CLEAN-India Empowers One Million Eco Citizens
- for sustainable living in the new century
 


In India, the increasing population coupled with the rapid pace of urbanisation and changing lifestyles are leading to spiralling environmental crises.

The air we breathe and the water that we drink are so polluted that there is a widespread occurrence of respiratory problems and water-borne diseases. Roadsides and rivers are turning into dumping sites for waste and the trees, shrubs and grasses that are not only the climate stabilisers and air purifiers but the habitats for animals, birds and insects are under severe threat from encroaching human activity.

Globalisation, and the opening up of the economy is promoting the adoption of unsustainable lifestyles placing further stresses on the environment that is already under threat from climate change.

Lack of integrated efforts by various stakeholders to work for solutions to environment problems has furthered urban environment degradation.

Can we do something about it? If we can who will do it? How will it be done?

Children and Youth lead the way

The answer came from school students, who took the challenge of monitoring river water quality with scientific rigour during the Yamuna Yatra undertaken in the year 1994 to find how good the waters of the river were. Development Alternatives had developed a field based water quality monitoring kit and the students were trained to use it. Their enthusiasm, commitment and their initiatives after the yatra clearly indicated that the answers lie with the childrens’ active involvement.

Launch of the CLEAN-India programme

Realising the role of children and youth, who comprise a sizable proportion of the Indian population and who have a major stake in the future of the nation in addressing the environmental issues, Development Alternatives decided to launch a young citizens programme.

The Community Led Environment Action Network- CLEAN-India programme was launched by Development Alternatives in 1996 with a vision of developing cleaner environment for our towns and cities through a network of NGOs catalysed by the children and youth brigade from the network of schools across the country. The programme that started with five schools In Delhi has now taken root in 78 other towns and cities extending from Ranikhet in the North to Nagercoil in the South. The programme envisages learning through community service and scientific investigation developing life-long habits of active citizenship and environmental stewardship. It brings together all efforts of government agencies and NGOs in a complementary action plan, sharing ideas and working together for a common goal.

The CLEAN-India programme is an environment assessment, awareness, advocacy and action programme that complements the educational process and enriches and formulates the school curriculum, syllabus and environment science text books.

The programme takes environmental education forward to the next level by involving the students in activities aimed at scientific assessment of the environment, generation of community awareness and most importantly, action that will have a direct positive impact on their immediate environment thereby translating education into widespread awareness and ameliorative action.

The programme has been successful to "walk the talk", impacting over 2 million people through its various awareness campaigns and environmentally sustainable initiatives.


Yamuna Yatra from a student’s diary
 “A river is the report card for its watershed.”


We, at the Nature Club of my school believed that water is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime and our children’s lifetime. The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land. It was in 1994 that I got involved with the Yamuna Yatra project, with the aim of being able to quantitatively describe the quality of the water we use.

The project was a lot of fun and learning. We went to various places on the banks of the Yamuna, and performed experiments with the Jal TARA water testing kit. Our experiments involved measuring the phosphate, chloride, hardness, dissolved oxygen levels and suspended solids in water. It was shocking to know how polluted the water we drink is. The water from Yamuna was not even fit to support any life form except mosquitoes and larvae. We even got a chance to interact with the local people, media, religious leaders and local governments.

Through the project we collected samples from various cities on the banks and analyzed how the quality of water degrades as the water flows downstream. But we realized that by the time the Yamuna leaves Delhi, it is no better than a drain, with dark grey stagnant water full of household and industrial wastes.

 As students we could prevent the degradation of the quality of water and we did make a significant difference in spreading awareness. It was not just by means of showing our results in conferences, but at the base level of informing the local people in small villages and slums about the quality of water and the measures they can take to purify the water and reduce water related ailments.

Water is a precious resource. I hope we don’t reach a stage where we realize the worth of water, after the well dries up!

Stuti Singh, CLEAN-India alumni
Ex-Vice president, AISEC
 

The effectiveness and success of the programme can be attributed to the following factors:

• Unique - Involves children and youth, the future citizens, as engines of change, who respond affirmatively to environmental and social causes

• Inclusive - Joins hands with all stakeholders like government, civic authorities, institutions, corporate sector and development agencies, bringing like-minded and committed NGOs together with schools for community action

• Holistic - Emphasizes responsible citizenship and the systems approach, encouraging its members to take a cradle to cradle ownership of their surroundings

• Continuous - continuous engagement with the stake holders which creates an environment movement through large scale awareness generation starting from households, to communities, towns, districts and country with senior students training the juniors

• Empowering - Children and communities are equipped with scientific tools and skills to address issues of - water, air, trees, solid waste, bio-diversity, climate change and work for solutions for environment improvement

• Gives opportunities for innovations - Provides the knowledge base and opportunities for the students to look for and work out innovative solutions

The youth brigade holds the CLEAN-India flag high

• Nearly a million native trees have been planted and nurtured by the students and communities across the CLEAN towns and cities.

• A huge increase in the green cover of Delhi, doubling it from 10% to 20% of the city’s area

• The Government was persuaded to introduce greening guidelines, develop annual greening action plans and put in place a "tree helpline" to address threats to trees.

• Digitised maps of urban water quality in 20 cities and towns, by season and type of source (groundwater, surface water and piped water)

• Students from over 100 schools recycle waste paper and make their own paper setting examples for government to follow

• Successful campaigns to reduce:
1. use of polythene bags by shoppers
2. fireworks in Diwali, the festival of lights and
3. artificial and toxic colours during Holi, the festival of colours

CLEAN-India is a flagship programme not only in India nut it has also gained international attention through representation at the international conferences, conventions and also being part of global consortiums like Youth Portal for Alliance for New Humanity, Environment Online (International School for Environmental Awareness), as ZERI (Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives) Asia partner and being designated Earth Charter, India affiliate. q

 

Usha Srinivasan
usrinivasan@devalt.org

 

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