- Experts, policy-makers and environmentalists brainstorm on eco-friendly urban development
Experts call for an ‘eco-friendly lifestyle’
First National Conference on ‘Mainstreaming-LIFE: Creation of Eco-Friendly Sustainable Urban Housing’ was organized in Bhopal. Society of Nature Healers, Conservators and Local Tourism Development (SNHC India) and Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board jointly organized the two-day conference. Organized by EPCO (Environmental Planning and Coordination Organization), leading scientists, environmentalists, urban planners, policy experts and grassroots organizations from all over the country participated in this conference.
The objective of the conference was to promote biodiversity conservation, eco-friendly development and sustainable urban planning amidst the challenges of rapid urbanization and climate change. Experts emphasized that it is the need of the hour to put nature and local ecology at the center of urban development models.
Delhi University CEMDE Prof. Dr. Fayaz A. Khusro said that increasing pollution and environmental crisis in many cities of the country including Delhi is a serious warning for urban planning. He emphasized the need to adopt local ecological solutions. Former Special Director General of Police Smt. Anuradha Shankar said that environmental protection is not only the responsibility of governments, but the collective responsibility of society.
In technical sessions Mr. Jagadish Krishnaswamy of Indian Institute of Human Settlement, Bangalore, Dr. Chandrasekhar M. Dr. Biradar, Wildlife Institute Dehradun. Gautam Talukdar and other experts elaborated on rising urban temperatures, depletion of green areas, conservation of biodiversity and the need for nature-based solutions in urban planning. He expressed the need for indigenous tree plantation in cities, blue-green infrastructure and preparation of biodiversity register at ward level.
The second technical session discussed conservation of rivers, wetlands and urban water systems. Experts highlighted the challenges of groundwater exploitation, sand mining and river protection and suggested prioritizing protection of water resources and wetlands in urban development plans.
In a panel discussion on ‘Sustainable City — Governance, Planning and Community’, experts highlighted the need to promote biodiversity conservation, bird-friendly buildings, sustainable use of natural resources and inclusive development models in urban planning.
On the second day of the conference, May 31, the participants visited the Indira Gandhi National Human Museum. During the tour, experts discussed traditional knowledge, nature-based lifestyle and Indian approach to sustainable development. The visit was instrumental in providing practical context to the objectives of the conference.
It clearly emerged in the conference that the solution to the challenges of climate change and rapid urbanization is possible not only by expanding infrastructure, but by adopting a balanced development model with nature. Experts called for making eco-friendly lifestyle a mass movement and placing biodiversity and ecology at the center of urban development.