Category: Partnership

Categories
Partnership

APSCC partners with 2011-2020 UN decade on Biodiversity

APSCC has partnered with the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity and have made a long-term commitment to promote the Decade in all our activities and communications. Biodiversity is the diversity of species, habitats and ecosystems on earth. Biodiversity and ecosystems provide a lot of services to the people for free including food and freshwater, control of climate and diseases, soil formation and recreational opportunities which are essential to our wellbeing and survival. Because biodiversity and ecosystems provide these services for free, their value is often over-looked, undervalued and not taken into consideration in economic decisions.

Researches show every acre of forest cover sequesters 16 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Planting trees and maintaining green spaces for carbon sequestration within the campuses and communities will offset climate change and global warming produced through greenhouse gases and other means. Indigenous species can be used for the green cover as they will not only require less/ no chemical fertilizers but also less water for irrigation and will not interfere with the local ecosystem thus promoting biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration within the locality. Ecological landscaping integrated with wetlands (constructed or natural) will subsequently prevent top soil erosion, thereby protecting and restoring the lost flora and fauna.

At APSCC, we believe it is not possible to create a framework that is ‘one-size-fits-all’ for biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration. Until now, successful implementation appears to be a major challenge as this may not be adapted to all cases especially due to the diverse nature of the environments and communities of Peninsular India.

The initiatives of APSCC to foster the stated objective are

  • Conservation of flora, fauna through organic farming
  • Habitat restoration through indigenous species
  • Prevention and control of pollution at source
  • Afforestation and regeneration of degraded areas
  • Protection of the environment and resources

Link: https://www.cbd.int/2011-2020/participate/partner/

Categories
Partnership

APSCC partners with ULSF

New partnership between the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF) and the Association for Promoting Sustainability in Campuses and Communities (APSCC), working in India to promote the Talloires Declaration at higher education institutions.
The Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF) is the Secretariat for signatories of the Talloires Declaration (1990), which has been signed by over 400 college and university presidents and chancellors worldwide. ULSF supports sustainability as a critical focus of teaching, research, operations and outreach in higher education through publications, research, and assessment.

RECOMMENDATIONS of ULSF
University presidents must take action to focus university attention on environment, population, and development issues. They should:
1. Use every opportunity to raise public, government, foundation, and university awareness by publicly speaking out on the importance of environmental concerns.
2. Seek large increases in the funding of interdisciplinary, environmental research. Research funds are often earmarked for traditional disciplines, resulting in the continuing compartmentalization of problems and solutions. The funding available for research on population, environment, and sustainable development is a tiny fraction of that available for basic science, defense, and aerospace.
3. Encourage outstanding scholars who engage in research and teaching on environmental topics, and help them lead other scholars in this direction.
4. Establish programs in all major disciplines to teach about environment, population, and sustainable development in the context of these disciplines.
5. Work with faculty to change tenure and promotion requirements to reward interdisciplinary work on environment, population, and sustainable development issues.
6. Set aside funding and create positions for interdepartmental and interschool faculty who will research and teach population, environment, and sustainable development topics.
7. Appoint a special adviser, an environmental programs dean, or faculty group to promote environmental programs within the university.
8. Encourage multidisciplinary thinking with the use of internships, capstone and integrating seminars, work study, and case studies.
9. Establish a university environmental policy to engage faculty, staff, administration, and students in activities such as energy and water conservation, and recycling. Encourage vendors who supply schools with products and services to act in an environmentally responsible manner when manufacturing their products and delivering their services.
10. Develop cooperative programs with universities in other countries to promote faculty and student exchanges, collaborative research, and education programs that develop international understanding.
11. Establish multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary structures, such as “centers of excellence” for research, education, and policy development within the university.
12. Establish partnerships with primary and secondary schools to enhance the capability of their faculty in teaching about population, environment, and sustainable development issues.

Download Signatory Form Here
Categories
Partnership

IIT-Madras and APSCC partners for Sustainability Network Summit – 2014

The S-Net team at IIT-Madras in collaboration with APSCC had organized the yearly summit in 2014 that consisted of a case study competition titled GREEN VISION – 2020. The event attracted participation from several student teams from across India.

About S-NeIITM2014 Bannert: S-Net is a student run organisation at the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras (IIT-M) that works to promote various sustainable practices and awareness programmes in the campus. Established in 2009, the organisation is mentored by the administration and alumni of IITM, SNET follows a simple ideal – implementing and practicing sustainable life style and promoting it all over the nation through proven examples. The vision of a progressive administration, passion of some determined alumni and enthusiasm of a group of students has evolved into a mission to make IIT Madras a model for the nation to follow.