Sustainability

Featured Articles
December 6, 2022
The water that you eat
Need to shift to a more sustainable diet without compromising on major nutrients and calories
Historically, India has been a net exporter of virtual water (Image: PxHere)
November 6, 2022
Protecting children from climate change impact not child's play
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)
April 26, 2022
Making the invisible, visible
The water stewardship initiative by WOTR that developed a tool to visualise aquifers has not only helped farmers understand groundwater as a shared resource, but also led to a behavioural change among water users and helped implement groundwater laws and policies.
Groundwater, a fast disappearing resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
December 6, 2021
Leaving no one behind!
Will it be possible to ensure equity and justice while balancing climate action goals with economic progress?
Taking everyone along while achieving a balance between economic growth and climate goals is crucial (Image Source: Good Energies)
March 22, 2021
Water governance standard and certification system – An answer to the water problems of agrarian India
The recent 'Water governance standard and certification system' developed by WOTR can greatly help villages to develop good governance practices and manage their water needs equitably and sustainably.
Long queues waiting for tankers are common in different parts of Maharashtra during water scarcity (Image Source: WOTR)
December 29, 2020
Challenges to India’s urban water security and future growth patterns
Water resources in most Indian cities are overworked and overused, and not adequately replenished.
Cities in India are marked by unequal distribution of water, lack of access, outdated infrastructure and minimal enforcement of rainwater harvesting and other means of supply. (Image: Anish Roy, Pixabay)
India’s food systems in transition
A recent book looks at solutions to the various obstacles that impede India’s various food sub-systems.
Prabhu Pingali
Anaka Aiyar
Mathew Abraham
Andaleeb Rahman
Posted on 22 Jan, 2020 11:45 AM

A recent book ‘Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India’ by the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) at Cornell University provides a detailed assessment of the major paradoxes of the Indian growth story.
Organic food (Image: P L Tandon, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
A climate change wake-up call
Climate change can lead to large-scale economic knock-on effects, says a McKinsey Global Institute report.
Amita Bhaduri
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)
The Karnataka State Water Policy 2019
The Karnataka Jnana Aayoga (KJA) set up a Task Group to draft a new water policy for Karnataka in December 2017 and the report is now in public domain. What are the suggestions that the report makes?
Aarti Kelkar Khambete
Posted on 20 Jan, 2020 11:42 AM

The water crisis in Karnataka has not only led to severe agrarian distress in the eastern plains region but also created an acute shortage of domestic water, in both rural and urban areas. The 21st century has seen significant changes in demography, economy and agriculture, increasing the demand for water in the state.
Groundwater depletion, a growing challenge (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Can ruin of quality forests be made up by plantations?
There is a gain in forest cover outside forest land as per the 'State of forest report 2019'. But, can reforestation replace natural forests and its essential ecosystem?
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 18 Jan, 2020 04:49 PM

The recently released biennial State of India’s Forest Report 2019 (SFR) indicates an improvement in forest cover since 2017 but dense forests continue to turn into non-forests.
Chir pine trees felled by forest fires in Uttarakhand, 2016 (Image: Ramwik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
Karnataka farmers cope as wells fail
A study looks at how households adapt to slow-moving environmental changes such as groundwater depletion.
David Blakeslee
Ram Fishman
Veena Srinivasan
Posted on 13 Jan, 2020 07:08 PM

Like in many parts of India, Karnataka’s groundwater is a vital source of irrigation water, but has been depleted by a combination of a prolonged, multi-year drought and intensive extraction. Worsening agro-climatic and environmental conditions are threatening the incomes of smallholder farmers and hampering the continued progress in poverty eradication.
An irrigation well at Randullabad, Maharashtra (Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr; Image used for representational purposes only)
5th Edition of India Industry Water Conclave
The Conclave provides a platform to showcase best practices, deliberate on policy issues and highlight sustainable water management practices.
Posted on 13 Jan, 2020 01:25 PM

For details, please click here.
Groundwater variability: The tale of two states
Gujarat shows good groundwater storage while Rajasthan shows severe groundwater depletion, inspite of both states in western India receiving good rainfall. Why is this so?
Rakesh Meghwal
Deep Shah
Vimal Mishra
Posted on 12 Jan, 2020 09:28 AM

India, a groundwater stressed country
Groundwater decline in India (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Is zero budget natural farming the way forward?
Zero budget natural farming can lead to huge savings in fertiliser subsidy, says study
Niti Gupta
Saurabh Tripathi
Hem H Dholakia
Posted on 11 Jan, 2020 12:16 PM

A recent study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water offers insights into Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) vis-à-vis its effect on the economics of agriculture in Andhra Pradesh.
Alternative agriculture practice called zero-budget natural farming being popularised in Andhra Pradesh by Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, Government of Andhra Pradesh (Image: Council on Energy, Environment and Water)
Water policy for rainfed areas
The new national water policy should take up a comprehensive and integrated view of water resources development with a focus on rainfed areas.
Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture Network
Posted on 10 Jan, 2020 12:12 PM

A committee has been constituted to draft a new National Water Policy (NWP) and make key changes in the water governance structure and regulatory framework. It is chaired by Mihir Shah, who is a former Planning Commission member and a water expert. The committee is expected to produce a report within six months.
Public investments on water in rainfed areas have much higher social rate of returns (Image: Kannan, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Kerala tops SDG index by NITI Aayog
Bihar, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh are at the bottom of NITI Aayog's SDG Index, released recently.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 08 Jan, 2020 03:36 PM

Kerala retains the top slot with a score of 70, followed closely by Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana in the latest edition of NITI Aayog’s annual assessment of progress made by states in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDG).
Considering the poor performance on SDG implementation in many critical areas such as hunger, there is a need to focus on these (Image: The future of food)
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