The Odisha Environment Congress (OEC) had its sixth edition in December 2015 between 22 and 24 at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. LANSA was felicitated for its outstanding work in the field of advancement of nutrition. Akshaya Kumar Panda, senior scientist MSSRF and with the LANSA Programme received the award from Aurobindo BeheraIAS, Former Secretary, Ministry of Forest and Environment, and the present Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha on December 24, 2015.
The event witnessed many distinguished guests including the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize winner ‘Waterman of India’ Rajendra Singh, several prominent IAS officials of Odisha Government, and many environmentalists. The awardees were selected by a jury headed by Sudhansu Bhusan Mishra, former Chief Secretary, Odisha.
Themes over the last five years have been ‘Environment and Water Resources’; ‘Environment and Forest’; ‘Environment and Energy’; ‘Environment and Agriculture’ and ‘Environment and Climate Change’ in 2014.
This year’s theme - ‘Environment, Health and Nutrition’ is the likely result of MSSRF and LANSA's periodic engagement with the agriculture-nutrition stakeholders through consultations and capacity strengthening workshops, as well as through several technology platform exchanges and meetings in Bhubaneswar over the last two years. VP Singh, LANSA's former co-research director was invited to give a Keynote address at the OEC December 2014 Conference, and informal discussions with the relevant government officers of the Ministry of Agriculture, Odisha, on the fringes of the event led to the organising committee deciding on including 'nutrition' in the 2015 theme.
A public forum on the 2015 theme was organised and a LANSA presentation was made to highlight efforts and achievements in advancing nutrition on the agriculture agenda in South Asia, and especially in India. The audience included a large gathering of around 250 comprising of Odisha state government officials, scientists, researchers, activists and students.
Since 2010, OEC has been successfully organised by Human Development Foundation -Centre for Development Action & Research (HDF-eDAR) Bhubaneswar, Centre for Environment and Development (CED), Thiruvananthapuram with support and collaboration of Forest & Environment Department, Government of Odisha and Regional Museum of Natural History (RMNH), Bhubaneswar.
