Ensuring environmental sustainability along with achieving rapid economic development is a major challenge for developing countries. The millennium declaration in the year 2000 by the United Nations has duly recognized the importance of this issue and ensuring environmental sustainability has been set as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the road towards environmental sustainability is an uphill battle in view of challenging environmental problems faced by developing nations.

Technology plays a vital role in facing the challenge posed by the multitude of environmental problems. Conventional technologies have often proved inadequate from the view point of environmental sustainability. Hence concerted efforts are needed for development of technologies that give due importance to environmental sustainability. Technologies for Environmental Sustainability is therefore a major focus of this International Symposium – ISES 2006.

This international symposium plans to bring together researchers, academics, practitioners and policy makers for sharing and exchanging ideas and experiences. It is an effort to improve our understanding of major environmental problems and develop strategies for improvement of environmental management with a focus on technology development for environmental sustainability. As a sequel of our previous initiative, ISEM 2004, this will provide the opportunity to evaluate and extend our activities towards achieving a greater success.

The main objectives of the symposium are:

·   To update knowledge on technology, research and practice in environmental sustainability.

·   To assess how such knowledge could benefit the urban and rural population in low income countries.

·   To promote local, regional and international collaboration in environmental technology transfer to achieve the MDGs.

·   To devise ways to mainstream new research and practices in education and training.