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Ecology and Environment
Seeds of Hope – Agriculture and Food Security - A Lokayan and Planning Commission study
Posted on 05 Sep, 2010 10:37 PMThis set of case studies is a part of a book prepared by Lokayan in collaboration with the Planning Commission titled “Seeds of Hope", covering themes of agriculture, biodiversity, education, forestry, governance, health, movements and water. The case studies related to agriculture and food security are summarised below:
Transparency demanded in a letter to Jairam Ramesh on Polavaram Project - Himanshu Thakkar
Posted on 04 Sep, 2010 10:43 AMFrom:
Himanshu Thakkar
South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People,
c/o 86-D, AD block, Shalimar Bagh,
Delhi,
To: Shri Jairam Ramesh
Union Minister of State for Env and Forests (IC), New Delhi
Respected Sir,
I have just seen your letter dated Aug 18, 2010 to Orissa Chief Minister on the aboves subject, uploaded yesterday on MEF website.
- Your letter says that the Forest Clearance has been given to the Polavaram Project on July 28, 2010 is subject to the condition, "... no submergence and displacement of people including STs take place in Orissa and Chhattisgarh...". However, this condition is in complete contradiction with the environment clearance given by your ministry on Oct 25, 2005, which says in para 2, "Total 1,93,35 persons are likely to be affected by this project, out of that 1,75,275 persons in Andhra Pradesh and 6,316 persons from Orissa and 11,766 are from Chattisgarh." It is clear the condition of no submergence and displacement on Orissa and Chhattisgarh, stated in your letter, in the Tribal Development Ministry's condition, and in the forest clearance letter is in complete contradiction with the environment clearance given by you. One of them have to be cancelled due to this contradiction, we would like to know, which one would be cancelled.
13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC), Hyderabad
Posted on 03 Sep, 2010 03:41 PM13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC)
Theme: "Sustaining Commons: Sustaining Our Future"
Organizers:
- International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC)
- Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
Venue: Hyderabad, India.
Description:
The 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) will be held in Hyderabad, India from January 10th to 14th, 2011. The Conference is being held in South Asia for the first time; and in a departure from the past, will be hosted by a practitioner organization - Foundation for Ecological Security (FES).
Movie reviews from 'Voices from the Waters 2010' film festival held in Bangalore
Posted on 28 Aug, 2010 08:58 AMReviews of some of the movies screened -
“Be water, My friend”
This UNESCO funded film, “Be water, My friend” tracks the research of Professor Gordon Lightgoot, an expert on ancient water monuments as he tries to understand and rectify the alarming drying up of Karez’s in northern Iragi region of Kurdistan.
Environmental flows in river basins: A case study of river Bhadra - Current Science
Posted on 26 Aug, 2010 12:50 PMThe quantity and seasonality of water flow in a river may greatly change from its normal condition between a major storage and downstream, thus paving the way for drastic changes in the riverine ecosystem. ‘Environmental flow’ refers to the amount of water considered sufficient for protecting the structure and function of an ecosystem and its dependent species.
The paper goes on to describe the case of river Bhadra, which is the site of a dam that has significantly altered the natural flow of the river and describes the study that aimed at conducting the environment flow analysis of the river.
Pani Panchayat: A model of groundwater management – A presentation by ACWADAM
Posted on 25 Aug, 2010 08:20 AMThe presentation by ACWADAM deals with Pani Panchayats as a model of groundwater management.
Pani Panchayat is the name first given to a movement by Mr. Vilasrao Salunke for motivating farmers of Naigaon village of the drought-prone Purandhar taluka of Maharashtra in 1974. The government's inability to deal with the drought situation prompted him to take a 40 acre land on lease from the village temple trust and develop a recharge pond in the recharge area of the village, a dug well in the discharge zone and a lift irrigation system.
Farmers got impressed with the results demanding a scale up of the experiment leading to the setting up of Gram Gaurav Pratisthan (GGP) through which the work was expanded to encompass both groundwater and surface water management.
Odisha Drought Update- Aug 13-20, 2010
Posted on 24 Aug, 2010 03:00 PM News from Odia and English (Bhubaneswar internet editions) news papers are put together at one place to provide an appreciation of Drought in Orissa periodically.
This Drought Update is being circulated among media, decision makers – legislatures, bureaucrats etc. with an aim to catalyze informed and expeditious decisions and actions.
Remote sensing and census based assessment and scope for improvement of rice and wheat water productivity in the Indo-Gangetic basin - A working paper by Challenge Program on Water and Food
Posted on 22 Aug, 2010 04:48 PMThis paper by the Challenge Programme for Water and Food (CPWF) presents a simplified approach to combine remote sensing, census and weather data to analyze basin rice and wheat water productivity (WP) in Indo-Gangetic river basin, South Asia. It presents an innovative approach to combine meteorological data, ground survey, national census with remotely sensed imagery to assess water use, yield, and finally crop water productivity for the Indo-Gangetic rice-wheat cropping system in South Asia.
Inviting public opinion on Western Ghats ecology - Ministry of Environment and Forests (Government of India)
Posted on 22 Aug, 2010 01:41 PM
How would we judge ecological sensitivity? Scientists view an ecologically sensitive area as an area whose ecological balance, once disturbed, is very hard to restore. Thus, steep Western slopes of Western Ghats, subject to heavy rains and winds, if deforested, are likely to be quickly stripped of soil cover and for ever lose their pristine vegetation. We do have a scientific understanding of the environmental attributes that render areas more sensitive; we also have insights into processes that have resulted in irreversible ecological damage.
Water, climate change and adaptation: Focus on the Ganges river basin - A working paper by Challenge Program on Water and Food
Posted on 18 Aug, 2010 11:11 PMThis working paper by the Challenge Program for Water and Food explores the intersection between water management, climate change, and adaptation in the Ganges River system, a basin vital to the security, economy, and environment of South Asia.
Recognizing that an understanding of both the science and the policy of water management, climate change, and adaptation is rapidly evolving, it is not the intention of the paper to encompass all the issues related to these broad fields, but rather to provide a starting framework from which to further develop research questions and priorities for work in water and adaptation.