Environment Support Group

Urban Governance

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Evolving a Participatory Climate Action Plan for Bengaluru

In January 2021, Mr. N Manjunatha Prasad, IAS, then Commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), announced the decision to “support the implementation of the Paris Agreement” and to “commit the City of Bengaluru to develop and begin implementing a climate action plan (or series of plans) that will deliver action consistent with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.” In order to assist the metropolis in developing strategies aimed at meeting the Paris Agreement targets, Environment Support Group (ESG) initiated a webinar series to deliberate upon the steps needed to make the city more climate friendly. 

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CampaignsEnvironmental GovernancePopularUrban GovernanceUrban Governance ,Commons & Infrastructure
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Appeal to the Government of Karnataka to institute processes that will ensure democratic governance & administration of the metropolitan area of Bengaluru

In the past, Karnataka has disastrously placed trust in task forces & vision groups consisting of elite personalities to imagine what is right for Bengaluru. These groups were undemocratic and contrary to the constitutional mandate. The present Congress Government has once again pushed for the formation of another such forum to seek views of the elite in shaping the future of the metropolis.

Please sign this petition to support our appeal to the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka demanding that the city be governed through a deeply democratic and inclusive process and that the Metropolitan Planning Committee be constituted immediately.

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CampaignsESG Reports & Policy BriefsGovernance of Socio-Technical TransformationsResearchSmart CitiesUrban Governance
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Transformations to Sustainability: Governance of Sociotechnical Transformations

A video by Belmont Forum and International Science Council on ‘Governance of Sociotechnical Transformations” (GoST) project in which ESG is a partner to discover pathways of Transformations to Sustainability.

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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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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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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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CampaignsESG Workshop ReportsSmart CitiesUrban Governance
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Interrogating Governance and Financial Implications of ‘Smart Cities’ – Part I Report

In collaboration with Program on Science, Technology and Society, Harvard Kennedy School, USA & Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Germany, as part of a project on Governance of Sociotechnical Transformation in this interrogating discussion on Governance and Financial Implications of ‘Smart Cities’.

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CampaignsESG Workshop ReportsOther WebinarsResourcesUrban GovernanceWebinars
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Webinar Series: ‘Better Bus Bengaluru’

The final webinar as part of the “Better Bus Bengaluru” campaign with #BengaluruMoving is on Friday, 28th August 2020 (4-6 pm on Zoom and Facebook) when we will address the theme: “Streamlining and calming traffic, and making cities inclusive for all”.

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CampaignsEfficacy of Ward Committees in BengaluruPress ReleasesUrban GovernanceWaste Management
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Historic Direction By Karnataka High Court To BBMP To Ensure Ward Committees Prepare Ward Level Solid Waste Management Plan

A fundamental step to securing decentralisation in urban governance 10 November 2017 Downloads: ESG Press Release on Karnataka HC 10th

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