Ecology and Environment

Organizers: Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
                        Texas Agrilife Research, USA
                        USDA-ARS, USA

Venue: India Habitat Centre, Delhi

The camera wanders through the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra and records the profound traditional science of the people. “Harvest of Rain” analyses a wide variety of water harvesting systems as a function of differing ecological terrains

Content and Media Courtesy: International Union for Conservation of Nature

This 116,500 hectare brackish lagoon separated from the Bay of Bengal by a long sandy ridge was added to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance in 1981.This was because the lagoon was facing serious degradation due to siltation and choking of the seawater inlet channel, resulting in the proliferation of invasive freshwater species, the decrease in fish productivity, and an overall loss of biodiversity [1].

Content and photo courtesy: Environment Support Group  

On the contentious policy relating to privatization of lakes, the Justice N K Patil Committee appointed by the Karnataka High Court has recommended that private sector participation solely based on commercial interest is not desirable.

In a significant development, the Committee appointed under the Chairmanship of Justice Mr. N. K. Patil, Judge of the Karnataka High Court and Chairman High Court Legal Services Committee, in response to the Public Interest Litigation by Environment Support Group challenging the privatisation of management and rehabilitation of lakes in Bangalore (WP 817/2008), has strongly recommended that ““private sector participation solely based on consequential commercial interest” is not a desirable model” (Emphasis in original).

Content courtesy: DevNetJobsIndia

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), an established research and advocacy institute needs Senior Researchers for its programme on clean air and transportation, to do high quality policy and technical research, interact with policy makers, scientists & other target groups and develop networks and campaign.

Guest post by – Rahul Bakare, Arghyam

 This article details an example where local knowledge has been used to develop access to safe water in the tribal areas of the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh

The news this fortnight has been dominated by the north-east monsoon in South India, mainly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Periyar, Vagai, Krishnarajasagar, Mettur and Chemberampakkam reservoirs have either reached full capacity or are expected to in the next few days. Areas downstream of Vagai reservoir received flood warnings.

In the cities of Tamil Nadu, heavy rains and inadequate infrastructure have led to damage to life and property, with 10 people dead in two separate incidents. 

Winter precipitation has begun in Kashmir, with the higher reaches receiving snowfall. 

Content courtesy: OpenSpace

Description:
3rd International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology 2012 (ICEST 2012) on March10 to 11, 2012, at Chennai, India.

The aim of the ICEST conference series is to provide a forum for laying the foundations of a new principled approach to Environmental Science and Technology. To this end, the meeting aims to attract participants with different backgrounds, to foster cross-pollination between different research fields, and to expose and discuss innovative theories, frameworks, methodologies, tools, and applications.

Content courtesy: OpenSpace 

The National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), located in Bangalore, is part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. The mandate of NCBS is fundamental research in the frontier areas of biology. Our research interests range from the study of single molecules to ecology and evolution.

It deals with issues around capital raising, policy framework, efficiency and sustainability and provides a way forward for strategic acceleration of the benefits.