Ecology and Environment

From Rohini Nilekani's "Uncommon Ground" column in Livemint

As always, the monsoon may or may not come in time and in adequate quantity across the country. As always, again, people who live in the dry areas of the country, especially in the western desert districts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, with less than 250mm of average annual rainfall, will have to cope with scarcity, as they do year on year. Last week, I was in the Kutch region, on work, with soaring temperatures and no promise of rain despite an unusual cloud cover. We travelled a couple of hundred kilometres in the clay desert, despairing at the spread of Prosopis juliflora which—like so many other foreign species brought in by the forest department with all good intentions—has now overpowered large tracts of the countryscape, to the detriment of useful, hardy local species. We also marvelled at the raw beauty of the dry landscape, which yielded sudden delights such as a male nilgai in his prime and slender green bee-eaters diving gracefully in search of prey. Arid districts such as Kutch in Gujarat, and Barmer and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan mainly have livestock economies and it is not unusual to see thousands of animals—goats, cows, sheep, buffaloes and camels—moving amiably along in search of the next watering hole. It seems counter-intuitive that areas with such low rainfall should provide neighbouring states with meat and milk. IWMI (the International Water Management Institute) has done unique research to show how there is a massive export of virtual water from dry regions to wet through the sale of these products, leaving open some interesting questions on policy.

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Ladakh Ecological Development Group(LEDeG) in collaboration with Bremen Overseas Research and Development Agency(BORDA) has been promoting environmentally friendly Decentralized Renewable Energy Systems (DERES) for the last 20 years in the Western Himalaya.

Purpose of the postUnder the general supervision of the Water & Environment Specialist, and in collaboration with the Emergency Unit, and other sector emergency focal points in UNICEF Delhi, the position provides technical and programmatic expertise and support for WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) in Emergencies to the Child’s Environment

A sharing workshop on groundwater organised by ACWADAM (Advanced Center for Water Development and Management) in Pune on 21/22nd May 2009 saw some very good presentations being made. Dr Tushaar's Shah's keynote speech provided an amazing big picture of groundwater use in agriculture. The presentation can be viewed on slideshare and the entire speech is available on YouTube in 4 parts.

Image and Content Courtesy:ESG India This workshop for teachers organized at the ESG Office, from 9th, to11th July 2009will provide the opportunity to find new skills and share what has worked and what needs to change. This is a workshop for enthusiastic teachers, and coordinators and facilitators of education programmes with a passion for educating and motivating kids. It aims to help young professionals develop their skills and knowledge so they can inspire children and others more effectively.

The purpose of the workshop is to demonstrate to the teachers and educators how the outdoors can be utilized to introduce, strengthen, and emphasize concepts of the environmental education curriculum. Through classroom sessions, games and field studies, we will explore the curriculum, teaching techniques, and classroom activities that can help kids learn about the wonders of nature and their environment. During the workshop we will help identify some simple methods and techniques for teaching environmental education in the outdoors and the workshop will also familiarize the participants with some of the environmental issues of Bengaluru.

Image and Content Courtesy: Water Alternatives (WaA)

Report of steering committee on drinking water supply and sanitation for tenth five year plan

The ninth compendium of environment statistics 2007, brought out by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), provides data on five core parameters - land/soil, water, bio-diversity, atmosphere and human settlements. These statistics can be used to understand various aspects of the environment, and to explain the impact of economic activities on sustainable development as a whole and the environment in particular.