Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has said that for India, World Environment Day 2018 is “not a symbolic celebration, but a mission”. The Minister invited the people to take care of their Green Social Responsibility and urged them to take up Green Good Deeds in everyday life. Dr Harsh Vardhan stated that 700 Green Good Deeds are available and people are required to take small positive actions without any extra efforts that can help conserve our environment.Addressing the gathering, Mr. Erik Solheim, Executive Director, UN Environment said that plastic is a huge environmental and health issue. He mentioned that individual in tackling plastic pollution and taking specific measures to deal with single use plastic.Mr. C.K. Mishra, Secretary, MOEF&CC welcomed the dignitaries and presented the welcome address highlighted that great ideas have come up during this event and there is a need to package all these ideas in a nice way. Further, he also briefly highlighted that Paris Agreement (PA) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the two important agreements that have been adopted in the year 2015. He said that India is taking every action to fulfil its commitment and goal under PA and SDGs.In his keynote address, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Subhash Garg, highlighted accounting for GDP and requirement of new technology for managing forest, natural resources etc in an efficient way.Chairperson, Sustainable India Finance Facility Mr. Satya S. Tripathi delivered the vote of thanks.A thematic knowledge conference on “Natural Capital of India: Status and Policy Implications/ Launch of TEEB for Agriculture and Food Report/ Nitrogen: Joining up for a Cleaner Environment/ Scaling Impact Investment in India” was organized today in “Vigyan Bhawan” to mark the beginning of 5-day long celebration of World Environment Day, 2018 (WED-2018). The session was organized by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in collaboration with UN Environment.
FOUR PLENARY SESSIONS
First plenary session on “Natural Capital of India: Status and Policy Implications”. The plenary session focused on findings of the ‘Natural Capital Status of India’ assessment, Identify the regional profile of the tradeoffs amongst natural capital and other types of capital, Establish relevance of wealth estimates in tracking the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals and Evaluate the role of wealth within the larger context of a circular economy approach.The Second plenary session on “Launch Event for TEEB for Agriculture and Food Report”. This dialogue session has been witness the launch of the TEEB Agri Food ‘Scientific and Economic Foundations Report’ and sharing of key findings including the role of the evaluation framework in contributing to a new more holistic, multi-dimensional, systems-thinking paradigm and the potential impact for decision- makers in policy, business and farming, and in contributing to the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals. The session also highlighted best- practices from India on natural farming emerging in small holder agricultural landscapes that can be replicated and scaled in additional geographies to reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts.The Third plenary session on “Nitrogen: Joining up for a Cleaner Environment”. This session focussed on how nitrogen can play a role in supporting India to progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by highlighting where interventions are possible, potential environmental and social benefits and outline the intergovernmental processes for nitrogen management. The session also focussed on nitrogen management within the context of supporting India’s economic growth as well as the untapped potential and India’s leadership to champion global nitrogen mitigation.The Fourth plenary session on “Scaling Impact Investment in India”. This dialogue session focussed on bringing together innovators, entrepreneurs, industrial houses and policy makers on a single platform with an agenda to find solutions using science/deep tech rather than just being activists about it. This session focussed on align capital with innovators to find solutions for critical problems which we experience in our daily life. It brings together thought leaders from diverse fields to share their views and insights on leveraging private finance for public good. The Summit anticipates attracting a significant audience of industrialists, venture capitalists, angel investors, bankers, senior government officials and foreign delegates.