Workshop on “Urban Biodiversity: An Opportunity to...
14
Proceedings of the fifth Master Class Workshop on “Urban Biodiversity: An Opportunity to Promote Nature Based Solutions” Organized by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 16 June 2016
Transcript of Workshop on “Urban Biodiversity: An Opportunity to...
Proceedings of the fifth Master Class
Workshop on “Urban Biodiversity: An Opportunity
to Promote Nature Based Solutions”
Organized by
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
16 June 2016
2
Session1: Inaugural Session
Speakers:
Mr. P R Sinha, (Country Representative, IUCN India)
Ms Savita Bhandari (Add. Commissioner, Landscape Architecture DDA)
Mr. Ashish Rao Ghorpade (Regional Executive Manager ICLEI- South Asia)
Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay (Founder & Managing Partner, Enviro Legal Defense Firm)
Background:
Urbanization is progressing at an unprecedented and rapid rate in Asia. FAO quotes a UN report (1991)
to indicate that in 1990 only 37% of the total population of developing countries was urbanized,
however, it is predicted that by the year 2025 the proportion will be 61%.
In India, the Census of India alerts us that the „decadal rate of change in Census towns‟ between 2001
and 2011 was 185.9%, which still fell short of meeting the 2012 requirements of 26 million homes. The
national population of over 1.2 billion, supplemented by rising urbanization, nuclearization of families
and economic growth is expected to further accentuate the housing and associated real estate demand.
However, the change in spatial patterns caused by such rapid real estate development will entail
processes such as land clearing, construction of roadbeds, buildings, utility construction and installations
et al., bearing temporary and permanent impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems - excessive noise, air
pollution (dust), habitat destruction/removal, water table, water quality, wetland hydrology, flora, fauna
and health, are to name a few.
Healthy and interconnected „Green spaces‟ and different ecosystems – lakes, wetlands, urban forests and
parks, as part of „Urban Biodiversity‟, can play critical role to solve our material (water stress, air
pollution, heat islands, pest control, natural disaster mitigation) and spiritual (place to relax and
understand us and the world) issues, naturally.
A two-day workshop was organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, under their
Leaders for Nature program, along with ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asia,
Leaders for Nature, -INTACH, The Climate Reality Project and Ecosystem Services for Poverty
Alleviation (ESPA), to discuss the various issues of urban biodiversity in context of Delhi to be able to
work collaboratively towards Naturalizing Delhi.
3
Highlighting on the need of working on Urban Biodiversity issues, Ms Savita Bhandari, Additional
Commissioner (Landscape), Delhi Development Authority, congratulated IUCN, ICLEI - Local
Governments for Sustainability, South Asia and other partners to come together as a strong platform
where we different stakeholders could discuss, raise issues and give suggestions on protecting the urban
biodiversity, especially in context of Delhi.
“IUCN is committed to sustainable urban development, which is well showcased through all our
initiatives at the national as well as the local level”, said Mr. P R Sinha, Country Representative, IUCN,
India.
Session2: Understanding Urban Biodiversity Issues: Perspective of Stakeholders (Short Presentation
and Panel Discussion)
Speakers:
Chair – Mr Aditya Pundir, Country Manager,The Climate Reality Project India-
Mr. Aditya Petwal, Coordinator Leaders for Nature India, IUCN –India.
Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay (Founder & Managing Partner, Enviro Legal Defense Firm)
Mr. Jyotiraj Patra, Regional Evidence Advisor-South Asia, Ecosystem Services for Poverty
Alleviation (ESPA) British High Commission, New Delhi
Fig1: Mr.Aditya Petwal presenting on
Urban Biodiversity issues of Delhi.
Fig2: Panelists answering the
questions during discussion.
4
The Introductory session elaborated the topic of urban biodiversity to the gathering, with the need and
demand of naturalizing our cities. The claims were supported by the published studies from many parts
of the world (e.g. Dearborn and Kark 2010 & Luck et al. 2011). It was important for the house to learn
that a city‟s ecosystem needs to focus on terrestrial as well as the aquatic ecosystems.
The panel talked on the urban pressure, extant over 97% of Delhi‟s area, in the form of conglomerations
of variously developed sections. They also talked about the repercussions of human development actions
in the form of urban heat islands and pollution of ecosystem at all the levels. A worrying data from
AIIMS highlighted the issue of steep rise (300%) in the incidence of respiratory diseases for the
residents of Delhi.
This introductory note was complemented by the discussion of laws in the way of establishing new
natural areas and prevention of further degradation of existing green cover. The panelist urged the
listeners and citizens to focus on the 3 tier institutional structure of Conservation, Sustainable use and
Equitable Sharing. While it was heartening to know that the Supreme Court of law had commissioned
Aravalis, way back in 1993; we as a state failed to maintain the ecological sanctity. This talk hinted at
the current absence of healthy coordination of various organizations associated with Master Plan of the
city under DDA. The last talk creatively established biodiversity conservation as an agent of poverty
alleviation and not otherwise. This aim is supposedly realized by Responsive research with partnership
with concerned agencies.
Fig3: Mr Sanjay Upadhyay sharing about
the defined legal frame and lacunas of
implementation.
Fig 4: Mr. Jyotiraj Patra, from ESPA,
emphasized on role of research for
impactful planning.
5
Session3: What State Agencies are doing? (Efforts and Challenges)
Speakers:
Chair : Dr SD Singh, IFS (CEO, Delhi Parks and Gardens Committee)
Dr. Faiyaz Khudsar (Scientist Incharge, Yamuna Biodiversity Park)
Ms Savita Bhandari (Add. Commissioner, Landscape Architecture DDA)
Dr. Alok Singh, Director, Horticulture, SDMC
The panelist discussed the issue of city based floods in Srinagar and Chennai, which were essentially
caused by the unjustified encroachment. The audience was moved through discussion in this session and
they requested details from the speakers over how general citizens may reach out and help city‟s
naturalization. They also requested details from the presenters over the actions taken to tackle the issue
of invasive plants.
The third session was focused on restoration of Delhi‟s natural cover by the micro and macro level
approaches by the various Govt. participatory bodies. Efforts are exemplified in the form of two
biodiversity parks and other 4 in the pipeline. The presentations detailed on the YBP and ABP, in the
context of their realization in the megacity of Delhi. Highlight of this session, apart from the success of
the parks was the proposal of utilizing runoff rain water, post its treatment.
Fig 5: Dr SD Singh, sharing about the
contribution of Delhi Parks and Gardens
in greening Delhi.
Fig 6: Ms .Savita Bhandari, sharing
about the biodiversity initiative of
DDA
6
Session4: Multi-stakeholder Strategies and Solutions for naturalizing Delhi and NCR (Short
Presentations followed by Stakeholder Discussions- Small Group Discussions)
Speakers:
Chair : Mr. Ashish Rao Ghorpade (Regional Executive Manager ICLEI- South Asia)
Facilitator: Mr. Jyotiraj Patra, Regional Evidence Advisor-South Asia, Ecosystem Services for
Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)British High Commission, New Delhi and Ms. BedoshrutiSadhukhan,
Programme Coordinator, ICLEI-South Asia
Dr. Monalisa Sen (Senior Manager, ICLEI- South Asia)
Mr. Manu Bhatnagar (INTACH)
The audience got curious to learn about the kind of plants being propagated through these schemes; with
focus on whether they were from the native stock of the landscape. The panel was encouraged when the
listeners requested details on the costs incurred in the building stage and the challenges faced through
the successful establishment of these biodiversity parks.
The gathering got to know the social issues from the surrounding settlements and technical issue when a
particular acquired area for such park has multiple stake holders under the same government.
Fig 7: Mr Manu Bhatnagar presenting
his ideas of greening Delhi.
Fig8: Dr Monalisa Sen sharing about the
different tools of ICLEI, on assessing and
evaluating Urban Biodiversity
7
Session5: Closing Plenary - Way Forward
Speakers:
Chair : Mr P R Sinha, IFS (Country Representative IUCN India )
Dr. B C Sabata (Senior Scientist Officer, Department of Environment ,Govt of NCT Delhi)
Ms. Poonam Diwan (DDA)
Mr. Ashish Rao Ghorpade (Regional Executive Manager ICLEI- South Asia)
Mr. Hishmi Hussain(Environment Superintendent, Rio Tinto)
Ms. Melanie Grignon (Director CSR & Communications, Veolia)
The session focused on ICLEI- - Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asiapresenting the tools
for assessing and evaluation urban biodiversity and the integration of the same in urban planning. The
presentation from INTACH focused on the work they are carrying out on naturalizing Delhi. The second
part of the session was a group exercise wherein the participants worked in four groups on the issues,
schemes and measures to address the following aspects of urban biodiversity in Delhi:
1. Forests in the city
2. Faunal diversity in the city
3. The social aspects of biodiversity
4. Water bodies in the city
The groups subsequently made presentations as well on the same.
Fig 9: Group Activity during the
workshop
Fig 10: Group Activity during the
workshop
8
The concluding session was preceded by a small group activity where the teams were divided on
different themes – water infrastructure and conservation, city forests, faunal diversity and social
aspects of biodiversity. This was a very engaging session as the group formation was choice
based and each of the group had members ranging from young undergrads to established people,
in the field of urban biodiversity. The group activity,was very helpful to see the interest of
multiple stakeholders to identify the issues and work towards solutions. Subsequently, in the
closing plenary, Mr. Ashish Rao Ghorpade highlighted that DDA is taking up interesting
initiatives but it requires a lot of efforts to make a good start and so needs to open up the doors
towards partnerships with research agencies, corporates, citizens‟ groups and other stakeholders.
Speakers from private sector also emphasized that they are willing to come forward to contribute
towards the urban biodiversity conservation and government should facilitate this process.
Favorable policies for responsible companies, will inspire other companies to join this race
towards sustainable development. This concluded the session with the hope to engage more
partnership among different stakeholder groups, to address the larger urban biodiversity issues.
IUCN and ICLEI also shared their thoughts of interacting with other likeminded organizations
and corporates, to highlight the urban biodiversity issues and to formulate an integrated model to
address these issues holistically.
9
Picture Gallery
10
11
S. No. Name Organization Contact Details
1 Dr.Yash Paul Sharma Asistant Professor NCERT [email protected]
2 Ms Indira Akoijam Manager CMS Vatavaran [email protected]
3 WasimAkram Wildlife SOS [email protected]
4 Pranab J patar Sectoral Expert: Bio-diversity, Water, Ecotourism, Sustainability
5 Alok Kumar Mishra Alok Kumar Mishra [email protected]
6 ShriPurnendu Mishra University of Allahbad [email protected]
7 Dr. R.P. Tewari MNNNIT,Allahbad [email protected]
8 Ms RadhikaSuri WWF [email protected]
9 Meghna Joshi [email protected]
10 Mr. PK Khandelwal EDCM [email protected]
11 Urvi Gupta University of Oxford [email protected]
12 VishwaBandhu Group Manager- Sustainability & Environment; CSR Apollo Tyres
9650633446
13 Ms.Rinika Grover CSR Apollo tyres [email protected]
14 Ms.Deeksha Vats Group Sustainability Vice President Aditya Birla Group
15 Tejasi Shah Dept. of Envt. Delhi Secr. 8447479368
16 SahilAggarwal ICLEI, South Asia [email protected]
17 Dr SD Singh CEO, Delhi Parks and Gardens Committee
18 Ms NeelimaSoni Dy. Director Landscape Architechture, DDA
19 Ms SavitaBhandari Add. Commissioner Landscape, DDA
20 Prarthna Borah Clean Air Asia [email protected]
21 Mr. P. Thampi The Economic Times [email protected]
22 Peeyush Sekhsaria Independent consultant peeyush.sekhsaria@gmail
23 Bhavesh BEE [email protected]
24 Rekha Lalla TERI [email protected]
25 Smriti.S.Samantry Climate Leader, TCPI [email protected]
26 Ms UshaSrinivasan Development Alternatives [email protected]
27 Ms ArunaRangachar Pohl Executive Deirector, IFHD [email protected]
12
28 Ms LivleenKahlon Associate Director, Sustainable Development Outreach& Youth Education TERi
29 Mr GC Tripathi UP Financial Corporation Meerut, UP
30 Dr Ranir Pal Saini Associate, Natural Resource Division
31 Dr HishmiHussain Rio Tinto [email protected]
32 Melanie Grignon Veolia India, Director, CSR & Communications-India
33 Nabanita Veolia India, Manager [email protected]
34 Dr UV Somayajulu CEO & Executive Director, Sigma Research and Consulting
35 Shruti Sharma Intern, IUCN India [email protected]
36 Mr MeeshaTandon ICLEI [email protected]
37 Mr AdityaPundir Climate Reality Project India [email protected]
38 Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay Founder, Enviro Legal Defence Firm
39 Mr JyotirajPatra Regional Evidence Advisor- South Asia, Ecosystem services for Poverty Alleviation,British high commission
40 Dr. BC Sabata Senior Scientist Delhi Govt. [email protected]
41 AshishRaoGodpade ICLEI SA [email protected]
42 Dr.FaiyazKhudsar Development of yamuna Biodiversity Park- Scientist Incharge
43 Ms PoonamDiwan Director Landscape Architechture , DDA
44 Mr TarunJohri CF , Forest Department
45 Ms Riknia Pal ToTo Company [email protected]
46 Ms TaramatteeMsSabrinaChitram
High Commission of the Republic of Guyana
47 Mr Sanjay Nathani Tata Chemicals [email protected]
48 Mr Vijay Sheopuri Tata Chemicals [email protected]
49 Ms MonitaAlagh Ryan Int. School , Rohini [email protected]
50 Mr.HassimaHulot Veolia India
51 Mr S.S. Oberoi Mission ___ Development [email protected]
Mr Steffi Xavier WWF [email protected]
13
52 Mr Nita Ganguly TCRP [email protected]
53 Mr PankajArora CRP [email protected]
54
Dr.ShilpanjaliSarma
TERI [email protected]
55 Mr AshishRaoGhorpade
ICLEI- - Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asia
56 Ms BedoshrutiSadhukhan ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asia
57 Mr KeshavJha ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asia
58 Ms MehvishKidwai ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asia
59 Dr MonalisaSen ICLEI-- Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asia
60 Dr Puneet Kumar Goyal SDMC [email protected]
14
IUCN India Country Office
C4/25 Safdarjung
Development Area (S.D.A)
New Delhi - 110016,
INDIATel/Fax: +91 11
26525554Tel/Fax: +91 11
26527742
www.iucn.org/india
