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of both students and the environment. The initiative is to involve faculty
members and students with diverse expertise and skills from across different
constituent institutes, who can contribute to develop unique knowhow about the
environmental problems prevailing in the wider surroundings. Their collective
efforts are in turn are expected to provide innovative models of research,
analysis and partnerships robust enough to not only sustain at CHARUSAT campus
but also to inspire similar efforts on other campuses in future and gradually
influence the lives of the social community. 4) The Practice: A) Campus
Initiatives: • Solid Waste Management: Segregation of Dry and Wet Waste,
Incineration of Paper and Organic Waste, Composting, etc. • Water Management:
Monitoring of drinking water qualities of water supplies across various
institutes, future plan to utilize RO and AC rejects, etc. • Biodiversity
Management: Biodiversity assessments of the campus to improve the quality of
the campus environment as well as to enable students to understand
environmental issues in a practical way. • Wastewater Management: Part of
campus sewage/ wastewater is treated using constructed wetland system and canna
plantation. The sewage pond is also managed by installing Sprinklers for DO
regeneration and to enhance the natural purification. • Green Audit of the
campus was also conducted with respect to above aspects. • Tree plantation
drives were organized at various occasions and all arrangements were made to
maintain the planted trees. • MoU with CEE (Centre of Environmental Education)
to enable technology and knowledge sharing. B) Institutional Initiatives
Curriculum/ Learning: Department of Civil Engineering of CSPIT offers different
courses in the field of Environment such as: • Environmental Sciences (All
Programs Universitywide 1st/2nd /3rd Semester) • Environmental Sustainably
Climate Change (All Program 3rd Semester) • Basics of Environmental Impact
Assessment (All Program 4th Semester) • Air Pollution and Control (Civil5th
Semester) • Environmental EngineeringI (Water Supply Engineering, Civil 6th
Semester) • Environmental EngineeringII (Wastewater Engineering, Civil 7th
Semester) • Environmental Pollution Control (Focusing on Industrial Pollution
Civil 7th Semester) C) Establishment of SDG Handprint Lab: The SDG Handprint
Lab designed for Higher Education Institutions is an initiative in the
direction of raising awareness about the 17 SDGs, their targets and the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development amongst youth, build a platform for
discussion, and create conditions for their active engagement in successful
implementation of the same. It aims at familiarizing students with SDGs,
facilitating development of understanding their significance and getting them
to take action at the local level. The overall approach and strategy of the lab
will be based on the goals, targets and indicators of the Sustainable
Development Goals. The programme involves seven steps. • Orientation to SDGs,
Handprint and the Programme • Selection of the SDG Targets • Investigation
(Baseline study) • Developing Project Strategy and Plan of Action • Handprint
Action in the community • Impact Evaluation Project Report • Evaluation,
Certification and Exhibition D) Community Initiatives: • Students were
encouraged to work, with the local communities of the adopted villages by
CHARUSAT’s CREDP, in areas like solid waste management, reduction of plastics
use, and conversion of plastic waste as well as paper waste to more valuable
products • There were also studies regarding environmental health problems in
the local communities and steps needed to mitigate these problems. A closely
related area is “Environmental ServiceLearning” whereby student interns could
learn about environmental problems while studying the environment of local
communities. D) Other Initiatives • Solar power panels have been installed on
terraces of selected building so as to meet partial energy demands of the
campus through renewable energy sources. • Calculation of greenhouse gas
emissions and carbon footprint of the college by students and steps to make the
campus carbon neutral and reduce GHG emissions. 5) Evidence of Success: •
Students are sensitized towards prevalent environmental issues and are
motivated to employ their skills to develop strategy, conduct research and work