/topics/ecology-and-environment
Ecology and Environment
What happens to your e-waste?
Posted on 05 Aug, 2017 05:44 PMTake a walk through the maze of lanes at Seelampur in north-east Delhi, you could see small children rummaging through electronic waste that has made its way here from all over north India. They segregate end-of-life electrical and electronic products, prise them apart, put them through acid wash and also burn circuit boards in the hope of extracting precious metals.
![Boys sort discarded computer parts as sparks fly from a grinding machine. (Image: Greenpeace, Flickr Commons; CC BY-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/greenpeace_1.jpg?itok=YclhfSvl)
To some, floods can be good news
Posted on 02 Aug, 2017 05:52 AMFloods are generally considered destructive but in some cases, overflowing rivers have the potential to create wetlands. These wetlands can serve as agreeable landscapes that turn resourceful due to the multiple functions it can host. The Kanwar Lake in Bihar is a striking example of this shared, altering landscapes.
![Red-naped Ibis at the Kanwar Lake (Source: Wikipedia)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/640px-red-naped_ibis_at_kanwar_lake.jpg?itok=UKrsV8Xk)
World Culture Festival: New panel contradicts report
Posted on 01 Aug, 2017 02:19 PMNo compaction of soil on the World Culture Festival site: New panel to NGT
![Front view of the giant stage under construction for the World Culture Festival. (Source: Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/lead_4_0_0_0.jpg?itok=p4ONBFcN)
Maharashtra wetlands face threat
Posted on 01 Aug, 2017 01:49 PMIllegal slums on Maharashtra mudflats cause loss to state
![Sewri mudflts in Mumbai (Source: IWP Flickr photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/33456608801_60dfe81e82_z_1.jpg?itok=98kMpFgJ)
Playing the soil health card
Posted on 01 Aug, 2017 11:49 AMDecades of skating over environmental concerns have clearly cost us dear. The folly of pursuing better crop yields using chemical fertilisers in an indiscriminate manner has been surfacing lately. “Decades of agricultural abuse using fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides have taken its toll on us.
![The electrical conductivity of a diluted soil sample is being tested as a measure of soil salinity. (Image:CSIRO, Wikimedia Commons; CC Attribution 3.0 Unported)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/csiro_scienceimage_1740_testing_soil_salinity.jpg?itok=ZsdGRNj9)
How a poor labourer became a rich farmer
Posted on 27 Jul, 2017 07:59 PMVasant Baburao Parkale, a 52-year-old farmer, has become a role model for many farmers in the drought-prone Marathwada region. His determination and the will to excel in life have helped him to transform his dreams into reality.
![Vasantrao Parkale (Source: India Water Portal)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/vasant_parkale_tp.jpg?itok=Voo-3kJd)
Only a few large dams have disaster plans: CAG report
Posted on 25 Jul, 2017 04:07 PMOut of 4,862 large dams in the country, only 349 have disaster plans in place: CAG report
![Floodwaters unsettle Muzaffarpur. (Source: IWP FLickr photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/2246719146_1b717bbdcf_z_1.jpg?itok=VFASvadh)
Wild species get extinct in Keoladeo
Posted on 20 Jul, 2017 08:23 PMOver a span of five decades, eight mammal species have become locally extinct in Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, a study has revealed.
![Habitat keeps changing in the park leading to local extinction of wild species. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/keoladeo.jpg?itok=iQ7HBn8O)
The Little Rann of Kutch
Posted on 19 Jul, 2017 03:13 PMHow often does one get to experience a terrain that is as dramatically transformative as The Little Rann of Kutch? With changing seasons, it adorns itself with different landscapes, thus, completely shifting shape, its functions and appeal.
![The Little Rann of Kutch (Image source: India Water Portal)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/rann_of_katch_small.jpg?itok=QhoK53I5)
Renuka raises crucial questions
Posted on 18 Jul, 2017 05:48 AMWhen I meet Puran Chand, an activist in the forefront of the anti-Renuka dam struggle, he dictates from the two much-thumbed pages of his notebook the several objections he has against the government’s plan for the rehabilitation of people displaced by the Renuka dam.
![The opening of the header tunnel for Renuka dam has already been constructed.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/renuka_cover.jpg?itok=E1yKx550)