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Week 1 Report: Waste And Governance

The 1st webinar as part of the ESG Imaginaries To Make Cities Work was on the theme Waste And Governance and held on 7th July 2022 (5-7 pm). Kirthee Shah, Founder President of INHAF set the tone by explaining the background to the series. The webinar was anchored by Leo F. Saldanha, Coordinator and Trustee of ESG, and Bhargavi S. Rao, Trustee and Senior Fellow at ESG, who also provided an introduction to ESG’s diverse efforts on governance of waste management, and its implications to governance overall. Respondents were Prof. Amita Bhide, Dean, School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences; Rizwana Hasan of Bangladesh Environmental Law Alliance; Maitreyi Krishnan of Manthan Law and Shibu Nair of Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.

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AdvocacyEnvironment & Forest PolicyEnvironmental GovernanceESG Opinion
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Fundamental dilution of Environmental Laws and Jurisprudence of India Proposed

The current proposed amendments to four major environmental laws, are effectively a big step away from India’s long held statutory tradition of protecting environmental and natural resources and is a clear indicator of prevailing priority: putting business and commercial interest over environmental protection and safeguarding human rights.  The draft Bills were put out on 1st July 2022 by the Ministry in English, not any of the other Scheduled languages, and the commenting period ends on 21st July 2022.  Never in the history of India has there ever been such a rush to put interests of international and national business empires over that of peoples of India and its biodiversity.   

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ESG Imaginaries to Make Cities WorkUrban GovernanceWaste ManagementWebinars
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Week 1 of ESG Imaginaries To Make Cities Work: Waste And Governance

For over two decades, ESG has focussed on the emerging urban environmental and socio-economic challenges and has been working with multiple communities, government agencies, academia, media, etc. The approach has always been about finding viable and inclusive solutions to vexatious problems advocating deeply democratic processes that draw on  intersectoral, interdisciplinary, intersectional experiences, knowledge and histories. Bangalore and other cities today are in a mess as they follow highly centralised governance approaches that drift from existing legal provisions in which the various local publics find no place to imagine their futures as part of a collective imagining of the city’s future.

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CampaignsEventsPublic ConsultationsSWM PILsUrban GovernanceWaste Management
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Comments on SWM Interventions/Policies and for a Consultation on 9th April 2022 in response to directive from Karnataka High Court

Environment Support Group has been involved in initiating resilient and sustainable structural reforms in waste management through field, policy and legal interventions for over two decades now.  Our work, primarily based out of Bangalore metropolitan area (14 million) and Karnataka State, is in coordination with similar efforts nationwide. We work closely with trade unions advancing labour, occupational and health rights of those handling waste, and we also work with vulnerable communities suffering serious contamination due to waste disposal, to ensure their Rights to Health, Clean Environment, Life and Livelihoods is upheld.

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Join the 9 ‘K’ Movement – Protect our Commons for Posterity

Excerpt – ESG invites you to join a movement to save and rejuvenate each and every lake, pond, well, every stretch of raja Kaluve, everywhere across Karnataka from encroachment, degradation, pollution and decay. Lakes/tanks are gifts we have received from the past which we must pass on in a better state for the benefit of future generations. If we work collectively, it is possible to make Karnataka a water, food and biodiversity secure region that also builds healthy and sustainable livelihoods.

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CampaignsESG OpinionUrban GovernanceWaste Management
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Two Waste Management Stories From The Dakshina Kannada District

By: Janani S, The author is an architect and researcher on inclusive urbanism at Environment Support Group. Pachnady was still over 2 kilometres away but the stench of garbage reached us early. In 2019, the Pachnady landfill was in the news due to its slide down during the monsoons engulfing the residences and a temple in the vicinity. The solid waste of the city has polluted the groundwater here beyond repair rendering it unfit for drinking. Many of the farmers and other victims await their full compensation even after two years and their livelihoods witness a standstill as they are unable to cultivate in these degraded lands. In this context, we, researchers from the Environment Support Group, visited the waste management facility of Pachanady, Mangalore to get a better understanding of the prevailing situation.

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CampaignsESG Reports & Policy BriefsUrban GovernanceWaste Management
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Objections To The Draft EPR Regulations 2021 Issued By The Union Ministry Of Environment, Forests And Climate Change

“In response to the aforesaid notification inviting public comments on the Draft Regulations on Extended Producer Responsibility under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, please find enclosed our detailed comments and objections.

Given the enormous impacts of plastic on public health and the environment, we believe that every last producer in the chain, including petrochemical corporations, should be held accountable under any EPR regime. However, not only have petrochemical corporations been completely let off the hook, the proposed regulations fail to define the very subject of the regulations – “plastic packaging” and “EPR Targets”. This will undoubtedly make efforts to ensure compliance incredibly difficult, if not impossible.”

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CampaignsInfrastructureMetro
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Urgent appeal to Save Historic Heritage All Saints Church from Bangalore Metro Station

The undersigned fervently appeal to you to immediately intervene and protect this amazing garden and historic church from certain ruin and destruction. Such a decision will also send a global message that the Government of Karnataka builds public utilities like Namma Metro by safeguarding sacred spaces, and without destroying living heritage and very few biodiversity rich spaces that still remain in the metropolis.

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CampaignsESG Workshop ReportsSeminar & WorkshopsSWM Workshop Series 2021Waste Management
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Making Mangaluru an environmentally just city of south India

Environment Support Group conducted Making Mangaluru an Environmentally Just City of South India, the second session in a 3-part workshop conducted across India with support from Break Free From Plastic. The session was attended by representatives of local waste worker unions, fishing unions, student unions, local administrators, and NGOs. This was the latest in ESG’s longstanding efforts to work with communities in different parts of the country to address the challenges posed by waste mismanagement to environmental and public health and to use these as an opportunity to promote decentralized and democratic urban governance.

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CampaignsESG Reports & Policy BriefsResourcesSWM Workshop Series 2021Urban GovernanceWaste ManagementWebinars
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Making Imphal an Environmentally just city of North East India

Environment Support Group is pleased to invite you to Managing Imphal’s Solid Waste: Advancing Socially Just and Environmentally Sustainable Solutions. This is the first session in a 3-part workshop being conducted across India with support from Break Free From Plastic. The session will be conducted in Meitei and English and will be attended by representatives of local waste worker unions, fishing unions, student unions, local administrators, and NGOs. This is the latest in ESG’s longstanding efforts to work with communities in different parts of the country to address the challenges posed by waste mismanagement to environmental and public health and to use these as an opportunity to promote decentralized and democratic urban governance. Join the session to hear from local representatives about the unique context of Imphal, followed by a discussion by ESG on how it has promoted progressive solutions to tackling waste in Karnataka over the last two decades.

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LakesWebinars
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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
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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
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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
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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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