Oceans and Coasts

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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)
June 22, 2021 Policy matters this fortnight
Yamuna flows under (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
June 16, 2021 The World Ocean Day this year has come with a dire warning, of the threat posed to coral reefs, important for ocean health as well as the livelihoods of millions of people!
Coral reefs in the Andaman Islands (Image Source: Ritiks via Wikimedia Commons)
May 25, 2021 The Arabian Sea is also turning into a hotbed of cyclonic storms
Cyclone Tauktae intensified into an ‘extremely severe cyclonic storm’ and made a landfall on coastal Gujarat leaving a trail of destruction behind. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
December 11, 2019 Policy matters this week
Polythene bags and solid waste left behind as water recedes in the Ganga river. (Source: India Water Portal on Flickr)
Centre notifies fly ash utilisation draft rules
Policy matters this week Posted on 29 Apr, 2021 10:42 AM

Draft rules call for 100 percent utilisation of fly ash in three to five years

An NTPC thermal plant (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Locals struggle with WASH issues post-Amphan
Cyclone Amphan wreaks havoc in the Sunderbans at a time when the country was already battling a large spread of Covid-19. Posted on 17 Aug, 2020 12:17 PM

UN’s recognition of safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right recently hit a decade and this makes us ponder even more about the situation in the Sundarbans after the Amphan cyclone. The destruction caused by Amphan in the Sundarbans poses a massive threat to the very right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation of the people living there.

Having no source of water is proving to be extremely difficult for the people living in the Sundarbans. (Image: WaterAid, Subhrajit Sen)
Amphan’s impact on farming and livelihood in Sunderbans
Millions of people's homes were swept away and farmlands destroyed during cyclone Amphan in Sunderbans. Posted on 11 Aug, 2020 05:46 PM

The Amphan cyclone has disfigured the lives of people living in the Sundarbans. Houses have been torn apart, farms have been filled with brackish water making the land unsuitable for farming and betel leaves have been destroyed. People in the Sundarbans are in a life-threatening situation with makeshift shacks to live in and no means to earn a living.

Betel (popularly used in paan) plantation is a major occupation in the Sundarbans. Pulak Bhakta is assessing the damage done to his plantation right after Amphan. The plantation is spread over two and a half bigha of land. According to Pulak, the total loss he has suffered is around INR 3 lakhs. Pulak already bears the burden of a loan which he had taken to set up his plantation. His future seems uncertain and bleak now. (Image: WaterAid/ Subhrajit Sen)
Flood batters Assam, over 16 lakh people hit
News this week Posted on 09 Jul, 2020 11:30 AM

Flood situation in Assam continues to remain grim

Assam plaued by the annual flood menace (Image Source: Akash Basumatari)
UP tops in providing employment under MGNREGS
Policy matters this week Posted on 25 Jun, 2020 07:38 AM

UP emerges as the top state in the country to give employment under MGNREGS

MGNREGS helps to reduce rural distress in times of Covid-19 (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Covid-19 threatens to worsen India's water crisis
Regulations for water use, innovation for treating antimicrobial resistance and monitoring of infected plastic leakage needs to be prioritised to curtail the water crisis. Posted on 24 May, 2020 12:50 AM

While the world has got a reprieve from pollution with emerging wildlife, cleaner air and clearer water bodies during lockdown, Covid-19 might actually be worsening the present water crisis in an inconspicuous manner. The world is still developing more clarity on safeguards that can prevent transmission, treatment and post treatment complications.

Marine litter. Plastic bottles on a beach. (Image: Bo Eide, Flickr Commons; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Covid-19 could push 260 million Indians into poverty: Research
News this week Posted on 20 May, 2020 10:42 AM

Nearly 260 million Indian could be pushed to poverty due to Covid-19: Researchers

Covid-19 could push 260 million Indians into poverty (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
A climate change wake-up call
Climate change can lead to large-scale economic knock-on effects, says a McKinsey Global Institute report. Posted on 21 Jan, 2020 06:53 AM

A new McKinsey Global Institute report, ‘Climate risk and response: Physical hazards and socioeconomic impacts’, suggests that many assumptions about the pote

Heat-exposed work has produced about half of India’s GDP, and employs about 75 percent of the labor force. There will be a need to shift working hours for outdoor workers and undertake heat management efforts (Image: Ian D Keating, Flickr Commons, CC BY 2.0)
NGT orders 100 percent treatment of sewage entering rivers
Policy matters this week Posted on 11 Dec, 2019 12:05 PM

Ensure 100 percent treatment of sewage entering rivers: NGT to authorities

Polythene bags and solid waste left behind as water recedes in the Ganga river. (Source: India Water Portal on Flickr)
Cyclone Bulbul devastates West Bengal and Odisha
News this week Posted on 13 Nov, 2019 10:45 AM

Cyclone Bulbul causes devastation in West Bengal and Odisha

A cyclonic storm that hit India in 2016. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
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