Advancing action on nature, climate and sustainable development
The School of Environment & Sustainability (SES) at the IIHS (Institution Deemed to be) University examines and answers questions around sustainable development, socio-ecological and food systems, environmental and biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration, adaptation to climate change impacts and risks, and nature-based solutions. With an emphasis on human settlements and socio-ecological systems, the SES works across a continuum from semi-natural ecosystems to mega-cities in India and the Global South.
The SES is developing innovative, evidence-based solutions to significant environmental and climatic changes, and socio-economic and cultural transitions in these geographies, linked to multi-scalar adaptive governance and urban transformations.
The SES is building an interdisciplinary platform for teaching, research, and applied research, and creating and disseminating knowledge to enable development pathways that balance environmental sustainability and climate change concerns with equity, social justice, and inclusive economic development.
The SES anchors the University’s Master’s in Sustainability Science and Practice and co-anchors the Master’s in Climate Change Science and Practice programmes, and supports the Doctoral Programme, as well as the University’s other Master’s programmes through the Core Courses and a range of Elective Courses.
The SES has contributed to teaching in the IIHS Urban Fellows Programme. In the Commons, it offered Urban Ecology and Climate Change, providing a foundational understanding of ecological systems in urban contexts. The Elective Courses (Changing Cities and Changing Climate; Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services; and Urbanisation and One Health) explored critical intersections between urban development, environmental sustainability, and public health. Core Courses included Grow, Cook and Eat, which engaged students in hands-on learning about food systems and sustainability.
The SES’s research develops innovative, evidence-based solutions to sustainability, climate change, biodiversity, and risk challenges to enable socio-economic, socio-technical, and cultural transitions across scales in the wild-areas-to-megacity continuum.
This project examined vulnerability and climate adaptation options, especially the barriers and enablers to sustained, widespread change. It provided an Africa- and India-comparative framework to understand adaptation strategies, highlighting the value of learning from successful strategies across contexts. IIHS led the South Asia research group, comprising the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). The project had partners from universities in India, UK, South Africa, Ghana, Botswana and Namibia, and was funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Department for International Development (DfID).
The project integrated data-driven research along with citizen science initiatives to study the effects of urbanisation and climate change. The focus was on birds and butterflies, with the aim of predicting the vulnerability of these species to the effects of climate change and urbanisation. It was supported by Bangalore Sustainability Forum (BSF).
This scoping assessment addresses challenges in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region caused by climate change, rapid urbanisation, and unplanned development. It evaluates risks, key trends, and opportunities for sustainable mountain settlements and bridges data and knowledge gaps. The study supports evidence-based decision-making to enhance community resilience and sustainability in HKH countries. It was funded by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
This project explored how urban food systems in fast-growing urban and peri-urban areas can act as nature-based solutions (NBS) delivering ecosystem and societal benefits. Focusing on Bengaluru, it examined the impacts of urban agriculture on ecosystem services and well-being, especially for marginalised communities, and experimented co-production pathways across the science–policy–practice–citizen interface to scale up NBS in sustainable urban agriculture practices. This project was conducted in partnership with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and was funded by Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
As part of the Hungry Cities Partnership, IIHS investigated Bengaluru’s urban food system, carried out a household survey on food security, and analysed the informal food economy through a survey of informal food businesses, examining links between urbanisation, food security, informality, and inclusive growth. Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (Canada) and African Centre for Cities (ACC)–University of Cape Town, the project ran from 2015 to 2019.
This project explored how urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA), conceptualised as ‘green infrastructure’, could address challenges of urbanisation while enhancing urban sustainability. Focusing on four cities in India and Tanzania, the project assessed UPA’s impacts on built infrastructure, ecosystem services, land and water use, and social equity dimensions, and co-developed strategies for UPA to address urban sustainability. The project was conducted in partnership with the University of East Anglia, Open University of Tanzania, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and Azim Premji University, and was funded by the British Academy.
For any inquiries or further information, please write to contactus@iihs.ac.in.
