:: Delhi Greens ::

The following is an invitiation from Moulika Arabhi (Program Coordinator - Centre for Environmental Law, WWF India).

Dear Friends of WWF-India,

We take the pleasure of inviting you and your team for the Convocation and the Green Law Lecture to be held on 5 July, 2007. This year the lecture would be delivered by Justice YK Sabharwal, Former Chief Justice of India. Please find enclosed invitation for the programme.

Will be deeply obliged if you can confirm your participation by 29 June 2007.

Thanks & Regards   
Moulika Arabhi

To participate in the above programme, please send a mail to the following email address, requesting the same: marabhi@wwfindia.net

According to the Tribune News Service, the NGO Initiative for Transportation and Development Programmes (ITDP), working on improving air quality through promotion of sustainable public transportation is organising a bicycle awareness rally on June 24th, 2007.

The objective of the rally is to create awareness on the importance of cycling on health as well as on the environment. The rally is to start at 7 AM from India Gate and end at Red Fort, covering 5.8 km distance via Tilak Marg, ITO and Darya Ganj.

Although the concept behind the rally is good both socially and environmentally - the Delhi of today is a very cycle-unfriendly city. To be effective, the cycle rally should actually be held on a weekday, during rush hour, on a separate cycle track parallel to the congested roads.

The ground reality however is that the cycle tracks are not to be found anywhere in the city and that traffic on the above mentioned route will have to be stopped/diverted on sunday, during the rally.

Sunday (24th of June, 2007) also happens to be the date when the National Eligibility Test (NET) is scheduled to be held and almost all of the Masters students in the city will leave early morning for Jamia Millia Islamia to take the same. Students (especially those living in North Delhi) are advised to take note of this and plan accordingly.

Previously on DelhiGreens:

• A Cycle of Woes…

Chat on 18th June 2007

Log in to IndianWildlifeclub.com for an online chat on “Bear Conservation and Protection” between 7.30 PM (IST) and 8.30 PM (IST)* on 18th June 2007.

The chat will be moderated by Karthick Satyanarayan, who is a Bear Conservation Specialist at Wildlife SOS, New Delhi.  

Click Here to reach the chat room on the said day and time, after registering as a member.

You can also click HERE to see transcripts of the earlier chat sessions.

Previously on DelhiGreens:

• “Role of Captive Elephants in Wildlife Conservation”, IWC’s Online Monthly Chat

Invitations to join us

…vrinksham sharanam gachchami …

celebrating colours, flavours , of trees

connect to earth and join hands creatively to work for a greener city

for

Being Trees…

installation arts and performance arts

( Beauty alone can save the world- Fyodor dostoevsky )

theatrical musical workshop production –

created by the participants of a Treeathr e workshop,

( I think i can never see , a poem as beautiful as a tree…)

music and joyous meditiation

( ..when you meditate you smile a lot- Thich Naht Hanh )

an event dreamt and designed by

mandala - the magic circle

in partnerhsip with trees for delhi

________________________________________

(About) Treeathre workshop

Increasingly nature has become an exotic commodity to be seen on Discovery/Animal Planet channels or visited during those adventure holidays. The urban child is increasing deprived of the pleasure and challenges of experiencing nature, befriending it and learning from it the mysteries of life.

On the other hand, prolonged disassociation with nature and warped notions of development is increasingly eating into little pockets of nature that’s left in the cities. In Delhi the river, the ridge, roadside trees - everything is threatened.

Believing that best learning actually happens when diversities come together a deliberate effort was made to bring together children and young people of different ages-the youngest was 5 years and the eldest an under graduate student.

The workshop also had no fixed fees - parents, participants, friends all contributed what they could – from Rs.5 to 5000/.

For those of us who thought the Planet and its Atmosphere is one big sink, where we can dump all our waste and forget about it, its time we do some re-thinking!

For the Planet is now giving it back….and the Atmosphere has taken the lead.

Following is a report on “Yellow Rain” events (not event) that happened in Maqdumpur Qazi village in Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi District for over a week. The yellow rain used to fall at the same time (in the evening) every day.

Meanwhile, in a village named Faridpur near Ambala - on the 11th of June, there was a thunderstorm in the sky for over half hour at 3 in the night - with no sight of lightening and no rains that fell afterwards. Even the villagers were surprised at this and they were scared by the frightening noise.

Yellow rain scares Uttar Pradesh village

Kaushambi (Uttar Pradesh), June 12: Yellow rain lashed Maqdumpur Qazi village in Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi District for over a week. Villagers feel the yellow rains are due to divine displeasure.

The dried up rain drops dot the concrete floors, roofs and dish antennae across the village. The villagers are scared that the pungent yellow drops, may be a sign of impending catastrophe or an epidemic. “The phenomenon is on for the past eight to ten days. It happens between 6.30 pm to 7.15 pm. Villagers believe that it is a natural calamity. We are definitely going to face problems,” said Rajendra, a villlager.

A team of researchers from Allahabad University has reached the village to investigate the cause of the pale raindrops. Samples have also been sent to a laboratory in Lucknow.(ANI)

Copyright Dailyindia.com/ANI

TreesForDelhi Protest

A lot of students, organisations, and local residents turned up for the ‘Trees For Delhi‘ Protest against the felling of as many as 500 Trees, to make way for a squash court at Siri Fort for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Just one of the banners put up at the Siri Fort Crossing

‘Jungle’ Jaya giving a brief introduction about the proposed construction and tree massacre to all those who turned up for the protest. Lokesh can be seen in the vicinity. While some of the people did street acts, others went from car to car distributing pamphlets and collecting signatures. Still others shouted slogans and held posters and banners in order to inform general public about the damage being done.

Mr. Parvinder Singh being interviewed by a reporter from AajTak.

Local residents also joined in the protest to save their homes and their ambient environment. 

Another of the banners informing people about the so called ‘development’ that is planned for Delhi city.

A signing campaign was also carried out and a petition was prepared and distributed to the people, drivers (during the Red Light), etc. and they were explained the destruction that is being “planned”. Almost all of the people who were approached, signed the petition.

The following is a news clipping from HindustanTimes dated 6th, June 2007.

Click here for more images of the Action

Previously on DelhiGreens:

• TreesForDelhi Action Meet

From the pages of Metro Now on World Environment Day, 2007.

Update: University Environment Study Project

We have collected considerable data on the ambient Environment of Delhi University’s Science Faculty (till the Ring Road ~ Project Area). The data is now being analyzed and compiled to be released in the form of a report shortly.

Preliminary investigation suggests that any significant change in the land use of the Campus and/or its surroundings may cause an irreversible change in the ambience of the University Environment and lead to several problems. Besides, the cutting of trees will lead to a loss of biodiversity within the campus and affect its lively and inviting appeal.

We will thus do all that is in our capacity (and even more) to see to it that this message gets across to the authorities before they take any decision.

Previously on DelhiGreens:

• Campus Biodiversity Assessment Project by SES, DU

Here are some news stories on some more action/events that took place on the World Environment Day, 2007.

Delhi govt to plant 19 lakh trees this year: Sheila

Delhi Metro helps city save Rs 1167 crores: CRRI study

Seminar on environment held in Capital

Radio City goes green on World Environment Day

PM sets up panel on climate change

India is committed to clean environment, says Pranab

Films, protests, music mark World Environment Day

Corporates go green on World Environment Day

The following is a news story from the Delhi Newsline by Neha Sinha

New Delhi, June 5: THE next time you blame the authorities for the rise in toxic share in the air, remember this: Delhi first expanded by eating into the green belt back in the Mughal era.

“At the start of the Mughal period, there were luxurious tropical dry deciduous forests (in Delhi), with 10 or 15 different biotic communities,” Prof C R Babu, director emeritus, Centre for Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE), said on occasion of the World Environment Day on Tuesday.

And much of the trees disappeared in those years as the Mughals set about “expanding” Delhi, Babu told the Delhi Secretariat today while sharing the Capital’s flora tale over the years.

The CEMDE will now take over the restoration and revitalisation of Delhi Ridge, and will also develop nine city forests.

Besides tropical dry deciduous forests, there were three major types of forests in Mughal-era Delhi, Babu said. “There were the moist deciduous trees, with 40- to 50-feet canopies, including the likes of ‘salai’ and ‘flame of the forest’. Then there were tropical thorn forests, with five or ten different varieties, such as ‘kejri’, six species of ‘acacia’, ‘babul’ variants, and ‘jujiper’ trees among others.”

Delhi those days also had what are called “flood plain or wetland forests”, and Semal, or silk-cotton tree, found a natural ally in Delhi’s environs then, Babu said.

But following the downhill journey in the Mughal period, the British went into a tree plantation drive after shifting the imperial capital to Delhi. Since they wanted more trees, and wanted them to grow fast, Babu said they planted trees like ‘Vilayati Kikar’, a Mexican weed, and Eucalyptus. “Both are not native plants, though they have survived to this day.”

While the eucalyptus has proven to consume too much water, thereby making the surroundings dry, Vilayati Kikar, with no “natural enemies”, thrives in the Ridge.

Interestingly, a common weed seen on roadsides, a shrub with tiny white flowers called the ‘Congress Grass’, came to Delhi most likely in the 1960s or ’70s, along with wheat imported by the then Congress government from the US, Babu said. Therefore, the name: ‘Congress Grass’.

Lending a green touch, children planted saplings of 150 native varieties of trees at DDA’s Yamuna biodiversity park, created by CEMDE. “We need serious action to restore native trees,” said Dr Anupam Joshi, a biologist at the park. “They perform important ecological functions like water recharge and carbon sequestration among others.”

Going native in Ridge, forests
CEMDE has honed in on 50 species of native trees, to be planted in the Ridge and nine areas where it plans to develop forests: Issapur, Rewla Khanpur, Kharkhari Jatmal (the largest at 50 hectares), Sultanpur, Auchandi, Mungeshpur, Qutabgarh, Hindon cut, Ghazipur and Harewali. Work is expected to start this monsoon.

Source

As mentioned previously, The Oceanic Group had organised an Interactive Seminar Series (slated to be bimonthly) on Climate Change on the eve of the World Environment Day. Following are the proceedings of the seminar.

The Oceanic Group & Habitat Center Lecture Programme

With a Delhi bandh being called by a certain community, the attendance was relatively less in the beginning and the seminar itself started about 25 minutes late.

The stage was honoured by three eminent personalities viz., Prof. Syed Husnain (Senior Fellow, Center for Policy Research, former VC, University of Calicut & an expert on Glaciers), Dr. Prodipto Ghosh (Environment Secretary to the Govt. of India) and Mr. Bhure Lal (Member, UPSC and Former Chairman Environment Pollution Control Authority). While the former was the inaugural speaker, Dr. Prodipto Ghosh chaired the launch of the series and Mr. Bhure Lal delivered the concluding address.

The seminar began with a brief introduction of the guests on stage and then by an introductory speech by Dr. Prodipto Ghosh. Even before that media persons from Delhi AajTak and Jain TV surrounded Prof. Husnain and asked him questions regarding global warming and the impact of the melting of glaciers. Replying to a question raised by the reporter from AajTak, Prof. Husnain clarified that the most serious impact of all this will be on the availability of fresh water.

This was also stressed upon by Dr. Prodipto Ghosh in the introductory lecture who pointed out that the current trend is such that there may soon be a disruption in the water supply which will prove disastrous for us since our economy heavily depends on agriculture.

Prof. Syed Husnain giving the presentation with Dr. Prodipto Ghosh and Mr. Bhure Lal in the vicinity. 

The stage was then handed over to Prof. Husnain who explained the entire glacier melting problem using a presentation. He talked of the temperature anomaly (hockey stick graph), ablation and the cause and consequences of global warming. 

Mr. Bhure Lal was then called onto the podium where he declared Global Warming and Climate Change as the topic of the day. He said that the situation is frightening and mankind should be cautious about droughts, floods and extinction of a large number of species that may result owing to climate change.  

He reminded everybody of the situation in Australia which has been facing drought for the last six years with little, if any rains and dry rivers.

The situation, he said was so severe and out of hand that the head of the state himself appealed to the public to pray to God for help. He also mentioned that snow has disappeared from Africa’s Kilimanjaro Mountain and that the River Nile and Lake Victoria have begun to dry up.

Asia, he said will be affected the most and that there will be floods first and a total dry up of all regions. The fact that a large population lives on the coastline is a matter of grave concern since a 7 meter rise in sea level has been predicted by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). And that a 1 meter rise in sea level will uproot 7 million people. Sunderbans have already started losing some land mass. The situation, he said could go on to such an extent that we may have to start afresh.

However, he also indicated towards the light at the end of the tunnel. He mentioned that at present, the economy is in our favour and that to start with, we need to invest 3 % of our GDP towards environmental friendly decisions such as a shift to the renewable energy sources, particularly in solar energy. He also indicated towards biofuels and highlighted the importance of ethanol, derived from Sorghum as a good alternate source of energy. Sorghum can also be used as a source of food, while the plant parts can be used to derive the biofuel. Hydrogen was another alternate energy source mentioned by him and he mentioned that 10% of it will be mixed with CNG and sold as fuel in Delhi. FOSSIL FUELS, he said, “have been befooling us.”

Mr. Bhure Lal also commented on how the states of Australia and United States are not willing to sign the Kyoto Protocol until both India and China sign it. This, even when both the former two countries are two of the world’s biggest polluters. Clearly these countries are not willing to pay up for the damages they have done and still doing to earth’s environment.

He also mentioned about the TIME magazine’s list of 51 items that we can follow in order to contribute to bring down the pollution and sustain life on this planet. Car pooling and minimising the use of electricity were few of them. He concluded with saying that in the future, we do not want starving people with no food, water and natural resources but healthy populations of individuals; for which each of us needs to contribute our part. 

With this, Mr. Bhure Lal waved at everyone and left the seminar room. The seminar was now open to questions from the audience. People were curious about the melt down of the glaciers and extent of the problem which was answered by Prof. Husnain in a rather smart way. One gentleman wanted to know if the melting of the polar ice would lead to a change in earth’s rotation! Dr. Prodipto Ghosh answered this question with a probable happening of the event but that nothing could be said until we collect regular and specific time series data.

The question was also raised on the threat to the upcoming Hydroelectric Projects in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand of the melting of glaciers up North and the very logic of constructing such projects (dams, run-of-the-river projects) when there is a prediction of a drying up of the rivers in the near future.

The Programme concluded with a vote of thanks to the distinguished guests.

The Second Seminar of the Series will be held on 9th of August, 2007. Mr. Suresh Prabhu: MP & former Environmental Minister will chair, Mr. Nitin Desai: Secretary General , World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002 & former Under Secretary General, United Nations will be the Distinguished Speakers.

Seminar on Climate Change at India Habitat Centre