GLOBE initiative – its uses in Environmental Education and conservation of heritage Sites

The Indian Environmental Society is implementing a project entitled ‘GLOBE Initiative - Its Uses in Environmental Education and Conservation of heritage Sites’ at Agra. The project is based on environmental Education through hands-on approach. This project is supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Gov. of India in close collaboration with UNESCO and GLOBE. The IES has involved 20 schools of Agra which are located near the two heritage sites namely TAJMAHAL and AGRA FORT. The hands-on activities involved in the project helps the students to study the local environment in and around the heritage sites of Agra.

The Programme: Background and Objectives

The environmental changes, both at the local and global level, could impact the future of the unique Heritage of any country. Thus conservation of Heritage and better understanding of its local environment is the need of the day. Heritage conservation through environmental education involves processes, programs, and activities specifically designed to enhance student’s/individual’s acquisition of knowledge about the world’s famous heritage sites and at time about their environmental principles, concepts, and facts. The youths/school community from both rural and urban areas from different parts of the world can be involved in the conservation of the World Heritage Sites. Educational practices, involving schools located near the heritage sites and conservation areas, is an attempt to enhance the interest of the children from schools nearby to learn about their environment, understand how their local and global environmental changes have impacted the heritage sites and how such inter-related changes at local and global levels could affect their lives in future. The youth will gather insights into how they can contribute to the long-term conservation of that heritage, as well as gain an understanding of others’ cultures and heritages. Thus this project is an attempt to explore new ways of developing the socio-economic potential of their regions that is sympathetic to long-term heritage conservation needs.

The Indian Environmental Society has taken initiative in creating a better understanding about the local environment and at the same time conserving the heritage sites. The Society is implementing this programme in one of the World known place - AGRA, which is known for its unique glory and heritage. The Society ahs selected schools which are locating near the two world famous heritage sites - TAJMAHAL and AGRA FORT.

It has been observed that the unique glory of these world heritage sites has been deteriorated. The reason behind the deterioration is the rapid and haphazard growth being faced by Agra from the last few decades. Such things are creating immense pressure on the heritage monuments of Agra. The project aims to study the impact of environmental changes on these two heritage sites namely Taj Mahal and Agra Fort with the involvement of the students of the schools and the local community surrounding these sites. This is done by introducing the GLOBE Program in the surrounding 20 schools and collecting and analysing the environmental data in and around these sites using the GLOBE protocols and instruments. Through this programme, the Indian Environmental Society is making an effort to sensitise the school community (teachers and students), and local community on the issues of Heritage Conservation and at the same time study about its local environment.

The objectives of the programme are listed below:

1. To gather information on local environmental status that exists in and around two Heritage sites - Taj Mahal and Agra Fort.
2. To build up students’ capabilities to use latest environmental research tools and techniques.
3. To enhance the environmental and cultural awareness of individuals in and around World Heritage sites.
4. To promote hands-on environmental learning for studying and understanding heritage of varying (local, national, and global) significance.
5. To foster multi-sectoral collaboration for protection of environment of the heritage sites through involvement of students, teachers, and local as well as international community.
6. To foster public and private partnership to conserve the heritage sites and local ecology by involving the school community (students and teachers), familiarizing youth to interact with their peer groups to address local environmental issues focusing on heritage conservation and management issues.
7. To enhance human resource and institutional infrastructure for promoting hands-on environmental learning opportunities.
8. To promote the involvement of youths in heritage management organization to set up environmental monitoring and assessment tools and systems.

Progress during the Year

The project is in the initial stage. The information about the programme has been disseminated among the school community as well as local community of Agra. 20 schools located around the two selected heritage sites have been identified by the Indian Environmental Society.

One Teachers Training Workshop was conducted in which 2 teachers from each of the selected 20 schools have participated. The training was conducted by GLOBE certified Trainers.

In the four days workshop, all the following four GLOBE Protocols were covered:
1. Atmosphere 2. Hydrology 3. Soils 4. Land Cover

The main components of the workshop were Orientation, skill development, hands-on learning activities, feedback and assessment. The teachers trained have been certified as GLOBE Teachers. The training programme includes both class work (theoretical session) and field work.

During the workshop, some useful resource material was developed and provided by the Indian Environmental Society. The materials includes a wide variety of classroom and field activities to help students place their measurements in a broader context and relate their own local observations to global environmental issues.

Latitude, longitude and elevation of the project schools were determined by the Indian Environmental Society with the help of Global Positioning system. The schools were registered on the basis of their individual coordinates (latitude, longitude, and elevation) by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and individual IDs were allotted to each school.

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