Environment & Sustainable Development
Origin of this seminar:
The Stockholm Conference organised by United Nations in 1972 on the Human Environment and Development was the first major initiative to discuss Environmental issues and considered to be a turning point. The conference was patronized by 113 Countries, 19 International agencies, and 400 Non Governmental agencies. It is widely considered to be an Environmental Revolution and beginning of modern, political and public awareness of the global environmental Issues. The conference agreed upon a declaration with 26 principles covering Environment and Development, and an action plan with 109 recommendations.
UN General Assembly realized that there has been a major degradation of Environment due to unsustainable use of the Natural resources. As a follow up activity, World Commission on Environment and Development popularly called as Brundtland Commission was formed in1989 to unite Countries to pursue the philosophy of Sustainable Development.
Sustainable Development, as envisaged by Brundtland, has two goals, viz., to meet the basic needs of people i.e., clean air, safe water, balanced diet, clothing & shelter and at same time not depleting natural resources keeping in view the interests of future generation.
To achieve desired results from the stated objectives, people’s participation is very important. Environmental awareness is the key to success. Environmental Education is one of the tools to generate awareness among the people. Environmental Education is the process of recognizing and reorientation of values and it refers to organized efforts to create awareness apart from imparting knowledge relating to behavior/ function of environmental components.
To make young minds understand and appreciate the basic concepts of Environmentally Sustainable Development, use and conservation of Natural resources, UGC introduced a subject on Environmental studies in all courses. The syllabus includes all environmental aspects which will affect individuals and community as well.
Then came identification of sub themes and eminent speakers who could speak on topics concerned. Twelve sub themes were identified along with the respective speakers. There were a few topics like population, human ethics/values, which could have been included but could not be done due to constraints of time.
About the seminar
As a part of the program on 31st January, following activities for students to sensitize the environmental problems were organized:
- 1.Quiz on Environment
- 2.Model/ Poster Presentation
- 3.Paper Presentation.
The response was overwhelming and encouraging Debate on topics related to Environment. The highlight of the student activities includes a tree plantation drive on 31st January and 1st February which was attended by Dr. Jai Prakash Narayan who also addressed students.
The two-day Seminar on 1st and 2nd February 2013 commenced with the Inaugural session on 1st Feb. at 10.30.am by Prof. Suman Kapur followed by Key Note presentation on Biodiversity. A total of 10 eminent speakers made presentations on different themes as detailed below.
- Biodiversity and its Importance by Prof. Suman Kapur, BITS, Hyderabad
- GIS Applications by Prof. M Anji Reddy, JNTUH
- Hazardous Waste, MSW management – A case Study by Sri. M. Gowtham Reddy, M/s Ramky Group
- Green Building Technologies & Trends by Sri. Kuladeep Kumar Sadevi ,IGBC
- Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) by Sri.G. Balasubramanyam, ASCI
- Sewage Treatment Options based on LCC/DSS – A Case Study by Prof .R.C.Reddy, MVSREC
- Role of Mass Transport in Sustainable Urban Development by Sri. Mohd Ziauddin, Hyderabad Metro Rail
- Ambient Air Quality and Pollution Control by Dr.K. Sainath, M/s Clair Consultants
- Energy & Environment Competitiveness by Sri. K.S Venkatagiri, IGBC
- Bio-Medical Waste Management by Sri. Rajender Reddy (APPCB)
- Ecological Foot Print and Carbon Credits by Prof. KVSG Muralikrishna, JNTUK
This seminar is thus a culmination of concerted planning and hard work over the last six months by the department of Civil Engineering of MVSR Engineering College