Political

India’s target to combat land degradation and desertification
While India has increased its target of restoring degraded land from 21 million ha to 26 million ha, what is the scale of the challenge and what do the new targets mean?
Arjuna Srinidhi
Posted on 01 Oct, 2019 05:44 PM

India finally announced that it would increase its targets of restoring degraded lands from 21 million hectares to 26 million hectares[1].
Combating desertification and land degradation in semi-arid regions of Maharashtra, India (Image Source: WOTR)
Greening new pastures for green investments
Green capital at scale urgently needed for the energy transition and climate action in emerging economies - CEEW Centre for Energy Finance
CEEW - Centre for Energy Finance
Posted on 01 Oct, 2019 04:05 PM

New Delhi
Image credit: CEEW Centre for Energy Finance
From droughts to floods: India’s tryst with climate extremes
Deconstructing the traditional narrow engineering based policy discourses around floods and droughts and connecting them to social and cultural realities is the need of the hour in India.
Aarti Kelkar Khambete
Posted on 01 Oct, 2019 11:54 AM

India has witnessed extreme weather conditions this year. While parts of the north and south have battled drought like conditions this summer, the northeast and western coastal areas witnessed heavy rains and floods.
Water talk Series at Mumbai (Image Source:Tata Insitute of Social Sciences)
Solving the energy conundrum
Some lessons for transition to small scale solar energy in rural areas from the work of MAJLIS, a collective of dalit and adivasi women in Madhya Pradesh.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 30 Sep, 2019 08:10 PM

Access to electricity is a key metric in development. In rural areas, getting on to the grid is a major step forward, improving literacy rates, agricultural productivity and overall household income. However, providing access to power derived from traditional sources like coal, diesel and hydropower, are proving unsustainable in the short and long term.
There has to be a policy shift for decentralised off grid or distributed generation catering to small communities. (Image: MAJLIS)
The Water Future Conference in Bangalore: Towards a Sustainable Water Future
The recently concluded 4 day conference in Bangalore looked at the current state of global water resource challenges & future pathways to achieve the SDGs, while ensuring equity in access to all.
Priya Desai
Posted on 30 Sep, 2019 12:38 PM

The Water Future Conference in Bangalore last week, saw many from the scientific community, academia, research, civil society and the media come together to discuss the state of water resources across the world and in India, as well as future pathways and scenarios, and different technological a
Charles Vorosmarty, Chair, COMPASS Initiative, Water Future at the opening plenary on advanced water system assessments to address water security challenges of the 21st century.
Climate vulnerability map of India coming soon
DST and SDC working together to develop pan-India climate vulnerability assessment map, to help communities and states better prepare for climate change.
Dinesh C Sharma
India Science Wire
Posted on 28 Sep, 2019 04:27 PM

New Delhi, September 27 (India Science Wire): Rising sea levels, increasing number of extreme weather events, urban floods, changing temperature and rainfall patterns - such impacts of climate change are being felt in many parts of India, and not just in the coastal areas or hilly regions. 
Dr. Akhilesh Gupta , head of the climate change programme at DST. Image source: India Science Wire
Return of the pearl millet
A women's collective in western Madhya Pradesh protects crop varieties bred by indigenous farming communities.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 28 Sep, 2019 01:46 PM

Pandutalav, a small quiet village nestled in the dry teak forests in the tribal pocket in Dewas boasts an authentic rural way of life. This little dot on the map is known for its attempts to introduce indigenous varieties of crops, in particular pearl millet these days.
This variety of bajra has extended whiskers on its seeds when on the plant. This prevented the birds from eating it. Growing bajra in Pandutalav became possible only when Majlis could lay its hands on this variety. (Image: Majlis)
Groundwater markets flourish in peri-urban Hyderabad
Groundwater, drawn at rapid rates from peri-urban areas of Hyderabad is now turning into a commodity, controlled and distributed by a few, to meet the needs of the urban elite.
Sumit Vij
Anshika John and Anamika Barua
Posted on 28 Sep, 2019 01:44 PM

Peri urban spaces swept up in the urbanisation tangle
Groundwater in Hyderabad, in peril (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Applying ethics to water management, to ensure equity in access to all
A workshop in Bangalore explored water ethics and how it can be applied to water management.
Priya Desai
Posted on 26 Sep, 2019 03:57 PM

At a workshop on Water Ethics leading up to the Water Future Conference in Bangalore in September 2019, the idea of, and the need for an ethical framework for water management and legislation was discussed.
From left to right - Siddharth Krishnan (ATREE), David Groenfeldt (Water Culture Institute), Sara Ahmed (University of Cambridge), Veena Srinivasan (ATREE), KJ Joy (SOPPECOM)
Water wisdom in times of a climate crisis
New report documents India’s rich traditions of water harvesting and sustainable use.
Shailendra Yashwant
Oxfam India
Posted on 26 Sep, 2019 12:15 PM

A recent report by Shailendra Yashwant for Oxfam India looks at India’s ingenious ways of harvesting, storing and distributing water from the Kuhls in Himachal Pradesh that channel water from Himal
Bandhara (in Nashik, Maharashtra), a low masonry weir of 1.2 to 4.5 m height, which is constructed across a small stream for diverting the water into a small main canal taking off from its upstream side (Image: Shailendra Yashwant, Oxfam India)
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