Ecology and Environment

Featured Articles
December 16, 2022
Healthy soil critical to human health and for achieving SDGs
Soil research must focus both on technology development and implementation
The ability of soils to support soil functions or services is decreasing (Image: Katrin Park/International Food Policy Research Institute)
November 25, 2022
Categorising watersheds for freshwater ecosystem conservation in India
These maps at the watershed scales have been made to not only ensure inclusion of different freshwater ecosystems, their connectivity and hydrological processes, but can also provide a spatial context for conservation decisions.
A stream at Anini, Arunachal Pradesh (Image Source: Roshni Arora)
November 16, 2022
Improving community resilience in ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction in India
Adoption of hybrid solutions - grey and green structures appropriate for resilience building
Healthy wetland ecosystems help in reducing disaster risks and managing climate risks (Image: Pxhere)
October 30, 2022
Slow disaster: Political ecology of hazards and everyday life in the Brahmaputra valley, Assam
This book by Dr. Mitul Baruah presents a fascinating, ethnographic account of the challenges faced by communities living in Majuli, India, one of the largest river islands in the world, which has experienced immense socio-environmental transformations over the years, processes that are emblematic of the Brahmaputra Valley as a whole. This is an excerpt from the book.
Floods are recurrent phenomena in Assam (Image: Mitul Baruah)
October 6, 2022
Deteriorating landscapes and threatened ecosystems of Jammu and Kashmir
Rapid urbanisation and faulty land use policies are rapidly destroying forests, grasslands and wetlands in Jammu and Kashmir, India and the ecosystem value services they provide. Can these valuable ecosystems be saved?
Deteriorating ecosystems of Jammu and Kashmir, India (Image Source: tkohli at Flickr via Wikimedia Commons)
July 14, 2022
Ichamati: River of poetry is dying a slow death
The river is faced with the dual problem of flood plain encroachment and growing levels of water pollution
Illegal transverse check dams (Badhals) built on Ichamati near a village in Basirhat (Image: Prithviraj Nath @ TheWaterChronicles)
Emerging policies, creating new commons - A policy forum
Videos from the panel discussion organised by KICS at the IASC Conference, Hyderabad
Knowledge in Civil Society
Posted on 04 Mar, 2011 02:54 PM

The panel discussion was held to further the idea of commons by extending the idea of autonomy in some of the discussions on commons to the Indian idea of Swaraj or Self-Rule.

Discussions in the panel drew the existing ideas of resource sharing, establishing institutions for governance but extend this to a broader discussion on knowledge and democracy. The panel draws from a recent examination of Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj from a knowledge perspective, an attempt by a network of knowledge commons - the Knowledge In Civil Society or KICS – to posit an Indian science and technology manifesto for 21st-century India and the world. Knowledge Swaraj suggests a new social contract of science in India, based on the principles of plurality, sustainability and justice and a closer look at expertise and knowledge in India. The panel began with a view from civil society on knowledge by M V Sastri looking at Gandhi’s ideas of Hind Swaraj and oceanic circles and the need for the commons debates to relook at ideas from Hind Swaraj from the viewpoint of the present day discourses of human rights also. This was followed by  papers that suggest how these ideas can be explored in practice.

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore is looking for Faculty positions - Apply by 30th April 2011
Posted on 03 Mar, 2011 11:52 AM

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore invites applications for endowed two faculty positions:

  1. Faculty position in Environment and Development: Person may be trained either in the social or natural/physical/engineering sciences or both.
  2. Faculty position in Social Science: Person must be trained primarily in the social sciences.
Lakes of Mahadevpura constituency of Bengaluru: Current status, changes in distribution and recommendations for restoration - A report by ATREE (2011)
This report is based on a survey of the lakes dating back to the 9th century AD in Mahadevpura constituency of Bengaluru.
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)
Federation of Resident Welfare Associations of Ward 150
Harini Nagendra
Ramesh Sivaram
S Subramanya
Posted on 02 Mar, 2011 09:18 AM

LakeThe lakes are now faced with the impacts of rapid urbanization and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been consolidating management of the majority of the city’s lakes under its control in the recent years. The survey dealt with 35 lakes in 10 sub chains in Mahadevpura. The report describes current status, studies changes in extent, and suggests steps for reclamation and conservation.

Canacona flash floods (2009): Reports submitted by the National Institute of Oceanography to the Government of Goa
These reports deal with the damage caused by the Canacona flash floods of October 2, 2009.
A K Chaubey
Aravind Kalla
D Sundar
K Srinivas
K Suprit
National Institute of Oceanography (NIO)
P M Kessarkar
V Vijith
Posted on 01 Mar, 2011 09:00 PM

The report is based on a study carried out with the help of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and attempts to (1) assemble and analyse available information to describe and identify causes behind the flash floods, and (2) suggest measures to be adopted in Goa to minimise damage arising from similar episodes in future. 

Temple fish sanctuaries: Last bastions of native fish and pristine river stretches - A report
Native freshwater fish in India are declining rapidly, due to destruction of habitats through hydrological modifications, pollution and unsustainable fishing practices.
Parineeta Dandekar
Posted on 01 Mar, 2011 12:56 PM



Temple Fish Sanctuaries: Last bastions of native fish and pristine river stretches
Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 2011: Not the end of the road - An EPW paper
This article shows how the recent Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification 2011 fails to meet the demands of the fishing community and environmentalist groups.
Chandrika Sharma
Posted on 01 Mar, 2011 11:59 AM

 It falls short of offering greater protection to the coastal ecosystem, recognising the inalienable right of fisherfolk to their habitats and providing them with representation in decision-making.
Open letter to Jairam Ramesh on POSCO project approval from the Mining Zone People's Solidarity Group
We are writing to publicly challenge your shocking decision to grant a “conditional” and yet also “final” approval to the POSCO project..
Mining Zone
Posted on 28 Feb, 2011 01:45 PM

 
Water consumption by forests - Chetan Pandit
I had asked a question about estimates of water consumption by forests, and this was published in IWP on 11February.
Chetan Pandit
Posted on 28 Feb, 2011 09:49 AM

Today is 22 February, 10 days afterwards, and there is not a single reply to it.
Volunteers required for vigilance in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) forest region, on MahaShivratri, 2nd March 2011
Posted on 25 Feb, 2011 11:37 AM

Like every year a vigil will be kept by various individual volunteers, NGOs along with Forest Department (FD) at forest areas falling in Mulund, Thane, Borivali for Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) & Vasai region for Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWLS). As you may be aware during MahaShivratri day, people enter from different directions to visit the temples around these forests. Some get inside the forests to gamble, drink, roam about, also deliberately put fire... while doing so the wildlife gets disturbed, forest fires occur, litter is spread all around, etc. Every year vigil has reduced all this to a great extent.

Ujaan: Festival for the Sunderbans, 10th to 12th March 2011, Frasergunj-Bakkhali, Sunderban district, West Bengal
Posted on 24 Feb, 2011 11:31 AM

Ujaan FestivalOrganizer: Ujaan

Venue: Frasergunj-Bakkhali, Sunderban district, West Bengal

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