Art of Living to host summit on environment sustainability
BANGALORE: The Art of Living is organizing an all-India NGO conference to create a platform to unitedly face the challenges of environmental sustainability in the country.
‘Sangam 2008: The All-India NGO Summit for Environment’ will be held from January 31 to February 2, 2008 at the Art of Living International Centre in Bangalore.
Hosted by the International Association for Human Values (IAHV), a sister concern of the Art of Living, in partnership with the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) and with technical support from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, Sangam 2008 will bring together NGOs working in different sectors of social development.
The summit will be inaugurated by His Holiness Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in presence of the representatives from UNMC, Ministry of Environment and Forests and other key dignitaries. Dr Rajendra K Pachauri, whose organisation Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shared the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 with former US President Al Gore, will deliver the keynote address. Among the listed speakers are former director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Ashok Khosla, noted environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna; environment activist Vandana Shiva and founder-director of the Centre for Environment Education Kartikeya Sarabhai.
The summit will deliberate on issues such as establishing an ecological equilibrium, promoting environmental sustainability, environmental ethics, nature conservation, sustainable utilisation of energy, environmental entrepreneurship natural resource management and sustainable urbanity.
“The vision behind Sangam 2008 is to get India’s foremost social workers on one common platform to face the challenges of environmental sustainability. The summit aims to bring together a host of NGOs working in different social service sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, women empowerment, child protection, environment, disaster management and trauma relief,” says Dr Richa Chopra , Honorary Director of the Summit.
“The summit will provide a platform for NGOs to interact, exchange ideas, learn from each other, generate solutions and develop partnerships to effectively collaborate to meet social challenges of ecologically sustainable development,” adds Arjun Chowgule, Honorary Director of the Summit.
The three-day residential summit will also feature a plethora of interesting activities such as theatre and musical performances by renowned artists, exhibitions and marketplaces. One of the main attractions will be the Dil Se Mela where several organizations will showcase their achievements and initiatives of in the field of sustainable social development.