• A Green Label for Indian Tea

    A project in partnership with the Tea Board of India and the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India and funding from the Global Environment Facility, has demonstrated significant energy savings in tea processing units in south India. A cup of tea produces approximately 17 grams of carbon dioxide. A range of energy conservation measures introduced (both thermal and electric) in the energy intensive small-scale tea processing units in the Nilgiri hills have reduced this to around 12 grams of carbon dioxide per cup.

  • Brown Power

    The video demonstrates how a UNDP project, supported by the Global Environment Facility and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India in Punjab is transforming a liability into a resource by converting cattle dung into electricity and organic manure. This one megawatt bio-methanation project, the first of its kind in India, produces about 18,000 KWh of electrical energy daily and transforms processed dung into 50 tons of organic manure, which in turn has helped farmers increase their crop output. The project, which has received the Best Green Power plant award at the 2007 Asian Power awards, has also helped reduce about 33,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually and generated additional income for the people of Haebowal in Punjab.

  • CDB CoP11: Healthy Ecosystems Improve Climate Resilience

    In this interview with Responding to climate Change (RTCC), Preeti Soni, Advisor, Climate Change, UNDP India, discusses the merits of ecosystem-based approaches to climate change, and how UNDP’s projects such as in the Gulf of Mannar, are helping in sustainable conservation of biodiversity. “Ecosystem-based adaptation are natural solutions based on natural resources and ecosystems for looking at climate change as well as for helping people build resilience and adapt to climate change,” added Ms Soni.

  • DSDS 2013- Thematic Consultation on Energy: Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Energy Future We Want for All

    The video highlights key messages from a consultation on the role of energy in the post-2015 development agenda, organized as part of the 13th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2013. The consultation, supported by the United Nations aimed to facilitate an open dialogue with stakeholders on how issues of energy can be effectively integrated into the post-2015 global development agenda.

  • DSDS 2013: Employment and Growth Benefits of a Green Economy

    The plenary at the 13th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2013 discussed the role of the green economy in spurring growth, improving social equity and preserving the environment. Lise Grande, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, India was a keynote speaker at the event.

  • DSDS 2013: Governance and Management Challenges in Water Use Efficiency

    The consultation, organized as part of the 13th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2013, supported by UNDP, focused on the major governance and management challenges that nations face in water use efficiency. Speakers shared best practices and methodologies used by different countries to regulate their water efficiency.

  • Easing Troubled Waters; Securing Livelihoods - One Day on Earth (11.11.11)

    The video follows the lives of fishing communities living in the Gulf of Mannar biosphere reserve, one of India’s bio-diverse rich regions, as they diversify their livelihoods engaged in sustainable fishing practices and conserve the biodiversity that they depend on.

  • Green Power

    Creating a community based sustainable model for providing Biomass energy to meet the electricity needs of the entire village of kabbigere in Karnataka.

  • Healing Troubled Waters

    The documentary "Healing Troubled Waters" documents the work of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust. The Trust was started in 2002, as the implementing agency for the Govt of tamil Nadu and UNDP-GEF project "Conservation and Sustainable use of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve's Coastal Biodiversity". The focus of the project is to empower local communities to manage the coastal ecosystem and wild resources in partnership with Government and other stakeholders, making all accountable. The film highlights the importance of the project in the light of the rich biodiversity of the region and the threats which it faces due to fishing practices. It brings out the successful interventions of the project in relation to protection, research and livelihood options.

  • Helen Clark speaks on the upcoming Rio+20 Conference

    The 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or “Rio+20” is a forum on how to make sustainable development a reality for seven billion people today, and to define the future we want for nine billion by 2050.

  • Lighting Up Lives

    Coal mining emits greenhouse gas methane which causes a wide range of health problems to miners. As part of the coal bed methane recovery and commercial utilization project, supported by UNDP, the Global Environment Facility and the Government of India, commissioned in 1999 in Jharkhand, coal fields are punctured to tap methane and produce electricity for the national grid as well as for local use. By doing so, the project also helped in making mines safer and more productive, and reduced the environmental and economic consequences of climate change.

  • Nepal: Expanding Access to Renewable Energy

    In the run up to Rio+20 summit, this second UNDP video public service announcement on sustainable energy for all, highlights how a micro hydropower plant, installed in Kharbang in Nepal, with the support of UNDP, is providing almost one million people access to electricity from renewable energy sources.

  • One Day on Earth (12.12.12): Changing Cycles- Mokokchung, Nagaland

    The video, shot on 12.12.12, as part of the global One Day on Earth project, shows how UNDP’s partnership with the government of Nagaland and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and with funding from the Global Environment Facility, is helping farmers practicing jhum cultivation in Mokokchung district of Nagaland grow healthier crops and earn better income. By slowing rates of soil erosion and introducing sustainable farming practices, the partnership has helped farmers increase their incomes by 15-20 percent.

  • One Day on Earth (12.12.12): Cultivating Lives- Khunti, Jharkhand

    The video, shot on 12.12.12, as part of the Global One Day on Earth project, demonstrates how UNDP’s partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Forests is helping farmers in Khunti district in Jharkhand improve lac cultivation, which has been a valuable source of income for poor, tribal families. As a result of new techniques and awareness generation programmes, more than 800 families have benefited from higher incomes. Lac production has increased from six to 15 quintals and hundreds of villagers have been employed in a range of activities related to lac cultivation.

  • One Day on Earth (12.12.12): The Herbal Healers- Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh

    The Chhattisgarh Medicinal Board, supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and UNDP, has initiated a project, funded by the Global Environment Facility, to promote long-term conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants. The video, shot on 12.12.12, as part of the Global One Day on Earth project, demonstrates the impact of effective forest management policies and practices such as earmarking of areas for growth and conservation of medicinal plants, training on collecting, processing and marketing medicinal plants and capacity development of forest officials. These activities have generated employment and increased the value of medicinal plants in Dhamtari, located in biodiversity-rich Chhattisgarh.

  • Re Rolling Profits

    The project implemented in Rajasthan, in partnership with the Global Environment Facility and the Ministry of Steel, Government of India, has helped steel re-rolling mills that were using outdated, low-investment technologies adopt cleaner, energy-efficient tools to produce steel. As a result of this, electricity consumption has reduced from 100 units to 80 units per ton of steel, and furnace oil used from 45 litres to 35 litres per ton of steel. In addition, cleaner technologies and automated machines have resulted in healthier working environments and less labour intensive for workers.

  • Restoring Paradise

    Conservation of the Gulf of mannar biosphere reserves coastal biodiversity by strengthening anti-poaching measures and promoting sustainable alternative livelihood measures.

  • Rivers of Hope

    The video shows how small hydel power plants, set up as a result of a joint partnership between UNDP, the Global Environment Facility and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, are not only supplying stable, uninterrupted electricity to remote villages of the Himalayan regions of India, but also generating jobs and livelihoods for local people. While the average cost of grid electricity ranges from Rs 4 kwh to Rs 6 kwh, the cost of power supplied by small hydel projects is only Rs 2 per kwh.

  • Shashwat Congratulated for Winning UNDP’s Prestigious Global Equator Prize

    Prithviraj Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra felicitated 2012 UNDP Equator Prize winner Shashwat, a Maharashtra-based NGO that is helping develop sustainable livelihoods for marginalized tribal communities displaced by the Dimbhe dam in the state. The Equator Prize is a prestigious international award that recognizes innovation and leadership in community-based sustainable development approaches.

  • Shashwat: Building Sustainable Livelihoods for Tribal Communities

    Shashwat, one of the 25 winners of the 2012 UNDP Equator Prize, has been helping marginalized tribal communities, displaced by the Dimbhe dam in Maharashtra, develop sustainable livelihoods. As a result of its efforts in improving agricultural production and forest conservation, food availability for the families has increased from 5-7 months to 10-11 months. In addition, migration has stopped in 6-7 villages due to the development of small-scale fishing activities in the dam reservoir.

  • The Future We Want

    United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched a video spot "The Future We Want" which will be part of the "Future We Want" campaign of the United Nations ahead of the Conference on Sustainable Development, or 'Rio+20,' to be held in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012. The video aims at explaining the foundation of sustainable development planning, i.e., each policy and investment decision must take into equal consideration its economic, social and environmental impacts.

  • The Power of Energy Efficiency : Success Stories from the Indian Steel Re-Rolling Sector

    These videos provide an overview of UNDP’s partnership with the Ministry of Steel, Government of India and the Global Environment Facility which is helping steel re-rolling mills address barriers to large-scale commercialization of energy-efficient technologies.

  • The Power of Energy Efficiency: Transforming the Indian Steel Re-rolling Sector

    These videos provide an overview of UNDP’s partnership with the Ministry of Steel, Government of India and the Global Environment Facility which is helping steel re-rolling mills address barriers to large-scale commercialization of energy-efficient technologies. The video demonstrates how interventions such as introduction of technology packages and capacity building programmes have significantly increased monetary and fuel savings both in oil and coal-fired units and reduced GHG emissions by up to 45 percent. These units (Ludhiana steel re-rolling mill; MPK Steel, Rajasthan; Pulkit steel re-rolling mill, Pondicherry; Vaishnavi Ispat, Durgapur; and Vivek re-rolling mill, Punjab) have also recorded an increase in productivity between 15 and 25 percent since 2004.

  • Towards Health Without Harm: Improving Healthcare Waste Management

    The video demonstrates how UNDP’s partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and funded by the Global Environment Facility, is helping promote best practices in healthcare waste management and mercury waste management in the King George’s Medical University in Lucknow, India. The hospital has been able to reduce the amount of infectious waste generated by 80 percent due to proper segregation, transportation and treatment of waste practices.

  • UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Antonio Banderas Invites People to Join the Global Conversation on Rio+20

    Ensuring viable livelihoods is an important public policy concern today. The opening up of the economy has created a demand for technical and skilled manpower. This demand can be met if we can enhance the skills and knowledge of our labour force.

  • UNDP India at the Eleventh Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

    Rebeca Grynspan, UNDP Associate Administrator addressed the eleventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Hyderabad from 8-19 October. From stalls at the exhibition centre showcasing the work of local communities to the community palli, a dedicated space for dialogue and exchange between communities from around the world, to the release of key knowledge products and support to a range of sessions at CoP 11, UNDP India’s presence at the conference helped the organization highlight three key themes- biodiversity and livelihoods; biodiversity and governance; and ecosystem-based approaches for resilience.