June 5th is celebrated world over as World Environment Day (WED). WED is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Over the years it has grown to be a broad, global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated by stakeholders in over 100 countries. It also serves as the ‘people’s day’ for doing something positive for the environment, galvanizing individual actions into a collective power that generates an exponential positive impact on the planet.
The WED theme this year is “Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care.” The well-being of humanity, the environment, and the functioning of the economy, ultimately depend upon the responsible management of the planet’s natural resources.
The link between women and environment is a long standing and deep rooted one. Women and the environment is one of the 12 critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted by global leaders at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. It is estimated that about 2.5 billion people – two-thirds of whom live in Asia, and a quarter in sub-Saharan Africa – still use unimproved sanitation facilities and 748 million people are without clean water. Out of these people, it can be said that women and girls are disproportionately affected, as in developing countries they are the ones who are responsible for water collection and conservation. This is often at the cost of their health and education. Thus, sustainable development solutions are required so as to improve the lives of women worldwide.
CSR is committed to the cause of the environment, and believes that women are key drivers in this endeavour of caring for and protecting the environment. We recognize the importance of women in the management of natural resources. In association with the Hans Seidel Foundation (HSF), CSR has an ongoing Water Conservation and Climate Change project. CSR and HSF have been working on this project since 2012, conducting a number of trainings with elected women representations, and active women leaders and volunteers in various districts of Rajasthan. The programme looks at Water Conservation through the lens of gender. After successfully conducting five pilot trainings in Sirohi and Sanganer district of Rajasthan in 2014, the HSF Water Conservation and Climate Change project commenced the fourth phase with the ‘Training of Trainers’ (TOT) programme on 11th May 2015. It basically involves imparting skills related to water conservation, and other environment friendly practices.
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