International Symposium on India's Biodiversity
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Honouring the many decades of contributions to biodiversity conservation in India by Dr. Kamal Bawa, who is among the pioneers in the integration of social and natural science approaches and institution building for biodiversity conservation, ATREE organized a conference to bring together a diverse group of conservation practitioners to review and synthesize the current state of knowledge and chart the future directions to conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in South Asia.
The conference was sponsored by the Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies (RNP) and held in association with ATREE in Bengaluru. It served as a crucial launch point to define an agenda and set priorities for future work.
The competition for land for agricultural, conservation and infrastructure needs in India is fierce, and India has stringent laws and substantial mechanisms for the protection of biodiversity. The conference was organised into two themes.
Theme I: Biogeography and evolution of biodiversity. This theme explored the origin, evolution, and biogeography of South Asian biodiversity
Theme II: Global change and conservation of biodiversity. This theme explored the impacts of global change on biodiversity, which comprise climate change, land-use change, habitat loss, the spread of invasive species, harvesting of timber and non-timber products and other anthropogenic effects.
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ATREE awarded the winners of
TN Khoshoo Earthian Trophy 2019
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Wipro earthian is part of Wipro’s National Sustainability Education Program which acts as a catalyst for fostering excellence in sustainability action, learning and thinking in schools and colleges across India.
The Wipro earthian annual awards event is a culmination of 5 months of the passion, rigor, and application put in by thousands of schools, colleges, students and faculty for the Wipro earthian program. Of the thousands that participate each year, select winning teams from schools and colleges are chosen through a rigorous screening process. The selected teams were invited to Bangalore to attend the marquee awards ceremony, which is all about celebrating their achievement and passion. Among the ten shortlisted projects, ATREE chose one team from the college and school category for the award of T N Khosoo.
The winners of TN Khoshoo Earthian Trophy 2019 are:
a) BMS College of Engineering, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru, Karnataka
b) Govt. Senior Secondary School, Bojoghari, East Sikkim
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Dr. Nitin Pandit was recognised as one of the
50 Fabulous Innovative Leaders
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The World Innovation Congress recognized and unveiled "50 Fabulous Innovative Leaders" at the World Innovation Congress. The theme of the Congress was “Innovation for a sustainable future”. The World Innovation Congress was chaired by Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Executive Chairman and Founder, 5F World.
Dr. Nitin Pandit was recognised as one of the 50 Innovation Leaders by the World Innovation Congress held in Mumbai.
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ATREE- CERC organized a workshop on
Practical Ways to Conserve Water
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ATREE CERC organized a one-day workshop on the practical ways of water conservation techniques to tackle climate change. The workshop was organized on February 5th, 2020 at Ernakulam guest house. The workshop was a combined symbiosis from like-minded individuals and organizations to spread awareness on the present-day environmental crisis and the significance of water conservation, collectively conducted by Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (C- HED), Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE) and Cochin Municipal Corporation with the support of Kerala state department of Environment and climate change and ANTRIX corporation. The workshop was officially inaugurated by Hon. Deputy Mayor of Kochi, Mr Premakumar followed by the presidential address of Hon. Chairperson Gracy Joseph. The first technical session was conducted by T.D Jojo (Project Coordinator, ATREE) about the practical steps that can be adopted to save water in domestic settings.
The session also aimed at making people aware of using wall-mounted urinals in houses to save water and to avoid groundwater pollution. Another technical session was about the contribution of local- self-governing bodies in water conservation by district rain water harvesting project secretary Dr Jos C Raphael. The programme was well appreciated by the 80 participants from various segments of policy analysis, conservation and livelihood including counsellors of municipal cooperation, members of other local self-governing bodies, residential association, and students.
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TTCSP ranks the world’s leading think tanks
ATREE's "Water Security Think Tanks" ranked 17th
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The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania conducts research on the role policy institutes play in governments and civil societies around the world. Often referred to as the "think tanks' think tank", the TTCSP produces the annual Global Go To Think Tank Index that ranks the world’s leading think tanks in a variety of categories.
ATREE was ranked the 20th among "Top Environment Policy Think Tanks" in 2019, retaining the same ranking from 2018. This category is dedicated to the leading environmental policy institutions of the global community. The top think tanks in this category provide superior innovative research and strategic analyses on various environmental issues that are of significance on a global level.
In a new category, ATREE was placed 17th among 78 contenders of "Water Security Think Tanks". This category is dedicated to the leading water security think tanks. The top think tanks in this category provide superior innovative research and strategic analyses on topics public policy in the areas of Water security which has been defined as "the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water- related risks".
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Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy conducted sessions in
Science and Art of River Rejuvenation Through Forestry
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IIFM, Bhopal organized a training program on “Science and Art of River Rejuvenation Through Forestry” for the officers of Namami Gange, NMCG, GoI in February. Dr Jagdish Krishnaswamy conducted two sessions in the program, Forest Hydrology - covering Forest Canopy interception, watershed recharge, and discharge/ yield and issues/ constraints and Forest and Water Quality - covering Forestry for water, the role of forests in sedimentation, pollution sequestration.
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National Symposium on
Insect Diversity and Conservation 2020
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Aswaj Punnath, Femi E Benny and Sneha Haridas, PhD students from the Insect Taxonomy and Conservation Lab, ATREE, Bangalore participated in the National Symposium on Insect Diversity and Conservation 2020, in February 2020. The symposium was organised by the Entomology Research Institute (ERI), Loyola College Chennai in collaboration with ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR), Bangalore.
The symposium saw a gathering of eminent scientists from the field, who presented their research findings in various topics ranging from the diversity and taxonomy of insect fauna, the use of molecular methods in insect evolution, systematics and ecological studies as well the strategies and challenges of insect conservation.
The scholars from ATREE also participated in the Poster Presentation competition, where 21 participants from different parts of the country presented their work. Aswaj Punnath secured the first place for his poster on “ Unveiling the cryptic world of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae); A study on the leaf litter ants of Mizoram, Northeast India”, Sneha Haridas secured the second place for her poster on “The true dung beetles(Coleoptera:Scarabaeinae) of Mizoram, India along with new distributional records” and Femi E Benny secured the third position for her poster on “ Edible and therapeutic hornets of Nagaland “.
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