The collaborative program, "Building Capacity for Environmental Resource Management in India," will emphasize teaching, training and research in the areas of energy, climate change and carbon sequestration, environmental law and policy, joint forest and watershed management and industrial ecology.
"The partnership will seek to produce a new generation of decision makers and leaders in India who will take the country in the direction of sustainable development, sensitize mid-career public policy officers in India toward environmentally sound development and management practices, and build lasting professional ties between the TERI and Yale," said TERI's Director General, Rajendra K. Pachauri.
Pachauri said that India, with a population exceeding one billion and accounting for one-sixth of humanity, must make economic development and environmental conservation a policy and resource priority.
He said that income growth and direct consumption will attract global industry, and that resource management models established in this context will be critical to preserving environmental wealth and promoting economic strength. He added, "There is a need to train and nurture expertise in environmental management, and this program is an effort to bridge the gap."
Yale environment school Dean, Gus Speth said, "Through the framework of this collaborative program, the TERI School and the environment school will establish a long-term program of research and exchange between faculty and students at both institutions.," By drawing upon the comparative strengths of the two diverse institutions, the program will create new knowledge and foster the development of skills, techniques and teaching materials that are more relevant to the environmental problems facing India and other developing countries."