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)
Drought and the desert: They don't go hand in hand here
With its low rainfall, western Rajasthan might seem like a prime candidate for drought, but the combination of old age wisdom and new age techniques have helped Barmer access fresh water continuously.
Manu Moudgil
Posted on 23 Mar, 2015 09:15 PM

Women in bright, colourful clothes carrying pots on their heads -- this is how popular media often depicts the women of rural Rajasthan. This is what I expected to see in the Bakhasar region of Barmer district, which borders the famous salt desert, the Rann of Kutch. The groundwater is often saline and rainfall does not exceed 250 mm.
Beris serve both people and their livestock.
Mining Bill passed in Rajya Sabha
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 23 Mar, 2015 09:12 PM

Rajya Sabha passes the Mining Bill
Inside Dalli Rajarah mines
A speed limit on river use
"People tend to ask what (revenue in dollars) water for environmental flows is going to generate. That's not the question you should be asking", says Professor Jay O'Keeffe in an interview with IWP.
Chicu Lokgariwar
Jay O'Keeffe
Posted on 21 Mar, 2015 01:08 PM

Professor Jay O'Keeffe is well-known to all those who are interested in the concept of environmental flow releases. The Professor has been involved in this, all over the world, since the seventies.
The Ganga at sunset
Nationwide Drinking Water & Sanitation Awareness week
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 18 Mar, 2015 07:34 AM

Centre launches National Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Awareness Week
Quenching thirst even without good quality water
Land Bill opposed in the Rajya Sabha
Policy matter this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 17 Mar, 2015 04:28 PM

Opposition to the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill
Construction activity on what was once a farm land
Patna HC wants Ganga's original course restored
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 09 Mar, 2015 10:56 PM

Restore Ganga's original course: Patna HC
River Ganga
Water, science and us
The science behind groundwater isn't well understood but how can this be changed so that people manage their water better?
Manu Moudgil
Posted on 02 Mar, 2015 10:11 PM

Groundwater isn't understood very well, especially in hilly areas where springs seem to appear and vanish of their own accord. However, as science tells us, there's no effect without a cause, and understanding the reason why water flows where it does can ensure optimal use of this natural resource to support life and livelihood. 
Testing is one of the components of workshop.
Are there solutions to epidemics from water-borne diseases?
The recent jaundice outbreak in Sambalpur, Odisha has again unfolded several questions related to rise of water-borne diseases in urban areas in India. This film explores these problems.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 02 Mar, 2015 10:06 PM

Between May and December 2014, 17 deaths were registered in Sambalpur due to jaundice but residents say that the death toll due to water-borne diseases is much more than that. In January 2015, the Odisha High Court issued a notice to the state government asking it to furnish details on the steps taken to check the Jaundice outbreak in Sambalpur. 

What is Jaundice?
Polluted water in Sambalpur, Odisha
Budget cuts for Water and Environment Ministry
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 02 Mar, 2015 09:29 PM

Union Budget 2015-16 reduces funds for Water and Environment Ministry 
Budget allocation and planning
Embankments: Engineering solutions or problems?
In his book titled 'Bandini Mahananda', Dinesh Mishra describes the vicious circle of embankments that has created more problems than solutions in Bihar.
Dinesh Mishra
Posted on 02 Mar, 2015 05:12 PM

Mahananda, a major River of north Bihar rises in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. It meets the Ganga after a journey of 376 km through the flat lands of Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh. It would spill its banks because of the flat slopes, causing deluge and waterlogging in the Katihar district of Bihar.
Floods in Bihar; Image: Usha Dewani
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