ANNUAL REPORT 2012-2013 - Centre for Science and Environment Annual Report 2012-13 4c.pdf · CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT 4 Annual Report 2012-13 cars and diesel-run SUVs in

Centre for Science and Environment41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi 110062

ANNUAL REPORT 2012-2013

OVERVIEW … … … … … … … … … … … … … …1-2

RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY … … … … … … … …1-12

Sustainable Urban Mobility and Air Quality … … … …3

Sustainable Industrialisation … … … … … … … … …4

Renewable Energy Programme … … … … … … … …7

Climate Change Programme … … … … … … … …8

Food Safety and Toxins Programme … … … … … …9

Sustainable Buildings Programme … … … … … …10

Sustainable Water Management Programme … … …11

PUBLIC AWARENESS … … … … … … … … … …13-14

Science and Environment Reportage … … … … …13

DTE Website Dissemination … … … … … … … …14

BUILDING CAPACITIES IN SOCIETY … … … … …15-16

Sustainable Urban Mobility and Air Quality … … …15

Sustainable Buildings Programme … … … … … …15

Sustainable Industrialisation … … … … … … … …15

EIA Training … … … … … … … … … … … … …16

Sustainable Water Management Programme … … …16

ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION … … … … … … …17-18

Media Resource Centre … … … … … … … … … …17

Anil Agarwal Green College … … … … … … … …17

Environment Education … … … … … … … … …18

TRAINING DATA … … … … … … … … … … … …19

ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES … … … … … … … …20

REGIONAL PROGRAMME … … … … … … … …20-29

INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT … … … … … …30-31

CONTENTS

CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT

Annual Report 2012-13 1

The year 2012-13 was a high performanceyear for CSE, and programme teamsachieved 80 per cent of their planned outputsagainst targets. The institution’s workremains highly visible. CSE was referred toor quoted in more than 1200 news clippings(national and regional media), and alsoappeared in more than 150 TV news reportsin the year. CSE teams produced seven keypublications in 2012-13, in addition todozens of policy briefings and other researchand advocacy collateral. Almost all CSEprogrammes have inducted training as partof their work, and more than 2200 peoplewere trained by CSE in the year. Major publicconferences hosted by CSE were wellreceived and led to significant outcomes,including the Anil Agarwal Dialogue onurban water and waste, the conference onFood Safety & Toxins, and the release of theratings of the Iron & Steel sector.

CSE initiatives led to significant policyoutcomes. The minister of environmentissued official transit passes to residents of avillage in Odisha to sell bamboo outside theirvillages, opening up livelihoods options formillions of forest dwelling communitiesacross India. Similarly, CSE was asked topresent the findings from its landmark

report, Excreta Matters, to senior membersof the principal opposition party, BharatiyaJanata Party. Many CSE recommendationson prudent urban water and wastemanagement were incorporated in the 12thplan Five Year Plan of Planning Commission.Likewise, CSE’s position was reiterated at theCSE-MoEF joint side event at the Doha CoP,when India’s lead climate negotiator RRRashmi endorsed equity to be the bedrock ofany global agreement.

CSE programmes also led to questionsraised in state Legislatures and in both houseof Parliament – for instance, in the UPLegislature, following the CSE laboratory

Overview

Anil Agarwal Dialogue in progress

Vice President Hamid Ansari at the Anil AgarwalDialogue

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study on mercury in residents of Sonbhadrain the state’s industrial belt. Following therelease of iron & steel sector ratings in June2012, questions were raised in both thehouses of Parliament on the performanceand safety of this sector. Several financiers ofthis polluting sector demanded betterpollution control measures. Some CSEactions had direct, immediate outcomes; theCSE laboratory study on honey triggered animmediate ban imposed by the regulator onthe presence of antibiotics in honey. The DTEexpose on solar energy led the Ministry ofNew & Renewable Energy (MNRE) to createan Inter Ministerial Committee to bring inmore clarity in solar guidelines. Similarly,the Haryana High Court ordered real estatebuilders to use only treated sewage forconstruction following CSE’s workshop ongroundwater.

During the year, the second and third tiersof staff have taken on more responsibility andmore independent charge of their prog -rammes. However, institutionally, it has beena challenge to build capacities of staff to takecharge of all programmatic responsibilities –including monitoring, evaluating andreporting. Mechanisms are being put in place

to build staff abilities in these spheres – forinstance M & E training and more handholding to help staff accomplish these vitaltasks.

An associated challenge was to continueto keep key staff motivated. While severalprogramme staff were given independentcharge of their programmes, it was difficultto retain some senior staff – for instance, asenior manager of the environmenteducation team who was given considerableautonomy and exposure decided to leave andjoin an associated environment educationprogramme of a donor. Despite this, it wasdecided to continue with a decentralizedmodel, as it fostered more ‘ownership’ andaccountability over programme goals.

A key programmatic challenge that willneed to be addressed is how to create vibrantcross cutting programmes, rather than moreissue-based ones. For instance, there aresignificant overlaps between CSE’s sustai -nable industrialization programme and theclimate change programme. In short, teamshave had to work more closely together thanbefore, and mechanisms are being put inplace to ensure shared accountability.

Some mature teams have undergone aprogrammatic evolution. For instance, theMedia programme and the Green SchoolsProgramme (GSP) have expanded to includeassociated, newer constituencies. The Mediaprogramme targeted rural, small townreporters for the first time this year, whilethe GSP team decided to fashion its schoolsprogramme to not only includeenvironmental audits, but also to rewardactual on-ground implementation, or'change makers’ in schools.

Almost all CSE programme teams wereinvolved in training and capacity buildingactivities – about 2214 persons attended CSEtrainings, of which 750 were from southAsia. While research and training / capacitybuilding have gone hand in hand, a reasonwhy CSE trainings are considered to be ofsome impact, the sheer scale and pace oftraining has at times come in the way ofresearch efforts. In fact, some teams havemade the conscious choice replan and torationalise training efforts in order to focusmore on research.




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RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY

SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY AND AIR QUALITY

Policy advocacy: The team’s research andpolicy advocacy activities focused onconvincing city, state and the centralgovernment to remove incentives for diesel;demanding more stringent fuel economystandards; pushing a viable bus-based publictransport system; and demanding measuresto reduce alarmingly high toxic air pollutantsin Delhi.To address the trans-boundary driftof air pollution, the team held an inter-statedialogue under the aegis of the SupremeCourt-appointed Environment Pollution(Prevention and Control) Authority, of whichCSE is a member. The ensuing report on non-motorized transport, Onfoot and pedal, wasshared with Delhi’s Lt. Governor, chiefminister and other key officials; CSE alsosubmitted a detailed work plan to them on aparking policy for the city.

City action plans: CSE worked closely withcity administrations of Jaipur and Chennai –

the team organised a ‘city dialogue on airquality and mobility challenges’ with theJaipur Development Authority; in Chennai,the team initiated research on air quality andmobility.

Capacity building: To improve capacities ofconcerned city administrators on airpollution and mobility strategies, the teamconducted six orientation programmes/workshops for 155 officials and grassrootsrepresentatives from across the country.

Results• Campaign to remove incentives for

diesel: CSE’s campaign against toxicdieselin personal vehicles led to theministry of petroleum to recommendadditional taxes on diesel cars. Theministry of finance also set up acommittee headed by Kirit Parikh topropose phasing out of fuel subsidies,while Planning Commission member BKChaturvedi pledged to pursue measuresto hike diesel prices. The governmentannounced a hike in excise duties on big

Paneslists at the Jaipur City Dialogue

Research and advocacy


Annual Report 2012-134

cars and diesel-run SUVs in the Budget.• Fuel economy standards: In response to

CSE’s comments in a public hearing onproposed fuel economy standards, theBureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)tightened its draft standards. The movealso got the nod from the PrimeMinisters’ Office.

• Action on toxic air and sustainablemobility in Delhi: Pushed by CSE’scampaign, the chief minister initiated‘clean air action plan’, in which CSE wasinducted as a member. In responsetoCSE’s advocacy gasoline refuellingstations in Delhi have begun to installvapour recovery systems to reducebenzene levels. CSE was made a memberof a health department committee tocreate an air quality index.

• CSE’s proposed parking policy for Delhiwas endorsed. Parking rates weredoubled in the New Delhi MunicipalCouncil areas; other parts of the city willfollow.

• CSE’s comments on the Bus RapidTransport System (BRTS) were used todefend this public transport option in theHigh Court against an anti-BRTpetition.

• Raipur Development Authority (JDA)

decided to engage with CSE on parkingmanagement and other mobility relatedissues. JDA authorities also nominatedCSE on the Rajasthan State Commissionon Urbanization.

• Important training outcomes includedhow officials upheld key principleslearned in their public statements (asquoted in news media). A transportdepartment official in Maharashtratrained by CSE is now reworking hiscity’s bus operation and developingseparate cycle tracks and walking zonesfor students. CSE trainings alsoinstigated direct action – Agartala’sARPAN Society is pushing regulators fora clean air and mobility plan for the city,and has started a bicycling club.

• The team generated more than 300 newsarticles in national and regional dailies.

SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIALISATION

Policy research and advocacy: Tests carriedout by CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Laboratoryfound high levels of mercury in theenvironment and in the bodies of localresidents of Sonbhadra, located in theresource-rich Singrauli area in UttarPradesh, the country’s industrial

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Participants of the training workshop on clean air and sustainable mobility programmes



powerhouse with massive coal reserves andmany coal-fired thermal power plants. Thestudy’s release, highlighting the sordid tale ofpollution, poverty, non-compliance ofenvironmental norms, official apathy anddisease, generated much news mediainterest.

Green Rating Project: Iron & steel sector: InJune 2012, CSE released a major study, Intothe Furnace, on the environmentalperformance the important but highlypolluting iron and steel sector in India. Aspecial report on ‘best available techniques’for Integrated iron and steel industries wasshared with state EIA and EnvironmentalAppraisal Committees, and with the ministryof steel. The team also published several in-depth articles in DTE.

Regulators’ training programme: CSEconducted six training programmes forenvironment regulators in the year, training123 participants from various state pollutioncontrol boards. The team conducted a two-week specialised training for 24 south Asianregulators (from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan,Bangladesh, Maldives, and Pakistan), and atraining workshop for 24 environmentalmanagers of corporate India. The team

continues to publish regularlyin DTE, andpublishes a quarterly e-newsletter,Environmental Governance Quarterly.

Community support programme: CSEprepared EIA guidelines for mining,hydropower, roads & highways, industrialprojects, forestry, transmission lines, andtourism at the request of communities. Atotal of 12 training EIA and SIA workshopswere conducted for Industry, regulators,NGOs, consultants, students andacademicians. The team also put togetherthe Green Clearance Watch portal,comprising in-depth data and information onall environmental clearances granted in keysectors by the ministry of environment. Theportal includes crowd-sourced videos ofpublic hearings.

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Union minister for environment and forests, Jayanti Natarajan releasing the study on Iron and Steel sector

A promising new development was the cooperation

agreement signed between CSE and the Swedish-

Environment Protection Agency, in which Swedish

experts were invited to India to teach Indian pollution

regulators to pollution abatement approaches.

Swedish EPA hosted a group of Indian regulators in

Sweden for a week, to expose them to best practices

in pollution management measures and environ -

mental governance in Sweden & EU.


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Results• An MLA from Sonbhadra brought up

CSE’sstudy in the state Legislature andsought a response from the stateauthorities. A Polish investment groupgot in touch with CSE on the lab studyand wanted to know the role of NTPC andCoal India in the pollution in the area.The study was also carried in theInternational Journal of Clinical MetalToxicology and Business and HumanRights Resource Centre. Media coverageensured widespread discussion fromdoctors and NGOs.

• Following the release of iron &steel sectorratings in June 2012, questions wereraised in both the houses of Parliament onthe performance and safety of this sector.Ministry of steel sent a circular tocompanies that the ParliamentaryStanding Committee meeting in July haslisted a discussion on CSE’s report.Similarly, Planning Commission MemberK. Kasturirangan said the report’sproposed measures to reduce the sector’shigh emissions intensity will dovetail withthe policy prescriptions in the 12th Plan.The report had repercussions oninvestments by foreign entities inpolluting industries in India. InternationalFinance Corporation, the World Bank’sprivate sector lending arm, has pledged to

review its lending guidelines for thispolluting sector. Citing the CSE study,CLSA-U, an investment bank withinterests in south Asia, stressed the needof better environmental due diligence forinvestment in industries and review forperformance of the plants. Severalindustries came forward seeking help toimprove their environmentalperformances.

• Participants to the CSE-Swedish EPAtraining gave a positive feedback; upontheir return to their offices, someparticipants recommended severalmeasures to make compliance andenforcement more effective.

• A key outcome of the regulator trainingshas been the wide representation from 15Sate Pollution Control Boards (SPCB),including from the heavily industrializedstates and from those states with a largepresence of extractive industries, such asGujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, TamilNadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal,Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, andGoa. In an encouraging move, the OdishaSPCB nominated 10 of its newly-recruitedofficers to attend CSE’s induction training.Public sector giants such as SAIL andNTPC have requested customizedtrainings for their environ mentalmanagers. Member Secretary of Gujarat

A screen-shot of the Green Clearance Watch Portal



SPCB signed anMoU withCSE to train theirindustry officials and regulators; talks areon with Odisha SPCB.

• Green Clearance Watch receivedexcellent feedback from NGOs, thePlanning Commission, State PollutionControl Boards, ministry of environment,etc. From October 2012 - March 2013,about 9500 unique visitors visited theportal.

RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAMME

Policy research and advocacy: CSEmonitored, analysed and recommendedpolicy fixes to strengthen implementation ofrenewable energy initiatives. The teamworked on a range of issues – from whybiomass plants were falling sick; to off-gridsolar in Bihar; critiquing the centralgovernment’s attempts to bail out statepower utilities; and advocating necessarymeasures in the 2nd phase of the JawaharlalNehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM); to

issues hampering wind power installation inTamil Naidu; and documenting innovativeuses of solar PV.

Two roundtable were organised in theyear – to discuss research findings on off-gridand grid-connected solar; and to discuss thedraft policy document issued by the Ministryof New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) onthe 2nd phase of JNNSM. As part of itswatchdog role, the team uncovered how theU.S. State Department had accounted itsExim-bank financing to solar power projectsas part of climate aid under the 'fast startfinancing' deal done in Copenhagen in 2009.The expose found that the U.S. Exim bankfunding is actually partly responsible forIndian solar manufacturing not being able tocompete for large capacity (5MW and above)under JNNSM tenders.

Public awareness: The team published twobooks – Facing the sun: Policy for sustainablegrid-connected solar energy and Goingremote: Re-inventing the off-grid solarrevolution for clean energy for all. In all,more than 30 articles, 10 blogs and severalphoto essays were produced by the team forDown To Earth and the renewable energyportal.

Results• This remained a highly visible team,

with its work covered and quoted inmore than 30 national and internationalnewspapers/journals and magazinesduring the year. Following the exposeon solar energy published in DTE, theMinistry of New &Renewable Energycreated an Inter Ministerial Committeeto look into the allegations; thecommittee suggested more clarity inguidelines regarding the selection ofEPC contractors and recommendedphysical verification of the company andmore stringent and specific penaltyprovisions in case of violations ofguidelines.

• Another expose in March 2013uncovered issues with projects gettingcommissioning certificates without beingcommissioned. The team’s expose hashad a direct effect, according to A.K.

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Chandra Bhushan, CSE deputy director general addressingthe Round table meeting on renewable energy



Maggu, director, NVVN, who saidprojects were now being inspected moreclosely and fined for not commissioningtheir plants on time. Four people in thestate authority responsible for givingcommissioning certificates weresuspended.

• Officials from the MNRE took seriousnote of CSE’s findings regarding the U.S.Exim Bank, and have pledged to look intothe matter.

CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAMME

Policy research and advocacy: CSE trackedthe climate change negotiations closely inBonn and Bangkok and at the Conference ofParties (CoP-18) in Doha, where CSE jointlyorganised a side event with MoEF. The teampublished over 40 reportsandblogs and eightbriefing papers on climate change.

Adaptation experience sharing workshop:CSE’s research resulted in a south Asiaconference on Adaptation, in which NGOs,grassroots communities and INGOssharedexperiences on issues and successes whenimplementing adaptation projects in theregion.

Networking: The third National ResearchConference on Climate Change was organisedin November 2012 at the Indian Institute of

Science, Bangalore, in which over 250researchers and scientists attended, and morethan 90 papers were presented in differentsessions divided into four themes - climatescience/impacts, mitigation, adaptation andclimate policy and politics.The Indian ClimateResearch Network website was launched atthe conference, with more than 200 members,chiefly young climate researchers fromresearch institutions and universities. Thisinitiative is a collaboration among thecountry’s leading climate institutes. IncludingIIT-Madras, IIT-Delhi, IIS-Bangalore and CSE,Delhi.

Results• At the side event organised by CSE and

MoEF at the Doha CoP, India’s leadnegotiator, RR Rashmi, reiterated theimperative for any global agreement tobe based on principles of equity. Thisreaffirms the foundation of India’sposition in climate negotiations.

• The factsheets and the briefing papersprepared by CSE on climate changeserved as background reading materialto journalists.

• The Adaptation meeting helped climatechange affected communities identifybest practices that could be replicatedacross the region and create an agendafor more climate resilient community-level practices.

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ICRN conference in progress at IISc, Bangalore



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FOOD SAFETY AND TOXINS PROGRAMME

The team’s approach followed four pathways– policy engagement; public awareness andnetworking for safe food; advocacy &campaign; and, lab tests for toxins. The teamworked with regulators, civil society andpublic to push for better regulations andraise awareness on food safety issues.

Policy engagement: In its campaign forstronger pesticide norms, the team continuedengaging with regulators, including the FoodSafety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)and the Central Insecticide Board andRegistration Committee (CIBRC).The team’sreport, State of Pesticide Regulations inIndia, found pesticides were still beingregistered without setting their MaximumResidue Limits (MRLs), and that existingMRLs still do not cover all crops, and thatseveral MRLs do not comply with theirAcceptable Daily Intakes (limits for the totalpesticides in a body). Disturbingly, the reportfound state agricultural universities continueto recommend unregistered pesticides forvarious crops.

Public awareness &networking: To spreadgreater awareness on food safety, inparticular the hazards of serving and

advertisers targeting junk food in schools,the team organized a quarterathonin Delhi(one-fourth of a marathon) titled“Junk thejunk food’, in which over 500 school childrenand other participants ran for the cause.

Advocacy & campaign: The team alsoorganised a two-day national conference onfood safety and toxins regulations for 40experts and 100 stakeholders from industry,academia, regulators and civil society. Theconference was widely covered by nationaland regional media. The team publishedmore than 25 articles in Down To Earthandproduced several editions of its popular e-newsletter, Environmental Health Bulletinthat has 7000 public health and developmentprofessionals as subscribers.

Testing for toxins: CSE’s PollutionMonitoring Laboratory conducted threemajor studies in the year –on Bisphenol A(BPA) in baby bottles; tests for heavy metals(mercury, cadmium, chromium and lead), incosmetics, including fairness creams, anti-aging agents, lipsticks and lip balm. Althoughthe tests found nothing alarming in babybottles, tests on cosmetics turned uppresence of cadmium and mercury in morethan 15 of the 32 samples tested. Thelaboratory also tested water, soil, grains,

CSE director general Sunita Narain with panelists at the national conference on safety and toxins regulations

human blood, nails and hair of residents ofSonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh (site of manythermal power plans and a major coal beltarea of India) and found high levels ofmercury.

Results• A major policy win for the team was that

following sustained policy-levelcampaigning the team, the governmentfinally issued regulations placing a banon the presence of antibiotics in honey.This followed CSE’s 2010 study and theaggressive advocacy with concernedregulators.

• The team’s release of the lab-based studyon high levels of mercury in Sonbhadrareceived extensive media coverage. Thestudy was picked up by the InternationalJournal of Clinical Metal Toxicology andBusiness and Human Rights ResourceCentre. India’s largest TV news network,NDTV, aired special coverage onSonbhadra, and questions were raised inthe Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS PROGRAMME

CSE’s Green Building programme was set upto confront a big challenge: How to minimisethe massive demands of energy, water,waste and carbon of India’s rapidlyexpanding construction and building sector(most of the country’s building stock and

infrastructure is yet to be constructed). Theprogramme approach involves policyadvocacy, capacity development, andinformation outreach to generate awarenesson this emerging concern.

Policy advocacy: Theteam published a policyoverview paper, The Game of Town Making,which focused on water, energy, land andcarbon footprint of the real estate sector.

Capacity development: The team conductedthree orientation workshops on EIA rules forlarge buildings, Energy ConservationBuilding Codes (ECBC) for commercialbuildings, and national building bye-laws forregulators from the national capital regionand other cities. Workshops were alsoconducted for 50 architects and engineers ofthe Central Public Works department(CPWD), the government’s chief builder.Four city-level orientation workshops wereconducted for key stakeholders – inChandigarh, Kolkata, Lucknow andPanchkula.

Information outreach: The team organised abriefing workshop for news mediaprofessionals from leading national and locallanguage newspapers across India.Journalists were briefed by leadingarchitects, energy experts, activists,government officials and real estatedevelopers, and then taken on a day-long


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Orientation workshop on sustainable building programme



visit to explore innovations in several greenbuildings in the city. A popular two-pagespecial ‘Classroom’ section was launched inDown to Earth magazine, featuring the workof ‘green’ architects and buildings.

Results• A major outcome in the year for the team

followed the CSE study, Green buildingratings: Overrated. The study, whichunderscored the weaknesses in the greenrating methodology and the sheer lack oftransparency, led to the Indian GreenBuilding Council, which awards the LEEDratings to buildings, introducing a sectionon ‘performance monitoring’ on itswebsite, and also started to declareselect performance data of the buildingsit rated, bringing in more transparency.

• Partnerships were fostered with statelevel agencies and departments – forinstance the Punjab government’s keyagency, PEDA, said it would collaboratewith the Chandigarh College ofArchitecture on using local materials andtechnologies. Similarly, the Punjabchapter of the Indian Institute ofArchitects has proposed collaborationwith CSE. Representatives from theHaryana Renewable EnergyDevelopment Agency (HAREDA)approached CSE to conduct similarworkshops in Haryana; the city levelmeeting in Panchkula was a directfollow-up activity.

• The partnership with CPWD on trainingits architects and engineers represents apartnership with the country’s largestconstruction department. CSE hastrained more than 75 CPWD engineersand architects.

• The team plays an important role infamiliarising journalists to this relativelynew sector; newspaper and TVjournalists regularly contact CSE forquotes and perspectives on stories on thereal estate sector. Likewise, theClassroom section on green buildings inDTE has proved popular, and the teamhas been receiving numerous queriesand suggestions on the issues covered inthe articles.

SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

Advocacy on Excreta Matters: A majoroutput was the January 2012 publication ofExcreta Matters, CSE’s 7th State of India’sEnvironment (SOE-7) report on sewage,sanitation and water in 71 cities and towns inIndia. The team spent the remainder of theyear conducting city-level workshops, booklaunch events and three roundtables onpollution monitoring and lake conservation.A major event for CSE in the year was theAnil Agarwal Dialogue Excreta Does Matter,which brought together 550 people,including top water and sewage experts fromaround the country to deliberate onchallenges of urban water supply & sewagemanagement, wetland protection,groundwater and non-conventional sewagetreatment.

Training& research on rainwaterharvesting (RWH) and decentralisedwastewater treatment (DWWT): The teamconducted a total of eight trainingprogrammes in the year, training close to200 people. Of this, four were on RWH

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Audience at the Anil Agarwal Dialogue



(training 106 persons) – three for municipalengineers from the JNNURM mission cities,and one on sustainable water management,water audit and efficiency. The team alsoconducted four trainings on DWWT for 94persons, of which two were targeted atmunicipal engineers from JNNURM missioncities. The team published four researchpapers – two on pollution monitoring, andone each on urban lakes and ruralsanitation, and launched an e-newsletterreaching 7000 subscribers.

Regional & state-level workshops: A region-level workshop on sustainable water andwastewater management was organised inRajasthan for 90 participants, and a state-level workshop was conducted on energy andresource efficiency in Guwahati for 60participants.

Technical guidance: The team providedtechnical guidance on RWH for more than 70projects and on decentralised wastewatertreatment for 11 projects from across India.

Results• Excreta Matters had significant

outcomes soon after it was published inJanuary 2012: CSE was invited by the

Planning Commission in March 2012 topresent its findings; CSE also madepresentations to senior members of theprincipal opposition party,BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), and towater resources ministers andSecretaries in BJP-ruled states. Severaland state ministers said they found thereport useful to frame policy, andpledged to raise this issue in Parliamentand state Legislatures. Many of CSE’srecommendations have beenincorporated in the 12th plan five-yearplan of the Planning Commission forIndustrial and Urban Water.

• The Haryana High Court ordered realestate builders to use only treatedsewage for construction following CSE’sworkshop in Gurgaon on groundwater &media reports.

• Ministry of Rural Water and Sanitation,recognised CSE as a Key Resource Centre(KRC) in sustainable rural sanitation anddrinking water sustainability. Municipalcorporations requested CSE’s help forimplementation projects on rainwaterharvesting and wastewater treatment,and showed special interest in city wateraudits. Many trainees wanted detailedtechnical advice on their projects.

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Regional workshop on sustainable water and waste water management in Jaipur



SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT REPORTAGE

This year, Down To Earth (DTE) producedtwo notable packages and special issues.What’s the agenda served as a curtain raiserfor the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD)meeting in Hyderabad in October2012.Invoking the Monsoons celebrated theinspiration and engagement of the rainyseason with a cross-section of writers, frompolicy-makers, scientists, farmers and travelwriters writing on ‘the real finance ministerof India’. DTE continued its focus on mining,while CSE’s renewable energy teammembers wrote extensively on off-grid solar.

DTE also chronicled events and trendsthat had significant environment anddevelopment import; for example, Blinddevotion covered the environmental cost ofthe MahaKumbh along the Ganges river inAllahabad, the largest gathering in humanhistory.

The magazine also tracked trendingenvironmental health stories. Chemicalcalories, which explored the new discoveryon obesity’s linkages with sedentary lifestyle,unhealthy foods and environmental toxins,which modify human physiology, making itdifficult to lose weight. Elusive Vitamindelved deep into the mystery on thedeficiency of vitamin-D in India. Similarly,India’s Minamatacovered the presence ofmercury in the environment of Singrauli, atown with numerous thermal power plants inUttar Pradesh.

Results• Due in part to CSE’s advocacy to have the

forest bureaucracy declare bamboo as agrass (DTE story, Bamboo comes home,January 2013), on March 3, 2013, UnionRural Development MinisterJairamRamesh handed over a ‘transit’pass to residents of village Jamguda inKalahandi district, making this the firstvillage in Odisha and the second in theentire country to get official permission

to sell minor forest produce (MFP) suchas bamboo and tendub leaf. Thislandmark gesture and the orders sentearlier to state forest departments ontransit passes, will open up livelihoodsoptions for hundreds of thousands offorest-dwelling communities in India.Similarly, as a response to the samestory, District Collector of Gadchiroli,Maharashtra, stopped the corruptauction of Tendu leaves to a contractorand ordered an enquiry.

• Responding to the cover story, Organicboom (July 31, 2012), Ashish Bahuguna,Secretary of ministry of agriculture,invited suggestions from CSE on how toimprove procurement methodology fordryland crops (oilseeds &pulses), onwhich the poor subsist.The InternationalCompetence Centre for OrganicAgriculture ordered 500 extra copies ofthe issue to circulate among its members.

• The DTE special report, Guar mine(July2012) was quoted in a number ofinternational publications, including theGerman newspaper Die Ziet, which usedthe story as a ‘consulting paper’. CSEreceived numerous queries on guarcultivation andmarket access.

• The National Biodiversity Authoritydiscussed the DTE cover, What’s theagenda(October 2012)in one of itsmeetings, in particular the section onagro-biodiversity. Now the authority isplanning to start a fund for agro-biodiversity conservers in India. Thecover story has also become a part of anUNDP report from India.

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Public awareness



• The cover story,Twotales of adrought(March 31, 2013), helpedchange newsmedia perception on the drought inMaharashtra. News anchors of popularchannels were referring to the story fordebates and discussions on the drought.

• Following the story BPL millionaires(June 2012), which investigated theseveral cases of industrial houses usingtribal individuals as fronts to buy land inthis scheduled V area, AmarAgarwal,state minister of health and urbandevelopment in the government ofChhattisgarh, ordered an investigationinto the case of tribal land purchase andalso ordered compensation payable tothe actual owners of land.

• After reading the DTE special report,Sahariasface exile (September 2012),Union Tribal Affairs Minister KC Deowrote to Madhya Pradesh chief ministerShivraj Singh Chauhan to avoiddisplacing villagers withoutimplementing Forest Rights Act. Thework on irrigation project is now on holdand implementation of the act hasstarted.

• A special report, Tiger reserved (July 31,2012) has used in filling a PIL demandingban on tourism in the core areas of tigerreserves.

• Water ATM (January 2013) triggerednumerous queries on how to get a waterATM (automatic teller machine) installedin their areas. The story was widelyreprinted in national news media.

• The cover Let solar shine (December2012) on the Remote VillageElectrification Programme (RVEP)wasdiscussed and used as a backgroundresearch paper, while the ministry ofnew & renewable energy (MNRE)wasformulating guidelines for phase 2 of theJawaharlal Nehru National SolarMission.The DTE special report Out ofOption (August 2012) on the sub-standard Chinese solar equipment onsale at Exhibition Road in Patna (thebiggest off-grid solar market in theworld) caters to the energy needs ofpower-starved Bihar. The story wasreprinted by news media and in blogs,

while several solar entrepreneurscontacted DTE to brainstorm on how topush more RE in Bihar.

• The DTE cover Mining’s quicksand,onillegal riverbed sand mining for thebooming construction sector, ledtheNational Legal Service Authority(NALSA) to prepare a background paperand file a writ petition before theSupreme Court.

• Following a DTE web-special, Homelessand sick (March 2013), which pointed outthe high incidence of Tuberculosis amongDelhi’s homeless, the Delhi governmentlaunched three schemes to curb TB,including to open TB control services forthe capital’s homeless.

• A DTE special report Unique identitycrisis foresaw the serious overlaps andconsequences for the National PopulationRegister and Unique IdentificationDocument. Soon after it was published,Members of Parliament, includingministers, raised concerns about dataduplication between UID and NPR. ThePrime Minister’s Office has formed aninter-ministerial committee to resolvethe issue.

DTE WEBSITE DISSEMINATION

DTE web focused on increasing coverage aswell as expanding its presence in the digitalspace. DTE Web now keeps pace with majordevelopment with wider and indepthcoverage. DTE has already mobile and tableteditions. More to it we have beenexperimenting with: e-books, flipboard andparalax ways of presenting our contents.This is the future space for expansion. Theyear 2012-13 was good in terms ofincreasing readership.

Down To Earth online recorded 9,25,142visits this year, a jump of 60 per cent over theprevious year. The number of pageviewsincreased by 64 per cent, from 10,87,781 to17,09,632. The number of readers coming toDown To Earth through social networkingsites increased by 51 per cent (from 46,229to 90,225), with a 74 per cent jump in trafficfrom Facebook and a 43 per cent increasefrom Twitter.

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Sustainable urban mobility and clean airprogramme: CSE team conducted sevenorientation programmes/workshops for 155officials and grassroots representatives fromacross the country. Officials trained by CSEupheld key principles learned in their publicstatements (as quoted in media). A transportdepartment official in Maharashtra trainedby CSE is now reworking his city’s busoperation and developing separate cycletracks and walking zones for students.Trainings also instigated direct action –Agartala’s ARPAN Society is pushingregulators for a clean air and mobility planfor the city, and started a bicycling club.

Green buildings programme: The teamcconducted 2 workshops on EIA & ECBCrules for commercial buildings & on nationalbuilding bye-laws for regulators. A total of 75CPWDengineers, architects were trained. 4city-level workshops were organised forstakeholders (in Chandigarh, Kolkata,Lucknow&Panchkula). Representatives fromthe Haryana Renewable EnergyDevelopment Agency (HAREDA) approachedCSE to conduct similar workshops inHaryana; the city level meeting in Panchkulawas a direct follow-up activity. CSE’Spartnership with CPWD on training itsarchitects and engineers represents apartnership with the country’s largest

construction department. The programmefamiliarised journalists to this relatively newsector; Newspaper and TV journalistsregularly contact CSE for quotes andperspectives on stories on the real estatesector.

Sustainable industrialization programme:The regulators programmeconducted sixtraining programmes during the year. 123regulators were trained from various statepollution control boards (SPCBs). The teamconducted a training workshop for 24environmental managers of corporate India.

CSE and Swedish-EnvironmentProtection Agency (Sw-EPA) in whichSwedish experts were invited to India toteach Indian pollution regulators to pollutionabatement approaches. Swedish EPA hostedIndian regulators (20) in Sweden for a week,to expose them to the latest in pollutionmanagement measures and environmentalgovernance in Sweden & EU. Someparticipants recommended several measuresto make compliance and enforcement moreeffective. Wide representation from 15SPCBs, including from the heavilyindustrialized states and from those stateswith a large presence of extractiveindustries, such as Gujarat, Maharashtra,Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, WestBengal, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka,

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Particpants of training on urban mobility and clean air City dialogue in Hyderabld

Building Capacities in Society



Rajasthan, and Goa.In an encouraging move,the Odisha SPCB nominated 10 of its newly-recruited officers to attend CSE’s inductiontraining. Public sector giants such as SAILand NTPC have requested customizedtrainings for their environmental managers.Member Secretary of Gujarat SPCB signedanMoU with CSE to train their industryofficials and regulators; talks are on withOdisha SPCB.

Trainings on Environmental ImpactAssessment (EIA). The team conducted 12trainings for 232 people on EIA, SIA&UrbanIndustrial Wastewater & HazardousWaste Participants of the training comprised

students, NGOs, industries, consultants,academicians and received excellentfeedback.

Sustainable water managementprogramme: Under the programme 8trainings were conducted on urbanrainwater harvesting (RWH) andDecentralized waste water treatment(DWWT) for 200 people. Organised aregional workshops on sustainable waterand wastewater in Rajasthan for 90participants. Ministry of Rural Water andSanitation, recognised CSE as a Key.Resource Centre (KRC) in sustainable ruralsanitation and drinking water sustainability.

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Meeting on the Water and Wastewater Recycling/Reuse

Participants of the EIA training programme



Municipal corporations requested CSE’s helpfor implementation projects on rainwaterharvesting and wastewater treatment, andshowed special interest in city water audits.Many trainees wanted detailed technicaladvice on their projects.

Conducted state-level workshop onenergy & resource efficiency in Guwahati for60 participants

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Media Resource Centre: The mediaprogramme conducted workshops and builtcapacities of 90 local, rural reporters inSambalpur (Odisha) & Goa. The initiativewas designed to help local reporters andstringers in small towns sharpen basicreporting skills and provide global context tothe local issues. 4 Media Fellowships (tigerconservation, Renewable energy, climatechange, & ‘good news’) and 12 briefings forjournalists conducted in different cities. 33fellowships granted, resulting in more than100 news clippings.

Overall, the programme interacted withabout 650 journalists & generated 380newspaper reports, generating increasedcoverage on environmental issues. Two CSEfellows – Soma Basu (ex-Statesman,Kolkata), & PulinKalita (Dainik Assam,Guwahati), won multiple awards for theirstories published for CSE fellowship. Theinitiative was designed to help local reportersand stringers in small towns sharpen basicreporting skills and provide global context tothe local issues.

Anil Agarwal Green College (AAGC):Conducted four (3-4 week each)interdisciplinary courses & several day-longorientation courses on environment. Thesummer and winter courses enrolled 72students and young developmentprofessionals and journalists. About 250students and faculty from Indian andinternational universities participated inAAGC orientation workshops. An indicationof the popularity of these courses was theincreased demand for such courses and thestrong network/cohort of youngenvironmentalists interacting in socialmedia.

Environment Education: Gobar TimesGreen Schools Awards (national and state-level) were awarded to 11 Delhi-basedschools and 25 schools from the rest ofIndia. These awards recognize top-performing schools based on the results ofan environmental audit conducted bystudents. The team ‘localized’ its auditmanual for Sri Lanka schools and trainedmore than 100 teachers on how to conductthe audit; two Sri Lanka schools were alsoawarded for their initiative in controllingplastic waste on their premises. The teamanchored a side event at the internationalBiodiversity CoP-11 in Hyderabad, produceda special edition of Gobar Times tabloid, andorganised a roundtable on the role of schoolsin environmental policy making. The teamalso published a students’ special edition ofExcreta Matters, and continued publishing

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Workshop under the media briefing programme

Participants of the one month course of AAGC



the popular Gobar Times for students andthe youth.

Results• GSP is now a truly national programme,

spread over 18 states, with a network ofmore than 15,000 schools. A key result wasthat the programme is now more than asimple audit exercise; schools have begun

to implement changes in their campus –from decentralised wastewater systems toinnovative ways to recycle and reuse waste,to creating rainwater harvestingstructures, etc. The audit exercise helpedmany schools network with localenvironmental NGOs and local governmentbodies in the area. Many schools also madeGSP a part of the school curriculum.

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Students at the Gobar Times Green School Award programme

School teachers at the training workshop on environment education



TRAINING DATA 2012-13

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ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES

THE INDIA ENVIRONMENT PORTAL

The India Environment Portal (IEP) teamcontinued to track important reports,studies, and research papers and news fromapproximately 80 print and digitalnewspapers from India and other southAsian countries. IEP served as an activeinformation and knowledge intermediary byproviding contextual, cross-tagged and up-to-date information on around 9,000environmental subjects by identifying anddocumenting more than 4,00,000 recordsfrom various national and internationalsources – government, research institutions,NGOs, and industries.

Results• The total number of visitors in 2012-13

stood at 735,339, representing a 24.76%increase from the previous year; pageviews in this period stood at 1,529,266(23.09% increase fromthe previous year).Similarly, the total number of reports,studies and papers downloaded wasclose to 50,000 (26.40% more than in2011-12). International traffic on theportal increased, specifically form the US(up 22%) and Canada (up by18%).Aspecial IEP newsletter, begun inFebruary 2013 to ‘push’ data andinformation to users, has alreadyreceived more than 1500 national andinternational subscribers, pointing to theviability

REGIONAL PROGRAMME – SOUTH ASIA

CSE’s regional presence has matured, as isevident from the spread and varieties ofengagements with many kinds ofstakeholders. For instance, the sustainableindustrialization team’s engagement in theregion started in 2006 with a simple mandate

– to train NGOs and government bodies onEIA processes. Later, partly in response tothe needs expressed by NGOs, industrybodies and government departments, theteam diversified its training to other areas,including urban and industrial wastewatermanagement and hazardous wastemanagement. The team’s work has evolvedbeyond training, and it now directly affectspolicy by preparing guidelines andenvironment management strategies forseveral countries in the region. Over the nextfew years, the team plans to build capacitiesof banks, insurance companies and privateequity firms across south Asia on how toassess environmental risk and performenvironmental due diligence to make moreinformed decisions when lending toinfrastructure and industrial projects.

Of note also is that teams have spreadtheir activities beyond national capitals – theSustainable Industrialisation and the Foodand Toxins teams are working at the districtlevel in Sri Lanka and Bhutan, while thewater management team has set up modelprojects in Chittagong and Khulna inBangladesh. Similarly, new partners havebeen brought on board – CSE’s Urban AirQuality and Mobility as well as the GreenBuildings teams have tied up with Bhutan’sNational Environment Commission (NEC),while the Sri Lankan ministry of watersupply partnered with CSE’s PollutionMonitoring Laboratory. Similarly, Work forBetter Bangladesh (WBB) has emerged asstrong partner in Bangladesh, as has theCentre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) in SriLanka.

An encouraging development in theregional programme is that activities arecarried out in response to the demandgenerated by CSE’s previous engagementswith a particular stakeholder in the country.Take for instance the case of NationalEnvironment Commission (NEC) of Bhutan:Following the participation of some NECofficers in a training programme on EIAconducted by CSE in India, the SustainableIndustrialization team was requested toconduct similar training exercises for NECofficials and also those of allied ministriesand government departments in Bhutan.

Leading national and international libraries of

educational institutions listed the India Environment

Portal as one of the ‘Important electronic free

resource on environment’.



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Later, the NEC-CSE engagement wasbroadened under the terms of an MoU thatcovers training, preparing environmentmanagement guidelines and ‘inspectionmanuals’ for eight industrial sectors ofBhutan (coupled with training for associatedofficers on these guidelines). Dr. UgyenTshewang, Secretary, NEC subsequentlyrequested CSE to help set countrywideguidelines for vehicle-washing facilities inBhutan. Also, and on request from NEC, theteam spent a week to conduct an inspectionof Pasakha, Bhutan’s main industrial estatelocated near Phuentsholing at the India-Bhutan border.

NEC engaged directly with otherprogramme areas too – CSE’s Urban AirQuality and Mobility team was requested toprepare an air quality and mobility actionplan for Thimpu. For the coming year, NEChas asked for CSE’s help to guide policy forthe country’s foray into the green buildingssector. The team will prepare a ‘greenbuildings’ manual for Bhutan, and conduct aseries of capacity building trainings for NECstaff.

In Sri Lanka, following the EIA team’straining for staff of the Central EnvironmentAuthority (CEA), the team was requested bythe Governor of Kandy Province to alsoadvise it on setting environmentalparameters for a biomedical wasteincinerator facility in Kandy. Similarly, theSri Lanka ministry of water supply anddrainage requested CSE to undertake waterquality tests to understand the widespreadreports of CKDu (Chronic Kidney Disease ofUnknown Etiology) in the north centralregion of Sri Lanka.

An important gauge of CSE’s reach andimpact in the region is that several CSEteams routinely receive requests to advisegovernment bodies in several south Asiancountries, and across a host of programmeareas. For instance, senior team membersfrom the air pollution team are often solicitedfor their advise or invited to participate asexperts in international conferences andpolicy workshops. The Board of SajhaYatayat, a cooperative public transportcompany, contacted CSE’s Urban Air Qualityand Mobility team members for their

assistance on reviving this cheap publictransport service in the Kathmandu valley.Team members were also invited inDecember by the Sri Lanka SustainableEnergy Authority and the ministry ofenvironment’s policy wing, Air ResourceManagement Centre (AirMAC), to help thisregulatory body set fuel economy standardsfor Sri Lanka.

DISSEMINATION THROUGH WEBSITE

The South Asia Environment Portal (SAEP), asub-site of the India Environment Portal,provided digitized news, featuresreports/documents, research papers andpolicy pronouncements on a host ofenvironment-development issues(http://sa.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in).Most major government policies and actionplans of the year 2012-13 from six southAsian countries are now available on theportal. The team also helped build capacitiesof information managers in the region ondigital literacy. The portal is managed in CSEby the Environment Resources team.

Digital assets:• The SAEP is a gateway to research on

south Asian environment anddevelopment issues. Over 1,07,000records were documented, processed,and keyworded (each digital asset ismanually tagged) using 8,000 tagssourced from CSE's master thesaurus tomake information more easilysearchable, contextual and easy-to-access.

• Environment News Service for south Asialaunched,comprising about 90,000newsclippings sourced from 26 SouthAsian newspapers published fromBangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, SriLanka and Pakistan.

• Online database of 17,000 reports,documents & policy papers by southAsian organisations now available

• Country profiles with thematic issuedossiers / photo-essays on the portal andthe South Asia Environment PhotoGallery provides ready reference tocritical environmental issues.


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As an information outreach initiative, theteam started a periodic e-newsletter, whichhas already attracted close to 1600subscribers. SAEP also launched a virtualdirectory of 312 NGOs, government and non-government institutions, industries andenvironment experts. In the coming year, thedirectory will serve as the foundation for aninteractive south Asian community ofenvironment and development experts.

The monthly ‘South Asia Green Files’, a‘curated’ compilation of key news & featureson the region compiled from about 80 newssources (26 of which are south Asian),remained popular with its 150 subscribers(mainly academic and research institutions),despite the wide availability of digitized newssources.

Helping build capacities of informationmanagers on digital literacy has become animportant goal of the team. The teamconducted two training workshops, whichdrew in 19 participants from Sri Lanka,Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives andIndia. A key outcome of such trainings is thatparticipants continue to network with CSEteam members, especially to implement their‘action plans’. Training will be upscaled inthe coming years. For instance, theprogramme entered into a partnership withSri Lanka-based Television Trust for theEnvironment (TVE-Asia Pacific) to conduct apilot training on new/social media for southAsian activists and digital informationmanagers in Sri Lanka.

AWARENESS CREATION

Media programmeThe media programme supports CSE’senvironmental advocacy and outreach in theregion. The media strategy rests on threekinds of activities – by offering fellowships toregional journalists, by organizing pan-regional events, such as the South AsiaMedia Briefing Workshops in Delhi, andmore recently, conducting ‘Country MediaBriefings’, in which news media in targetcountries are briefed by CSE experts onpressing environmental issues facing thecountry. Over the past few years however,the media programme has gone beyond

playing a supportive role; it now engageswith news media in target countries, usuallyin partnership with prominent mediaassociations in target countries.

In July in Kathmandu, the media team, inassociation with the Nepal Forum forEnvironmental Journalists (NEFEJ),organised a country media briefing on‘Challenge of air quality and mobilitymanagement in South Asian cities’, in whichtop urban mobility and air pollution expertsfrom Nepal and India, briefed Nepalese newsmedia on the poor urban air quality andpublic mobility in the Kathmandu valley(among the fastest growing ‘cities’ in theregion) as also the opportunities available toplan differently in Nepal in order to avoid themistakes cities like Delhi have made. Morethan 80 journalists, representingnewspapers, magazine, TV, radio andinternet, attended the event, and the event inthe subsequent days was widely covered inNepal’s news media. In addition toconducting news events in target countries,CSE’s media team also organizes south Asiamedia briefings, which bring togetherleading journalists and editors to deliberateon pan-regional environmental issues for theregion’s media.

Climate Change programmeCSE in collaboration with the Indian Instituteof Science, Bangalore, IIT-Delhi and IIT-Madras hosted the National Research

The South Asia Briefing on Climate Change, held in

Delhi and timed just before the CoP talks in Doha, has

emerged as one among CSE’s prime annual events.

This year, climatologists, oceanographers, water and

energy experts, together with government appointed

climate negotiators and senior bureaucrats briefed

the 60 journalists (including 20 senior journalists from

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives,

Nepal, Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka) on the latest

in negotiating stances, science & impacts of a

changing climate, renewable energy, adaptation &

financing, loss & damage, and CDM, among others.

Besides national-level print and broadcast media, the

event also drew in journalists from the regional press,

bringing climate concerns to an important and

underserved audience. Dozens of articles were

produced during and soon after the event.



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Conference on climate change, whichshowcased cutting-edge climate research inthe region. This year, the event included aselect group of researchers from south Asia.Over 250 researchers and scientists attendedthe conference. Participants fromBangladesh presented information andcommunication technologies (ICT) weredeployed to help people adapt to climaticvariations in Bangladesh. Case studies fromSri Lanka focused on traditional, sustainablewater management practices were aneffective adaptation measure.

Down To Earth magazine (DTE)DTE remained an important source ofinformation, and carried a wide range ofstories and analysis pieces on the region.Stories articulated regional concerns – fromecological and biodiversity loss toenvironmental governance and poor waterand waste management. Some DTE coverageconcerned the region as a whole – forinstance, on a WHO report that showed howIndia fares worse than Bangladesh andNepal on maternal mortality and child deaths(South Asia, Africa show poor progresstowards MDGs, June 2012), or a book review(Polluted and revered, February 2013) on theurgent river pollution crisis in south Asia, orhow the governments of India, Pakistan,Bangladesh and Nepal plan to coordinateactions to ban harmful vulture-killing drugs,and start breeding and reintroductionprogrammes for the critically endangeredvultures, which in this part of the world arewitnessing the most rapid decline in numbers(South Asian nations will now cooperate tosave the vulture, May 2012).

A key DTE story his year was coverage onthe high incidence of renal failure in SriLanka, especially in the north-central regionthat has turned into a health crisis, and theChronic Kidney Disease of UnknownEtiology, or CKDu has doctors, scientists andgovernment puzzled (Renal emergency,September 2012). Puzzled because ‘patients’(mostly male farmers above the age of 40) donot have diabetes or hypertension, the maincauses of kidney failure. Thousands havedied in the past decade and many thousandsmore need regular treatments and dialysis in

area hospitals. The story covered a study CSEin which samples of water, soil, fertilizer andpesticides were analysed for a host ofparameters. Tests revealed people areexposed to poor drinking water quality; testsalso contradicted a widely held belief thatarsenic and cadmium in drinking water is themain cause of the disease. The storyexhorted public health officials for wider andlarger study, and until then, to provide safedrinking water in the affected areas. DTEalso carried an obituary by NalakaGunawardene of the celebratedenvironmental filmmaker Robert Lamb(Theearth’s reporter, May 2012).

From Nepal DTE carried an interviewwith Apsara Chapagain, chairperson ofFECOFUN, considered the world’s largestcommunity forestry movement, where shespoke on the need for constant vigilance toprotect the community rights in face ofcontinuing stiff opposition from theconservationist and forest bureaucracy(Forests can’t survive without communities,July 2012). Other stories from Nepal includepoor food safety regulations (Nepal battlespoor food safety standards, April 15), or thepoor sanitation status. DTE also covered theprecarious situation of groundwater inKathmandu, the region’s fastest growing city(Double whammy, October 2012), and thedebate on dams and energy production in theenergy starved neighbour (Politics ofirrigation, April 2013 and Dam in check,October 2012), and an interview with AnneRademacher on her book that chronicles howthe Bagmati river’s degradation resonateswith the perceived social, cultural, religiousand political disorder in the tumultuousdemocracy (River restoration is not just anecological act, April 2012).

From Pakistan, DTE covered thecountry’s struggle with its polioimmunisation programme (What ailsPakistan’s polio eradication drive, March2013), and on how music and book stores areshutting shop in Peshawar in Pakistan, thelatest victims of militant groups’ intolerancefor anything they see as Western influenced(Literature in bondage, May 2012). FromBhutan, DTE covered the country’s boldinitiatives, including the much-lauded one to



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ban private vehicles from plying city roads onTuesdays (Tuesdays are pedestrian's dayout in Bhutan, June 2012). DTE also carriedan interview of Ugyen Tshewang,Secretary,National Environment Commission of Bhutan(How Bhutan is grappling with climatechange, February 2013).

Reportage from Bangladesh was focusedaround water and wastewater, and includedsuch themes as the large public health crisisfacing Chittagong due to arseniccontamination of groundwater, and howscience is being brought to find solution tothis scourge that affects millions inBangladesh and India (Nano arsenic mop,September 2012). Reportage from Dhakafocused on the polluted Buriganga river(Buriganga chokes on pollutants, November2012).

Networking and learningIn 2012-13, CSE’s regional programme madesignificant strides across several programmeareas in terms of undertaking research andcontributing to significant policy changes inseveral countries. CSE teams active in theregion have built enduring networks amongkey stakeholders in each country.

Poor air quality marks cities in thesubcontinent, which is hardly surprisinggiven the similarities in urban growth andplanning, poor regulatory frameworks, andpoor capacity to monitor and implementchanges. Given CSE’s acknowledgedleadership in research and advocacy onimproved urban air quality and mobility, itwas natural for CSE’s Urban Air Quality andMobility team to engage with concernedgovernment and city administrations, andonce they had helped build capacities, withNGOs to push for better urban air quality.

The team organized a workshop in Julyin Kathmandu on ‘air pollution and meetingtransport challenges’, which drew in morethan 80 people. The workshop was organizedin partnership with the Ministry of PhysicalPlanning and Works and TransportManagement (MoPPW & TM), the nodalministry responsible for urban air quality inNepal. Senior bureaucrats from Nepal(including the Secretary of MoPPW & TM, aswell as the head of the newly-created

Kathmandu Valley Development Authority),in addition to experts and leading researchinstitutions participated in the workshop,which was followed the subsequent day by a‘country media briefing on air quality andpublic transportation’, conducted by CSE’sMedia Programme with its partner in Nepal,the Nepal Forum for EnvironmentJournalists.

CSE’s Urban Air Quality and Mobilityteam started work in Bhutan in 2012-13. TheNational Environment Commission (NEC),Bhutan’s environmental agency, hadapproached CSE in May 2012 seekingsupport to help it prepare an action plan todeal with the problem of emissions andtraffic issues in Thimpu City. NEC wasleading a Task Force involved in preparingsuch a plan, but wanted CSE to get involvedto strengthen the strategy by using CSE’sexperiences in working with various city andstate administrations in India prepare airquality action plans. The team prepared ascoping / thematic paper that identified thegoals, principles, and key strategies for cleanair and sustainable mobility in Thimpu, whilemeetings with stakeholders and site visits inand around Thimpu helped the CSE teamidentify key local challenges and prioritizeintervention areas.

The team also conducted a series oftraining programmes targeting regulatorsand policy makers responsible fortransportation and air quality, in which closeto 15 south Asian regulators were invited.

Soon after the workshop, ‘air pollution and meeting

transport challenges’, the government of Nepal

announced that it had started the process to revise

ambient air quality norms and vehicle emissions

standards for the country.

The chief output from this activity was an action plan

for clean air in Thimpu, with clear targets for various

agencies involved, and timelines for implementation

of the plan. The plan has been submitted to NEC, and

city authorities have begun the process of

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In Bangladesh, the team continuedefforts to advocate for polices that promotecleaner air quality and publictransportation. In partnership with theirrecent NGO partner, Work for a BetterBangladesh Trust (WBB), who helpedconduct a ‘citizen’s survey’ in Dhaka on airquality and mobility. Survey results will beshared in early April 2013 in Dhaka withgovernment and city transport departmentrepresentatives.

Given the long and depth of engagementof the team with air pollution-relatedministries and city administrations in theregion, senior team members are ofteninvited to participate as experts ininternational conferences and workshops.Team members were requested by the boardof the just revived Sajha Yatayat, acooperative public transport organization inNepal, seeking assistance on how to revivethis once lauded and affordable publictransport service in the valley.

Likewise, programme staff were invitedin December by the Sri Lanka SustainableEnergy Authority and the ministry ofenvironment’s Air Resource ManagementCentre (AirMAC), a leading governmentpolicy institution, to help set fuel economystandards for the entire country.

The Sustainable Industrialisationprogramme was able to leverage existingrelationships and make significant policyinroads, especially in Sri Lanka and Bhutan,where it worked closely with key ministriesand government departments.

In Bhutan, the team has developedstrong relationships with several keyministries, in particular, with the NationalEnvironment Commission (NEC). In fact, theNEC secretary had visited CSE to sign theMoU, which includes wide-rangingcooperation between the two institutions on

capacity building, monitoring andcompliance of development projects (i.e.EIA), laboratory support for pollutionmonitoring in Bhutan, as well as broadlysupporting research and knowledgedissemination.

The team prepared EnvironmentAssessment (EA) guidelines for eight sectorsof Bhutan’s economy, including for industry,forest, roads & highways, hydropower,mining, tourism, transmission lines and for‘general’ sectors. The CSE team subsequentlyconducted a ‘stakeholder consultation’ toexplain the guidelines in more detail torelevant NEC staff, and for line managersdrawn from other key ministries in Bhutan.The team was subsequently requested to alsoprepare guidelines for vehicle washingfacilities for NEC, and to conduct aninspection of Pasakha industrial estate, nearPhuentsholing at the India-Bhutan border(http://www.nec.gov.bt/ index.htm).

In Sri Lanka, CSE’s chief governmentpartner is the Central EnvironmentAuthority, for whom the team conductedseveral training programmes on EIA and onUrban and Industrial Wastewater. CEA hasrequested CSE’s help to put together a‘Compliance Assurance Manual’, a sort ofindustrial inspection manual for regulators,to better evaluate development andinfrastructure projects in the country.

CSE’s Food and Toxins team and thePollution Monitoring Laboratory (PML) werein the limelight, after the team conducted aseries of water quality tests to understand the widespread reports of CKDu (ChronicKidney Disease of Unknown Etiology) inAnuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts inthe north central region of Sri Lanka.

Following the day-long CSE orientation on biomedical

waste management for health professionals in Kandy

(see section on training, below), CSE has been

requested to help CEA put together a detailed

proposal, including implementation mechanisms, cost

estimation, etc. for Sri Lanka’s first clinical waste

management project.

In contrast with widely held views, the results of the

CSE-CEJ study established that heavy metals –

cadmium, chromium, arsenic and lead -- in drinking

water are not linked to CKDu in the sampled areas,

and that heavy metals were from a source other than

drinking water. The study also found parameters such

as total dissolved solids, alkalinity, hardness, calcium

and fluoride were higher in groundwater than in

other surface sources, and that people in affected

areas were drinking relatively poor quality water as

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The tests were undertaken in response toa December 2011 request by the Sri Lankanminister for Water Supply and Drainage,Dinesh Gunawardana. Kidney/renal failurehas puzzled public health professionals formany years now, as its prevalence isreaching epidemic proportions, andspreading to the adjoining districts of Ova,Eastern and North Western Provinces. Thestudy, in partnership with Centre forEnvironmental Justice (CEJ), a leadingenvironmental justice NGO in Sri Lanka,involved testing samples of water, soil,grains, pesticides and fertilizer collectedfrom the key Coda-affected areas.

The study received wide media coverage,and the findings were released inAnuradhapura at a public meeting chairedby Sri Lanka’s minister for water supply anddrainage, Dines Gunawardene. The ministersupported the recommendations made byCSE that the government needs to firstprovide clean drinking water and medicalfacilities to provide immediate relief, untilmore definitive studies that take account formore parameters, are conducted to isolatethe causes of this widespread problem.

CSE’s Water Management team wasable to diversify its work beyond trainingwith its government and non-governmentpartners – from curriculum development,anchoring a region-wide Rain Convention, toproviding guidance on the implementation ofwater and decentralised wastewater projectsin Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

In Bangladesh, the team conductedseveral training programmes (see details ntraining section below), and designed therainwater harvesting system in the officepremises of a new partner, Work for BetterBangladesh (WBB). The team also advised itsprincipal partner in Bangladesh, Water Aid-Bangladesh, on setting up a Raincentre(permanent exhibition showcasing designsand working models of rainwater systems) atthe prestigious Bangladesh University ofEngineering and Technology (BUET). CSEand Water Aid-Bangladesh jointly conducteda national-level ‘Rain Convention’ in Dhaka,whose long-term policy goal was tomainstream rainwater harvesting in existinglaws and policies of Bangladesh.

In Nepal, the team helped design andconceptualise a rain centre for the ministry ofurban development’s training centre located inNagarkot, and worked with its civil societypartner, Centre for Integrated UrbanDevelopment (CIUD), in designing a rainwaterharvesting system for Tri Chandra Universitycampus and Kanya Mandir school, both ofwhich are in Kathmandu. In Sri Lanka, theteam advised the Ministry of Water Supply andDrainage, on how to revive the MaharagamaLake located in Greater Colombo. The ministryhas also requested CSE for ideas and strategieson how to mainstream rainwater harvestingmandatory for the residential sector in thecountry; this will form part of the team’s workplan for the coming year.

Meanwhile, CSE’s Green SchoolsProgramme (GSP) was able to build on theprevious years’ efforts, especially in SriLanka. The programme involves studentsauditing the environmental ‘performance’ oftheir own schools and assigning scores to ahost of sustainability parameters, includingair quality, energy, water, wastemanagement and biodiversity, among others.Top schools in the country are then awarded.

CSE worked in close partnership with theMinistry of Education, Sri Lanka, to roll out apilot phase of the programme across 100handpicked schools representing all theProvinces of the country. The CSE team puttogether a customized audit manual for theteachers, and, in collaboration with theministry, conducted two training workshopsfor master trainers. The result wasencouraging – GSP has taken root in SriLanka. Not only did several schools complete

In Dhaka, several universities, including Independent

University Bangladesh (IUB), Jahangirnagar University

(JU), University of Information Science and

Technology (UITS), Shahjalal University of Science and

Technology (SUST), Bangladesh University of

Engineering and Technology (BUET), North South

University (NSU), and the University of Asia Pacific

(UAP), invited CSE to help reform the architecture,

urban planning and civil engineering courses by

embedding decentralised water and waste

management technologies as part of their curricula.



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sections of the school audit, two schools werealso declared winners of the GSP South AsiaAwards. These student-teacher teams wereinvited by CSE to attend the Gobar Times GSPAwards Ceremony in Delhi, where theyvisited other GSP partner schools in the cityto witness their work and share experiences.

CSE continued to track internationalclimate change negotiations. CSEresearchers also produced in-depth reportsof climate change impacts in DTE, andengaged with young developmentprofessionals from south Asia on a three-week interdisciplinary course on climatechange politics. CSE staff’s live reportage onCoP 18 from Doha, Qatar, on the progress ofactivities, debate and discussions were alsohighlighted by the Climate Portal; a series ofblogs focusing on the climate politics andnegotiations were posted on the climateportal by leading climate experts. A few blogson climate mitigation with special referenceto solar energy were also posted.

A key activity for the team in 2012-13was an experience-sharing workshop forfrontline activists and civil society groupsfrom India and south Asia engaged inimplementing adaptation measures andtechnologies. Workshop deliberationsprovided insight into what constitutesadaptation today, how communities viewadaptation, and its inter-linkages withdevelopment processes and the interventionsneeded to impact policy. The workshop alsohelped grassroots groups link and networkwith different sorts of climate stakeholders –including donor-led programmes, climatecommunicators, government represe -ntatives, and other development sector

professionals from India and south Asia.Apart from these activities, CSE

disseminated information to a wide variety ofstakeholders through CSE websites and theIndia Environment Portal (IEP). The dailynews service on climate, a compilation oflatest reports, news and research compiledfrom 80 Indian and 20 south Asiannewspapers and newsmagazines provided anup-to-date overview on the issue.

CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMMES

Training has remained a large and importantcomponent of the regional programme, andhas reached an impressive scale. In 2012 –13, of the total 2214 people trained by CSE,744 were south Asians; or, one in threetrained was a south Asian participant (onefrom Afghanistan; 78 from Bhutan; 111 fromBangladesh; 4 from Maldives; 108 fromNepal; five from Pakistan; and 437 from SriLanka). CSE teams conducted 15 trainings inBangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan.As compared with the previous year, the totalsouth Asians trained by CSE has almostdoubled from the previous year (CSE trained386 in 2011-12).

The Sustainable Industrialization teamalone trained 210 south Asian regulatorsand government officials in Sri Lanka andBhutan in 2012-13. In Sri Lanka, the teamconducted two training programmes onUrban and Industrial Wastewater inColombo for CEA officials, and one trainingon EIA. CSE was requested by CEA toconduct day-long workshop on bestpractices on biomedical waste managementin Kandy for health officers, doctors andnurses. The course was well received, and ina subsequent presentation to the Governorof the Province, CSE was requested toprepare detailed guidelines on establishingthe country’s first incineration-basedclinical / bio medical waste managementplant, the first of which is being planned inKandy District. Once set up, this would serveas a ‘model project’ for other sitesthroughout the country. CEA officials alsorequested CSE’s assistance in training keystaff at area hospitals, including those atGeneral Hospital, the Teaching Hospital in

An important outcome for CSE’s Green Schools

Programme (GSP) in the region was that the Ministry

of Education, Sri Lanka, formally adopted GSP as a

part of its environment curriculum for schools. A pilot

was successfully conducted across 100 government

schools representing all provinces in the country. This

important outcome follows from the previous year’s

efforts to partner with the country’s Ministry of

Education and with the Central Environment

Authority, to seed the programme in the formal

education system in Sri Lanka.



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Peradeniya as well as for staff of SirimawoBandaranayake Memorial Hospital on biomedical waste management.

In Bhutan, CSE, in partnership with theNational Environment Commission (NEC),conducted a five-day training on EIA in Paroin May for 53 participants, representingseveral Bhutanese ministries, including NEC,Department of Industry, Department ofGeology and Mines and the Department ofCottage and Small Industry. In all, 23government ministries and/or departmentsof the Royal Government of Bhutan wererepresented in the training event.

The Regulators’ programme, set up totrain Indian pollution control board officials,has also started exploring trainingopportunities for south Asian regulators. In2012 – 13, the team launched a two-weekcourse, ‘Enforcement, Monitoring &Compliance’, which saw the participation of26 regulators and government officials fromNepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,Maldives and Pakistan. There is a clear needexpressed by south Asian regulators for CSEto scale up training.

The Urban Water Management teamtrained 211 people on rainwater harvestingand decentralized wastewater treatment inBangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. This

includes the 14 south Asian participants whoattended RWH + DWWT trainings in India.Participants included NGOs, students,researchers and academicians.

In 2012-13, the Environment Resourcesteam conducted three courses oninformation management and digitaloutreach, of which one was targetedspecifically at south Asians. In all, the teamhelped build capacities of 20 south Asianinformation managers in the region.Participants included those interested instarting digitized information managementsystems in their institutions to NGOsinterested in employing social media tools formore effective advocacy, as well asgovernment libraries exploring digital assetmanagement options. This team has anactive alumnus (each participant is asked toprepare an ‘action plan’), which continues toexchange ideas on how they have initiateddigital information management practices intheir institutions.

CSE’s interdisciplinary courses onpolitics, policies and practices ofenvironment management are targeted atstudents and young professionals from theregion. These courses fulfil an importantmandate – to build a cadre of futureenvironmentalists. Young professionals

CSE staff at the Training programme on RWH and DWWS in Bangladesh in collaboration with WateraAid Bangladesh



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are briefed by some of the leading activists,academicians, and policy makers inaddition to seasoned CSE research staff.Field trips and groups assignments allowparticipants to explore grassroots levelrealities and the tools to communicatethese to a broader audience. Fourinterdisciplinary courses were conductedin 2011-12, which drew in 23 students,young development professionals andjournalists from across south Asia. Thecurriculum of the three-week wintercourse, Challenge of the Balance,articulates pan-regional environment-development perspectives, and attractswide participation from south Asia. Alumnitypically form enduring networks amongthemselves and with CSE. Many alumnicontinue to contribute to CSE by

volunteering their time, or opt to write forCSE publications, while a select few arehired by CSE on a full time basis.

The first contact that many south Asianshave with CSE is by coming to CSE for atraining programme. The Anil AgarwalFellowships scheme for south Asians was setup specifically to help build suchrelationships. These fellowships (partial orfull fellowships) support the participation ofsouth Asian participants across most CSEtraining workshops held in India. In 2012-13,the fellowships scheme was considerablyenhanced, and 120 south Asian participantswere awarded the AA Fellowships for southAsia. These fellowships continue to play animportant role in building regionalrelationships, and expand the scope of theentire regional programme.


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Programme achievement: CSE teamsachieved 80% of their planned work outputsin 2012-13. CSE produced seven majorpublications in the year -- on water, industry,renewable energy and food safety. Majorpublic events and conferences, including theAnil Agarwal Dialogue, the conference onFood Safety and Toxins, the renewableenergy meeting on off-grid solar, the releaseof environmental rating of the Indian ironand steel sector; and the GSP Green SchoolsAward, witnessed a large public turnout, andlarge news media interest.

Training emerged as important activityfor the institution. In all, CSE programmestrained 2214 persons, of which about 750were from south Asia. Trainings are beingconducted for regulators, governmentofficials, students, architects, schoolteachers, NGOs, media and industryprofessionals, among others. Today, mostCSE programmes have a south Asiacomponent, and enduring linkages have beenbuilt between CSE and various ministries,NGOs, universities and industry bodies inalmost all south Asian countries (exceptPakistan).

Recognising performing staff: The previousyear’s initiative of handing over independentcharge to middle level managers has bornefruit, and has helped CSE identify leaders;outperformers who have shown leadership inteamwork and have expanded the scope oftheir work, were rewarded by a raise in theirdesignation.

CSE staff in prestigious committees: CSEstaff members have been invited to be part ofimportant committees, including theselection committee to choose members ofthe National Green Tribunal; UTTIPECWorking Group of the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority; the Rajasthan Government StateUrbanisation Commission; NCERT (Scienceand Environment Exhibition); Monitoring &Evaluation of Environment Activities of theMinistry of Environment and Forests; Bureau

of Indian Standards (BIS, on WaterResources); the academic board of CEPTUniversity, Gujarat; the Uttar Pradesh StateGanga Committee; as well as the BIScommittee on EIA; among others.

Gender Ratio: CSE’s gender ratio in 2012-13was 46% women and 54% men.

Staff benefits schemes:• Medical insurance cover of Rs. 1 lakh for

those on regular pay rolls;• Interest-free loan for emergency

situations, as well as short or medium-term loans;

• In-house gym started this year; CSE staffcontributes a minimal fee to cover thecost of a gym instructor; CSE bears thecost of maintenance of infrastructure.

• Flexi-timings for CSE staff started,keeping in mind the traffic situation inDelhi and suburbs. Staff need to reachoffice any time between 9 am and 11 am,and can leave office between 5 pm and 7pm, so long as they complete a minimum8 hours of work;

• Subsidised canteen on premises servesfresh, hot subsidised meals to CSE staff.

Build an environmental cadre throughVolunteers and Interns: in 2012-13, CSEengaged 90 interns and volunteers fromdifferent parts of India and 17 students fromforeign universities, whose contribution (indays) was equivalent to 13 regular staffmembers.Eight were recruited as fulltime/part time staff. Volunteers and internscontributed actively to all programmes inCSE, such as research and databasecompilation related to environment impactguidelines, transportation strategies andpolicies, designing and planning waste watermanagement and reuse systems, research onforest clearance processes for miningprojects, green building insights andbenefits, organising events and trainingprogrammes, and writing for Down To Earth,among other tasks. Past volunteers helped

Institutional Development



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gain visibility for CSE during the BiodiversityCoP (CBD) meeting in Hyderabad.Contributions by volunteers and interns inresearch and dissemination have beensubstantial; most interns published articleswith their bylines, and have contributed atotal of 13,334 words in Down To Earth.Several students from south Asianuniversities interned or volunteered withCSE in 2012-13.

Planning and monitoring: In 2012-13, allCSE teams underwent a meticulous annualplanning exercise, and individual tasks werecarefully designed to meet institutionalgrowth and to ensure every individual’sprofessional growth as well. Programmestracked their performance through regularreview meetings. Teams actively participatedin campaign initiatives such as the“Quaterathon”, organised by CSE.

Infrastructure and development: CSE hasstarted construction activities for a newtraining centre, the Anil AgarwalEnvironment Training Institute (AAETI), inTijara, near Alwar in Rajasthan. AAETI isbeing constructed to demonstrate cost-effective technologies, and innovative andsustainable building designs to minimisewastage and optimise available resources atthe site. The project has identified five keyareas in which to meet ‘green campus’ goals:site planning; materialselection andconstruction; energyuse; and water andwaste management. Campus performanceparameters and targets have also been setfor a variety of indicators to ensure ‘greencampus’ goals are met.

Some of the key ‘green features’ of thecampus:• Planning the site to maintain natural

slopes and drainage patterns;

• Optimum orientation of buildings andopenings to maximize the use of daylightand natural ventilation and improvingthermal comfort;

• Using ecological materials andconstruction technologies such asrammed earth and fly ash bricks forwalls and the use of bamboo for the roofof the academic and administrativebuildings. All construction materialsused in the project will be responsiblysourced using locally available, recycledand/or waste material whereverpossible;

• Solar energy will be used to meet a majorportion of the campus’ energyrequirements;

• Low energy consuming lights, fans, andequipment will be used along withpassive/low-energy cooling and heatingsystems. Stack ventilation and mistingare being considered. The use of air-conditioning will be restricted;

• A comprehensive water managementplan has been prepared for the site:Wastewater, treated using naturaldecentralized systems, will be reused forirrigation and flushing. The entirecampus is designed to harvest rainwaterto recharge groundwater or stored forfuture use using a network of swales,channels, recharge pits and storagetanks. CSE is also planning a ‘WaterInnovation and Information Centre’ onthe campus.

• The landscaping is being planned usinghardy, native and environmentallyappropriate species to minimizeirrigation. Some part so the campus willbe used for organic farming.

• All organic ‘wastes’ will be composted,and garbage will be segregated andrecycled.

Documents

ANNUAL REPORT 2012-2013 - Centre for Science and Environment Annual Report 2012-13 4c.pdf · CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT 4 Annual Report 2012-13 cars and diesel-run SUVs in