/topics/sustainability
Sustainability
Facing up to the water crisis
Posted on 24 Apr, 2020 11:58 AMThe conventional freshwater sources available in India are being currently overexploited, leading to widespread environmental degradation and depletion of freshwater resources especially groundwater. To sustain the needs of an increasing population and ecology, our consumption of water far exceeds the rate at which we are recharging water sources.
![Water conservation measures invariably have a positive effect on water quality and the environment (Image: Joel Bassuk / Oxfam; Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/water-conservation1.jpg?itok=vaef26TX)
Springing back to life
Posted on 20 Apr, 2020 11:45 PMSprings are the key source of water for rural households in Uttarakhand, yet they have seen an overall neglect over the decades with discharge from many springs declining bit by bit. The depletion of aquifers, changes in land use and ecological degradation have led to several initiatives to address springshed management in the state. We speak to Dr.
![Image: Flickr Commons](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/spring-himalayas_0.jpg?itok=SZ4ZTkQH)
We are all fools
Posted on 19 Apr, 2020 04:05 PMWhich industry has seen phenomenal growth since World War II? It is food. People have been encouraged to eat more and more as part of the general consumerist thrust to increase consumption. So, the moment people's incomes have gone up they have begun consuming more food along with other things. The economy can grow only if we consume more. This is why we also have to eat more.
![On January 31st 2020, the WHO declared the COVID 19 crisis to be a public health emergency of international concern. (Image: Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/covid1.jpg?itok=f5FdDP2W)
WASH in the times of COVID-19
Posted on 17 Apr, 2020 10:08 PMMaharashtra has the highest COVID-19 cases in the country and the government is taking a slew of measures to flatten the curve. We speak to Mr.
![Students handwashing with soap (Image: World Bank, Flickr Commons; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/handwashing-soap.jpg?itok=EGI_3QFB)
Covid-19: Implications for watershed management
Posted on 16 Apr, 2020 04:47 PMOver the last four decades, watershed management has emerged as one of the most decentralised, integrated, persisting, innovative and effective programs to enhance natural resources such as water, soil and the vegetative cover as well as to provide means of livelihood to marginalised sections in rural areas.
![COVID-19 has adversely affected this year's watershed management work (Image: ILO South Asia-Pacific; Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/watershed1.jpg?itok=Lq6BFhAH)
Health Ministry advises states to ensure adequate water supply in rural areas
Posted on 16 Apr, 2020 11:37 AMCentre advises states to ensure adequate water supply in rural areas during lockdown
![Villagers collecting borewell water from a private farmland (Source: IWP Flickr photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/5702254451_53f0088bec_c.jpg?itok=s8z3Lq4l)
Lockdown to cause severe water stress in summers
Posted on 16 Apr, 2020 11:27 AMSummer of 2020 could suffer from severe water stress due to lockdown
![Women bringing water from distance sources in summers (Source: IWP Flickr photos))](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/32874642685_ffc62064ca_c.jpg?itok=XqDpTuRg)
From policy to practice: Can National Water Policy 2020 bridge the gap?
Posted on 11 Apr, 2020 07:46 PMThe way water as a resource has been viewed in the policies of India has evolved significantly over the years. Reduction in per capita availability over the years (5177 to 1463 cubic metres between 1950-2015) has forced every new policy to change the way it has approached its management. It was considered an economic commodity in the second National Water Policy (NWP) drafted in 2002.
![Women extracting water from the riverbed, Gaya (Image: ICIMOD/ Prasanta Biswas; Flickr Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/women_extracting_water_from_the_river-wa.jpg?itok=bloLlW_5)
Combating Covid-19 collectively: DHAN’s way
Posted on 10 Apr, 2020 12:21 PMAs the Covid-19 pandemic reaches new corners of the country, the NGO community in India has been preparing itself to respond to the unexpected needs that the crisis is producing. DHAN Foundation, a professional development organisation working in several states of India with the communities has begun to develop a strategy.
![Creating awareness about the pandemic as well as about the measures essential to be safe (Image: DHAN Foundation)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/corona1.jpg?itok=CrCV9eE2)
Advisory on how to prevent Covid-19
Posted on 02 Apr, 2020 06:50 PMCOVID-19 (novel coronavirus disease), an acute respiratory disease emerged in late 2019 and has been spreading rapidly across the globe. The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic. It is marked by respiratory problems that are usually mild (coughing, fever) but can be severe (pneumonia, trouble breathing).
![The fear is that Covid-19 would almost certainly spread within communities in India, just as it had started to do in Italy, South Korea, and Iran. (Image: Trinity Care Foundation)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/covid-faq1.jpg?itok=41VB9Eag)