Geographic Horizons: TERI's World Educators' Conference on Environment and Climate Change.

“THE FIRST ENVIRONMENT EDUCATORS’ CONFERENCE”
TERI GRAM
TERI’S SUSTAINABLE CAMPUS AT GUAL PAHARI
GURGAON (HARYANA)
13th November to 15th November, 2008

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), formerly known as the Tata Energy Research Institute, had invited Papers and Presentations from the educators and environmentalist from all over the world for the “First Environment Educators’ Conference”, in the month of August-September, 2008. Based on the scrutiny of Papers and Presentations submitted, approximately 350 were ultimately chosen to participate in the conference. I was fortunate to be selected for this Conference which was organized by the world’s one of the most renowned and prestigious institute – TERI.

The conference was attended by the educators and environmentalists from across the length & breadth of India and from as far as Brunei, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The three days programme was highly action oriented, informative and fruitful. There were interesting sessions right from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M, including the entertainment programmes based on current environmental issues, in the evenings.

The Conference had an underlying theme of ‘Climate Change’ related to ten specific areas / working groups, viz.:

Water Management
Climatic extremes – Disaster management
Green cover – Forest and biodiversity
Household energy
Transport
Impact on human health
Lifestyle change
Waste management
Impact on coastal zones
Impact on mountain regions

My subject area in the conference was “Climate Change – Climatic Extremes and Disaster Management”. In the conference, I had the opportunity to work with and share experiences / thoughts with the resource persons. The resource persons in the conference were:

Dr Vibha Dhawan (Executive Director, TERI), Dr P P Bhonvaid (Dean – Academic, TERI University), Mr. I H Rehman (Director – Social Transformation, TERI), Mr. Subhas C Khuntia (Joint Sec. MHRD), Mr. R Mehta (Advisor – MoEF), Ms Ranjana Saikia (Area Convenor, EEA – TERI), Ms Gowri Ishwaran (TGELF, Khemka Foundation), Dr T V Shimray (DESM- NCERT), Dr Branmdeep Sindhu (Dept. of Health, PWD Haryana), Shri Vimlendhu Jha (Swechha), Dr. B C Sabata (Senior Scientific Officer Dept. of Env. Delhi Govt.), Shri Uppendra Dhar (Senior Visiting Fellow, TERI, Delhi), Mr. Arijit Sengupta (Bureau of Energy Efficiency), Ms. Chhavi Dhingra (Associate Fellow, TERI), Dr R C Dhiman (National Institute of Malaria Research – ICMR), Shri Niranjan Khatri (ITC Welcome Group), Shri N B Mazumdar (Consultant, TERI), Dr J Murali (Regional Coordinator, WWF – India), Dr Prakash Rao (Senior Coordinator, WWF – India)

It was indeed a memorable moment for me to address and share my views / presentations at this international gathering in addition to the twenty minutes of 'open house' allotted to take questions from the delegates, on the second day of the conference. This was my second such interaction / address at an international gathering of the learned (last being at the Jilin University – China, during the IWYMIC), giving a great deal of satisfaction to say to the rest of the world as how concerned India is for the entire mankind and its betterment.

On 15th November 2008, Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Hon’ble Chief Minister, Gov. of Haryana); Dr R K Pachauri (Director General –TERI) ** and Mr. I H Rehman (Director – Social Transformation, TERI) graced the occasion with their presence during the valedictory function.

** Dr. R K Pachauri (Director General – TERI, India & the Chairman - IPCC) and Al Gore (U.S.A) were conferred with the Noble Prize on IPCC’s work on Climate Change in 2007.