|
|
ATREE Work Seminar - 2019
The fourth edition of ATREE Work Seminar (AWS), was held from August 6th to August 8th, 2019. AWS, a biennial internal event, provided an opportunity to ATREE students, researchers and staff to share ongoing work, discuss future project ideas, and celebrate interdisciplinarity.
The three fun-filled days included over 50 long and short talks, poster highlights, a tree climbing demonstration, and a panel discussion on - 'Science, policy and all the messy links in-between' by ATREE researchers, students and staff.
AWS also included plenaries by Prof. Kamal Bawa, President, ATREE, Dr. A.R. Vasavi, Social Anthropologist and Trustee, Punarchit, and Dr.Krishnapriya Tamma, Faculty, Azim Premji University. The AWS platform provided an opportunity for everyone at ATREE to interact, learn from and network to facilitate collaborations.
|
|
|
ATREE Contributes to the IPCC's Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL)
ATREE's Senior Fellow, Jagdish Krishnaswamy was a coordinating lead author for the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) which was released in Geneva, Switzerland on August 8th, 2019.
The special report looked at climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. One of the key takeaways from the report for policymakers was the recognition of land as a critical resource in tackling climate change. The report emphasized that there are limits to using land for tackling climate change and policies like afforestation and growing energy crops are not wholly effective in combating climate change. Deep cuts in emissions from the energy, industry and infrastructure sectors will enable the land sector to foster sustainable land management and long term restoration of ecosystems with mitigation and adaptation co-benefits. The report also advocated for locally appropriate sustainable land practices and governance systems.
The report highlighted that climate change would affect all four pillars of food security: availability (yield and production), access (prices and ability to obtain food), utilization (nutrition and cooking), and stability (disruptions to availability). It advocated that balanced diets featuring plant-based foods, such as coarse grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables, and animal-sourced food produced sustainably in low greenhouse gas emission systems, presented major opportunities for adaptation to and limiting climate change.
Jagdish as part of the outreach initiative of IPCC presented the Special Report on Climate Change and Land to parliamentarians and representatives of Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Central Asian countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan on August 22nd and August 23rd, 2019.
|
|
|
|
ATREE at the World Water Week
ATREE PhD student, Rinan Shah, was part of the World Water Week held in Stockholm from August 25th to August 30th, 2019. The World Water Week organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute is the annual focal point for global water issues.
Rinan was part of the seminar 'Water governance with and for all: Is it working?' where she discussed the political economy of domestic water scarcity in Eastern Himalayan towns.
|
|
|
|
Workshop on Water Hyacinth Crafts
Water hyacinth, an aquatic weed, poses a major threat to aquatic life and the livelihoods of traditional stakeholders of Vembanad. In order to address this threat, ATREE-CERC organized a two-day training workshop on making crafts from Water hyacinth for women from Muhamma and Thakazhi regions.
Ten women attended the training workshop held on August 4th and August 5th, 2019. The workshop was led by Abdul, Founder Allika, who produces and sells Water Hyacinth based value-added products. The training was held at the Social Innovation lab in Muhamma. The women made hats, bags, file holders, and other products from Water hyacinth.
|
|
|
|
ATREE Independence Day Clean-Up Drive
As an Independence Day initiative, ATREE organised a clean-up service in neighbourhoods around ATREE. Volunteers comprising ATREE researchers, staff and interns participated in the event to raise awareness about waste disposal and our consumption choices.
|
|
|
|
ATREE Conducts First Field Trip for Wetland Rovers of Tamirabarani
ATREE's Agasthyamalai Community Conservation Centre (ACCC) as part of the 'Wetland Rovers of Tamirabarani' initiative, conducted the first field trip for the students of Puspalata Vidya Mandir at KMTR. Students learnt about the significance of stream ecosystem and the various flora and fauna associated with it.
ACCC is implementing an exclusive year-long education programme - ' Wetland Rovers of Tamirabarani' in Tirunelveli district. This programme initiated with the support of Brakes India and Sundaram Finance will allow registered students to explore the types of wetlands and biodiversity of Tamirabarani river basin.
|
|
|
|
ATREE at the National Training Programme on Audit of Water Pollution and Conservation of Lakes, Rivers and Other Wetlands
ATREE Fellow, Priyanka Jamwal, gave a talk at the National Training Programme on Audit of Water Pollution and Conservation of Lakes, Rivers and Other Wetlands on August 27th, 2019 at Jaipur. The training programme was part of the capacity building initiative of the International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (iCED) for officers of the Indian Audit & Accounts Department.
Priyanka gave a talk on Sewage Management in Cities and Towns: Framework, Technology and Challenges. The training programme aimed to acquaint participants with issues pertaining to water pollution in India.
|
|
|
|
ATREE and SHEFS Partnership
We are very happy to share that ATREE is now part of the Sustainable and Health Food Systems (SHEFS) project. SHEFS is a global research programme funded by the Wellcome Trust (running from 2017 to 2021) with three country case study sites: the United Kingdom, South Africa and India. The project is a multi-partner research consortium led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in partnership with other institutions.
The primary purpose of SHEFS is to provide new interdisciplinary research that policymakers can use to shape food systems that will deliver healthy, accessible, affordable and sustainable food for future populations. ATREE researchers will be looking at interactions between the environment and food production systems at project sites across India.
|
|
|
|
ATREE's Chidananda Murthy Awarded the Most Inspiring Eco-Sapien
We are very happy to share that ATREE's Chidananda Murthy has been awarded the 'Under 40, Most Inspiring Eco-Sapien' in South India by the Indian Express. Chidananda was given this award in recognition of his work on Arkavathi river conservation and several other environment-related projects in Doddaballapura.
|
|
|
|
New PhD Students at ATREE
Seven PhD students were inducted into the Academy of Conservation Sciences and Sustainability's interdisciplinary PhD programme. They are from various backgrounds ranging from ecology, environmental sciences, wildlife biology and geoinformatics. The coursework for the academic year commenced on August 5th, 2019 and involves core courses such as Ecology, Sociology, Environmental Sciences and Economics.
|
|
|
ATREE's Nitin Rai highlights that Forest management that relies on no intervention has social, economic and ecological costs for tribal communities and can lead to changes in the forest structure, spread of invasive species and increased human-wildlife conflict. Read More... |
|
|
ATREE's Roshni Kutty and Sharachchandra Lele maintain that is important to acknowledge the stated goal of the FRA, which is to correct historical injustice, that is, the non-recognition of the cultivation rights of the Adivasis. Read More... |
|
|
|
|
