Archive for March, 2009

Braving the Rain to Keep the Torch Burning Rain and thundershowers rocked Dilli Haat minutes before the stage was set for the formal launch and the curtain raiser of the Earth Hour. The launch had invited everyone from Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director-General TERI and the Chairperson of the Intergovernmnental Panel on Climate Change ... Full story

Imagine a city with so many vehicles on the road that what seems to be a nasty traffic jam is actually a regulation red light. Now imagine the same city adding well over 700 cars to its roads every day. Now imagine the situation when the Nano hits our streets. Everybody now knows that we in Delhi own more cars than the other three metros put together. The city government understands this, of course, and works to make our lives easier. But even as Delhi widens its roads, constructs flyovers and invests heavily in ensuring that citizens don’t lose faith in their cars, cities across the world are focusing on enhancing and promoting public transport. We live in a world today where everything, including development, is climate-constrained. In cities across the globe, the personal automobile is the single-largest polluter. There are significant local problems, including measurably adverse impacts on human health. The impact is most when one sits marooned in traffic, surrounded by cars with their engines idling. Imagine your commute, and how often that happens: now think just how much poison you’ve inhaled already. But surely we aren’t completely oblivious to public transport? The city takes great pride in the Delhi Metro. It’s already been declared a technological and financial success, and each successive phase has been executed well in time. But, though the Metro has been successful in connecting several parts of Delhi, it has come at a huge environmental cost. Trees had to be uprooted and the underground stretches have impacted the groundwater status in the city. Further, any structure underground is a potential hazard, especially in the event of an earthquake, and Delhi falls in a seismically active zone. Full story

Development Alternatives, a non-profit organisation established in 1983 creating large scale sustainable livelihoods is organising a Capacity Building Series (2008- 09) for Participatory Planning and Decision Making using - Geographical Information System (GIS) OBJECTIVES OF THE TRAINING  To make participants understand the basics of Geographic Information System (GIS) and how it can facilitate in planning and decision making To acquaint them with tools, techniques and information that would be required to undertake GIS application in various thematic areas (NRM, Disaster Management, watershed development etc) To share DA’s experiences in using GIS for various development projects Dates:  21 to 23rd April 2009 Venue: Indian Council of Social Science Research, JNU Institutional Area, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi COURSE ELIGIBILITY Professionals working in Government & NGOs, or other agencies and functionaries who are interested in map learning using GIS for their respective organisations. Fee: INR 7,500 per participant (The Training fee covers food during the training hours, course material and field visits) YOUR TAKEAWAYS Knowledge and experience from the training Field Exposure and further learning Manuals and training material Networking opportunity for you For more information and to register, contact: Bhavana Gadre Telephone: 011-26132718 tla@devalt.org Online Nomination Form (Last Date: 15th April 2009) Manager-Training TARA Livelihood Academy Development Alternatives, 111/9-Z, Kishangarh, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110070 Full story

Earth Hour is an annual international event organised by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), and held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.... Full story

The city of Delhi has grown in two ways. The planned part of the city has grown with the help of the DDA. It has supported the city by planning the physical infrastructure first and then the housing residential areas overlaid on it. That means the roads the sewage the electricity and the water supply pipelines were laid out first. The planning also included open spaces like parks and playgrounds. In addition there were plots of land earmarked for institutional areas such as hospitals and schools and colleges etc. Then plots of lands were allocated for housing to be constructed as either independent houses or flats in multi-storied buildings. This is the standard way in which most cities in independent India have grown. This ensures there is someone, residents living in these colonies and co-operative societies, paying for the services for the infrastructure that is in place. This is an important part of operation and maintenance costs that are needed to keep the infrastructure functional. Interspersed between this planned developments are villages that existed before the lands were taken over by the authorities. These have the modern infrastructure amenities superimposed on the settlement after the city has grown around it. These villages and their open and occupied lands do not come under the DDA. Like any settlement which needs open spaces for its settlers these villages also have open grounds, cremation spaces, village forest lands, grazing lands etc. These are also called the Lal Dora lands. But when the modern city grew around these settlements the price of these lands became very high to keep them vacant. Hence these were built up and rented out as commercial property. Full story

Last time we looked at the incredible paced up infrastructure development taking place in Delhi over the recent past in lieu of the Commonwealth Games. We have a new drinking water supply system--Sonia Vihar-- providing water to the eastern part of city. We have new sewage system put in place across the city by the authorities. ... Full story

Delhi Greens invites the citizens of Delhi and the world to the next Delhi Urban Eco-Bus Tour!  The Urban Ecotourism Bus trip seeks to explore the natural heritage of Delhi and re-connect the citizens of Delhi to the green spaces in the city and highlighting lesser-known sites of ecological significance. This ... Full story

Center for Civil Society: Summer Research Internship 2009 The Research Internship Program Researching Reality provides a greatly valued and needed learning experience in real-life application of social and economic principles and in teaching college students the skills of research, analysis, writing, and above all critical thinking. ... Full story

Forest canopies are the least explored terrestrial habitats on earth and, according to estimates, at least forty percent of all known species on earth may exist in the canopy. Forest canopies also provide goods and services to support diverse human communities. Although, many other aspects of forest canopies are yet ... Full story

Development Alternatives, a non-profit organisation established in 1983 creating large scale sustainable livelihoods is organising a Capacity Building Series (2008- 09) for Experiential field based training on Building for Future: Sustainable Homes (Green Building) OBJECTIVES OF THE TRAINING To provide an overview of design and construction facets of green buildings To establish decision-making criteria for the design and construction of green buildings To provide exposure to various alternative building materials and technologies which can be used to construct green buildings The training programme will enable the participants to appreciate the various issues in design and construction of green buildings and will equip them with a design methodology which can then be taken up in their respective contexts along with professional expertise. Dates:  19, 20 and 21st of March 2009 Venue:TARA Nirman Kendra, M.G.Road, New Delhi RESOURCE PERSON Mr Pankaj Khanna: Has seven years of experience in building technology development, training systems development and building energy projects. Core team member for the assessment of Training systems of various institutions through an initiative of the HSMI/HUDCO supported by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Has been instrumental in developing a participatory methodology for assessing sustainability of building practices in habitat development projects. Has been responsible for developing training modules for a variety of construction techniques and has delivered construction trainings across the country. Bachelor of Engineering- Civil - School of Building Science and Technology, CEPT, Ahmedabad, 2000 Master of Science, Renewable Energy and Architecture, University of Nottingham, 2006- research thesis on desiccant driven cooling systems for institutional buildings in Delhi's climate. COURSE ELIGIBILITY This programme is designed for architects, building engineers; professionals form the construction industry- builders and developers, government housing department professionals. The programme is also suitable for final year architectural students. Fee: INR 7,500 per participant (The Training fee covers food during the training hours, course material and field visits) YOUR TAKEAWAYS Knowledge and experience from the training Field Exposure and further learning Manuals and training material Networking opportunity for you And an ....Enriched you For more information and to register, contact: Bhavana Gadre Telephone: 011-26132718 tla@devalt.org   Online Nomination Form Manager-Training TARA Livelihood Academy Development Alternatives, 111/9-Z, Kishangarh, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110070 Full story