Sustainability

Reservoir sedimentation is often seen as a site-specific process and is usually assessed at an individual reservoir level. At the same time, it takes place everywhere in the world. However, estimates of storage losses globally are largely lacking.

Urban development in all forms impacts the natural landscape, changing vegetation cover, infiltration rates and hydrological (surface and sub-surface) flows. With increasing urbanization urban areas lose a host of natural infrastructure and ecosystem services as ecosystems are modified, degraded and/ or shrunk.

Sustainable management of surplus paddy residue in the Indo-Gangetic plain is a back-breaking task for farmers due to lack of viable options. Eventually, farmers prefer to incinerate it mindlessly.

On January 7, 2023 Joshimath city in Uttarakhand was declared a land subsidence zone. About 60 families have been moved to temporary relief centers from their houses that have become unlivable. Another 90 families are yet to be shifted to safer places. Joshimath city has a total of 4500 buildings out of which 610 have suffered major cracks.

As temperatures rise across India, so will the demand for cooling. Severe heat waves, responsible for thousands of deaths across India over the last few decades, are increasing with alarming frequency.

Policymakers in developing countries have long emphasised improvements in agricultural productivity as a central strategy for promoting rural development.

Climate change has become a major threat to agriculture and rural livelihoods and can lead to rural poverty and migration and cause overexploitation of natural resources such as water, land and forests informs this study titled 'Is crop diversification vulnerable to climate, agricultural and socio-economic facto

Jhum , a traditional land-use system in which a patch of the forest is utilised for agricultural cultivation for a few years and then shifted to a new site for the next cycle, has been widely practised in North East India (NEI) for years because it was found to be best suited for the climate and topography of the region. 

What was your water consumption today?

If I were to quickly calculate this, I would add up the litres of water I drank, the water I used up in cooking, washing, cleaning, and bathing; and quickly tell you that I used up around 80 litres of water. Your total would also be somewhere in the ballpark.

Rapid population growth is leading to land fragmentation and reducing the amount of cultivable land available to owners. This trend of declining land ownership combined with natural disasters is reducing the viability and sustainability of agriculture.