CARE
Communicating Action and Resilience for Environmental Health in India
teachers
First weavers of CARE
carers of community
carers of society
carers of public
carers of school children
Building Resilience at the Nexus of
Environment, Health, and Community.
doctors
mitanin
communicators
medical professionals
who cares?
The CARE Project (Communicating Action and Resilience for Environmental Health in India) seeks to advance pathways that link communities living with fragile or endangered environments, such as those facing pollution, heat stress and disaster risks with health professionals, educators, and regulatory institutions.
By integrating scientific inquiry with local knowledge, the project aims to strengthen environmental health literacy and build resilience in regions where pollution and climate stressors intersect with public health.
CARE is an action research project that involves participatory action research, creative approaches and community-led environmental monitoring to explore pathways for climate resilience.
for whom?
CARE currently focuses on Chhattisgarh in central India and Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka in the Western Ghats, where environmental degradation and rising heat pose significant risks to health and livelihoods.
The project engages medical and public health professionals, along with school teachers and other care workers, as critical actors in interpreting environmental data, understanding the implications of environmental impact assessments, and undertaking short-term studies that link ecological change to health outcomes.
EDUCATOR ENGAGEMENTS
In Chhattisgarh, CARE works with public health professionals, school teachers, and educators to strengthen understanding of how industrial pollution and heat stress affect communities.
The focus is on building capacity to interpret environmental health impacts and support informed interventions.
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• DRIVERS OF CARE•
School Teachers
Community Health Volunteers
State Government
Maharashtra
VOICE FELLOWSHIP
The project will support fellowships for communicators to attend a 3-day residential training at IISER Pune. Science communicators are vital in bridging complex climate-health research with the public, raising awareness, enabling informed decisions, and influencing policy.
The Fellowship will engage communicators and creators from across India, strengthening their skills in climate-health content creation and deepening their understanding of the climate-health nexus.
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• DRIVERS OF CARE•
Scientists
Science Communicators
Media
Kerala & Karnataka
INFRASTRUCTURE & IMPACT
In this component, we aim to support state government agencies in Kerala in developing a robust state action plan on climate change, with a special emphasis on human health.
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The project will assess the vulnerability of public health facilities in Kerala’s coastal districts, pilot environmental sampling in district hospitals, and document good practices in building climate-resilient health infrastructure through case studies, while also working with community groups in Karnataka researching environmental health impacts in the western ghats.
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• DRIVERS OF CARE•
Health Professionals
Medical Officers
Community Organisations
State Government
ASHA Workers
The efforts are directed toward enhancing the capacity of care systems to respond more effectively to environmental health challenges while contributing evidence that can influence public health strategies and policy frameworks.
CARE commons: publications
Climate change is not a distant, abstract threat—it is happening right now in our villages, towns, and local ecosystems. Within the same ethos of the project, CARE established two pioneering monthly, bilingual journals with a solutions-focused approaches that unites scientific rigour with lived experience and hope for just transitions.
HEAL webzine for climate-solutions, and Jugnoo for Kids, a children's newspaper. They are both FREE TO DOWNLOAD and CIRCULATE.
Both were created with the belief that we don’t just need more warnings about the environment degradation and diseases; we need a blueprint for survival.
The journals act as a bridge that turn environmental anxiety into community-led planetary health action. Their readership's target two different communities–common citizens, youth to healthcare professionals to policymakers, researchers, and grassroots organisations; and other– children.
​(Health, Environment, Action, & Learning) is India’s only bilingual solutions webzine on environmental health.
HEAL marries scientific rigour with the power of grassroots action, creating a space where research directly serves community well-being.
HEAL connects human wellness directly with ecosystem integrity, biodiversity, and climate resilience. Developed in close association with rural communicators and content creators, the webzine documents planetary health solution stories from media-dark corners of the country to build evidence that can positively influence the health policies.
Click to go the HEAL webzine site.
Jugnoo is a symbol of small, persistent light in the dark with hopeful stories for children– to inspire them to explore, question, and protect our environment!
Our mission is to turn eco-anxiety into eco-agency! Hope is the best strategy. JUGNOO exists because a Just Transition must include the generation it’s for.
Click to go the Jugnoo for Kids site.
CARE: Communicating Action and Resilience for Environmental Health in India
Hosted at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, With support from Health Care Without Harm, Global.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Shalini Sharma, Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IISER Pune
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune,
Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pashan, Pune – 411008, Maharashtra, India
+91 20 25908000 | www.iiserpune.ac.in
© 2025 CARE Project | IISER Pune | All Rights Reserved