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Showing posts from August, 2019

Can India endure to restore 50 lakh hectare of degraded land by 2030?

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By Dr. Arvind Kumar, President, India Water Foundation ‘Reversing land degradation and its outcomes while accelerating positive achievements for people and for ecosystems with a view to deliver on Sustainable Development Goals’ is the core agenda of the fourteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP14). COP14 is taking place on 2-13 September 2019 at the India Mart and Expo, in the Greater Noida area of New Delhi, India. With special reference to India , the menace of land degradation is increasing where fertile land gradually deteriorates into a wasteland. Also,the Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (DLDD) report also indicates that water erosion (37.4%), wind erosion (18.9%) and salinity (3.8%) in India have amplified the case for land degradation. This can be disastrous. Climatic variations and human activities such as overgrazing, deforestation, agricultural activities, overexploitation of v

International Youth Day 2019 : Transforming Education

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‘With 600 million young people, India is the youngest nation in the world, with at least half of the country’s 1.2 billion population comprised of people under the age of 26. According to the #IndiaSkillsReport 2018, over 12 million youth between 15 and 29 years will enter India’s labor force every year over the next two decade’. The theme for #InternationalYouthDay2019 is ' #TransformingEducation' , highlighting efforts to make education more inclusive and accessible for all youth. Looking at the vagaries of #climatechange, it becomes utmost necessity to engage youth more actively because they are the Conscience keepers of our #Environment, acting as stewards who can largely involve & embrace #ClimateResiliencestrategies in making positive contributions to their communities. Going by the words of Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General, United Nations , “Education today should combine knowledge, life skills and critical thinking” , and should include information