Theme Background

Historically, sustainability has been a way of living. With the intent of progressing and developing the world, extensive use of resources took place and newer interventions were made to enhance the rate at which the advancement was happening. The effects of climate change became apparent soon thereafter in terms of rising temperatures and frequent incidences of natural calamities. Climate change discussions began way back in 1979 when the First World Climate Conference was conducted in Geneva and was sponsored by WMO and soon it became a global agenda and several national and international conferences were conducted to tackle the ever-increasing effects of climate change. As a result of all the environmental mayhem, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) were set and came into effect in January 2016.

To align with the global agenda and moving towards sustainability, several industries have been self declaring to be sustainable by adopting greener practices. Sustainability was initially demonstrated as an environmental concept but over the years it has undergone a massive paradigm shift. It has been fully integrated into the way we think and plan our economic goals. In order to address the challenges faced by humanity, it is imperative to strike a balance between social development, sustained economic growth, sustainable management of natural resources and cultural variations. By focusing only on the economic growth and neglecting the other aspects would lead to short term growth but would eventually have irreversible consequences.

Keeping this in mind the integrated approach for sustainability becomes extremely important. The sustainability goals can thus be met by enhancing resource efficiencies and minimal waste generation without impacting the environment. Additionally, the intent is also to work symbiotically and ensure that the waste generated in one process becomes a resource for the other process thus creating a closed loop. To cater to the current issues of sustainability and to integrate the best practices adopted worldwide,GRIHA Council in association with the UNSW, Australia is hosting its flagship event, the 11th GRIHA Summit from December 17-18, 2019 with the theme “Approach to Integrated Sustainability”. The Summit shall serve as a platform to deliberate innovative technologies and solutions which shall help in creating robust mechanism for developing sustainable solutions for the benefit of the entire community.