RCE Tirupati

Date of RCE Acknowledgement:
June, 2015

Description of RCE and Geographic Region:
The areas of operation consists of four south western districts of the state of Andhra Pradesh with Chittoor and Kadapa which are part of the Velikonda range of Eastern Ghats, Prakash Mandal, and Nellore districts. The second largest brackish water lagoon Pulicat Lake is located in the Nellore district connecting two spectacular migratory bird sanctuaries.
All the four districts have agricultural, forest and tribal communities. The coastal districts have huge maritime livelihoods and are prone to periodical storm surges. RCE Tirupati has been working on key issues of sensitising communities on ecosystem services – water, sustainable use of bioresources, disaster preparedness and management. Promotion of the bio cultural component has been a focal issue.
Through innovative intervention programmes of education (formal, non-formal, transformative, field trips to bird sanctuaries, group discussions, interactive brainstorming sessions), RCE Tirupati feels inspired to have achieved success in sensitising student groups, women communities and other stakeholders on key issues of water conservation by water harvesting and judicious use, sustainable use of resources (soil and biological), response to and coping with disasters (drought, floods and cyclones) by a participatory and cooperative approach. Farming communities showed great resilience to save Mother Earth by switching over to organic farming. Enthusiastic participation by school students in Clean and Green programmes gives us hope and confidence.

Goals and Objective:
Vision:
Capacity building in stakeholders, students, forest and coastal communities to understand and practice sustainable development, to cope with disaster situations through education formal, non-formal and transformative
Degradation of land and ecological overshoot
To provide the flow of fruits of science to all sections of the society
Indigenous, cultural landscapes and traditional knowledge are to be promoted and developed
Empowerment of vulnerable communities with special focus on women and livelihoods

Key Partners:
Organisation: Academy of Gandhian Studies

Role: Communication, Awareness, Climate Adaptation, Water

Main Contact: Mr. G. Gopalakrishnamurthy

Organisation: B:ACCESS (Biodiversity Academy: Eco System Services)

Role: Biodiversity, Watershed, Water harvesting and Conservation

Main Contact: Dr. R. Ramamurthi

Organisation: Sri Padmavathi Prardhana Mahila Mandali

Role: Women /Livelihoods/Awareness, Health, Clean and Green Programs

Main Contact: R. Annapurna

Organisation: Dravidian University, Kuppam

Role: Medicinal Plants

Main Contact: Prof. C. Varadarajulu Naidu

Organisation: Welfare Organization for Rural Development (WORD)

Role: Organic Farming, Natural Farming, Bio pesticides

Main Contact: Dr. G. Gangadharam

Organisation: Vijayam College, Chittoor

Role: Resource Development, Logistics, Camps

Main Contact: Dr. Tejomurthy

Organisation: VEMU College, Nendragunta

Role: Tree planting, Green Development, Clean Ambience

Main Contact: Dr. N. Chandrasekhara Naidu

Organisation: Indian Science Congress Tirupati Chapter

Role: Science and Society, Carbon Foot Print

Main Contact: Dr. K.P. Rao