To commemorate “World Environment Day and Ocean Day”, Amity Institute of Environmental Science (AIES) and Amity Institute of Environmental Toxicology, Safety and Management (AIETSM) organized a one day workshop on the theme “Conserving Green Earth and Blue Oceans for Sustainability" at University campus, Sector 125 Noida.
Welcoming the gathering, Dr. Tanu Jindal, Director, Amity Institute of Environmental Toxicology, Safety and Management (AIETSM) said that with the rise in pollution, drastic climatic changes have occurred that are harming the environment. She apprised that some scientists have warned that humans might need another planet to survive in next 100 years, if the pollution level is not checked and controlled on time. Dr. Jindal further briefed about the research initiatives undertaken by Amity in the area of environment with special reference to air and water pollution.
Dr. Ashok K Chauhan, Founder President, Amity Group of Institutions sent his message which read, “It is a great honour to have worthy persons, opinion makers and go getters on a common platform to deliberate upon the challenges and reforms to combat environmental issues.” He further added that the newly acquired Amity University Long Island campus is going to be a Global Research Hub in which lot of importance will be given upon environment, water and ocean and extended an invite to dignitaries for discussing possible areas of collaboration.
Delivering a presentation on ‘Environmental Challenges and Way Forward’, Dr. Jitendra Kumar, Advisor, NITI AAYOG apprised, “There are numerous environmental challenges faced by the world today. After identifying the serious problems, three out of 17 UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are concerned towards Environment focusing on climate change, land protection and marine protection.” He remarked that India is committed towards achieving the goals and further briefed about various achievements undertaken such as electricity generation from non-fossil sources, increase in forest and tree cover area, about 78.32 GW of renewable energy capacity installed in the country and significant reduction in emission intensity of GDP over the period of 2005 to 2014 amongst others. Dr. Kumar pointed out that though there are many achievements but there is still many of goals yet to be accomplished.
Dr. Kumar averred that sustainable development cannot be attained by efforts of some people or organizations. He opined that it requires collaborative resolves and interventions such as Behavioral Change- by using public transport and making plastic free homes etc; Technological based- electric vehicles, roof top solar plant, green building; Policy Support- efficient and limited use of resources and lastly, Regulatory Measures- polluter pay for pollution and enforcement of waste management rules.
Sharing her views, Dr. Radha Goyal, Secretary, Society for Indian Environment (SIE), Deputy Director, Indian Pollution Control Association (IPCA) highlighted that forest and oceans are the major resources that need to be conserved. 1.6bn livelihood depend upon forest and 80% of flora and fauna species are part of forests. She added that oceans are the lungs of earth which generate major oxygen and 70% of earth climate is regulated by oceans. The earth has lost 80% of its forest area due to deforestation and second major cause is the climate change.
Talking about waste management, Dr. Goyal apprised that only 60% of waste is collected and remaining 40% is littered which is creating negative impact on land and ocean. She stressed that poor segregation of waste is impacting the environment and suggested that proper reforms are needed for waste segregation.
During the day, several speakers presented their views on various topics including Dr. Nakul Parashar, Director, Vigyan Prasar on ‘Creating Awareness about Environmental Education’; Dr. Anoop S. Mahajan, Scientist E, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology on ‘Oceanic Biogeochemistry and atmospheric interactions’; Shri Jayant Sahasrabudhe, General Secretary, VIBHA on ‘Importance of Lifestyle in Combating Crisis due to Changing Climate’ and Cdr. Prashant Srivastava, Scientist-F, Ministry of Earth Sciences on ‘Blue Oceans for Sustainability’ amongst others.
The workshop was attended by hundreds of students and research scholars of Amity University.