Workshop on 'Study on Economics of Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (DLDD) in India'

TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) organised a workshop on May 20, 2015 at Magnolia Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi to discuss about the methodology to be adopted to deal with the issues of climate change and loss of biodiversity.

Desertification, along with climate change and loss of biodiversity, were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. The Forestry and Biodiversity Area of TERI is addressing this important issue through a project sponsored by MoEF&CC on the 'Economics of Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought'. This project will directly feed into the UNCCD process and negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and influence India's policy stand. The workshop was organized to help kick-start this project and to discuss about the criteria for the selection of six case study sites. The workshop, which was attended by ministry and government officials, scientists, researchers and representatives of various aid agencies, stimulated a lively discussion on how this enormously important, albeit complex issue should be addressed.

Dr Leena Srivastava, Acting Director General inaugurated the workshop. This was followed by a number of interesting presentations by government officials, and by TERI fellows including Dr J V Sharma, Dr Pia Sethi and Ms Divya Datt. Professor Kanchan Chopra, a project adviser laid out the suggested conceptual framework for the study.