Urban ecology in Pune – Understanding participatory and Community
approaches- A Dialogue
WIPRO
Ltd with cooperation from Leaders for Nature India, organized a conservation
dialogue at Wipro Hinjewadi Campus, on 30th September’16, to convene
a forum of local organizations who are working on local (urban) ecology
projects. The objective was to build awareness of local ecology issues, share
initiatives and lead to solutions about how companies, local citizens and NGOs
can volunteer or support.
The major highlights of the workshop are as follows:
- The work of Pune Biodiversity Committee on the PBR (People's Biodiversity Register), set by the PMC seeks to be a forum to consult and seek inputs from citizens on their concerns and requirements into the work plans for future.
- The approach with the participatory ground water program in Bengaluru can be replicated in Pune and other cities as it is central to understanding watersheds and its relations to flows (downstream/upstream).
- Urban Watersheds be used as a template to bring a joint collaborative.
- Design future partnerships through regular engagements to create larger training and education programmes on the upstream and downstream river issues.
- The need for an institutional multi-disciplinary mechanism that can engage with PMC was recognised. , as well as the need for a ‘Catalyst’ who would be a resource person (or an institute).
- The ‘Biodiversity Manual for Common Man’ can be made a collaborative initiative and inputs from various organizations can be included towards conserving biodiversity and urban commons.
- Corporates though are playing vital role in promoting biodiversity, but corporate funds for environment are insufficient and need to be reallocated.
- Facilitate a series of “Designs for Partnerships” workshops over the next 3-4 months to deliberate and arrive at some common charter (with a structured approach and agenda)for urban ecology in Pune.
- An online space for dialogue was also suggested – this could be a whatsapp group or a blog site.
