News and Articles

Odisha’s untapped renewable energy potential
iFOREST proposed a target of ‘30 GW Renewable Energy by 2030’ for Odisha Posted on 17 Sep, 2022 03:44 PM

The International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology (iFOREST) organized a major conference last month in Bhubaneshwar to start a dialogue on Odisha’s new Renewable Energy (RE) policy for 2022-30. Odisha’s present RE Policy was introduced in 2016, and is set to lapse at the end of 2022.

Experts stressed on the need to remove barriers related to land, procedure, institutional capacity and finance, to attract investments in the sector (Image: Aiseinau, Wikimedia Commons)
New landslide reporting tool uses social media and artificial intelligence
The system can detect landslide reports with a precision of 76% Posted on 16 Sep, 2022 10:57 AM

When landslides occur, their impacts are usually not discovered immediately beyond the attention of first responders or government agencies. Reliable spatial data becomes available to users based on the satellite return path and the route that it takes, image quality and processing time.

Social media data has great potential for near-real-time reporting of landslide events and their associated impacts (Image: Eurico Zimbres, Wikimedia Commons)
UN's Human Development Report calls for a shift in direction
New this fortnight Posted on 15 Sep, 2022 02:17 PM

Global Human Development Index declines for two years in a row: UN Report

India ranks 132 in latest Human Development Report (Image source: IWP Flickr albums)
While floods occur, states fail to enforce floodplain zoning laws
Policy matters this fortnight Posted on 15 Sep, 2022 12:26 AM

Floodplain zoning law: Only three states and one UT enacted the law to mitigate floods

Monsoon in Trivandrum. Photo for representation only (Image source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Chaos in a concrete jungle
Heavy rains and floods have battered Bengaluru yet again. Uncontrolled and unregulated development and concretisation of the city that pays no heed to the ecology and hydrology of the region needs to stop! Posted on 13 Sep, 2022 06:32 PM

Bengaluru, once a city of lakes - is in crisis.

Urban flooding in Bangalore (Image Source: Thejas via Wikimedia Commons)
Climate change and disappearing forests
Measuring climate change velocity can greatly help to provide additional information on spatial variability of climate change and its implications for forest loss. Posted on 09 Sep, 2022 04:44 PM

Forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate world over with tropical forests - hot spots of biodiversity experiencing the largest declines.

Threatened forests of India (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Creating jobs while managing air quality
Highlights from a new report released by iFOREST Posted on 09 Sep, 2022 02:10 PM

On the occasion of the third International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST), hosted an event to highlight the importance of building capacity in India for air quality management.

An old coal-fired power plant has been dumping vast quantities of ash out in the open for many years. (Image: Lundrim Aliu/ World Bank; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Protected orchids of India
Orchids are one of the most threatened flowering plants in the world Posted on 08 Sep, 2022 10:39 AM

India's orchids are under pressure from illicit harvesting and exploitation for illegal trade. Of the vast diversity of 1256 orchid species recorded in India, 307 are endemic to our country, and only 11 species are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Orchid size can range from a pencil head to a vigorous two tonne shrub (Image: Geoff Mckay, Wikimedia Commons)
Bring back the vulture
Poster launched to safeguard the endangered species, on International Vulture Awareness Day Posted on 05 Sep, 2022 12:11 PM

WWF India launches a poster on vulture species in India with conservation information on each species, on International Vulture Awareness Day (which is celebrated on 3rd September).

White-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis) (Image: Lip Kee, Flickr Commons)
Beris – a neglected indigenous water harvesting system
The answer to the water crisis in Rajasthan lies in this traditional system Posted on 30 Aug, 2022 08:12 PM

World Water Week is currently being observed across the world.

A villager drinking potable water from the Beri (Image: Dileep Bidawat)
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