SATAT FRAMEWORK IMPLEMENTATION FOR SUSTAINABLE, ECO-FRIENDLY CAMPUSES AT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN INDIA (HEI) BY UGC
Framework and Action Plan for Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Campus Development.
The dedication of higher education institutions to creating sustainable campuses demonstrates their involvement in environmental preservation.
History :
The Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 put forward the concept of green schools for environmental protection. In the year 1987, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development introduced the concept of sustainable development, which meets “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
Officially, the Tallories Declaration was made by university administrators at an international conference in France in 1990, and it became the first official statement on environmental sustainability in higher education.
The declaration was signed by over 300 university administrators in over 40 countries and contained a ten-point action plan for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations, and outreach at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
In 1992, the UN Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio, Brazil, redefined sustainability development as “improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting and recognizing emerging environmental concerns.
In 1994, UNESCO initiated “education for the environment, population, and sustainable development." Furthermore, the United Nations designated 2005–2014 as the “ Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, with its overall goal to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning.
In 2008, the G8 University Summit adopted the Sapporo Sustainability Declaration, which recognized that the current global environmental crisis is far-reaching, complex, and characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. It also emphasized that the university has a prominent role to play in solving sustainability challenges by educating future generations.
In 2015, India committed itself to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Therefore, the primary goal of Indian universities is to align their operations and educational priorities around relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as good health and well-being (SDG 3), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), climate action (SDG 13), life below water (SDG 14), and life on Earth (SDG 15).
Indian HEIs are a formidable force that can transform Indian society just by acting as a living example to emulate values, ethics, and living practices for a sustainable future.HEIs must encourage a culture of sustainability and green living among students through co-curricular, extracurricular, and curricular activities.
The University Grants Commission of India (UGC) has worked to incorporate sustainability principles into campus operations, developments, and programme curricula in order to promote sustainability. The UGC has proposed a generic sustainable campus framework that lays out the principles of achieving a good and sustainable campus environment.
FRAMEWORK:
The University Grants Commission released its document, ‘SATAT-A Framework for Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Campus Development, in November 2019 to guide Higher Education institutions (HEls) in incorporating sustainability into day-to-day campus management.
•SATAT also aimed to stimulate HEls to create and disseminate knowledge to achieve India’s Sustainable Development Goals.
•UGC has established a Nodal Centre for SATAT at the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University (an Institute of Eminence) for coordinating the implantation of SATAT by HEls.
Roles of Nodal Centre:
•The nodal centre will facilitate cooperation among Indian universities to develop and improve their campus sustainability.
•The Centre will identify technologies for environmental impact reduction, organize events and training sessions, prepare guidebooks and reports, and host a website to showcase and share resources.
•The UGC Nodal Centre for SATAT will also develop a transparent, self-reporting framework for Indian institutions of higher learning to measure their sustainability performance.
Main points from the SATAT framework
•Campus planning, design, and development
•Resource optimization
•Landscape & Biodiversity
•Campus building design
•Energy Sustainability
•Water Management
•Transportation
•Procurement
•Waste management
•Green catering
•Event organization
•Create and implement approaches
The following are some major actionable items:
1. Sustainable Campus planning — design and development
Establishing greenhouse
New buildings would be set up in eco-friendly manner
Encouraging the use of cycles inside the campus to make academic buildings reachable by green methods
2. Sustainable Resource Optimization
University Campus Microgrid
Smart Energy System
University Cloud Centre
3. Sustainable Landscaping and Biodiversity
Efforts to include more native plant species, campus landscaping
Growing and properly maintaining exotic species of flora and fauna that are harmless and which adds beauty as well as biodiversity to the campus.
To foster a greater sense of community within the campus through greater environmental awareness and interaction with the environment, that supports and includes student research, field experiences, and internships.
To create a set of recommendations to make campus landscaping practices ecologically sound by using the opinions and expertise of faculty, staff, students, and outside experts from organizations who focus on ecologically sound landscaping.
4. Sustainable Campus Building Design
Extending the buildings in the institution in compliance with all relevant legislation and regulations by following the stipulated standards.
Ramps can be constructed in all the buildings for easy access to the buildings by differently-able students and staff.
5. Sustainable Energy Audit
Conducting energy audits to impart knowledge of energy conservation and energy management among the stakeholders.
Formulating and implementing best practices/policies for proper utilization of electrical energy
Improvise the utilization of non-conventional/renewable energy sources
6. Water Sustainability
Installation of rainwater harvesting system
Lodging low-flow faucet aerator on taps
Checking regularly for leaks in pipes, hoses, faucets, toilets etc.
Shut off the sprinkler system on lawns while raining
Increasing green cover and thereby increasing both groundwater and precipitation levels
7. Sustainable Transportation
Increasing the quality of pedestrian ways by providing shading elements, appropriate street furniture and lighting elements along the pedestrian routes.
Building separate lanes for cycling and establishing bicycle points to park the bicycles.
Introduction of hybrid and electric vehicles into the University vehicle fleet and thereby reduce the level of carbon footprint.
8. Sustainable Procurement
Promoting the purchase of products with green certification.
Promoting the purchase of products with direct dealers for obtaining service facilities.
Following Make in India for Maximum purchases.
9. Sustainable Waste Management
Conducting awareness programs to reduce waste providing proper infrastructure to collect waste, and segregate waste based on recyclable, non-recyclable, and bio degradable including e-waste.
10. Sustainable Green Catering
Encouraging the use of recyclable containers or reusable plates
Providing water dispensers to avoid the use of plastic bottled water.
Setting up a food waste composting plant
11. Sustainable Event organization
Use of digital banners for all events organized in the Institution
Provision of reusable eco-friendly registration kits bearing the institution logo for all events instead of plastic files and bags
Digitalization of feedback instead of papers
Recommended implementation approaches by UGC:
•Prepare Sustainable Campus Policy.
•Comply with all relevant legal requirements on environment protection and good practices recommended by Government
•Initiate education, training, and awareness program and create a network of communication by using social media, short films, outdoor activities, etc.
•Motivate schools/departments to integrate sustainability concepts in the existing curricula where possible.
•Establish a Campus Sustainability Office(CSO) to facilitate the task of creating and establishing comprehensive campus–wide policies, objectives, and targets.
•The CSO manages the campus and committee having a coordinator/director/chairperson not below the rank of Professor and representatives of all stakeholders of the institution including students, faculty members, administrations, support staff, and representatives of the state forest department, the pollution control board and the neighboring society.
CSO committee responsibilities:
•Prepare a sustainability policy and a five-year strategic management plan for operation and get it duly approved by the apex executive body of the institution
•Analysing and exploring the possibility of strengthening government programs related to sustainability
•Establish standards, guidelines and procedures for sustainable campus management(includes master plan, procurement energy and water management , waste disposal and any other steps identified in the plan)
•Regularly review all the operations and maintenance programs of the campus to maintain sustainability commitments and effectively implement
•Conducting a campus–wide audit of sustainability practices to understand where it stands with regard to sustainability objectives, identify areas, and develop strategies for improving the institutions' sustainability performance.
•Give assistance and advice to the director/heads of unit/office regarding the coordination and implementation of campus sustainability policies where appropriate.
•Organise field games and excursion events to bring students and other campus communities close to nature
•Create student sustainability forums/clubs/discussion groups on the thematic areas such as energy. Biodiversity, water waste disposal, integrates sustainability, etc.
•Liaising with the HEI apex executive body on matters related to campus sustainability where appropriate.
•Preparing documents for periodic submission to an appropriate campus sustainability ranking system created/identified by the university grants commission of India.
•Dealing with any other matter which is related to any aspects of the campus sustainability elements as outlined in the campus sustainability policy of the intuition.
Summary:
The UGC has made this framework mainly to help Indian HEIs achieve campus sustainability by providing overall directions that shall be applicable to all the institutions in general with an aim to create a culture of sustainability and promote it in the HEI community through curricula, co-curricular activities, and extracurricular activities. Also, to ensure engagement from the students and faculty in the design and transfer of knowledge of sustainability to the community beyond university campuses and raise environmental awareness!
Five Indian campuses that have set the bar for sustainability
1. IIM, Bangalore
2. Universal Business School, Mumbai
3. Mangalore University
4. St Teresa College, Ernakulam
5. IIT Roorkee
Resource:
https://www.ugc.gov.in/e-book/STAT%20ENGLISH/mobile/index.html#p=13
