Earthian -Paryavaran Mitra Programme 2018

Centre for Environment Education in collaboration with Wipro

has been carrying out the Earthian Paryavaran Mitra Programme

since 2013 in India.

Aimed to support schools in understanding and bringing in

sustainability into the educational activities at school.

The objective is to provide an exposure to multiple perspectives

and develop an interconnected understanding of different

disciplines in education and life.

Themes for the Earthian- Paryavaran Mitra Programme;

“Water and Sustainability”

“Biodiversity and Sustainability”

Schools are invited to form a team of 5 students and do a set of

learning activities in their school as per the guidelines in the

activity booklets. ( available on

http://paryavaranmitra.in/Default.aspx?sID=740 )

The reports selected from the states compete at the National

level and top 10 reports get the National level Earthian

Paryavaran Mitra Award which includes:

Cash prize of 1lakh rupees

Association with Wipro through CEE for 3 years- Continuous

Engagement Programme

http://paryavaranmitra.in/Default.aspx?sID=740availableonhttp://paryavaranmitra.in/Default.aspx?sID=740

Understanding Water

CEE Centre for Environment Education

Water Distribution on Earth

Oceans and Seas 97.2 %

Polar ice and Glaciers 2.0 %

Ground Water 00.62 %

Fresh water lakes 00.009 %

Inland Saline lakes 00.008 %

Rivers 00.0001 %

Source: www.sciencelearn.org.nz

http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=Fe1aNgQTwkKIiM&tbnid=PlPqIVnJW93XZM:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts/H2O-On-the-Go/Sci-Media/Images/Earth-s-water-distribution&ei=O9fOUt7-L8n_rAfCwYDABQ&bvm=bv.59026428,d.bmk&psig=AFQjCNEyalcHZQOix3ggC43xQVFm_KZK6w&ust=1389373506525824

CEE Centre for Environment Education

Global Water Use • Agriculture is the largest

water user with 69 percent of global water supplies going to support crops

• 21 percent for industrial purposes

• 10 percent for residential use.

Source: unwater

CEE Centre for Environment Education

Freshwater: Availability and its uses in India

Source: Government of India, 2009.

Water users • Irrigation 85 %

• Drinking, domestic use 4.0 %

• Industry 2 %

• Power generation 3.0 %

• Other activities 6 %

Year Per capita water availability (m3/year)

1951 5177

2011 1545

2025 1341

2050 1140

CEE Centre for Environment Education

Water is used in large amounts to bring food from the farm to our plates through its cultivation, processing and transportation stages… this is called its ‘Water footprint’ and the water, ‘Virtual Water’

Foods and their water footprint (in litres)

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Source: UN World Water Day 2012 Website

CEE Centre for Environment Education

Agriculture takes most of the global water and as we shift to water intensive diets there is an imbalance in

water availability, inevitably affecting the poor who give up the water meant for them (and as a result their food) to agricultural fields that produce food for the increasing urban demand.

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Foods from animal sources tend to have a bigger water footprint as a lot of water is used to raise cattle

and in the processing, transportation and storage stages of the food.

Source: UN World Water Day 2012 Website and waterfootprints.org

How Much Do I Use?

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CEE Centre for Environment Education

Concepts about water: ◦ our planet as a habitat for the human being and

other life forms. ◦ resources that sustain us and rest of life ◦ about their chemical, physical and biological

nature. ◦ about human societies and how life is in different

parts of the country and the world. ◦ how we grow our food, produce our goods,

communicate, what the culture of different places is like etc.

◦ how some communities or members within communities have more resources and opportunities and some barely manage to survive.

Sustainability is intricately linked to these questions of habitat, resources and the questions of access and distribution that it raises.

Centre for Environment Education

Part A: LOCAL (Water in the school)

Part B: GLOBAL (School >Community >Nation>Planet)

Asking: Where does water to our school come from? How does it

come? Where is it stored? How do we use it? Where does it go

from here? Quality of the water?

Can rain water be a viable source?

Asking: I know our schools water usage, quality and where it comes

from. So what does my water usage have to do with global water

availability and issues. Does water use connect to energy,

agriculture & food, climate change, social issues like-equity of

access, biodiversity? Are there any trends we are seeing in India and

globally?

Centre for Environment Education

Understanding

Biodiversity

CEE Centre for Environment Education

What do we mean by ‘Biodiversity’?

Bio = Life

What do we mean by ‘Biodiversity’?

Diversity = Variety

Jafran

Latkampu

Dashahri

Bambai

More than 1000 varieties in India

Why is biodiversity important?

Provisioning food: Today most people rely on 20 types of plants and only 3-4 are

staple crops.

Provisioning medicinal resources: About 80% of the people in developing

countries use plants as a primary source of

medicine. 57% of the 150 most prescribed

drugs have their origins in biodiversity.

Regulating Pollination: All flowering

plants depend on animals for pollination

to produce food.

Regulating Bio control :Decomposers

like fungi and bacteria are critical to

nutrient cycling and soil renewal.

Regulating carbon sequestration: In addition photosynthetic biodiversity creates an oxygenated

atmosphere, that has the potential to moderate the

rising amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide linked

to Global climate change.

Provisioning raw materials:

Provisioning fresh water :

India 7th largest country in the world

The Himalayas, the Western Ghats, the North-east and the Nicobar islands are

4 biodiversity hotspots in India.

Western Ghats with their high level of endemism has been declared as a World

Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2012.

Over 300 wild relatives of cultivated plants

Repositories of 50000 varieties of rice, 5000 of sorghum, 1000 varieties of

mangoes etc

2182 fishes -327 fresh water species listed in IUCN threat categories and 192

endemic fishes

2517 Agriculturally important micro organisms

16 major forest types and 251 subtypes

Forest and tree cover- 23.39% of the geographical area

115 wetlands an 25 wetlands of international importance

Impressive PA network- 99NP, 515 WLS, 43 Con R covering 4.8% of the

geographical area of the country

Threat to biodiversity

Pg.6

A 1: Environment as a shared space- understanding the web of life

•Take a walk around your school campus

•Ask students to make note of the plants, animals,

insects and other significant observations.

•Students complete their observation notes and return to

school.

•Ask students to observe the biodiversity in their homes.

•Compare both observations and draw a web of life for both

environments.

Pg.14-19

A2. Biodiversity among leaves- importance of

primary producers and relationship that animals

and human beings share with them

Pg 21-22

A3. Leaf munchers- to understand the importance

of decomposers

Make your own compost pit.

Understand the process of

decomposition and

Decomposer and detritivore

diversity

Pg 24-25

A4. Biodiversity and changes in environment- to understand how a plant or

animal changes the nature and quality of

their environment

Tabulation-Pg 31

A5. What did we learn?- understanding, in

context of any organism, it habitat and its

role

Part A: Elective- any 1

•Build your own terrarium-understanding a

terrestrial ecosystem and connections

between the physical and biological elements

of the environment

•Freshwater aquarium- understanding an

aquatic ecosystem and connections between

the physical and biological elements of the

environment

•Interview- biodiversity and livelihood

Part B

B1- Biodiversity and food requirements

B2-Genetically Modified Organisms/Food security/Man animal conflict

Pg 56-60

How to Participate?

• Students from class 7th to 12th could be involved by forming a team of students.

• Multiple teams from the same school can participate.

• At least one teacher should be part of every team formed.

• selection of schools for the award will be done on the basis of reports sent by the school.

• Entries with report on 5 compulsory and 2 elective activities under part A and essay under part B will only be considered for selection process.

Centre for Environment Education

• Genuineness in doing the activity as displayed in the details in the documentation, the data provided and other evidence of having done the activity

• Creativity in documentation. Usage of multiple formats and ways and methods of reporting that are weaved together well into a whole.

• Beyond just the data presented a sense of having understood the problems well as displayed in the documentation

• How well have the activities done been connected to each other

• How well have the connections to other issues been drawn to expand the understanding of Sustainability

Characteristics of an ideal project/ report

Centre for Environment Education

• No fixed format

• Ideas on documentation are given in booklet

• Creativity and innovation in presenting your finding is critical

• Last date for submission is 31st October, 2018

• Each participating school will get a certificate

• 10 winners will be chosen nationally for award based on evaluation criteria

“We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one”

______Jacques Yves Cousteau

Report Submission

Centre for Environment Education

For further Queries, Contact: Paryavaran Mitra Secretariat Centre for Environment Education (CEE) Nehru Foundation for Development, Thaltej Tekra, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad-380054 Email: paryavaranmitra@ceeindia.org Website: www.paryavaranmitra.in, www.ceeindia.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paryavaran-Mitra.7 Twitter: https://twitter.com/PM_CEE?lang=en WhatsApp No: 8460737656

Thank You

We invite you to be a part of this journey

towards sustainability !