WORKSHOP ON “ DEVELOPMENT & SUSTAINABILITY”

WORKSHOP ON “ DEVELOPMENT & SUSTAINABILITY”

Organized By Environsense in Tameer an Annual National Technical Festival, Civil Engineering Department, AMU

In the sequence of awareness programs, a one day workshop was organized by team Environsense on the topic “Development and Sustainability” in collaboration with media partners SALAMEVATAN, A hindi fortnightly newspaper, AMU LIVE and sponsors including CADD Centre Aligarh. More than 140 Students from all over the nation came to attend the workshop held on 10th October 2010 at Civil Engineering Department (CED), AMU as a part of “TAAMEER” the Annual National Technical Festival, CED. In this workshop various guests delivered their lectures in which Dr. I. H. Farooqi, Associate  Professor, CED; Dr. Nadeem Khaleel Khan, CED; Dr.Arshad Husain, Reader, University Polytechnic and Research Scholar Devender Singh were  the main speakers.

Dr. Arshad Husain said that sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which defines the sustainable development as the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity of natural systems with the social challenges facing humanity.

The world commission on environment and development (the Brundtland Commission) submitted its report entitled "Our Common Future” in 1987. This report highlighted and popularised the concept of 'Sustainable Development'. Sustainable development has been defined on meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the need of future generations. All developmental activities involve some amount of environmental degradation. What is required is to take into account the damage to environment as a result of development and strike a balance between development and environmental protection. The aim should be to achieve sustainable levels of people's welfare and development.

On this occasion Dr. Nadeem Khalil said that sustainable development requires the integration of economic, environmental, and social considerations into all decision-making. Various national governments have set up programmes in order to meet the objectives outlined following the Rio de Janeiro Summit on Environment in June 1992. The Rio summit culminated in resolutions such as the Rio Declarations on Environment and Agenda 21, and was followed by the South African summit in 2002. However, the process of translating national strategic sustainability objectives into concrete action at micro (i.e., project specific)- levels is a difficult task.

Inadequate understanding of the interactions and cumulative impacts of the various sub-level sustainability indicators further compound the difficulty in sustainability appraisal of designs. Thus, although there is increasing realisation of the need to design and construct for sustainability, the real challenge is on achieving these objectives at the micro-level. Given the international focus on sustainability in recent years, there is a dire need for methods and techniques that would facilitate sustainability assessment and decision making at the various project level interfaces (i.e., from conceptualization to design, construction, operation and decommissioning).

Deforestation and increased construction in the forests are also a significant concern because of increased human encroachment upon wilderness areas, increased resource extraction and further threats to biodiversity.

From environmental perspective the effective control of the generation, storage, treatment, recycling and reuse, transport, recovery and disposal of hazardous wastes is of paramount importance for proper health, environmental protection and natural resource management, and sustainable development. The present European approach towards waste management is to prioritize waste prevention, followed by recycling, waste recovery and incineration, and finally, only as a last resort, land filling. Prevention of the generation of hazardous wastes is thus a key element, and requires knowledge, experienced people, facilities, financial resources and technical and scientific capacities.

One of the main priorities in ensuring environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes could be to provide awareness, education and training programmes covering all levels of society. Education, including formal education, public awareness and training should be recognized as a process by which human beings and societies can reach their fullest potential. Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address environment and development issues. Therefore, educating institutions can play a key role in setting quality standards in education for sustainable development. Higher education institutions have an increased responsibility for tutoring future decision-makers of our society.

"Create conditions which encourage the people to save the environment.”

Reported by: Shoeb Masood, B.Tech 3rd year (Civil)

Environsense is a forum organized for environmental awareness and environmental care by students of M.Tech.(Environmental Engg.), Department of Civil Engineering, AMU, Aligarh.