ECO CITIES:
The seminar was inaugurated by Ms. Meena Gupta, Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. The discussions were chaired by Mr. Chandra Mohan - Joint Secretary MoEF, Mr. Gautam Chaterjee, Joint Secretary – Ministry of Defence, Dr. Juergen Bischoff, GTZ-ASEM and Dr. T. Venugopal, Director Central Pollution Control Board and attended by Mayors of the eco cities, consultants, technical experts, Government agencies, NGO’s, etc
The discussion lead to many recommendations, some of them are:
ƒ MoEF should consider setting up a National Commission on Green Cities or a Joint Commission on Urban Sustainability with the Ministry of Urban Development.
ƒ In order to meet the financial needs of the environmental projects, the MoEF should explore the possibility of framing viable models such as Environmental Financing in cooperation with nationalized banks, financial agencies and international financial agencies.
ƒ There is a need to develop a Research Area Framework for identifying and promoting quality research and analytical works on innovative models like Ecological Foot Print Analysis, Material Flow Analysis, Eco Budgetting, etc.
ƒ Promotion of Art, Culture, Heritage Management and knowledge products to generate better avenues for employment and enhance the quality of life.
ƒ Green / eco buildings should be incorporated at the planning stage
ƒ Rainwater Harvesting should be compulsory for all buildings
ƒ Urban poor need to be understood and incorporated in city planning
ƒ Uniqueness of cities to be maintained while working towards a green city.
ƒ Disaster management plans to be prepared for the cities and put into position.
Presently, the Ecocity project has been launched at municipalities of Kottayam, Vrindavan, Ujjain, Tirupati and Puri. According to Dr. Juergen Bischoff, Director of ASEM, “The ecocity programme focuses on sustainable development, resource management and environmental protection in urban and industrial areas. The reason for the ecocity programme being launched in cities with tourist or business interest is because these cities have National prominence and fund raising for additional projects becomes easier.” (ASEM is the Indo-German Environment Programme, jointly implemented by the Ministry for Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ).
E-WASTE MANAGEMENT:
Ms Meena Gupta, Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, inaugurated the seminar. The welcome address was given by Dr. Juergen Bischoff, director of ASEM and the keynote address were made by Dr. V Rajagopalan, Chairman – Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The seminar on Electronic Waste management was attended by some of the IT majors and also by expert organisations like Toxic Link and E-Parisara etc.
The discussions lead to the following recommendations:
ƒ To have a manual for all the recycling units to give basic standards so that they use the appropriate technology.
ƒ To find alternatives in the manufacturing process in electrical and electronic equipments to reduce toxins.
ƒ To uplift the informal recycling sector so that opportunity to employment is not reduced.
ƒ Major e-waste is being imported from other countries. To check this the environment ministry will network with the customs department.
ƒ Channelising of collection systems so that e-waste is collected from the right places ensuring that this directly comes to the recycling unit.
ƒ Create awareness among all the stakeholders such as domestic, industries, recyclers, schools, and govt. agencies.
Task force for each recommendation is being set-up. Action plans will be chalked out with a time frame for implementation.
Implementation activities already undertaken: A pilot implementation project in Bangalore, the first recycling unit in India has been set up and would be in operation by in the next two months. A nodal agency has been formed in Bangalore with GTZ as the driving force with major IT companies and associations and CPCB for monitoring this system.
E-waste or electronic waste generally consists of obsolete electronic devices such as computers, servers, main frames, monitors, TVs & display devices, telecommunication devices such as cellular phones, calculators, audio and video devices, printers, scanners, copiers and fax machines besides refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, microwave ovens and toys. Such wastes are generated by manufacturers, distributors, retailers, consumers, re-users and recyclers and can subsequently arise also from individual households, government, public & private sectors, foreign embassies, importers and secondary markets for old PCs, cellphones etc.
Indian Scenario:
1.38 million PC’s will be with obsolete technology from the business sector and individual households.
Around 1,050 tonnes of electronic scarp is being produced by manufacturers and assemblers in a single calendar year.
In a single month, there is a reported case of import of 30 MT of e-waste at Ahmedabad port.
The minimum number of computers procured by an average scale scrap dealer is 20-25 per month. The approximate number of scarp dealers specializing in electronics, in and around Delhi, is more than 40. This figure also includes large-scale dealers who handle thousands of PC’s per month.
Reference: Scrapping the Hi-Tech Myth: Toxics Link (February 2003)
CHILDREN’S SUMMIT: The summit was inaugurated by Mr. Inge Tveite, Counsellor – Development Royal Norwegian Embassy. Close to 100 children participated, they were from different eco-cities like Ujjain, Puri, Vrindavan and Tirupati who joined the children from Delhi schools. Through a series of games, discussions and films, the children were sensitised to environmental issues and encouraged to find solutions to these at their own levels – as individuals and within the communities where they live. These children represented the various cross section of society; the interaction between the students lead to a greater understanding of the environment they live in.
With the success of the series of seminars, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and GTZ-ASEM is confident that the recommendations from the participating members would lead to a greater participation and interest in the environment by the municipal bodies and they would be able to sensitise and encourage the public at large to participate in this campaign for better and cleaner cities.
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For more information, please contact:
Keshav Bhatia (98115 78784)
Or
Kanchana Prasad (98112 94487)
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