GRASS ROOTS - Research and Consultancy, Mumbai

H2H AWARD FOR GRASS ROOTS

Grass Roots won the First prize in the Design Category of the competition on Rain Water Havesting “Harvest To Harness 2005-2006” hosted by Eureka Forbes Institute of Environment, Rachana Sansad and the Lotus Suites, an ecotel hotel.

The project dealt with a Water Resource Conservation Plan for Thane Metropolitan Region and outlined a proposal for the watershed management and conservation plan for two waterbodies - the Upwan lake and the Railadevi.

The objective of the study was to suggest the measures to conserve and protect the lake considering the natural and human ecology of the surrounding areas, exploring and establishing the linkages of the lake in the larger context with the surrounding areas. The proposal is a part of a study commissioned by Thane Municipal Corporation and carried out by Grass Roots.

A felicitation function was held at the Maharashtra Nature Park, Mumbai on 4th August, 2006. A certificate and trophy were presented to the Grass Roots group by the chief guest of the event Mr. S. Vishvanathan, trustee of Citizen’s Voluntary Initiative, a Bangalore based NGO. The event highlighted rain water harvesting as an important step towards resolving the city’s water woes and was accompanied by a nature walk and painting competition for school students.

THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR INTEGRATING URBAN KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE, GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN.

Pallavi Latkar presented a paper at the The International Conference for Integrating Urban Knowledge and Practice, Gothenburg, Sweden.

She was also awarded the SIDA Scholarship.

The papertitled ‘A Design for Eco Sustainability: Lessons from a Stressed Environment in Mumbai’ talks about the planning practice in the city of Mumbai, which is focused on development designed to project an up market and global image thereby causing an ever increasing strain on the city environment. It takes the case of two important lakes; the Powai and Vihar lakes situated right in the heart of the city and critically analyses the causes for their degradation. The paper puts forth the importance of a more comprehensive and strategic approach towards Environmental Planning and Management.

The Life in the Urban Landscape Conference was attended by more than 400 Urban professionals, policy makers and researchers from all continents, who met in Gothenburg to explore the emerging field of urban knowledge and for an informed debate and mutual learning together.

The main conference took place at Chalmers University of Technology over four days, May 29th – June 1st 2005, with side events on June 2nd – 3rd. The focus of the conference was on the co-operative work, the integration of systems, sectors and actors in urban development and the inter-linkages between the various systems, actors and levels of governance.

Click here to read Research paper

THANE WINS CRISIL AWARD

The Thane Municipal Corporation won the CRISIL Award for Excellence in Municipal Initiatives for 2004-2005 for its pioneering initiative in Ecological Integration of lake Conservation and Management Programme. The programme has been a collaborative effort of all sections of the society, including elected representatives, technological service providers, local educational institutes, N.G.O.s and citizens, for the redevelopment of Lakes. The Thane Municipal Corporation has also partnered with Central Government through the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and State Government through MMRDA.

The project ‘Ecologically integrated lakes Management Plan for Thane Metropolitan Region’ initiated by the Environment Pollution Control Cell of the Thane Municipal Corporation and carried out by Grass Roots Research and Consultancy, was an important part of this Programme and initiative. The studies led to an overall understanding of the ecological status of the lakes and put forth various measures to integrate the environmental aspects in the spatial planning process and development of the lakefronts.

ONE CRORE FOR CHARLOTTE LAKE

The Charlotte lake at Matheran hill station along with being a well-known tourist destination, is an important water resource for the hill station. Today under the strain of the heavy tourist influx it has seen several issues concerning the environment.

Recently the Charlotte Lake has received a grant of Rupees One Crore under the Lakes conservation scheme from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF); for ecological conservation and tourism development.

A presentation was made at the Ministry of Environment at Delhi highlighting the importance of the lake, the ecologically integrated features and processes that constitute its watershed and the current ecological status of the Lake. The presentation was based on the study findings of the research project carried out by Grass Roots Research and Consultancy ‘Environment Management Plan for Matheran Plateau’ and funded by the MMR-Environment Improvement Society. The study highlighted the major concerns regarding the environment and tourism in the lake vicinity and a proposal for the future conservation and development of the area, based on which funds have been granted for the project.

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