The Seminar on ‘Green Growth-Preparing Youth for Sustainable Living’ was organized by TERI and Uttarakhand State Council for Science & Technology supported by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

More than 150 students from M. Sc., M. Phil and Ph. D courses and faculty of colleges and universities from across the State of Uttarakhand participated in it. A series of such workshops are being organized countrywide to capacity build youth towards sustainability.

As all the participants were from Uttarakhand, the newest mountain state falling under Central Himalaya in the Indian Himalayan Region, the mountain agenda was the central theme. It highlighted that sustainable mountain development should not only be about mountains; it should address the entire river basins. Dr. Gangwar stressed that the focus should be more on actions to ensure that mountains continue to supply the ecosystem goods and services that are critical to promote a green economy in both the upstream and downstream communities.

Dr. Gangwar talked about green economy as a mechanism to minimize that will help reduce human-induced carbon footprint in development activities leading to sustainable poverty reduction, better social equity, mitigation of natural resource scarcities, and decreased environmental risks.

CEE Himalaya, in collaboration with the Institute for Development Support (IDS), celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8 at the Government Primary School, Laga Pokhri, Chakrata, Uttarakhand. The programme was funded by UNDP GEF and was also supported by the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Srinagar.

The event saw a turn-out of over 200 people. The theme ‘A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women’ was clubbed with that of the role of mountain women in the conservation of biodiversity, natural resources and local traditions.

The participants had the opportunity to discuss the role of mountain women in accessing, utilizing, conserving, maintaining and managing natural resources and ecosystems. They also learned about the livelihood potential of medicinal and aromatic plant cultivation in Uttarakhand. Resource persons included Mr. Sher Singh from Centre for Aromatic Plants, Mr. Suresh Khanduri from IDS and Mr. Sumit Verma, Project Associate, CEE Himalaya.

Towards the end, painting, slogan and pledge writing activities were organized for the participants. These were displayed to during a rally in the village.

A reptile awareness programme was conducted for a thirty-three member team of security personnel from the Reliance Industries Limited on March 5. They were oriented to the general facts on snakes; commonly seen snakes of Ahmedabad; big four venomous snakes; precautions to be taken to avoid snakebites; first-aid and treatment for snake bite; myths and facts; etc.

Mr. Rishit Shroff, demosnstrated the basic instruments used to rescue snakes; ways to rescue snakes without touching them; post-rescue handling, and release processes during this two-and-half hour programme.