Climate Change

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November 6, 2022 In 2020, 559 million children were affected by four to five heatwaves a year; numbers could increase four-fold by 2050, as per a report by UNICEF
Heat-related mortality is four times higher among children under 1 year of age than in persons aged 1–44 years (Image: Taqver, Wikimedia Commons)
August 11, 2022 This could lead to water quality crisis reinforcing the need for basin-specific management strategies
Around the world, more than a fifth of nitrogen released by human activity ends up in aquatic ecosystems (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
July 29, 2022 New study from the University of East Anglia challenges the widely held view that restoring areas such as mangroves, saltmarsh and seagrass can remove large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere
Mediterranean seagrass (Image: David Luquet, CNRS-Sorbonne University)
July 10, 2022 People in India fleeing disasters like drought more likely to have experienced trafficking or modern slavery than those fleeing floods or cyclones
The country's climate change assessment suggests things are only going to get worse (Image: Saurav Karmakar, India Water Portal Flickr)
July 8, 2022 Indian rivers are experiencing rising temperatures, which can lower the oxygen carrying capacity of their waters and spell doom for living organisms, small and large living in the waters.
The Karamana river in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala (Image Source: India Water Portal)
June 15, 2022 The River Front Development project planned by the PMC is nothing but a cosmetic makeover for the already choked Mula Mutha river in Pune, argues Dr Gurudas Nulkar while speaking to the India Water Portal.
The highly polluted and encroached Mula Mutha river in Pune (Image: Alexey Komarov via Wikimedia Commons)
Of lives bruised by water
The once pristine island of Munroe Thuruth in Kerala is sinking. As some villagers leave the island for greener pastures, the others wait for the government help to rehabilitate them. Posted on 11 Aug, 2016 01:40 PM

Sexagenarian Radha Madhavan's (name changed) voice carries a shade of gloom even as she rationalises her children's decision to leave their parental home for good. “My husband and I totally understand it. Do they not have a point when they say they do not wish to return to this wretched island, considering their own families’ safety?

One of the sinking houses of Munroe Island.
Community effort saves mangroves
When climate change threatens the existence of Sundarbans’ mangroves, villagers get together to plant millions of them to protect the fragile ecosystem. Posted on 04 Aug, 2016 09:52 AM

Come monsoon, the villages in the Sundarbans islands witness nature’s fury with floodwaters overriding all boundaries and inundating huge tracts of land. As such, the earthen embankments, stretching to 3600 kms on the 54 inhabited islands out of a total of 102 in the Sundarbans, protect scores of people from floods and tidal waves.

Mangroves of Sundarbans. (Source: Nature Environment & Wildlife Society - NEWS)
Kerala's lake islands sinking
News this week Posted on 24 Jul, 2016 03:17 PM

Small islands in southern Kerala lakes sinking

A lake in Kerala (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Climate change: When past presents itself
A new study pins climate change as one of the reasons for the decline of Indus Valley Civilisation Posted on 24 Jun, 2016 08:40 PM

Summers get hotter, rains decline and crops fail. The conflict between people increase and migration in search of better lands and skies begin. Sounds familiar? We are not talking about Marathwada here. This is how the lives of our ancestors played out thousands of years ago.

A narrow lane flanked by houses at Bhirrana. Source: Archaeological Survey of India
Farm ponds save village from drought
Tonk Khurd’s innovative farm ponds prove that when it comes to solving water crisis, one size does not fit all. Posted on 21 Jun, 2016 09:09 AM

Vikram Patel, a 71-year-old farmer in Chidavad village of Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh is one of the first farmers to have embraced the idea of farm ponds to increase the groundwater level in his farm.

Vikram Patel near his farm pond in Chidavad.
Environmental disaster in the face of climate change
Marathwada is a classic example of environmental disaster due to climate change which can get worse in the absence of sincere and planned action. Posted on 08 Jun, 2016 12:30 PM

Marathwada has been witnessing severe drought over the last few years. This year has seen the worst with many farmer suicides reported [1].

Farmers, stuck in the midst of a crisis (Source: India Water Portal)
Business interests and environmental crisis: A book review
While the environmental crisis threatens to impact the ecology and livelihoods in India, business interests take over sustainable solutions. Posted on 05 Jun, 2016 07:03 AM

A number of Asian countries are going through environmental crisis. Nowhere is the impact felt so seriously than in India, where the crisis threatens to affect survival. It is also impacting biodiversity, ecology and livelihoods. In this context, it becomes important to understand how nature and the current environmental crisis are being addressed in policy discourses.

Business profits and the environmental crisis (Source: India Water Portal)
Kolkata's ponds on shaky ground
About 44 percent of Kolkata city's ponds have disappeared in the last two decades. The importance of preserving these water bodies that serve as a lifeline for people cannot be overemphasised. Posted on 01 Jun, 2016 09:38 PM

Urban water bodies have an important role in the urban ecology. It is not just a source or water collected somewhere but is an integral part of life--a haven for different types of trees, insects, birds and small animals.

College Square tank or Gol Dighi, one of the very old ponds in Kolkata
Formulate National Plan on drought management: SC to Centre
Policy matters this week Posted on 17 May, 2016 05:28 PM

SC directs Centre to prepare National Disaster Plan, implement MGNREGA, Food Security Act to tackle drought

Drought affected area in Karnataka (Source: Pushkarv via Wikipedia)
A lac cooperative’s success story
A lac cooperative in Jharkhand strengthens and streamlines the lac-production system Posted on 17 May, 2016 11:04 AM

The farmers of Jharkhand have long been depending on lac farming for their livelihood. Lac, a resin extensively used in preparation of a range of products - from cosmetics to ammunition - is cultivated on a variety of trees, mostly fruit-bearing and shady trees like Ber, Kusum, Palash and Sal.

TRCSC promoting lac based products like bangles through training of over 200 women members of SHGs
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