The UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development held as a virtual conference from 17 to 19 May 2021. The conference is organized by UNESCO in cooperation with and supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany, and with the German Commission for UNESCO as advisory partner. It look at how education can best be harnessed to address interconnected global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, green and circular economies - and participants called upon to commit to the Berlin Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development that outlines a range of policy measures encompassing teaching, learning, professional training and civic engagement. In November 2019, the 40th session of UNESCO General Conference adopted a new global framework on ESD called ‘Education for Sustainable Development: Towards achieving the SDGs’ or ‘ESD for 2030’. UNESCO organized a global series of online workshops on how to transform society through learning with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), launched in September 2020. ESD reassesses what we learn, where we learn and how we learn to ensure we develop the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that enable us to make informed decisions and actions on global problems such as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 crisis. Transforming learning to transform societies towards sustainability is the aim of the ESD for 2030 framework. #ESDfor2030 - Acknowledged by the UN General Assembly through a Resolution on ESD, the new framework aims to scale up action from the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005 - 2014) and the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD (2015 – 2019). The Conference was initially planned for June 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The world needs education for sustainable development a new global framework on ESD with the aim of building education systems that support learners of all ages to be active contributors to more peaceful, sustainable societies, and develop a sense of responsibility for our planet in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Work on ESD, SDGs - HRDEF presented a Live Meeting on above topic on 18th May, 2021 and SDGs Marketplace Booth during the world conference. Why we need new paradigm for ESD, SDGs, and Climate Change Education. We are working on educational Games for Learning Sustainability Concepts, SDGs by Youth, Community for couple of years and presented our work at the TECH 2017, 2018 UNESCO MGIEP Global conference. We designed, developed games, hands-on activities for understanding difficult concepts related to sustainable development in an interactive way. To know role of games, hands-on activities to understand ESD, SDGs, we use games in schools, and after school program for students and youth in different settings as informal education for building sustainability concepts. Games foster collaboration, problem-solving, behavior change, and computational thinking (21st Century Skills). Our focus on how can games introduce various topics (learning experience - climate change, water, energy, waste management), and improvement in learning through games playing. Thus, through ESD, we are providing transforming learning environments, building capacity of educators, and empowering youth on a local level. Join UNESCO's call for education to change so that we can all act for our planet's survival. Connect with us and share your views for transforming learning environments with innovative ESD approaches, initiatives, and exploring projects for SDGs with quality learning through ICT, Games based, and hands-on activities.

Introduction Climate Change, poor quality of air, loss of life, are pressing issues towards shifting for cleaner and sustainable energy consumption. Thus, worldwide policy makers, and citizens raising demands for clean energy as per UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) number 7. Alarming air quality levels in many Indian cities and around the world have highlighted the deteriorating environment, and consequent high cost people are paying through negative impact on their health. In recent surveys by WHO 13 Indian cities are among top 20 cities for poor air quality. Therefore, we need substantive efforts for clean energy implementation. In this regard, Government of India launched National Solar Mission (NSM) in 2010 with a target of 20 GW solar power by the year 2022. But, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set an ambitious target of 100,000 MW of solar power capacity to be achieved by 2022. This is a grand challenge as our country generates more than 60 percent of its power by burning coal, and renewable energy amount to only 23.39 % of energy (MNRE). Cover Photo: Solar power plant on the Banasura Sagar reservoir in Wayanad, Kerala The 500 kWp solar plant of the Kerala state electricity board (KSEB) floats on 1.25 acres of water surface of the reservoir. The solar plant has 1,938 solar panels which have been installed on 18 ferro cement floaters with hollow insides. Despite these ambitious targets, a significant progress is made towards achievement of solar power (35 GW). Another concern about costs of solar power have come down during the last couple of years, and now in some state below from regular tariffs from coal powered plants. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) started several measures and schemes to promote solar energy such as rooftop solar PV plants for rural and hilly areas, net metering systems. Indian government partnered with France government to start International Solar Alliance (ISA) with 120 Nations headquartered in India to promote solar power and its related research. India working on the concept of "One Sun One World one Grid" and "World Solar Bank" to utilize vast solar power globally. The world recorded 178 GW of cumulative installed solar power capacity in 2014 with 40 GW installed in 2014 itself. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) accounts for more than 7 % of the electricity demand in Germany, Italy and Greece. Also, solar PV is the largest employer among renewable energy sector. From 7.7 million direct and indirect jobs in the renewable sector, about 2.5 million came from the solar PV sector alone in 2014 (Ren21, 2015). Thus, MNRE and NISE started various training manpower programs especially Surya Mitra program to train budding Surya Mitra’s. The Indian Trends of Solar Power India is continuously making upward progress in terms of solar power capacity achievement since 2008. In 2008-09 installed capacity was 3 MW that touched 8000 MW (8GW) by July, 2016. India has set a target of 100 GW by 2022, which is divided as: 60 GW of land mounted grid connected solar power and 40 GW of rooftop grid interactive solar power as following yearly targets from FY 2015-16 to FY 2021-22 as shown in Table1 given below: Table 1: Grid Connected Targets for Solar Power Installation MW 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 Total Rooftop Solar 200 4800 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 40000 Ground Mounted Solar 1800 7200 10000 10000 10000 9500 8500 57000 Total 2000 12000 15000 16000 17000 17500 17500 97000 Source: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), (2015) Based upon availability of land and solar radiation, the potential of solar power in the country has been assessed to be around 750 GWp. From State-wise details of estimated solar energy potential in the country as given by MNRE, Uttarakhand has 16.80 (GWp). India offers huge renewable resource availability and potential. India has the third largest power generation sector globally with a total installed capacity of 372.69 GW as on 31 August 2020. Renewable energy including hydropower constitute 35.94% of India's total installed capacity. The contribution of private sector in the overall installed capacity is increasing, and now stands at 155 GW (45.2%), followed by State and Central Governments with contribution of 84 GW (24.6%) and 103 GW (30.2%) respectively. The share of renewable power has increased considerably from 3.5 GW in 2002 to 69 GW in 2018. (Source: Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, MNRE). With recent advancements in technology, solar energy is harnessed near canal/river bank for optimizing the land use, also India’s largest floating solar power plant started in Kerala as shown in cover photo. Thus, we need to look for new ways capturing solar energy to increase efficiency of solar cells, land use patterns, and maintenance of system. Challenges for Solar Power There are various challenges to solar power industry such as financial cost, lack of trained manpower, and confidence of people to install such system. Another drawback is availability of electricity in day-time only. Thus, we need corrective measures to build confidence among citizens to shift towards solar power. We need to promote mechanisms which cover initial cost of installation through agreement with local electricity provider and customer. Land use problems can be solved through adopting floating solar power plants in our reservoir especially in hilly state such as Uttarakhand. With electricity tariffs are increasing day-by-day then we can promote solar power through better financing approach and confidence building among different stakeholders. References · MNRE Reports, 2015, 2017, 2018 · https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/indias-largest-floating-solar-power-plant-opens-in-kerala/watt-a-sight/slideshow/61930256.cms (A blog as a part of SDG and Education series for UN75, #TurnItAround, #Act4SDGs, #ActionSDGs4Future) part of this blog presented in the national seminar

Education have made important contributions to development but now need more participatory, community oriented accountability to shape Generation Z’s future with sustainability in mind. Thus, multidisciplinary and systemic approach by HEI for solving complex inter-related problems not disciplinary-oriented is today’s essentiality. Education must be society related and having direct impact on well-being of its members. School system and HEIs must orient programs and practices around sustainable development goals (SDGs) that help graduates to learn actual problems and try to address them with community involvement that will improve society. We need more focus on skill development, innovation, decision-making, and problem solving through establishing Centre of Excellence with focus on 21st century skills. Information and communication technology should be used as tool for change and transparency. There should be much emphasis on university connection up with society to understand community challenges that work for mutual benefits. Universities must have a local sphere of influence with global know-how. This way, students will have real-life experiential knowledge, soft, and management skills besides tackling local problems and may be employed locally. Points need to be implemented with monitoring and accountability structure: 1. Ensuring that all young people (15-24 years) and adults, who are outside the formal education system, including those working in the informal sector of the economy, are provided with opportunities to attain skills for employability beside achieve literacy and numeracy skills as per new standards developed. 2. Integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education, especially for improving access to education, enhancing the quality of teaching-learning process, training of teachers, and strengthening educational planning and management. 3. Professional development and management of teachers are reformed to ensure adequate supply of qualified and competent teachers who possess the prescribed competency profile 4. Responsive, participatory and accountable systems of educational planning and implementation 5. Common standards of infrastructure, learning outcomes for government and private schools 6. Progressive schooling for children in difficult situations and protection of the rights of children 7. Teacher development programs designed to develop and teach students for 21st century skills 8. Focus on employability, skill development and entrepreneurship need to incorporate in curriculum with industry orientation and linkages 9. Online virtual learning especially for science and mathematics subjects to make learning available at right place and at right time. This can be implemented as an examination and learning resource centers which can cater to different needs such as knowledge and concept evaluation for primary level. This can be encouraged to community learning for adult education and require fewer resources to implementation. 10. Incorporation of one Indian language of other region 11. Curriculum need to be re-designed with current developments and repetition of topics in different subjects to be avoided to include modern knowledge on local, national, and international advances. Uniform curriculum need to be adopted within India 12. Emphasis to be given to practical aspect, hands-on, game-based, project learning with interactive learning using ICT and Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts+Design, Mathematics (STEAM) 13. Need to build linkages between higher education institution and school education in two-way so that both will learn and train each other. 14. Students must imbibe responsibility, accountability, global citizenship, gender equality, values that can be address through creating progressive schools across community from elementary level. Community can provide real-life scenarios with digital learning centers. 15. Government and society must share responsibility of monitoring and evaluation of education system. Members are Er. Anant Bhaskar Garg, Dr. Manisha, Vijay Kumar, Krishna Kumar (Part of this blog submitted to Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) as inputs for National Education Policy Draft in 2016, 2019) (A blog as a part of SDG and Education series for UN75, #TurnItAround, #Act4SDGs, #ActionSDGs4Future)

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable ​Globally more than half of people live in cities today, and by 2030, 6 people out of ten will live in cities LOCAL TO GLOBAL CHALLENGES (UNDP) Background - As layers of networks and digital information blanket urban space, new approaches to the study of the built environment are emerging. The way we describe and understand cities is being radically transformed—as are the tools we use to design them. · Challenge 1 - How might we use new technologies to give people the possibility of gaining access to both the delights of the city and the freedom given by nature? - Promote Sustainable Tourism · Challenge 2 - How can we design a solution that prepares communities and cities for local challenges due to climate changes and its impact on local environments? · Challenge 3 - How can we design a solution that uses the sharing economy as a way to increase sustainability in local communities? · Challenge 4 - How can we lead a sustainable lifestyle for energy and waste management effectiveness? · Challenge 5 - How can we design public green spaces to make air clean? · Challenge 6 - How can we use ICT to create a safe, inclusive, just equal opportunities for girls, and women? ​ Some Facts related to India for SDG Goal 11 (source: UN, India) 1. By 2030 India will have 7 Mega-cities with population over 10 million 2. 31 % live in Urban areas 3. 17 % of urban population lives in slums 4. 62 million tones per annum waste generated in cities 5. 1.2 million people die of pollution related diseases in 2017 6. 13 % of urban households don’t have sanitary toilets, and 16.7 % don't have bathroom facilities 100 cities under Smart Cities Mission of Government of India which started in 2015 is completing five years are being evaluated on three parameters, 1. Ease of living, 2. Municipal performance index, 3. Climate. According to Shri Kunal Kumar, mission director of Smart Cities Mission, “The government is ranking cities on the economy, sustainability, and other factors. Ease of living will reflect aspects such as citizens perception (30%), quality of life (35%), sustainability (20%), economic ability (15%), and sub factors such as education, health, housing, mobility, safety, development. The main aim to develop 100 urban cities into smart cities across the country is to make them citizen-friendly, sustainable, and environment, climate responsive that is started with a great vision from our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Smart city Mission, GoI, 2020) A case of Dehradun: A city developing as Smart City There are several projects going in various areas of the city. On environment and beautification track, The MDDA Park, also known as the Rajpur Park, which is local attractions of Dehradun having a wonderful view of the mountains, and has a well-marked jogging track, canteen, sunshades and benches to enjoy the Mountain View. The well-developed kids play area provides for entertainment for children like jhula, seesaw and future planning of Audio sound facilities having describing culture of the Dehradun. Another development is Smart Pole which provides 1. Energy efficient and remotely controllable LED Street Lights mount on smart pole, 2. Wi-Fi hotspot services for the city, 3. Surveillance cameras for safety and parking violation detection, 4. Environmental Sensors to monitor Air quality, temperature and humidity. (Dehradun Smart city) (A blog as a part of SDG and Education series for UN75, #TurnItAround, #Act4SDGs, #ActionSDGs4Future)

APAC Insider selected HaritaDhara Research Development And Education Foundation for their India Excellence Awards, 2020

Air Pollution Ø The earth is cover by air called atmosphere. It helps to protect the earth from the sun heat. Ø Air pollution means dirty and unclean air. It contains dust, fumes, smoke and gases. Causes of Air pollution •Both human and natural actions •Natural action Volcano Forest fire •Human action Industries chemicals Burning coal, waste, plastic Vehicle emission Problems due to Air Pollution When we breathe polluted air, harmful substances get into our body. Do you know which body system air pollution harm the most? Why do you think the air during Diwali and other festivals, celebrations get very heavily polluted? Infection, eye burning, asthma, lung cancer causes to us from air pollution. Air pollution effects kids more than adults because they spend more time outside Air pollution also causes Global Warming Global Warming Climate change is because of global warning. Air pollution is one of the reason of global warming. In New Delhi schools were closed because of air pollution, after 2016 diwali. The temperature warms over the last 100 years. The ice is melting and the sea level is rising. The cites near the water will be destroyed. 6 Ways Can We Do •Use solar, wind energy •Recycle, reduce, and reuse •Use Carpool •Avoid waste burning •Don’t waste paper, food, light. •Plant a tree because trees are best friends of environment. Carbon dioxide eat heat and warm our earth but trees eat carbon dioxide. Air Purifier Plants Absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, as all plants do, but some plants purify air. Some air purifying plants are •Spider plant •Snake plant •Peace lily • Bamboo We should plant these Trees and protect them for clean air in our homes Plant and Protect Trees for Clean Air This article is based on Prayanshi's (Age 11) TED-Ed talk as part of HRDEF GyanTree TED-Ed Club presentation in Feb., 2017

HaritaDhara Research Development and Education Foundation (HRDEF) concluded its Harita month on 3rd May in which Retd. Chief Engineer Shri Vijay Kumar was the Chief Guest. HRDEF is celebrating April month as Harita (Green) month for couple of years. This year, HRDEF organized various programs, activities, and lectures to promote UN 48th Earth Day theme on No Plastic, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with objective to create awareness among people on Environmental Sustainability, Climate Change, and Role of Science and Technology for better opportunities. Students actively participated in various competitions and activities. On 3rd May a discussion on monitoring, transparency, and accountability for sustainable development goals and role of press was organized in which shri Vijay Kumar and Manisha expressed their views. On 29th April, Er. Anant Bhaskar Garg, Director, HRDEF talked about plastic pollution and its effect to students and community members also on 25, 22 April during 4 events. On 26th April, Girls in ICT Counseling event was organized in which Career opportunities for Girls in ICT sector was discussed. On 22nd April, Dr. Manisha spoke about Earth Day importance during a meeting organized by the Saksham. During Earth day, Creativity and Innovation Day Sketching, Quiz, Essay competitions were conducted on 20th April. Several Dignitaries visited during this Harita month and discussed issues on Education, Climate Change, Sustainable Development, Organic Pesticides, Forest, and IT. Shakuntla, Shekhar, Indra President, Principal from J.S. Public School, Morena, M.P., Meenakshi Agarwal, IPFT, Gurugram, Divya, Accenture, Bangalore, Abhishek, Shobita, Forest Dept., Gujrat visited HRDEF. SDSN Youth features HRDEF efforts on #KnowYourGoals report released in the April, 2018. These month long events are successful because of efforts from Krishna Kumar, Suman, Sushma, Roohi Singh, Prayanshi, Yug, Kajal, Shivani, and untiring, efforts from students.

HaritaDhara Research Development and Education Foundation (HRDEF) organized a program on Interactive Hands-on Learning from 13th Dec., 2017 – 12th Mar., 2018 for school students who are finding difficulties in understanding subject’s concepts and having fewer opportunities. Under its GOAL program and Alternative Education project such students undergone interactive learning experience with various hands-on, game based activities for learning science, maths, and other subjects concepts at two learning centers one at its campus and other at Brahmawala Khala. Training program linked with curriculum of science, maths, English, geography, disaster management through different tasks and teaching with hands-on, game, and multimedia approach made concepts learning easier and understandable to students. Today, HRDEF started a new batch of Digital Learning Skill project inaugurated by former Chief Engineer of U.P. Coop. Sugar Shri Vijay Kumar which is free for students from low income background. NavUrja Sanchar a unit of HRDEF and registered with VIPNET, Vigyanprasar, DST, Govt. of India upgraded to Silver category. Dr. Manisha Agarwal, Director and Coordinator received award for hands-on learning during Two day event at the NCERT, New Delhi on 28th Feb., 2018 on the occasion of National Technology Day. We are grateful to Dr. Arvind C. Ranede, VIPNET, Shri Aditya Pundir, Suman, Neetu, and Prayanshi for their support.

HaritaDhara Research Development and Education Foundation (HRDEF) organized a program on Interactive Hands-on Learning from 13th Dec., 2017 – 12th Mar., 2018 for school students who are finding difficulties in understanding subject’s concepts and having fewer opportunities. Under its GOAL program and Alternative Education project such students undergone interactive learning experience with various hands-on, game based activities for learning science, maths, and other subjects concepts at two learning centers one at its campus and other at Brahmawala Khala. Training program linked with curriculum of science, maths, English, geography, disaster management through different tasks and teaching with hands-on, game, and multimedia approach made concepts learning easier and understandable to students. Today, HRDEF started a new batch of Digital Learning Skill project inaugurated by former Chief Engineer of U.P. Coop. Sugar Factories Shri Vijay Kumar which is free for students from low income background. In this regard, research work of HRDEF related to game-based learning selected for presentation at the Global Conference TECH 2017 which witnessed participants from 75 Countries organized by UNESCO MGIEP at Vizag in Dec., 2017 jointly with AP Govt. Er. Anant Bhaskar Garg presented research work at the TECH. NavUrja Sanchar a unit of HRDEF and registered with VIPNET, Vigyanprasar, DST, Govt. of India upgraded to Silver category. Dr. Manisha Agarwal, Director and Coordinator received award for hands-on learning during Two day event at the NCERT, New Delhi on 28th Feb., 2018 on the occasion of National Technology Day. HRDEF designed and developed a card game for learning about medicinal plants, sustainable food and health relationship in a joint project with Walton Sustainability Centre, Arizona State University (ASU), USA. Students also gaining knowledge of current issues such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change, water, waste, energy management. We are grateful to Dr. Arvind C. Ranede, VIPNET, UNESCO MGIEP, Shri Aditya Pundir for their support.

On 18th Aug. HRDEF organized Principals Conclave on “Teaching Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change Education” with Climate Reality India and UNESCO, New Delhi.  In the inaugural session, Shri S. B. Joshi, Chief Education Officer, Dehradun talked about in details on importance of quality education towards implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Shri Aditya Pundir Country Manager, Climate Reality delivered a talk on Climate Change.  Er. Rakesh Kamal introduced SDGs, and how they can be part of our teaching in school. Er. Anant Bhaskar Garg, Director, HRDEF delivered a talk on Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development for Schools. He pointed out that preparedness for disasters is very important and ICT is bridge for communication in this regard. Principals from more than 50 schools actively participated in the conclave.

As per Rio + 20 Summit, studies from leading scientists, professionals, and abrupt climatic condition there is vital link between our living practices and depletion of our natural resources. United Nations setup various groups and forums for adopting Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as post 2015 approach after completion of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in a participatory and engagement way uniting all stakeholders. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid emphasis on sustainable lifestyle, growth of low income people through clean, green environment, healthy practices, education, research, and development especially at the UN’s address and drives such as Swacch Bharat, energy, water, sanitation, and education. Sustainable development and climate change emerged as one of the major challenges in the 21st century for which we need immediate actions by everyone. Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015 provide the direction and setup to restrict rise in global mean surface temperature to 1.5°C well below 2°C, and establishing funding mechanism for research, development, and implementation of new technologies. Formation of International Solar Alliance of 120 countries lead by India and France is very important step in this regard. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are due to several factors mainly human activities. Implementation of global 17 goals and achieving 169 targets by 2030 for low-carbon smart resilient economy, and society require three things: Huge Investment for clean, green technologies and growth Strong Accountability and Monitoring Framework Every Citizen Involvement for climate-smart development We need multidisciplinary approach to tackle risks associated with climate change and for sustainable development. We need commitment from everyone to take actions at the individual, local, regional, and global level wherever appropriate. For this, we require Quality Education which is SDG Goal 4 to create awareness, capacity building, research, and development. Science and technology can function as interactive medium for learners, teachers, and facilitators to create meaningful content for enriched understanding of various concepts associated with the SDGs. Science with ICT provide impetus and development of rational thinking, data handling, problem solving, team-building, and communication skills to students which are required for SDGs understanding and 21st century living. We need to acquaint every citizen about risks associated with climate change and possible mitigation measures they can take and practice. With the help of digital technologies such as Big Data, Cloud and mobile communication, we can analyze data, patterns much quickly and disseminate information in an interactive and engaging way. Thus, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is crucial for SDGs awareness and success for All. Science and technology have made important contributions to development but now need more participatory, community oriented accountability to shape Generation Z’s future with sustainability in mind. This way, students will have real-life experiential knowledge, soft, and management skills besides tackling local problems and may be employed locally with global perspectives. Students must imbibe responsibility, accountability, global citizenship, gender equality, values that can be address through creating progressive schools across community from elementary level. Community can provide real-life scenarios with digital learning science centers and methods such as science fair, exhibition, workshops, science-nature camp, magazine, film, activity kits, club, blogs, games, forums, and web-expression. Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) Govt. of India adopted the vision 2035 derived from our former President Dr. Abdul Kalam for science to masses and sustainable development. But sustainable development requires participatory and inclusive approach to involve all stakeholders in particular its citizen in several stages of linkages. India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) provides emphasis on sustainable living to reduce carbon footprints, sustainable consumption and production and renewable energy by 2030. A significant proportion of India’s population is still below the poverty line and is vulnerable to climate change impacts. India accounts for 2.4% of the world surface area, but supports around 17.5% of the world population, 24% of the global population without access to electricity (304 million), about 30% of the global population relying on solid biomass for cooking and 92 million without access to safe drinking water needs better standard of life. We believe that young people can create awareness about sustainability and act as agents of change for mitigation, adaptation, knowledge sharing, “greenovation” for sustainable development and empowering the poor. Youth with campaigns for save water, energy, biodiversity, zero transport and waste can reverse carbon emission across sectors using low carbon-intensive lifestyles on a mass scale through sustainable living based on traditions, values of conservation and moderation for “Sustainable Consciousness”. Thus, science and technology motivate users to change their habits, track their behavior for Sustainable Future.