. But the phenomenon is so widespread now, that it shows up in satellite imageries, and when it rains, the city floods in no time as there is simply no open ground for water to percolate. And in summer ‘heat islands’ result, desiccating what little greenery is left.

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LakesWebinars

Legal Awareness Workshop- Functioning of Lake Protection Committees at Municipal, District, and Apex Levels

As part of the Pan-India Awareness and Outreach Campaign proposed by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to commemorate 75 years of India’s Independence, ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA), and Environment Support Group (ESG) organised a virtual Legal Awareness Workshop relating to the functioning of Lake Protection Committees at Municipal, District and Apex Levels constituted in accordance with directions of the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka in WP 817/2008. The workshop was organised from 25 Oct to 28Oct 2021 for members of the Apex Lake protection Committee and administrators of Bangalore Division, Kalaburagi Division, Belgaum Division, and Mysore Division.

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Lake PILsLakesPILs

Building Environmental Jurisprudence to Reclaim Lakes as Commons for Posterity: Compilation of ESG Lake Work

Collated here are petitions, affidavits, memos and notes filed by ESG to protect lakes of Karnataka before Karnataka High Court (WP 817/2008 & WP 38401/2014) and Supreme Court of India (Civil Appeal 17166/2013). You will also find here judicial orders, reports and laws that are an outcome of this ongoing effort. This section will be updated frequently.

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LakesPress Releases

Public Statement Demanding Strict Action Against Communal Elements Threatening with Dire Consequences Those Working to Protect Begur Lake

The undersigned unequivocally, and in a single, strong, and clear voice absolutely condemn this assault on the honour of the High Court of Karnataka, on the rule of law,  and on those who are working tirelessly to protect lakes as commons for the sake of present and future generations. At a time when the world is grappling with the critical importance of saving such biodiversity-rich wetlands as a means of tackling the adverse consequences of climate change

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CampaignsCommonsESG OpinionWater

LET US EMBRACE LIFE!

By Janani S, ESG. In Bengaluru, 800 km of Rajakaluve streams crisscross the city. The patches of urban farming and fruit trees that can be grown on its banks, in the no development zone, is a humongous opportunity for the wide public. School children, who currently have very minimal ground connect, would be exposed to touch, feel and stay connected to the earth and water, birds and seasons.

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Bengaluru Climate Action PlanCampaignsCommonsWaterWebinars

Week 3: Making Bengaluru Water Secure

Bengaluru’s insatiable demand for water has not only exhausted its replenishable ground water reserves, and overdrawn its share of the Cauvery, but now plans are afoot to extract water from the far away Sharavathi river. Meanwhile, the acute financialization of land sans rigorous and democratic land use planning has resulted in lakes and other water commons that once sustained the city’s water needs being cannibalised.

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