'Uniqueness value of forest is irreplaceable'

October 2, 2019
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Environment
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Valuation of ecosystem is gaining ground.

A recent study by IIFM found that 10 select tiger reserves of the country provide economic benefits worth Rs 5.96 trillion. Globally, efforts are being made to assess the benefits of conservation on economy and various methods and formulas have been devised to evaluate these aspects. Critics, however, believe that ecosystem valuation can lead to commodification of nature and its sale to the highest bidder. We talk to Dr Madhu Verma, lead researcher of IIFM study and an expert in field of ecosystem valuation.


'हमने पानी का स्वभाव ही बदल दिया'

January 25, 2016
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Environment
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By: 
Vandana Gupta
वाराणसी में गंगा नदी. स्त्रोत: इंडिया वाटर पोर्टल

नदी का विज्ञानं क्या है और बढ़ते जल प्रदूषण , बाढ़ और सूखे के संदर्भ में यह कहाँ बैठता है? बता रहें हैं प्रसिद्ध पर्यावरणविद् और लेखक अनुपम मिश्र। यह व्यख्यान उन्होंने 28 नवंबर, 2015 को नई दिल्ली में जल नीति विशेषज्ञ स्व: रामास्वामी आर अय्यर की स्मृति में दिया । ‘सबको पानी’ के नारों से ले कर बड़ी वाटर वर्क्स की योजनाओं तक, अनुपम जी पानी से जुड़े सभी सामाजिक और राजनीतिक आयामों को छूते हुए नदी के अविरल स्वभाव को चित्रित करते हैं 


12% Indian land prone to landslides as climate change increases the risks

October 18, 2020
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Environment
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By: 
Manu Moudgil
Landslide during Uttarakhand disaster 2013. Diariocritico de Venezuela/Flickr

Besides heavy rainfall, human activities such as construction of roads, buildings and railways, mining and quarrying, and hydropower projects damage hilly slopes and impact natural drainage by removing soil and vegetation, loosening soil and gravel and making the hills more susceptible to landslides. In India, 420,000 sq km, or 12.6% of the total land, is landslide prone. Last year, 264 people died in landslides and over 65% of these fatalities happened in the Himalayas and the Western Ghats


A Generation in Peril. How Climate Crisis is Impacting Childhood

January 11, 2021
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Environment - Governance - Grassroots
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By: 
Satyaki Baidya

The impact of climate crisis on people across the world is highly disproportionate but no other group is as vulnerable as children in low income families of developing countries. Children are not emotionally and physically capable of understanding the dangers during extreme weather events and are dependent on adults for their survival. They are more susceptible to water and vector borne diseases, malnutrition and they are forced into labour due to economic challenges induced by climate crisis. 


A Rosetta Stone to environmental law

October 28, 2016
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Environment - Law
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Diversion of forest land is one of the biggest concerns for villagers dependent on forests.

This document is a valuable resource that comprises important legal changes and events of last three years with reference to previous laws. Written by well known practitioner Kanchi Kohli, the e-book lists down steps that can be taken to secure people’s rights over land, forests, water and biodiversity. And all this is explained through instances where common men and women explore the nitty gritties of environmental laws. So, we have Sarita tai worried about construction of railway line through a forest and Kavita who is intrigued by a company official asking for her village land to do compensatory afforestation for a distant project 


A decade on, India’s first solar park has many promises left to fulfil

March 19, 2022
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Environment - Grassroots
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By: 
Ravleen Kaur

10 years after the project came up, the villagers of Charanka, the project site, are still waiting for clean drinking water, free electricity, and irrigation. Against the promise of 1,000 permanent jobs, only 60 people in the village have been employed as security guards, grass cutters and for washing panels, with no scope for jobs for women, making families who did not have land or sons the worst victims of the solar park.


Anupam Mishra: The Gandhian I know

December 27, 2016
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Environment
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By: 
Manu Moudgil
Image Source: TED talks

Going by his fame, I had imagined somebody with people running around him, at least a couple of computers on display and cell phones caroling frequently. But here was a man working without a cellphone or a computer, surrounded by letters people wrote to him. A couple of wooden almirahs adorned with old postcards and images of famous personalities from Gandhi ji to Sunita Narain, stood in his room. Gandhi Marg, the bi-monthly periodical Anupam ji brought out, was another extension of his personality. It does exceptionally well to make Gandhian philosophy relevant for today’s world. 



Birds across India are going down, thanks to cities

April 12, 2020
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Environment
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By: 
Shreeti Shubham
Peacock is one bird species which is increasing. Source: Shiv's fotografia/Wikimedia Commons

Birds are declining significantly with 52 percent of species showing clear declines over the past decades, said a new report State of India’s birds 2020. The report analysed 867 bird species from over 10 million observations collected by over 15,500 birdwatchers across the country. It also identified 101 species with high conservation needs. The take-home message is that urbanisation is the biggest culprit behind avian decline. Most of our common birds like house sparrows and bulbuls are declining




Chennai gets another chance at waste management

July 11, 2016
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Environment
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By: 
P V Durga
A scene outside the ever-crowded Kottur Market in Chennai. Source: India Water Portal

The Chennai floods of December 2015 had little to do with nature’s fury and more about city’s flawed urban planning and decades of improper garbage management. Chennai generates between 4,500- 4,800 tonnes of waste every day, and about 1.8 million tonnes a year. However, the city seems to be learning its lessons pretty quickly, and the effort of some responsible citizens has culminated into the Plastic Waste Rules 2016, and the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016. These rules have, for the first time, recognised the informal sector as a big player in waste management. 



Deceived: The water carriers of Kangra

December 24, 2014
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Environment - Grassroots
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By: 
Manu Moudgil
The distance between community and its resource leads to disaster in the long run.

Man has always been on quest of building new things. Even when there were no big machines and qualified engineers, the world had expert builders who shaped the earth into various forms to meet needs of the society. Kuhls of Himachal Pradesh are one such example of engineering brilliance. Kuhl is name given to a channel which carries glacial melt through gravity from nearby streams to the fields thus making irrigation possible even on steep hills. Kangra valley has the most extensive network of kuhls dating as far back as 17th century.


Delhi's poor women and children most vulnerable to rising heat

August 20, 2021
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Environment
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By: 
Aarti Kelkar Khambete

Heat in Delhi is known to have a spatial distribution and is more in certain areas as compared to other. More focus on peripheral and vulnerable populations such as poor households and women and children, expansion of green spaces  and improved access to electricity among the vulnerable populations can go a long way in coping with the effects of rising heat in the city in the years to come.





Faith in the forest: How sacred groves function

August 15, 2018
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Environment
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By: 
Manu Moudgil
Such temples dedicated to local deities are spread all over pasture, forest lands of south Rajasthan.

With certain rules around extraction of resources, including ban on cutting of trees, these sacred groves contribute significantly to wildlife protection, soil conservation, groundwater recharge, and as a good source of herbs, fruits and other economic resources to local people. But practices around these spaces differ with location and may not always abide by the concept of unaltered, pristine state of forests. The contours tend to respond to the socio-cultural changes around them.