Environmental, Social Justice & Governance Initiatives
The Supreme Court’s decision restoring ESG’s PIL comes at a time when the world is preparing to address grave biodiversity losses due to trade, biopiracy, over extraction and also due to climate change as part of the 15th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity being held in Montreal 7th to 19th, December, 2022.
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Leo F. Saldanha, the coordinator of the non-profit Environment Support Group, which has been litigating for lake preservation for over two decades, says,
“All these were natural agricultural wetlands. But while putting up buildings, planners should have ensured space for water to collect and interlinkages to lakes downstream if they overflowed. It was a very simple thing to do, but we ignored it and the citizens are paying the price—as we all experienced in the recent floods.”
Over the past several weeks, Bengaluru has witnessed unprecedented rainfall and severe flooding in several parts of the city, especially the ill-planned newly developed areas such as Bellandur Varthur corridor
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With Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitching 500 GW as a target for energy production from renewable sources, mainly solar and wind, there has been a substantial increase in mega solar park installations across the country in various landscapes.
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The city needs granular administrative and planning responses to help identify the poor who are forced to live in flood prone areas out of sheer necessity. They cannot be evicted and thrown to the streets.
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Bengaluru witnessed torrential rains and floods that created a disastrous impact. As a result, a large part of #Bengaluru was underwater.
The New Indian Express spoke to experts to understand the cause and effect of this concerning issue.Experts go on to state that rapid construction, encroachment, and corruption are behind the crisis.
Good research-based approaches to skill building are the need of the hour in order to identify the right approaches in building a broad spectrum of jobs. Anticipating Skill Needs for Green Jobs is a study that offers practical guidance on building employment opportunities and developing short term job oriented skill courses. From the experiences of the pandemic it has been learned that it is certainly more beneficial for society overall to provide a range of skill training – from farm-based activities to non-farm skills – and speaking to the needs of the region, even at the very local levels. It is such an approach of care that will help youth in making wise choices to secure their futures, in ensuring economic security of their households and to look to the future with dignity and confidence.
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How did the city manage such flooding, being the epicentre of India’s science & technology prowess? Were the software giants located along the city’s Outer Ring Road aware of the risks? Could they have worked on mitigating and managing it better?
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The IT Capital of India which was well on the path of becoming the second Silicon Valley of the world couldn’t wait for carefully and inclusively planned Bengaluru.
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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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The most important aspect of a sustainable house or infrastructure is to create one that consumes less energy in both its production and operation. As human civilization settles down comfortably into a lifestyle of energy and product consumption, we lead ourselves to believe that we can become green by just shifting the source of energy generation, unwilling to fathom that unnecessary product and process creation is the underlying issue. Energy reduction and lifestyle changes can pave the way for true sustainability.
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An unprecedented and prolonged heatwave is sweeping across the Indian subcontinent. As we thoughtlessly reach out to our fans and air conditioners to keep ourselves cool, it is essential that we remember coal miners who are slogging through impossible, even inhumane, conditions to keep the energy supplied to us.
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Alternative sources of energy like solar is the way ahead but going forward in this realm requires a need to understand that mega power plants spanning thousands of acres, commissioned by converting habitable lands may not be the right way to do it. Solar plants can coexist with farming, animal rearing and other rural livelihoods. It just needs more dialogue and local people’s participation to suit the local landscapes.
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22nd April 2022 will be the 52nd year since the observation of Earth Day. A day that marked the birth of the modern environment movement across the West. Earth Day in the 1990s became a global call for action drawing attention of the world to the developing environmental crisis as a fallout of the Rio Summit 1992. Now we are enduring climate change impacts. The IPCC report 2022 warns if global carbon emissions are not reduced substantially, heat and humidity will surpass human tolerance and this can seriously impact human health and the economy.
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The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has issued an office memorandum on the 10th of March to constitute a committee to promote women-centric policies, programs and interventions in the RE sector. The memorandum claims that the MNRE under its various schemes and programmes, has been encouraging participation of women in RE sector and mentions a recent online session held on ‘Women in Renewable Energy (RE): Call for Action’ that was organized to acknowledge the role of women entrepreneurs and leaders in the Renewable energy Sector and to discuss the way forward. The ministry acknowledges the comments and feedback received on possible interventions to further increase participation of women in the RE growth story.
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Panel Discussion chaired by Dr. Ravindra A. Speaker: Anjali Karol Mohan. Discussant: Leo Saldhana, ESG
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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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The Make Bengaluru Climate Friendly – A Blueprint for Integrated, Participatory and Inclusive Urban Governance was evolved by the Environment Support Group, with deeply engaged participation from key representatives of multiple sectors: from the governments, academia, media, civil society, trade unions, vulnerable communities, etc.
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Leo Saldhana from ESG questions CM BS Bommai’s statement that ground reality across ghats is different from satellite images, explains the seriousness of the issue.
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Leo Saldhana in conversation with Revathi Rajeevan of New 18 on the recent flooding in North Bengaluru
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Leo Saldhana from ESG joins Tanvi Shukla from Mirrow Now On The Urban Debate.
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The 26th Conference of Parties (COP) of UN Climate Change Conference, hosted by the UK in partnership with Italy, will take place from 31 October to 12 November 2021 in Glasgow, UK. There simply could not have been a more divided world in which such a critical global summit is organised, especially given that decisions taken here have planetary implications. Following the collapse of the 25th COP held in Madrid, and no COP in 2020 due to COVID pandemic, much hope rested on taking forward a global pact to address climate change and its challenges in this year’s effort.
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By Malvika Kaushik, ESG. The NMEO-OP intends to make India, one of the largest importers of palm oil in the world, self-reliant in edible oil production. It proposes price assurances and other economic incentives to persuade farmers to cultivate oil palm. The move is touted as essential for national economic security. Meanwhile, activists are highlighting the dangers of widespread cultivation of oil palm monocultures in the north-east and in the Andaman and Nicobar islands (ANI). There are two key threats. The first is the destruction of fragile ecosystems in these biodiversity hotspots. In the north-east, the diversion of land cultivated under shifting agriculture or jhum could also be an issue. Jhum entails rotation between cultivation and regeneration in different patches of land. It seems to support more biodiversity than monoculture plantations.
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On The Urban Debate, Leo Saldhana from ESG and other panellists discuss with Tanvi Shukla the worsening effects of climate
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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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