Student of II Year, Master of Environmental Planning (M.Plan), Centre for Environment and Planning Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad, India

Title of Work: Networking Initiatives for Environmental Action in Pune City

Aparna's focus of the internship was to look of possible avenues of networking between various environmental NGOs, organizations and government department towards a more fruitful and collaborative action.

In order to realize this inter organizational and peoples networking, Aparna had proposed four basic action points namely,

Developing a website – this will include setting up of a common web space for collaborative communication; information and knowledge sharing and pooling of resources. This will also comprise of an urban environmental reporting system.

Conducting thematic seminars – this will be a platform to discuss environmental themes, focusing on technical information sharing, brainstorming, discussions etc

Develop a mechanism for ‘Action Research’ – utilize student resources in academia and collaborate with industry to evolve live action research projects to find environmental solutions

Developing an Environmental Resource Centre (ERC) – This will involve setting up physical infrastructure which will act as an environmental hub to disseminate information on environment in the city.

During her internship Aparna met with various organizations and heads of institutes in Pune to look at possibilities of collaborating and networking. During her course of work, she planned for and participated in a seminar for all NGOs and environmental organizations and institutes in Pune.

Title of Work:

Abhinav, initially nderstood the various facets of ETPs in India by making site visits to ETPs in industries in and around Pune.Through this initial research and assessment, Abhinav developed a need for ETP Information System.

The main purpose of the ETP Information System is to manage inventories, develop process control and monitor and report test parameters. The major constraints faced by ETP operators, such as lack of adequate skills to handle sophisticated software and demands of data inputs.

Thus the ETP Infirmation System was conceived to fulfil the following functions namely,

• Keeping Inventory of Treatment units, machinery, instruments, chemicals and other materials
  Maintaining continuous data records of wastewater characteristics and operating parameter values
  Storing of manuals and procedures, trouble shooting guides and offer information exchange facility
  Assisting in material balance calculations, detection of losses etc
  Identifying possibility of waste minimization
  Reporting, through systematic formats and in prescribed time a
  
• 
  Abhinav worked in MS EXCEL spreadsheet model to develop this system.

Jayesh’s project was oriented towards the mandate of the Local Agenda 21, in which every Municipal Authority (with population 100,000 and above) is required to submit an Environmental Status Report (ESR). This reporting requires a comprehensive monitoring and record keeping, data collection and effective reporting. The ESRs are however often in a publication format, not necessarily becoming available to a wider spectrum of population. With this need in mind, Jayesh developed a concept for a thematic website for Pune. Each thematic website will compile data related to environment in Pune, covering themes such as Air Pollution, Solid Waste, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Biodiversity etc. Air Pollution was selected as the first theme foe content development and accordingly content building happened in three stages namely, Data Collection, Data Analysis and Compilation and Data Presentation.

The website, it was envisioned, would be a collaborative platform, inviting users to surf, download and also populate the site by their own content, feedback etc. Thus it was necessary to utilize a software platform that will allow a flexible, innovative and interactive user interface.

Accordingly, web publishing software was explored and Expression Engine (EE) (http://www.pmachine.com) was selected for final compilation and representation of air pollution data. The primary reason for selection of EE was its interactive usage, through which users will also be able to contribute and add to populate the site.

Jayesh completed two final outputs namely, a report that compiles extensive data on air pollution in Pune and a technology framework for a thematic website.

Student of IV Year, Bachelor in Architecture (B.Arch), Dr Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture (BNCA), Pune, India

Title of Work: Developing a Framework for a Rating System for Eco Housing in Pune & Developing an Eco Housing Manual for Architects and Builders in Pune

Reshma started her internship in February 2005 on a part time basis, working in a flex time manner to produce specific outputs. During her part time mode, till about May 2005, Reshma developed research to understand the rating systems for Eco Housing or Sustainable buildings. She compiled case studies of LEEDS and BREEAM rating systems in USA and UK respectively. Based on the framework followed by some of the well functional rating systems world wide, Reshma proposed certain specific parameters which are essential to consider for rating any architecture as Eco friendly. Thus, in this preliminary phase of her internship, Reshma highlighted focus areas in design and construction of buildings. These areas, with proper intervention, can result in a significant saving of overall resource consumption of any building.

In the second phase of her internship (May-Oct 2005), Reshma started work full time with EMC to conceive, design and compile an Eco Housing Manual. With significant research compilation on buildings materials and construction technologies, Reshma has included numerous materials and technologies that promise lesser material and energy use in buildings. The Eco Housing manual has five main sections namely, Site Planning, Architectural Design, Building Materials& Construction Technologies, Resource Management and Maintaining an Eco Building. Each section lists guidelines, showcases case studies and presents site construction pictures and methods. The Eco Housing Manual is presented in a manner that is user friendly, keeping text minimal and explanations are through maximum visuals and actual photographs. The Eco Housing Manual is still to be completed for final publication.

Reshma also developed a draft design brief for an Environmental Hub in Kamla Nehru Park in Pune. The Hub will be a small pavilion space in local urban parks that will act as nodes of information dissemination on environmental issues. These Hubs will be designed as demo projects that will integrate the principles of Eco Housing. Reshma, developed a conceptual design for the Environmental Hub in Kamla Nehru Park.

Student of I Year, Master of Environmental Planning (M.Plan), Centre for Environment and Planning Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad, India

Title of Work: Compiling and Analyzing Maharashtra specific environmental information

Jayendra, a planning student, joined the internship programme to assist the EMC team in the various aspects of compiling Maharashtra specific information on environment. This included extensive data collection from secondary sources and compilation of data in specified formats. As a preparatory work before analyzing the data, Jayendra compiled research notes on a variety of environmental topics to deepen his understanding of environmental concerns, issues and related planning and management measures. Some of his research notes included Soil Erosion, Watershed Management, Joint Forestry Management, Economic driving forces in Maharashtra etc.

Student of II Year, Post Graduate Diploma in Environment and Development, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, India

Title of Work: Developing Activities of the ECOnnection Hub

Smita’s internship work focused on developing some of the on going activities of the ECOnnection Hub, Pune. In the initial phase of her internship, Smita developed a portfolio of visuals and text to communicate to the citizens about ‘Walk in the Park’ event of the Hub.

Smita also reviewed the Citizen’s ECO Guide that was being already developed under the Hub. She added content, modified some layouts and edited the final text for the Citizens Eco Guide.

Smita met with different sections of stakeholders in Pune to explore possible avenues of communicating the contents of the Citizen’s Eco Guide into different more visual and innovative forms. Through these consultations, she listed various media such as calendar designs, coffee shop graffiti, attractive picture books, posters, cards etc.

Finally, she also worked on developing a resource kit on Environmental Education for school teachers. This resource kit was modeled on the ‘Walk in the Park’ event conducted by ECOnnection Hub for school children. A presentation of this resource kit was made to New India School, Pune, The New India School teachers reviewed the contents of the Kit and used it to actually conduct their own environmental education activity for their students.

Masters Graduate from School of Atmospheric Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

Title of Work: Designing and developing six Seminar modules for the Basic Urban Air Quality Management (BUAQM) Training Programme

Hrishi’s work profile included developing the six proposed seminars under the BUAQM Training Programme. As a preparatory work, he researched and deepened his understanding on the BUAQM Training Resource material as developed by the World Bank Institute. He designed a work schedule to accommodate the six sessions, develop thematic seminars and their content, map the content with the existing BUAQM materials etc. Hrishi was involved in making all logistical arrangements for conducting the first Seminar.

As a part of this project, Hrishi designed and developed a Microsoft S SharePoint web space for EMC and its various associates and activities. The Microsoft SharePoint site on Pune’s Air quality (http://emcentre.net/paqman) was developed as a sister site to pool resources and share information with the participants of the BUAQM seminars. Accordingly, Hrishi populated the site with contents of the first seminar.

Student of II year, Masters in Environmental and Resource Management, Brandenburgs Technical University, Cottbus, Germany

Title of Work: Developing content for two BUAQM Training Seminars, producing research on Case Studies related to urban air quality management in India.

Amruta assisted in the preparation of two Urban BUAQM training seminars. Additionally she will look into updating and maintaining the MS Sharepoint collaborative web space developed for the participants of BUAQM seminars. Amruta will develop research capsules focusing on the cases of air quality management strategies so far implemented in India

Student of III year, Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.), Department of Environmental Engineering, Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi, India

Title of Work: To understand and deepen knowledge of various facets of environment viewed from the perspective of efficient resource management and strategic planning

The title was further divided into subsections which included various aspects such as understanding a regulating agency and its role in natural resource management. She also researched the process of framing a policy or regulation. A comparitative study was carried out between Indian system of classification of river water quality with European and American systems.

Further, she looked upon strategic planning as a means of resource management.

Neha also compared various technology initiatives which were a response to changing environmental legislation.

She looked at various alternatives of waste management which included onsite and offsite options. Onsite waste management alternatives included common resource recovery systems while offsite alternatives included establishing waste exchange centres. She compiled resources on waste management and specifically looked at the plastic issue, “Plastic paradox” as she claims.

Student of III year, Bachelor of Engineering, Department of Environmental Engineering, Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi, India

Title of Work: To understand and deepen knowledge of various facets of environment viewed from the perspective of efficient resource management and strategic planning

While trying to deepen the understanding of Indian environmental regulating agency such as the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), Abhishek looked at the evolution of SPCBs along with evolution of pollution controlling laws. He compared Indian “reactive approach” of pollution control with New Zealand’s “proactive approach” of pollution prevention and efficient resource management. He developed a case study on Resource Management Act (RMA).

He also developed a note on Strategic Environmental Framework (SEF) of Great Mekong Area. The intension was to explore the application of strategic planning as a tool for guiding environmentally and socially sustainable investments.

He investigated the impact of enforcing regulations on technology change in industries.

Abhishek developed a case study on pulp and paper industries and compiled resources on fly ash utilization for waste management. He also looked at combined heat and power generation utilizing waste.

Student of III year, Bachelor of Environmental Management, Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz", University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Title of Work: Environmental Management Systems – A panorama of Brazil and India

Paula researched on implications of inclusion of environmental issues into business. She identified the driving forces and the extent of adoption of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) in industries. To know the situation of EMS in industries, she carried out questionnaire based study of industries in India and Brazil. Based on questionnaires and interviews, a framework of comparison between the two countries on EMS was developed.

Paula studied integration of EMS systems such as ISO 14001 with Quality Management Systems (ISO9001:2000) as well as with OHSAS 18000. She evaluated SiSOFT, a software developed in Brazil for integrated management systems. She assisted in the preparation and conduct of ISO 14001 EMS - 2004 update seminar conducted by EMC.

Student of II year, Masters of Environmental Sciences (M.Sc), Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Pune, Pune, India

Title of Work: Not Just Walk in the Park

Poornima was interested to develop further the ‘Walk in the Park’ event of the ECOnnection Hub designed as an outdoor environmental education module for school children. Poornima conducted these modules for 3 schools in Pune in three separate parks, namely, Saras Baug, Chittaranjan Vatika and Thorat Udyan

Additionally, Poornima looked at biodiversity assessment methodologies and their application in urban local parks to assess the urban biodiversity in Pune.

Student of Department of Environmental Engineering, Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi, India India

Title of Work: Analyses and Interpretation of Environmental Data

Ankit opines that data collection is the step taken to know what the problem is. But only collecting data does not give any idea of what the real problem is. It only indicates that there is a problem. Analyzing the data will tell what exactly the problem is and what are the implications of the problem. It will also tell an analyst, the extent of remedial measures to be taken and how the problem will escalate with time if something is not done about it.

Therefore Ankit has studied some statistical techniques that can be used for a variety of environmental problems.

Student of Department of Environmental Engineering, Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi, India India

Title of Work: Application of Group Method of Data Handling in Modelling Complex Systems - Case of Air Quality Prediction

Neeraj’s aim was to discuss the statistical models used for the environmental system modeling. Besides the time series and regression models, a basic GMDH algorithm is applied for the prediction of air quality modeling. The basic GMDH is a heuristic procedure, which models the input-output relationship of a complex system using a multilayered network structure. Each element in each layer in the network implements a nonlinear function of two inputs.

Various experimental aspects of GMDH including Multivariate GMDH models were discussed. Neeraj’s results show that the GMDH method is ideal for complex, unstructured systems, with limited data, to obtain a non-linear input-output relationship with a good accuracy. One cannot prove reliability estimates for the coefficients of the Ivakhnenko polynomial, nor can one prove how to pick the number of observations in the training and checking sets. The purpose of his work was to stimulate statistical thinking in relationship to the GMDH algorithm.