Oceans and Coasts

MV River Princess Stranded for 10 years now, the grounded ship has been wreaking ecological havoc on Candolim beach in Goa

Indira Gandhi’s concerns about protecting the ecology of India’s coasts, which held sway for almost 20 years, are being subverted under a regime supervised by her daughter-in-law and grandson.

Content courtesy: Indian Meteorological Department

Mean annual temperature for the country as a whole during 2010 was +0.93 0C above the 1961-1990 average. It was slightly higher than that of the year 2009, thus making the year 2010 as the warmest year on record since 1901.

Considering different seasons, Pre-Monsoon season (March-May) in 2010 was the warmest since 1901 with mean temperature being 1.8 0C above normal

The annual total rainfall for the country as a whole was normal during the year 2010 with actual rainfall of 121.5 cm against the long period average (LPA) of 119.7 cm.

Article Courtesy: Press Information Bureau

The Minister of State for Environment & Forests, Independent Charge Shri Jairam Ramesh today issued the following statement in a Press Conference in New Delhi. In the Press Conference, he announced Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011 and Island Protection Zone (IPZ) Notification, 2011.

This working paper by the University of Bonn attempts to give a spatial and temporal overview of water management in India. It traces how people and the successive regimes made choices across space and time from a wide range of water control and distribution technologies. The paper divides the water management in India into four periods –

• the traditional system of water management before colonial times;
• response from the colonial rulers to manage the complex socio-ecological system;
• large scale surface water development after independence; and
• finally, the small-scale community and market-led revolution.

This report prepared by the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) provides an assessment of impact of climate change in 2030s on four key sectors of the Indian economy, namely agriculture, water, natural ecosystems & biodiversity and health in four climate sensitive regions of India, namely the Himalayan region, the Western Ghats, the Coastal Area and the North-East Region. This is the for the first time that such a comprehensive, long term assessment has been undertaken based on rigorous scientific analysis for the 2030s (all previous assessments were for the 2070s and beyond). 

The report by Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses is premised on the fact that India is facing a serious water resource problem and is expected to become 'water stressed' by 2025 and 'water scarce' by 2050. It raises fundamental questions about the forces driving water demand and the political dynamics of riparian relations, both in terms of hindrances and opportunities, amongst states in the subcontinent. Rivers, a crucial source of water resources, physically link upstream and downstream users and at the same time create barriers.

Lake Tahoe, seen here from Emerald Bay, was one of the primary validation sites for the global lake study. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Mizoram state has three types of (natural) lakes: valley lakes, tectonic/landslide lakes and artificial reservoirs, but the only lake of significance is Palak Dil, which is a natural lake in a depression in the hills. Palak Dil may possibly be a combination of valley and tectonic lakes. Locally in Mizoram, lakes are called dils. There are many such dils scattered all over the state, but they are tiny pools or marshy depressions such as Rengdil, Tamdil and Mampui Dil (Choudhury 2002). The Palak Lake is situated within the Mara Autonomous district Council, which is a region inhabited by the Mara Tribe. The Maras are distinct from the majority Mizos and in the Mara language the Palak Lake is referred to as Pala Tipa.

Climate Change

• India to release climate change report on Tuesday

 Environment

• India proposes a new emission check system
• Call for declaring soil as national resource: Soil Conservation Society of India

India Maritime Technology Conference 2011
Theme: "Sharpening India’s Sea Vision"