Sustainability

Organizer:  Indian Council for Agricultural Research

Venue: Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Santoshnagar, Hyderabad

Guest Post by: Parineeta Dandekar

At the first sight, Daarche Paani (‘water at the doors’) appears unreal.. on a small flat plateau called ‘Sadaa’ in konkan, an elegant cobbled walkway leads a puzzled visitor to stairs carved in stone, which go down to an ancient grove, and here is an intricate system of tanks, channels and falls which supplies water to the Panderi village and goes down as a free flowing stream, to irrigate a plantation of arecanut, pepper and mangoes in a village called Gudaghe. When I visited the place, I could see three eminent visitors, a silent lady washing her load of clothes, a fairy bluebird splashing at a tank and a huge moonmoth in one of the trees.

Stone walkway and ancient mango trees leading to Daarche Paani.
Photo: Parineeta Dandekar

Organizer: Bhoomi Network for Sustainable Living

Venue: St. John's Auditorium, Koramangala, Bangalore

The 24^th National Convention of Institution of Public Health Engineers (India) on the theme “Water & Sanitation Utility Services in India and their health implications” will be organised by IPHE(I), Regional Centre, Bhubaneswar during 12^th -13^th  February,2011.

Dear all,

IUCN, with Zoo Outreach Organisation, have today published a new report, 'The status and distribution of freshwater biodiversity in the Eastern Himalaya', which is available online here

India’s Groundwater Challenge and the Way Forward
P S Vijay Shankar , Himanshu Kulkarni , Sunderrajan Krishnan

The groundwater crisis is acquiring alarming proportions in many parts of the country. Strategies to respond to groundwater overuse and deteriorating water quality must be based on a new approach involving typologising the resource problems and redefining the institutional structure governing groundwater. This approach is based on the notion of groundwater as common property.

The scarcity value of natural resources has risen due to rising pressure of human population and demands made by modern economics progress. As such managing these resources has become very important.

The three booklets discuss the issues of water quality, river pollution, and rainwater harvesting, in detail.

Forwarded to the portal by: Rohit Rellan

The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) seeks to recognize creative excellence in communicating sustainability.

These are the country’s first ‘green’ awards for communication.

Any communication that highlights the ‘green’ nature of a product, service or corporate philosophy is covered by this award. This would include communication about anything organic, eco-friendly, power-efficient, energy-saving, pollution-controlling, recyclable, reusable and generally something that offers a positioning as not just the custodian of a brand but also a custodian of Brand Earth.

Dr Rupela in his keynote address to the organic farming association of India does mention SRI along with several other desirable practices for a 'cool' or climate friendly agriculture. Some of us met him recently at the national workshop. Let us hope this article and his work will inspire many more researchers to work closely with farmers on sustainable agriculture.