World

Greenpeace has done a lot of commendable work in the field of climate change. This link takes you through their climate change campaigns involving the masses.

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Trans-boundary aquifers (TBAs) of the world: This map shows the present state of information regarding the occurrence and extent of TBAs world-wide. The intention of the map is to provide a global overview of these important shared water resources and to encourage their further assessment.

In India, TBAs are located on the India-Pakistan, India-Nepal and India-Bangladesh borders.

Rainwater harvesting is an option which has been adopted in many areas of the world where conventional water supply systems have failed to meet the needs of the people. Examples of RWH systems can be found in all the great civilisations throughout history.

Here's an eToolkit on rainwater harvesting that tells you all that you need to know to harvest rain successfully.

Water Sensitive Urban Design in the Sydney Region has come out with a comprehensive brochure which details out the system overview, design, costing and water quality issues in the construction of rainwater tanks

Click here to download the guide

Image & Content Courtesy: Sri Lanka Lanka Environmental Journalists Forum (SLEJF)

The Asia-Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists(APFEJ) invites nominations for INTERNATIONAL GREEN PEN AWARDS.

The International Green Pen Award is presented each year at the APFEJ Annual World Congress for environmental journalists who have made a significant contribution in promoting environmental journalism.

The last date for receipt of nominations is August 31, 2009 Entries (including photocopies) must be submitted in the surface mail by August 31,2009 and sent to: Dharman Wickremaratne, Director, Asia-Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists(APFEJ), P.O.Box 26, 434/3 Sri Jayawardenapura, Sri Lanka. E-mail: ejournalists@gmail.com.

Image and Content Courtesy: IWA & AWA

The 5^th International Water Association (IWA) conference on the Efficient Use and Management of Urban Water is being held in Sydney Australia from 25^th to 28^th October 2009. Titled Efficient 2009

IWA invites all to participate in the premier international conference on the efficient use and management of urban water. The aim of the 5th international conference on efficient use and management of water in urban areas is to provide a forum for the exchange of the most recent ideas, techniques and experience in all areas of water management that could contribute to more efficient and sustainable use of water.

Image and Content Courtesy: United Nations

On behalf of the Organizing and Scientific Committee,the United Nations is pleased to invite you to participate at the 3rd World Climate Conference (WCC-3 2009). The conference is scheduled from 31 August - 4 September 2009 at the International Conference Center London, United Kingdom. Conference Theme is: "Climate prediction and information for decision-making: focusing on scientific advances in seasonal to interannual timescales, taking into account multi-decadal prediction". The WCC-3 2009 steering Committee welcomes Scientists, climate service providers, High-level policy-makers, Global business leaders,Decision-makers from the public and private sectors, Green visionaries, Academia, IO's and NGO's, Professionals in relevant fields, Women and Youth Organizations, Development Groups, Governmental Agencies, Civil Society Organizations, Community Development Organizations, Donor Agencies and Individuals working in the related field to participate and submit papers and proposals for presentation at the interactive sessions and workshops. Papers should broadly explore the conference theme. The presentations may be completed research, research in-progress or case studies, especially those reflecting innovative Green building practice. Generally the presentations will consist of a panel of three or four presenters with similar topics. Each presenter will speak for ten minutes and after all presentations are completed the floor will be opened for questions and discussions.

The 21^stEuropean Conference on Modern South Asian Studies (ECMSAS) is scheduled for July 26-29 2010 at the University of Bonn (Germany). As part of the conference a Coordinated Session focusing on Human Health in Urban & Peri-Urban South Asia is being organized to highlight the examination of human health to provide a powerful lens into the social, economic, political, cultural and ecological transformations of rapidly urbanizing societies in South Asia. The coordinated session proposes two sessions. With the first session focused on urban health patterns and urban health systems in South Asia. The second session explores the relation of peri-urban dynamics and health. Shifting environmental burdens in the name of cleaning cities, changing land use practices, poor regulatory authorities, industrialization, market forces and demographic pressures have placed enormous stress on water resources in peri-urban societies of Asia. The Session is inviting papers reflecting the current situation, focused on identifying the linkage between several underlying conditions & their contribution to water transmitted diseases in peri-urban areas.

Forwarded to the Portal by: WinrockWater Yahoo Group Image and Content Courtesy: IWA Congress The IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition is a high-profile international event attracting thousands of water professionals and organizations from across the globe. It is a biennial event organised by the International Water Association and previously hosted by Vienna, Beijing, Marrakech, Melbourne, Berlin and Paris. Montreal will be hosting the upcoming session from the 19^th to 24^th of September 2010. The IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition, the Associations main biennial event, is a valuable and unique opportunity for the community of world-leading water professionals to meet, exchange ideas, explore the state of the art and debate the key issues underlying the science and practice of water. It is also where the entire water community congregates and in particular IWA specialist groups showcase their work and plan for future activities.

There is no other word that can aptly describe water - Blue Gold. Today I was watching the movie - Blue Gold - World Water Wars. A must see movie for environment and water enthusiasts. The movie starts with a true story of a Californian gold hunter - how his body got transformed into a quasi corpse in seven days because of lack of water. The story then moves on how we humans are using water without discretion. Here are some interesting statistics:

1. Manufacturing an average automobile requires 350,000 liters
2. Upto 7 barrels of water is required to extract a barrel of oil - Save oil to save water
3. One microchip requires 32liters of water
4. Today there are 50,000 large dams worldwide
5. Today there are at least 10 publicly traded water indices
6. 750 pounds of carcass requires 5.2 million liters of water - be a vegetarian and save water.
7. 30,240 liters of water is required per 50pound bag of wheat! Don't waste food my friends.
8. 1.8 million liters per bale of cotton - Don't buy too many clothes (don't wear too less either)
9. 77,500 liters of water is required per 50pound bag of rice. One kilo of rice requires 3,500 litres of water
10. 99 liters for an apple
11. 107 liters for a banana
12. 22,000 liters of water per 50pound bag of corn
13. 10 litres for a rose