Topics Covered:
- Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate.
- Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
UN ‘Momentum for Change’ climate action award
What to study?
For Prelims and Mains: Features, awardees and significance of the award.
Context: An Indian private project, HelpUsGreen is one of 15 ground-breaking projects from around the world that has won this year’s UN climate action award.
- The other 14 projects which won the UN ‘Momentum for Change’ climate action award showcase how ideas, big and small, are successful in tackling climate change.
About HelpUsGreen:
- The project collects flowers from temples and mosques across many cities\towns in Uttar Pradesh and recycles them to produce natural incense, organic fertilizers and biodegradable packaging material.
- The project currently employs 1,260 women in Uttar Pradesh, helps in preventing chemical pesticides from entering into the river through temple waste.
- Developed as the world’s first profitable solution to the monumental temple waste problem, the HelpUsGreen’s products are handcrafted by women who earlier used to be manual scavengers.
- The HelpUsGreen aims to provide livelihoods to 5,100 women and recycle 51 tonnes of temple waste daily by 2021.
- Under HelpUsGreen, 11,060 metric tonnes of temple-waste has, so far, been recycled. As a result,110 metric tonnes of chemical pesticides that enter the river through temple waste have been offset.
About ‘Momentum for Change’ initiative:
Momentum for Change is an initiative spearheaded by the UN Climate Change secretariat to shine a light on the enormous groundswell of activities underway across the globe that are moving the world toward a highly resilient, low-carbon future. Momentum for Change recognizes innovative and transformative solutions that address both climate change and wider economic, social and environmental challenges.
Sources: the hindu.
