/topics/sustainability
Sustainability
Managing commons: Need and challenges
Posted on 06 Feb, 2020 07:17 PMCommon pool resources, popularly known as “commons”, are those resources which are accessible to the whole community or village and to which no individual has exclusive ownership or property rights. Commons have two essential characteristics: non-excludability and high-subtractability.
![Plantation in Gomala (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/plantation_in_gomala_1.jpg?itok=GlBcRaZ1)
Banning RO purifier use when water conforms to BIS norms - Comments invited
Posted on 06 Feb, 2020 05:18 PMThe use of reverse osmosis (RO) purifiers has become a contentious issue, mainly because of the amount of water that is wasted following its use.
![Water filter use, safety or luxury? (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/chennaiw_0.jpg?itok=8WiJA3Tk)
Mountain women bear the brunt of climate change
Posted on 01 Feb, 2020 09:02 AMClimate change impacts are disproportionate and influence lives and livelihoods variedly. One crucial determinant of these disproportionate impacts is gender. Existing social norms determine roles and responsibilities, entitlements and capabilities, thereby influencing the individual perceptions of shocks and susceptibility which vary across gender groups.
![Women stand to be highly vulnerable in most cases to the changes in the climate and its extremes. (Image: Bo Nielson, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/women_farmer.jpg?itok=lkWpDUAX)
Rubber monoculture: Death knell for agrobiodiversity
Posted on 29 Jan, 2020 04:44 PMPeople tend to be happier and reinvigorated in green spaces. Agrobiodiversity - the number and abundance of different species in particular systems is known to promote happiness. It ensures the resilience of ecosystem services such as food production, climate regulation, and pest management that in turn underpin human wellbeing.
![Tripura had the highest rate of growth of rubber plantation during the first decade of the millennium as compared to any other state (Image: Flickr Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/rubber.jpg?itok=dxObko2Q)
Climatic shocks wreak havoc on the Mahanadi delta
Posted on 24 Jan, 2020 05:06 PMThe Mahanadi delta in Odisha is a composite delta fed by water, sediments and nutrients from a network of three major rivers: Mahanadi, Brahmani and Baitarini. The coastline of the delta is approximately 200 km long, extending from the Chilika lagoon in the south to the Dhamara river in the north.
![The people living in the Mahanadi delta are forced to cope with frequent disasters, but recent progress in warnings, evacuation and shelters seems to have reduced losses. Urban areas in the delta are expanding and there is rural to urban migration which can be expected to continue. These urban areas will have important implications for the future of the delta. (Image: Helmer, Flickr Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/delta.jpg?itok=c0P4wLKa)
Neeru and the Nilgiris
Posted on 24 Jan, 2020 11:36 AMLocally called Neeru, water of the Nilgiris in its springs and wetlands has been the fountainhead for two main rivers systems of South India. Today, with growing anthropogenic influences, there is a water crisis in the hills that needs our attention more than ever before.
![A view of the Nilgiris (Image credits: Golkul Halan)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/neeru_1.jpg?itok=t5jynk64)
India’s food systems in transition
Posted on 22 Jan, 2020 11:45 AMA recent book ‘Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India’ by the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) at Cornell University provides a detailed assessment of the major paradoxes of the Indian growth story.
![Organic food (Image: P L Tandon, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/organic_food-pltandon.jpg?itok=weI4vp5M)
A climate change wake-up call
Posted on 21 Jan, 2020 06:53 AMA new McKinsey Global Institute report, ‘Climate risk and response: Physical hazards and socioeconomic impacts’, suggests that many assumptions about the pote
![Heat-exposed work has produced about half of India’s GDP, and employs about 75 percent of the labor force. There will be a need to shift working hours for outdoor workers and undertake heat management efforts (Image: Ian D Keating, Flickr Commons, CC BY 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/heat.jpg?itok=aBbN-7hC)
The Karnataka State Water Policy 2019
Posted on 20 Jan, 2020 11:42 AMThe water crisis in Karnataka has not only led to severe agrarian distress in the eastern plains region but also created an acute shortage of domestic water, in both rural and urban areas. The 21st century has seen significant changes in demography, economy and agriculture, increasing the demand for water in the state.
![Groundwater depletion, a growing challenge (Image Source: India Water Portal)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/open_well_9.jpg?itok=Pi7mluEC)
Can ruin of quality forests be made up by plantations?
Posted on 18 Jan, 2020 04:49 PMThe recently released biennial State of India’s Forest Report 2019 (SFR) indicates an improvement in forest cover since 2017 but dense forests continue to turn into non-forests.
![Chir pine trees felled by forest fires in Uttarakhand, 2016 (Image: Ramwik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/ramwik.jpg?itok=eW9-8MkI)