Category: Partnership
The Association for Promoting Sustainability in Campuses and Communities (APSCC) partners with the 4th Indian Biodiversity Congress (IBC-2017) and organizes a Drawing Contest as part of the event. IBC is a regular biennial event in India, with an array of programs attached to it including seminars, exhibition, workshops, national photography exhibition, civil society meet, documentary film festival and Children’s Biodiversity Conclave, besides a series of satellite and side events. The 4th IBC Congress will be held in Pondicherry University on 10th – 12th March 2017 with APSCC as one of the main partner to the event.
Highlights of the contest:
Participation cost : There is no participation fee as the drawing contest will be conducted by the participating school and the secretarial cost will be borne by APSCC.
Categories
Senior : Class IX to XII
Middle and Upper Primary : Classes VI to VIII
Primary : I to V
How to submit : The entries should be categorized as mentioned above along with neatly typed students name in the school letter head.
Last date for submission :Entries should be attested by the Principal and submitted to APSCC on or before 7-March-2017
Results : There will be 3 winners in each category and honorable mentions. Entries will be judged by the panel of experts and the result will be intimated to the school Principal before 11-March-2017
Certificates : Certificate of merit will be issued to all winning entries
All interested schools are requested to send in their entries on or before 7th-March-2017. For any queries on the event and rules, the participating schools are requested to contact the contest organizer at info@apsccindia.org
For more details on IBC-2017, please visit http://indianbiodiversity.co.in
APSCC partners with the Global Soil Partnership, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to promote food security for all and to make sure people have access to high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. Food security has been a global concern since the early 1980s, encompassing food availability, access to it and utilization. Food insecurity arises when food systems fall under stress induced by climate change or various other environmental issues. Peninsular India is well-known for suffering severe cyclones and also drought prone Central and Northern parts are considered to be the most vulnerable, forced to mitigate climate change because of its geographical location, overpopulation, poverty level and high livelihood dependency on agriculture. The figure shows an index of food security risk, and it is based on the key elements of food security set out by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The challenges to food security are twofold. On one hand, the knowledge about traditional foods is almost vanished and the traditional homemade healthy foods are replaced by “Ready to Eat Foods”, which are stuffed with stabilizing agents, emulsifiers, microbial growth inhibitors, preservatives, synthetic chemicals, etc. Such traditional foods are not only nutritious but also heal and sustain health. On the other hand the natural resources are getting degraded/ depleted/ destroyed because of the unprecedented natural calamities and challenges related to climate change. To mitigate such global challenges, organic farming, organic milk production, organic egg and meat production has to be promoted.
At APSCC, we promote
Purchasing locally or regionally grown food for the campuses which minimizes significant amounts of energy consumed during transportation, preservation, refrigeration, etc.
Revising the menu plan by incorporating food such as whole grains, vegetables, legumes, and fruits that are grown organically using waste derived compost.
Producing organic food through onsite kitchen garden without the use of artificial pesticides and fertilizers, whose use is neither healthy nor sustainable.
Boosting of organic food production through poly-cultures and intercropping rather than conventional monoculture farming. This not only provides better yield but also minimizes soil erosion, thereby enhancing the growth of beneficial soil flora and fauna.
FAO Link: http://www.fao.org/global-soil-partnership/overview/partners/gsp-partners/en/
Created following the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20 and built to further and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Sulitest has the support of a high range of UN bodies, major international and national academic institutions and the confidence of hundreds of contributors worldwide.
Being the first international tool to assess Sustainability Literacy, The Sulitest provides higher education institutions, companies and other organization around the world with an internationally recognized and locally relevant tool to measure and improve sustainability literacy for all. The development of regional and locally focused questions is managed by Regional or National Expert Committees (RNEC’s). APSCC is the RNEC for India with a dedicated expert community composed of academics, professionals and students and are coordinated by secretariat.