ESG Opinion

ESG Author November 1, 2021January 11, 2022 0 Comments

Can the ancient concept of ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’ reverse Climate Change?

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.

Advocacy ESG Opinion

ESG Author September 4, 2021October 18, 2022 0 Comments

Palm oil policy needs wider consultation

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.

brown and green grass field near body of water under cloudy sky during daytime

ESG Opinion

ESG Author August 10, 2021January 11, 2022 0 Comments

Climate change, a debate just on paper? | The Urban Debate

On The Urban Debate, Leo Saldhana from ESG and other panellists discuss with Tanvi Shukla the worsening effects of climate

Campaigns Commons ESG Opinion Water

ESG Author August 2, 2021June 20, 2023 1 Comment Community Engagement, Ecology, lake, Reimagining, Urban Farming

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.

ESG Opinion

ESG Author July 8, 2021January 11, 2022 0 Comments

Walking in rectangles

By Janani S, ESG. Reimagining The Urban Local Parks Of Bengaluru City,

Campaigns ESG Opinion Featured Articles Media Public Health

ESG Author June 5, 2021June 20, 2023 0 Comments

Restoring ecosystems to address NCD pandemic

June 5, 2021 marks the 49th year since the UN General Assembly designated the day as World Environment Day, marking the first day of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. The day is globally celebrated with meaningful themes relevant to the challenges at various points of time. This year’s theme is Restoring Ecosystems.

ESG Opinion

ESG Author June 1, 2021August 1, 2021 0 Comments

A century in pursuit of freedom

Who would have thought that in 2021, an American corporation known to harvest private communications for corporate profit would stand up against the Indian Government, defending the Right of Privacy of Indians. Ironically, here we are in the middle of the pandemic, worrying about how police can zoom in to suspend our fundamental right of expression, or walk into our homes and take away all that is ours, when the administration should, in fact, be ensuring that not one more person suffers, or dies, of COVID.

COVID-19 Pandemic ESG Opinion

ESG Author May 9, 2021October 4, 2022 0 Comments

Restoring ecosystems to address NCD pandemic

The rise in these two NCDs is largely attributed to degradation of our ecosystems due to urban proliferation with decreasing open green spaces, change in lifestyle over the years driven by the nerve-wracking GDP based economic engines, and socio-cultural changes, with a host of other factors contributing to these conditions.

Bengaluru’s ecosystem once comprised of open green spaces such as parks, urban forests, lakes and open public spaces. Such spaces help reduce temperature, improve air quality, cut noise, and provide space for physical activities such as walking, cycling, playing, exercising that help reduce the burden of these NCDs.

Advocacy COVID-19 Pandemic Disaster Management, Relief & Rehabilitation ESG Opinion

ESG Author May 9, 2021October 18, 2022 0 Comments

COVID-19: Why we must reorganise cities to deal with the third wave

There have been innumerable efforts in the past by civil society, trade unions, academia, public health experts and others who repeatedly stressed the crucial importance of strengthening local governance as key to mitigating and managing problems. These efforts have reached various High Courts and the Supreme Court too as Public Interest Litigations, trying to make local governance work. But the hubristic reliance and faith in centralised management has been such that even court orders directing public involvement in decision-making have all been disregarded. The whims and fancies of a few in power have prevailed with technology-based solutions for the pandemic.

ESG Opinion

ESG Author March 10, 2021January 11, 2022 0 Comments

Making Turahalli a model for urban forests

by Bhargavi S Rao. As the world has become predominantly urban, with the impact of climate change being experienced worldwide, protecting forests everywhere, particularly close to urban areas, is critical.

Forests, especially those near cities, serve in regulating local temperatures, cycling water and nutrients, as repositories of biodiversity, and as a critical resource for the sustenance of rural, pastoral and forest dependent communities. Forests are also sacred spaces for communities that continue to revere shrines inside such spaces.

ESG Opinion Turahalli Forest

ESG Author February 12, 2021January 11, 2022 2 Comments Save Turahalli, Tree Parks, Turahalli, turahalli forest, urban forests

Efforts to Conserve Turahalli Gudda, Bangalore’s Urban Forest

By Leo Saldanha and Malvika Kaushik. ESG has renewed its efforts to protect the Turahalli Minor and Reserve Forests in Bangalore, the latest threat to which has come in the form of a proposal to convert the forest into a tree park.

Campaigns Commons ESG Opinion Grasslands

Admin ESG February 5, 2021June 14, 2023 0 Comments Amrit Mahal Kaval, ISRO

Changing Lives and Livelihoods of Challakere: First impressions of the Unscientific Science City

By Ashwin Lobo, Research Associate, ESG. In January 2021, the ESG team visited these villages to understand the futuristic Science City means to the local communities. The stories we heard left us grasping for reason, as we struggled to fully comprehend just how much they have lost; We also were amazed by their resilience, particularly their feisty spirit to struggle on and protect the last remaining patches of these once pristine grasslands.