Palaj, Gandhinagar: Leaders, policy makers, researchers and change makers in the field of environment and conservation reverberated the need for collaborative actions at the first annual Sustainability Fair organized by the Dr Kiran Patel Centre for Sustainable Development at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) today. More than 25 exhibitors including government organisations, non-government organisations, independent agencies and industrial companies came together to share their sustainable development practices, activities, experiences and ideas in the areas of water conservation, water quality, renewable energy, climate change, pollution, waste management, natural resources, wildlife and ecosystems, among others. Vhali, the life-sized model of the whale shark, was also put on display at the exhibition by the Wildlife Trust of India to spread awareness about the whale shark.
Speaking on the occasion Prof Sudhir K Jain, Director, IITGN, highlighted the three pillars of IITGN i.e. 1) Student centric institution, 2) Research for impact, and 3) Strong societal commitment. He also introduced the participants to the key features and sustainable initiatives incorporated in the design of IITGN which strongly believes in inclusivity. “Sustainability is the way of living. This Sustainability Fair is a great opportunity to bring together people from diverse organizations and initiate new relationships”, he concluded.
The first keynote speaker at the inaugural session Prof Amit Garg, Professor, Public Systems Group, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, provided management perspective for the sustainable development projects. “Sustainable development projects are perceived as high risk and low reward. Market should take cognisance and green companies should be given finance easily”, he said. He also underlined the need to find good bankable projects to meet the requirements in India.
The second keynote speaker Dr V B Mathur, Director, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun highlighted the biodiversity targets and important Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of life below water, life on land, and climate action. Stressing upon the need to balance the environment he said, “Any growth at the cost of ecology is not going to be a sustainable one. Conservation and development should go hand in hand. It should be conservation with development instead of conservation vs. development. Technology, policies and young minds can help in this.” He called for incentivizing conservation to garner people’s support and engagement.
Invited speakers from organisations such as Abellon CleanEnergy Ltd, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF-India), National Institute of Urban Affairs, Gujarat Ecology Commission, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute shared their perspectives, practices and experiences in energy, water, climate change, wildlife & ecosystem, environment & pollution. IITGN also shared the sustainability practices adopted on campus.
The later part of the Sustainability Fair had networking session to explore knowledge sharing and academia-Industry partnerships around a wide range of sustainable development themes.
