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Guest Speaker: Ms. Megan Dsouza, Youth Mentor, Samvada NGO, Mangalore  

Megan is a true inspiration for the millennials today. Yearning to make the planet safe and  sustainable, she has worked as Communications Head at Anti-Pollution Drive Foundation, an  NGO based in Mangalore. She is presently working at Samvada as a Youth Mentor and believes  she has found her calling. 

She began her session with quoting a narrative from Sir David Attenborough’s documentary  ‘Blue Planet: Take a Deep Breath’, “For years we thought the oceans were so vast and the  inhabitants so infinitely numerous that nothing we could do could have an effect upon them.  But now we know that was wrong,” says Attenborough. “It is now clear our actions are having  a significant impact on the world’s oceans. [They] are under threat now as never before in  human history. Many people believe the oceans have reached a crisis point.” 

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Mangesh Kashyap, President, SEERAM, Pune   Dr. Kashyap is devoted to the development of the youth and use their energies to sustain our  Mother Earth and its life forms. The cause of water and water conservation is very close to his  heart and believes that efficient use of water, its allocation and distribution can bring a real  turnaround in socio economic activities and ecosystems.   

Dr Kashyap highlighted that some individual accountability can bring the desired changes on  a global platform. Driven by this thought, he founded Crisil Verified NGO SEERAM Environmental Sustainability Research Foundation. He emphasized that economy,  environment and social community are the three pillars for sustainable development in any  country and that the SDGs challenge all globally to act on these for a better future.  

Dr. Kashyap spoke extensively about the 14th UN SD Goal – Life below water. In India, about  35% of the population live within 100 km of the country’s coastline measuring around 7500  km. Even though the sea level rise is a very slow phenomenon, the trends of sea level rise are  estimated to be 1.3mm/year along the Indian coasts during the last 40 -50 years due to changes  in the climate. 

Dr. Kashyap put forth a few solutions to reduce the negative impact on the oceans and their life  forms: 

• Mangroves and Coral reef protection  

• Coastal erosion protection  

• Sustainable fisheries management  

• Reduce Marine Pollution  

• Sustainable tourism  

• Eco friendly shipping