The programme on ‘Best Practices in Environmental Governance’ wasjointly conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Norwegian Environment Agency (NEA) from 1-17 October, 2015 in New Delhi, Sweden and Norway.
As a part of this programme, 19 delegates, officials from 10 State Pollution Control Boards’s (SPCB’s)across India (Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka, West Bengal, Goa, , Nagaland) and from Central Pollution Control Board visited Sweden and Norway to learn the best practices in environmental governance. The course majorly focussed on environmental best practices related to waste management, wastewater management, and enforcement of environmental legislation regarding industrial pollution, sustainable urbanization and environmental economics. In the course of the study tour, various presentations, meetings and site visits were held across four cities and two countries, including:
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Gavle, Sweden
• Oslo, Norway
• Homestrand, Norway
Ms.Ylva Reinhard was the programme coordinator on behalf of the Swedish EPA and Ms Ms Anne Marie Mo Ravik was coordinating on behalf of the Norwegian EPA. Ms Swati Singh Sambyal and Sanjeev Kumar Kanchan coordinated on behalf of CSE.
Feedback by the participants
• “The tour was well-planned and everything was arranged nicely. It was a good learning experience. I plan to take this forward in my board by consulting higher authorities on topics related to solid waste, ewaste management---especially the segregation aspect which is not implemented well in our state.”
• “The coordinators from India and the Swedish and Norwegian EPA took great care of all of us. The mode of instruction was easy with simple and informative slides. The accommodation and travel was great. I wish to bring reforms in industry by better monitoring and I liked to learn about the BAT concept from Sweden. ”
• “The knowledge I gathered during this training programme will be brought to the notice of my higher officers and I will do my best to implement the learnings from this programme in my state and hence benefit the whole country.”
• “Overall arrangement was excellent. The duration of the training can be extended to 20 days so that we can have more site visits and more types of industries can be included. I will report to my superiors regarding the hazardous waste treatment and disposal facilities.”
• “I have learnt a lot in this programme and it has changed my perspective entirely. All the lectures and site visits were very helpful in understanding what makes Sweden and Norway the zero waste countries. I shall definitely try to reflect the learnings in my work”.
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