Voluntary Citizen or Civil Society Sector

Environmentalist Robert Swan, the first person to walk the North and South Pole, was in Delhi last year. He launched phase IV of Project Search, which aimed to promote environmental awareness and sustainable lifestyles among students. Swan noted that not many Delhiites scored high on topics of environmental awareness.

The construction industry went through a boom in the 1990s due to more people demanding and affording houses. This put a lot of pressure on the Pennar area in Andhra Pradesh. Sandmining, which is the process of taking sand, became rampant at that time.

Throughout history, the Uttarakhand Himalayas have been a source of timber and water to the rest of the nation. However, this has led to severe depletion of resources in the state. Today, the mountain communities find it hard to meet their basic needs of fodder, fuel and water.

Organisers 

The Alternative in collaboration with Apartment ADDA

Venue

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Domlur II Stage, Bangalore

About the workshop

Offered by 

Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM), Pune, on behalf of Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts, India

About the opening 

Organisers

Uttarakhand Nadi Bachao Andolan

Venue

Charba village, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Background

An anti coke protest and a week long yatra is being organised by the concerned citizens and social activists, against the proposed take over of their land, forest and groundwater by the Coca Cola company.

Kerala welcomes the monsoons!

The monsoons finally hit Kerala on June 1, bringing respite for the drought-ridden southern state. Things are looking up this year with an expected 98% of rainfall in the state.

Maharashtra is reeling under a drought – one of the worst in the last 40 years. The state declared drought in 125 out of 358 talukas during kharif 2012-13, and then declared water scarcity in 3,905 villages in rabi 2012-13.

The pavement burns the skin of my soles through my thick shoes, and the merciless sun blazes through my sunglasses making me squint in the blinding light. I look around for some shade but the tiny umbrella in my bag, my only saviour, proves useless. Delhi’s tree-lined streets are barren, the beautiful green shady canopies scarce .

Uttarakhand is blessed with an immense amount of natural resources such as forests, wildlife and water, but if you are looking for some research-based information that quantifies, classifies and organizes this information, there isn’t much out there.