Welcome To
Centre for Urban Ecology and Sustainability
Our Mission
The Centre for Urban Ecology and Sustainability (CUES) aims to address urban ecological issues with a view to offering solutions, and develop a skilled cohort of professionals who actively engage in, and find solutions for urban ecological challenges. The Centre serves as a focal point where researchers, government & non-governmental, citizens and private agencies converge and participate in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of sustainable environmental projects in cities. CUES collaborates actively with other schools and centres in AUD like the School of Human Ecology, School of Development Studies (SDS), School of Design (SDS), Centre for Community Knowledge (CCK) on areas of common interests. The Centre envisages to build linkages with teaching and research programmes within the University to provide students with hands-on learning, field practicum and engaged scholarship opportunities. The Centre hosts interactions and dialogues between Universities and other organizations in the city across thematics in urban sustainability.
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Our Blogs
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In Times of a Pandemic: (Re)thinking Relationships with Earth Others
Kartik Chugh It was the last week of 2019 when health authorities in China notified the world about a novel virus outbreak in their communities. An increasingly growing number of people were developing a dry cough and fever before getting pneumonia. Doctors named this disease COVID-19 (or Coronavirus Disease 2019) which was caused by a…
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COVID-19: A Long Pending Break for Nature?
Vijaylakshmi Suman It has been 10 days since Delhi went under lockdown. The enormity of COVID-19 became evident when the World Health Organization declared it as a pandemic and a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The outbreak will certainly be remembered as one of the most devastating events in the history of mankind…
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Where Humans and Virus Meet
Ajay Immanuel Gonji At a time when the world is reeling under the impact of the deadly CoVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) outbreak, I find myself, probably like many others, trying to come to terms with my new sedentary lifestyle. Besides other things, I spend at least a couple of hours each day on news networks,…
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Sightings of Lesser Whistling Ducks in the middle of the city amidst Corona lockdown
Fizala Tayebulla Most of us have hopefully managed to access some secure place for the emergency lockdown brought upon by the Corona virus pandemic. I, for one was fortunately able to travel back home to Guwahati, Assam timely, a few days before the travel ban in India. Taking a while to settle down at home…
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Birding for an Amateur
Divya Mehra Every February, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology organises ‘The Great Backyard Bird Count’ (GBBC), a worldwide citizen science event encouraging birders, students, and the general public to count and identify birds found in their surrounding areas. The event is a fun, and easy way of engaging bird watchers from all age groups in…
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Monkey Business: Expressing Intentions and Emotions
Rashmi Singh* & Ajay Immanuel Gonji A few days ago, an email thread on the student mailing group of Ambedkar University Delhi, Kashmere Gate (henceforth AUDKG) was particularly interesting. The subject of the discussion was not academic, political or social in nature, but was actually over food! Apparently, a plate of noodles was left abandoned…
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The Last Migration
Vijaylakshmi Suman Cities are considered to be concentrated centres of production, consumption, and waste disposal that drive land change. They have also been spaces of several global environmental problems. Most of the cities have historically been established along rivers and deltas in order to have easy access to water. These waterbodies have been modified and…
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Alternate Urban Green Infrastructure
Vijaylakshmi When we think of green spaces in urban areas, we generally have in mind parks, forest remnants, and water bodies like wetlands and lakes in and around the city. Depending on their size, habitat heterogeneity and expanse, these ecosystems are believed to conserve urban biodiversity in varying capacities. If given an opportunity to add…
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Ventilators For A Burgeoning City
Divya Mehra Delhi, the capital of India, is the second-largest city in the country and one of the fastest-growing urban metropolises, catering to a population of more than 16.76 million people (Census, 2011). The pressures of a growing population have led to unbounded urban sprawl, and over the last six decades, agricultural and fallow lands…
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Nocturnal City
Ajay Immanuel Gonji I was awakened by the mild but discernible honk of a vehicle and soon realized that the bus that I was travelling in had come to a halt. I looked out of the glass window from my reclining seat but could only see a dense growth of vegetation shimmering from the faint…
CUES Restoration Project Site: Dheerpur Wetland, Delhi
Description:
Restoration of Dheerpur Wetlands: A collaboration of CUES, AUD & DDA
The marshes and wetlands of the Yamuna region once extended from Azadpur to the present-day banks of the river. This region has been heavily drained and undergone an extensive land-use change during the last fifty years. Remnants of once widespread historical marshes can now only be seen near Jahangirpuri, Dheerpur and Burari. Since wetlands are increasingly appreciated globally and nationally for their socio-ecological functions and provisions, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) decided to restore the wetlands of Dheerpur.
Fragments of these wetlands have been filled up, dyked, dried and carved out for seasonal agriculture. Hence, it may not be sufficient to only stop their further degradation of wetlands of Dheerpur but would also be necessary to restore them for posterity. With this view, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has entered into a Management Agreement with Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD), in which the land ownership remains with DDA, and AUD would restore the wetlands. DDA would assist in civil work, funding research and restoration work, whereas AUD is entrusted with providing technical guidance for restoration and maintenance of the wetlands.
The Management Agreement for Dheerpur Wetland Project between AUD and DDA was signed on 17 February 2015. Following which the project was formally inaugurated on 19th June 2015.
Click here to read more on the Dheerpur Wetland Restoration
Location:
Dheerpur Wetland Project Site, Gandhi Vihar, Gopalpur Village,
Delhi 110009
Visiting hours:
10am – 5pm
Project Initiated:
Delhi, June 2015
