Physiography

Orissa becomes the first state in the country to have earned the distinction of having action plan on climate change. Following the National Action Plan of India started in 2008 the document of Orissa provides the action for the period of 2010-2015 having a budget of 17,000 crore.

This document describes the efforts made by the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD), to tackle the growing water crisis in the state and describes how it addressed it very differently, unlike the previous reform strategies.

The fluorosis section of this website dedicated to Nalgonda district, highlights the acute problem of very high levels of fluoride in the ground water resources of the district and its impact on the health of people - a high prevalence of severe and crippling bone and skeletal deformities. The site has information on the status of the affected people, flouride levels and various articles, petitions and pictures.

The IEEE Spectrum magazine, the flagship publication of the IEEE, the world's largest professional technology association, recently brought out a special report on Water vs Energy. The report contains three main sections - Thirsty Machines (Water, Energy and Industry), Uneasy Harvest (Water, Energy and Agriculture) and Tiny Test Beds (potential solutions).

The Uneasy Harvest section contains a special report - "Pumping Punjab Dry", on the depleting groundwater situation in Punjab, and how cheap energy is endangering India's food security.

"Where Water meets Watts", is a map of Water and Energy hot spots and bright spots.

The study estimates the snow cover area for four major basins in the Himalayan region viz. Chenab up to Akhnoor, Ganga up to Devprayag, Satluj up to Bhakra and Beas up to Pandoh using IRS - IC and ID WiFS data. Snow cover estimation was done for the years 1997-2000 using image processing system ERDAS Imagine. The maximum and minimum snow cover extent for the month of September-October and March-April were delineated and on the basis of these the depletion curves for each basin was made for the four years. This output is useful for carrying out snowmelt runoff modeling.

In the recent past, Dr. Dipul Choudhury from Guwahati (Assam), managed to ensure rainwater harvesting arrangements in his newly constructed multistoried building at Tarun Nagar, Guwahati (Assam).

A widespread view that is gaining ground is that climate related migration could evolve into a global crisis by displacing a large number of people from their homes and forcing them to flee. Christian Aid postulates that a billion people could be permanently displaced by climate change related phenomenon such as droughts, floods and hurricanes (Christian Aid 2007). The fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) mentioned the “potential for population migration” due to increase in the number of areas affected by droughts and an increase in the intense tropical cyclones activities (IPCC 2007: 18). In particular, it seems likely that significant numbers of people will be displaced, either temporarily or permanently, from their homes as a consequence of global warming (Stern 2006). Available scientific evidences indicate that a large number of people might be displaced due to climate change. However, much of the literature on this issue refers to the question of whether the   people forced to migrate as a consequence of climate change should be described as climate refugees. There is no internationally agreed definition of the term “climate refugee” and the extent to which these displaced persons constitute a separate identifiable group. Although it is now widely recognised that climate change will significantly adversely affect India, there are few studies available on how climate change is going to affect the migration of people. It has been asserted that 70,000 people out of the 4.1 million living in the Indian part of the Sundarbans islands would be rendered homeless by 2020 (EPW, 6 June 2009).

Ground Report India

A huge controversy has been generated in recent days over the much quoted lines in the IPCC’s 2007 report: “Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate” (Working Group 2, page 493). We do need to question how a statement of such magnitude, without peer review, made its way into the IPCC report. That it was discovered,externally, more than two years later raises concerns about both the mindset and the weakness of the processes of the IPCC in checking and correcting information they collate, information that is so vital in the global debate. However, to question the credibility of the science of the global warming, supported as it is by a wealth of empirical evidence, or to question IPCC’s work, as is happening in some quarters, is gross exaggeration and sometimes driven by dubious and malafide intentions.

This research paper published in the Journal of Agricultural Water Management draws on a case study from a village in the Shiwalik region of the Indian Himalayas and identifies the role of diverse actors in exploiting historic and ecological factors to derail the Participatory Irrigation management (PIM) reforms to frame water management problems. The paper explores the inter-linkages between socio-cultural, institutional and ecological factors in derailing the PIM reforms. Participatory irrigation management (PIM) reforms are implemented in India to facilitate farmers’ participation in irrigation management, through water user groups.

This document contains case studies from the work of Samagra Jal Vikash Samiti, Arghyam and Development Alternatives, in Rajpura, Kachipura, Pipra and Hastinapur villages of Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, in organising drinking water and improving water quality of available drinking water.