Launch of India Environment Portal

National Portal on Environment launched by Sam Pitroda, chair National Knowledge Commission

Portal designed and built by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), with support from the National Knowledge Commission
A one-stop shop for all information and resources on environment and development. An important step ahead for the environmental movement
Built on open source, to enable flow of easy-to-use information from sources across the country and to make that information available in the public domain
A virtual resource repository of all relevant government information and a common platform for information of government and civil society

New Delhi, August 11, 2008: “If this is the age of environment, then information will be the key to change – in our lifestyle, in policy and in practice – and this we have conceived of the India Environment Portal”, says Sam Pitroda, chair of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC). The portal, launched today, is a one-stop shop for all that you want to know about environment and development issues. The portal has been initiated by Centre for Science and Environment.

“This is a unique effort as it will provide a collaboration between government and civil society. It is our effort to put government information in the public domain and to build dynamic and networked knowledge-based societies” said Pitroda, as he launched the portal at a function in the India Habitat Centre. The portal will source government documents and make them available for public scrutiny. It also provides links to government institutions; and is planning to add names of researchers and institutions, working in environment and most importantly collate information that we can use in our daily lives.

The portal is designed for users of environmental information – from the media to students. To start with, more than 300,000 articles and documents are available to researchers – from different sources, but all categorised by author and tagged according to subjects and locations. The portal will also have special in-depth sections on subjects like climate change which provide latest news and perspective, “so critical for policy”, as Narain puts it, and links to key government and other institutions, NGOs and individual experts. It is being done in a manner in which they can contribute content on the portal.

In the first phase of the portal the massive resources of CSE have been made available. It includes the entire archive of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth – roughly 40,000 researched articles. These in-depth articles were earlier available only to subscribers of the magazine.

Check out the portal at: http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in

Ms. Kiran Pandey

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