Hawaii, with its glistening beaches, tropical sunny\nskies, breath-taking valleys and endless coconut trees is the very epitome of\nparadise on Earth. Hawaii is a happy place. An \u2018ideal environment\u2019 as Hon\u2019ble\nJustice Michael D. Wilson, Judge, Supreme Court of Hawaii, USA called it,\nduring his special address at the International Conference on \u2018Environment\n& Sustainability: Critical Issues and Solutions\u2019 held at India Habitat\nCentre in New Delhi on Thursday, 12th March, 2020. By the end of the century,\nor perhaps even by 2060, when sea levels rise by up to 3.2 feet as predicted, and\nthe Waikiki beach area among others drowns, the economic loss in the tiny ocean\nstate could be a whopping $15 billion or more. The exact number may be fuzzy,\nbut even in the ballpark, it is shocking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This pinnacle of beauty, this perfect place on Earth,\nis on a seemingly unstoppable trajectory towards disaster. The world is subject\nto devastating blows of hurricanes, cyclones, tsunamis and floods, no longer so\nfar or few between. Droughts are becoming longer and freak rainfall is growing\ncommon. Natural disasters stemming from man-made circumstances are taking lives\nand livelihoods. By 2050, our neighbour Bangladesh could be in the midst of a\nmajor humanitarian crisis, as significant areas of the country may be\nunderwater. Millions of people will need to be evacuated, find new homes, new\nlives. They are not alone. According to the UN, there could be anywhere between\n25 million and 1 billion \u2018environmental or climate migrants\u2019 across the globe\nby 2050. Temperatures are rising, breaking new records year after year\u2014six of\nthe hottest years on Earth have been the last six from 2014-2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From melting poles to sinking coastlines, stormy\ninlands to scorching skies, the whole world is facing the brunt of climate\nchange effects. India, too, is on the frontline. \u201cNo sooner do we finish with\none challenge that we\u2019re faced with another,\u201d says C.K. Mishra, IAS, Secretary,\nMinistry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, in his\ninaugural address at the conference, which was organised by O.P. Jindal Global\nUniversity (JGU) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The day-long conference built up to the\nannouncement of a new school at JGU\u2014the Jindal School of Environment &\nSustainability. JSES has been established in response to the growing interest\nto study issues relating to the environment. The school\u2014headed by Dean, Prof.\n(Dr.) Armin Rosencranz, who is a lawyer and political scientist and\nwidely-acclaimed environmental law expert\u2014is set to offer its first programme, B.A.\n(Hons.) Environmental and Sustainability Studies in the academic year starting\n2020. JSES hopes to use the momentum of the conference to engage in efforts to\nidentify solutions surrounding the environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s a look at some of the key takeaways from the\nevent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The recent COVID-19 outbreak has truly shaken the\nworld. In many ways, it is not unlike a climate catastrophe that could befall\nus in the future. \u201cThe challenge the world is facing today should be a wake-up\ncall for potential disasters in the times to come. Future environmental\ndisasters\u2014the future of the planet based on climate change\u2014won\u2019t give us time\nto plan. It\u2019s important to recognise challenges and develop nuanced, empirical\nunderstanding of how to act,\u201d says Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice\nChancellor, JGU, in his welcome address at the conference. \u201cUniversities have a\nresponsibility to engage in this conversation. The nature of problems today\nrequires collective imagination,\u201d he adds, drawing focus to the importance of\neducation in creating a sustainable future. JGU\u2019s schools, particularly Jindal\nSchool of Government and Policy, Jindal Global Law School and the newly\nlaunched JSES offer dynamic, contemporary, and multidisciplinary curriculum\nthat prepares young people with the competencies to act for the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Environmental sustainability\u2019 is a concept we are\nall familiar with. Yet how many of us even adhere to the 3 simple R\u2019s\u2014Reduce,\nReuse, Recycle? The Paris Agreement of 2015 was one of the fast approved\nagreements, signed by 196 nations. But how many nations are actively committed\nto reducing their carbon emissions? How prepared are countries to deal with the\neffects of climate change? The answers are not reassuring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations\u2019 Sustainable Development Goals\n(SDGs) are a list of 17 global goals for sustainability aimed to be achieved by\n2030. There are 169 \u2018targets\u2019 and 232 \u2018indicators\u2019. \u201cWe\u2019re getting lost in\nsemantics. We need to pick up action points and projects where you can\ncontribute,\u201d says Secretary Mishra. We need to break global barriers to\ntransfer knowledge and technologies. Governments alone cannot drive\nenvironmental reform. Instead \u2018it has to be a collective effort to work\ntogether\u2019. Only then can we look forward to brighter futures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe issues that confront us are all known to us. Yet there\u2019s a rapidly growing complexity and uncertainty of how to manage a world that\u2019s getting out of control. We have no way of dealing with the unexpected. We have to move beyond silos and systems of governments. We need skills, education systems to deal with that. We need skilled professionals who\u2019re flexible and can deal with constructs that can make a difference,\u201d says Ashok Khosla, environmentalist, Founder & Chairperson, Development Alternatives, during a panel discussion on \u2018Understanding Sustainability Policy: Governance, Knowledge and the Search for Integration\u2019. The time has come to look at environmental sustainability with a new lens. The fate of all nations is deeply entwined today, especially in the context of climate change. Acting together, as one, is the way forward. JSES recognises the need for collaboration among industry, government, academics and communities. The school looks forward to developing a strategic plan that builds a sustainable future in this extraordinary time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
2<\/strong>. Development and enforcement of environmental laws & policies <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A recurring theme at the conference was the\nquestion\u2014are environmental laws built for effective implementation? There is a\nlot of research and talk on what the challenges are and what needs to be done.\nFrom the UN\u2019s SDGs and international policies to national laws to protect and\npreserve the environment and grow sustainably, there has been a boon in setting\nup frameworks. But it takes two to tango. \u201cScience and law are out of step,\u201d exclaims\nDr. Archana Negi, Associate Professor, School of International Studies,\nJawaharlal Nehru University. There are gaps in implementation. It seems there\nis a disconnect between environmental laws and their ability to change or\ninfluence behaviour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So what needs to change? Perhaps most importantly, there is a need to simplify environmental regulation so that even the lay person can understand it and adhere to it. \u201cWe make environmental jurisprudence sound too complicated. It\u2019s not a subject for the highest order of society,\u201d says Justice Swatanter Kumar who is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairperson, National Green Tribunal. He urges that all prevention, control and regulation of environmental issues should be part of basic academic coursework at the school level\u2014so that every little child knows how to protect the environment. At the end of the day, for governance and justice to be effective\u2014there need to be \u2018less laws, greater implementation and greater understanding\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Building green\u2014it\u2019s time to move beyond economy vs. ecology <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If the entire Indian population moves to air\nconditioning in the next 20 years, it means all global standards of\nenvironmental sustainability will go out the window, if nothing is done to\nbalance it, believes Mr. Tapas Paul, who is a Lead Environmental Specialist at\nthe Work Bank. \u201cEnergy efficiency doesn\u2019t cost more,\u201d added Mr. Paul. It just\nneeds to be approached smartly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the very idea of \u2018green or energy efficient\u2019\ninfrastructure needs to be synonymous with \u2018good\u2019 infrastructure. Developmental\ndemands will only increase in the future. Strategies have to be developed that\nintegrate economy and ecology. At the end of the day, sustainable development\nshould not be considered as an alternative practice, but the only way forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These are the challenges that JSES aspires to\naddress\u2014the environmental needs of the 21st century. The new school appeals to\necologically conscious youth to make the most of a transdisciplinary approach\nto learning so they can contribute to global and local environment and\nsustainability challenges of the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hawaii, with its glistening beaches, tropical sunny skies, breath-taking valleys and endless coconut trees is the very epitome of paradise on Earth. Hawaii is a happy place. An \u2018ideal environment\u2019 as Hon\u2019ble Justice Michael D. Wilson, Judge, Supreme Court of Hawaii, USA called it, during his special address at the Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment-and-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1754"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1858,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754\/revisions\/1858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}