Driving the message of sustainable development, Minister of State Hardeep Singh Puri emphasized that sustainability is going to be the fulcrum if India has to achieve SDGs.
He was speaking at 'Climate Jamboree' - a major youth mobilization campaign at the Thyagaraj Stadium, New Delhi. The three-day grand finale witnessed the presence of around 6,000 students, 100 plus experts and 50 plus partners and other relevant stakeholders from India and across the world.
Climate Jamboree has been crafted with a mission to unveil the power of youth to make a difference towards achieving a climate neutral lifestyle and showcase sustainability in all its facets.
Through focused deliberations, "Youth Ambassador's" at Climate Jamboree aim to prepare a holistic declaration document feeding into COP 24 discussions be held in Poland in December 2018.
The event developed an empathy with the issue of climate change, further encouraging youth to take ownership of the solutions by providing social entrepreneurship ideas by the industry leaders. Organized by TERI School of Advanced Studies, sessions at Climate Jamboree struck a chord with the a 6000 strong young audience were Solar water pumps workshop by GIZ and 'Sustainability Doesn't Stand a Chance' session conducted by an NGO, Swaraj in addition to a number of interesting activities such as sustainability through art, street plays, dance, screening of documentaries, games and quizzes to make the subject relatable and interesting.
Addressing the 6000 strong climate ambassadors Hardeep Singh Puri added that, "The situation in our cities are becoming more and more worst, and we have to ensure that we have a carbon neutral foot print to combat the perils of climate change. It is time for a global accelerator movement towards a decarbonised world, and youth are going to be agents of change to drive and mitigate climate change."
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"The modern development that we see especially in the western countries, has lead to many distortions and therefore, we need a more holistic development model which is sustainable and can cater to the future generations," said Prasoon Joshi, renowned Writer and Lyricist.
"The Climate Jamboree was a huge success! Not only did we reach the message of climate and sustainability - in all its facets - to a few thousand students but we also touched the lives of everyone associated with the event - panelists, speakers, sponsors, partners, media, vendors, service providers, support staff, families and friends! This has been a huge journey of discovery for all of us and we hope we can have a much bigger event the next year with many more partners," said Dr. Leena Srivastava, Vice Chancellor, TERI School of Advanced Studies.
Urging students to incorporate sustainable development in their daily lives, Swati Maliwal, Chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women said, "We all should feel the pain of mother earth and take the first step towards achieving sustainable development."
Highlights of Climate Jamboree 2018:
Lead-up events to ensure continued engagement of students with climate and sustainability Inaugural Session
Keynote address on 'World Without Waste' by Ishteyaque Amjad, Vice President, Public Affairs and Communication, Coca-Cola, with specific focus on plastic waste. He expressed that the global beverage giant is committed to be part of the solution in terms of recycling every bottle they have produced by 2030.
Emphasized upon the need for events like Climate Jamboree to engage youth in the discourse on sustainability.
Technical Session
Speaking about the harnessing the potential of disruptive technologies and lifestyles to achieve sustainable future for all, Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Deputy Director, IIASA, focused on the need of using breakthrough technologies towards achievement of sustainable development goals, particularly goal number 7 on energy.
Outlining the complexities of sustainability issues in the Indian context, Ashok Khosla, Chairman, Centre for Development Alternatives, spoke about the need for political, economic and environmental dimensions to outline development policies.
Breakout Sessions
Becoming a Social Entrepreneur - led by SELCO Entrepreneurs Zone: An interactive session which spoke about the way in which foundations of social entrepreneurial ventures must be characterized by social inclusiveness as well as technical and financial feasibility.
Sustainability at my Home - led by GBCI: The session discussed four fundamental attention areas, that is, water, energy, food and waste, where we need to work to adopt sustainability in our daily lives.
Circular Economy - led by TERI: The session highlighted the need to move from linear to circular economy, using examples of waste recycling and landfill management.
Disaster Preparedness - led by NIDM: The session established a relationship between natural disasters and climate change, and the need to have disaster-resilient systems in place.
Safe and Secure Societies - led by Safe City: The session focused on addressing the vulnerability to assault, and how creative means can be used to create bystander awareness, a key preventive means.
Stress Management - led by Talk Happy Therapy: The session spoke about common sources of stress among youth, and how the same can be tackled through personal and institutional tools such as open communication channels and mediation services.
Healthy Societies - led by PHFI: This was an interactive session which compelled people to introspect on environment, lifestyle behaviour and access to healthcare.
Special and Side Events
Pravaah, the annual tech-fest of the Department of Business Sustainability, showcased an array of sessions, including CSO roundtable on responsible business, sustainability quiz and master class on business sustainability. Green Shift finals were also held which witnessed presentations of innovative sustainable business ideas.
The Research Forum witnessed an engaging panel discussion on combating corruption to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Research Proposal Presentations and a counseling session on careers in Environment and Sustainability Research.
The main essence of the workshop conducted at the Sustainability Entrepreneurship Lab was to make students understand about entrepreneurship and help them imbibe necessary entrepreneurial skills.
GIZ conducted an interesting workshop on solar water pumps to show how renewable energy can be incorporated by the agricultural sector.
A special session 'Sustainability Doesn't Stand a Chance' was conducted by an NGO, Swaraj, which focused on introducing youth to the Indian heritage which has sustainability intrinsic to it while focusing on 5 Ds (dialect, diet, dressing, dwelling, and dances).
The session on Gender Equality emphasized on the need of awareness about the third gender and engaging in LGBT Rights, reducing violence against transgender, toilets for transgender and need to have gender neutral toilets.
The three-day forum is aimed at helping youth engaged in different streams of study, and aspiring for diverse careers, to recognize both the common as well as unique opportunities to influence more desirable outcomes towards environment sustainability, aiming to engage and empower youth from India and across the world to build a sustainable future.
At the event, individuals from senior secondary school students, to under graduates, post graduates, researchers, young entrepreneurs and professionals between the age group 15 - 25 years will be able to learn, ideate, innovate and collaborate so as to become actors themselves in climate solutions.
The event had sponsorship and collaborations from Global, multilateral, bilateral and key corporate such as Ministry of Earth Sciences, GoI; Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, GoI; Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, GoI; Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, GoI; Ministry of Human Resource Development, GoI; NITI Aayog; Start-up India; Indian Oil; Eco Club Department of Environment, Govt. of the National Capital Territory of Delhi; AIESEC; YES Bank; Havells; Breathe Delhi; Airtel; Policy Bazaar; Coco-Cola India; MTV; DELL; DWIH New Delhi; WWF India; TERI, Google Earth Outreach; UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization; CISCO; YES Foundation; Social alpha; SELCO Foundation; Original Indian Table; Edible Routes; Science & Cooking; Global Compact Network India; German Cooperation; Dharma Life; GBCI; GEAG; NIDM; ESRI India; NDTV, Cuisine Digest; Geography and You; Fever FM; Upaj Farm; Re-write and Title sponsor Dalmia Cement.