Traditional Water Harvesting
Rajasthan tackles drought through pokhars
Rajasthan's Karauli district has been reeling under droughts for the last four years. To tackle this, people of this region are reviving pokhar -- a 200-year-old traditional water harvesting system.
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Land Ownership
Land rights and ownership in Orissa: status report
This UNDP study focuses on the situation of land rights and ownership in Orissa. Provides concrete suggestions to improve access of the poor to land and highlights the need to arrest processes that are promoting land alienation.
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Migration
The impact of environmental degradation on migration flows across countries
This paper highlights the impact of environmental degradation on migration. Through a gravity regression model, it assesses the impact of thirteen global environmental factors on migration flows across 172 countries of the world.
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Malaria
World malaria report 2008
This report provides an overview of the global distribution of malaria cases and deaths and documents how control strategies recommended by WHO have been adopted and implemented in endemic countries.
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Development, displacement and resistance: The law and the policy on land acquisition
Peasants across India are opposing development projects which displaced them from their land, habitat, livelihood and environment. They are questioning the paradign of development itself which is so heavily loaded against them. The law on land acquisition is central to the understanding of this hostility to development.
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Global warming and its impact on India: standing committee on science & technology
The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests in its meeting held on 20th August, 2007, decided to take up for examination the aspects relating to Global Warming and its Impact on India and report thereon.
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Andhra Pradesh human development report 2007
This is the first Human Development Report of Andhra Pradesh. The state has several unique features-development of participatory institutions, innovative poverty alleviation programs, spectacular demographic transition, pursuit of
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National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: From rights to livelihoods
NREGA is the culmination of a long struggle by mass organizations on the issue of providing a minimum right to work. NREGA is clear on the fact that this right is available to all rural communities. To operationalize this Act, the state of poverty in different parts of the country was studied and to start with the worst affected districts were taken up.
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Status and potential of fisheries and aquaculture in Asia and the Pacific 2008
The Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC) is committed to acting as a regional consultative forum, providing its member countries, regional organizations and fisheries professionals in the region with the opportunity to review, discuss and decide on actions and challenges facing the region’s fisheries sector.
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Sodium chloride as an estimation indicator of ground waters pollutant load from land surfaces of coastal Karst
In order to estimate ground water pollutant load from land surfaces of coastal karstic basin, some ingredients of water, such as mol ratio of Na/Cl as permanent ingredients of wastewaters, have been used as indicators in this paper.
Ground water quality in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu along Noyyal river
The ground water quality in Coimbatore city along the Noyyal river during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons in 2005 is discussed in this paper. Water samples were collected from 12 wells on either side of the river.
Simultaneous determination of trace heavy metals in ambient aerosols
The simultaneous determination of heavy metals associated with airborne particulate matter in the atmosphere of the city of Isfahan (Iran) was performed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) after pre-concentration with sodium diethyldithiocarbamate.
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Impact of chlorination on the incidence of cancers and miscarriages in two different campus communities in India
Long-term impacts of drinking chlorinated water on the incidence of cancers and miscarriages were assessed in a population-based cross sectional study conducted in the two campus communities of IIT Kanpur (IITK) and IIT Kharagpur (IITKgp). IITK has been using untreated groundwater since the community was established in 1963, while IITKgp has been using chlorinated water for more than 30 years.
Tropical deforestation emission reduction mechanism (TDERM): a discussion paper
This paper presents an overview of issues related to the design of policies that aim to reduce emissions from deforestation in developing countries from within the international climate change regime. It concludes by presenting a proposal for a funding mechanism to effectively incentivise and reward efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation, principally in tropical developing countries.
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Climate, water, development: Asia adapts through new approaches and investments
Climate change is not just an environmental issue; and responding to climate change is not just about turning to more efficient energy technologies. Climate change is also an economic issue and the poverty-stricken Asia and Pacific region must learn to cope with it now and prepare for a future of more change.
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Recent mortality from pleural mesothelioma, historical patterns of asbestos use, and adoption of bans
In response to the health risks posed by asbestos exposure, some countries have imposed strict regulations and adopted bans, whereas other countries have intervened less and continue to use varying quantities of asbestos.
Tiruchirappalli shows the way
In most slum communities of South Asia, the sanitation situation is deplorable, healthy living is impossible and the disease burden is heavy, especially for women and children. Lack of basic sanitation and adequate water for bathing and washing clothes
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Recent mortality from pleural mesothelioma, historical patterns of asbestos use, and adoption of bans
In response to the health risks posed by asbestos exposure, some countries have imposed strict regulations and adopted bans, whereas other countries have intervened less and continue to use varying quantities of asbestos.
Respiratory cancer and inhaled inorganic arsenic in copper smelters workers
Inhalation of high levels of airborne inorganic arsenic is a recognized cause of respiratory cancer. Although multiple epidemiologic studies have demonstrated this association, there have been few analyses of the mathematical relationship between cumulative arsenic exposure and risk of respiratory cancer, and no assessment as to whether and how arsenic concentration may modify this association.
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Energy recovery from municipal solid waste in an anaerobic reactor
Anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste was carried out in the laboratory at room temperature to assess the bio-energy production from municipal solid waste (MSW) with high total solids content. The total biogas production from the municipal garbage was found to be 3.2 L in 120 days.
Bharatpur wetland: future desert?
The Keoladeo National Park (KNP), better known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, is one of the world’s most renowned wetlands, famous for its avifauna. But today KNP is facing a huge shortage of water. With a growing shortage of water and feed, the birds no longer find the Park suitable. (Correspondence)
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Rip-offsets: the failure of the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is supposed to catalyze climate-friendly projects in low-income countries by allowing developers to generate revenue by selling “carbon credits” or “offsets.” The offset buyers — industrialized country companies and governments — use the credits to show compliance with Kyoto Protocol-mandated emissions reductions.
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Low-carbon energy: a roadmap
The world is now in the early stages of an energy revolution that over the next few decades could be as momentous as the emergence of oil-and electricity-based economies a century ago. Double-digit market growth, annual capital flows of more than $100 billion, sharp declines in technology costs, and rapid progress in government policies all herald a promising new energy era.
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Establishing resilient marine protected area networks: making it happen
This guide helps us to better understand the role of MPAs and MPA networks at local and regional scales to achieve marine conservation. It utilizes current scientific knowledge, institutional experience and global case studies to outline the latest information pertaining to building resilient and functional MPA networks. It also highlights global commitments
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The impact of climate change on the Russian arctic and paths to solving the problem
This illustrated and compact brochure presents data on the impact of climate change in the Russian Arctic. The text compiles scientific observations, witness accounts from local residents, and data on current and foreseen damage due to climate change. Alas, the situation in the Arctic is alarming, and the forecasts are discouraging.
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A roadmap for a living planet
WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by: conserving the world’s biological diversity; ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable; promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
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A global financial architecture for climate change
A Global Financial Architecture for Climate Change (Global Financial Architecture) is needed to shift public and private finance and investment flows towards decoupling economic growth from increasing greenhouse gas emissions to a low carbon and
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A closing window of opportunity: global greenhouse reality 2008
Scientific evidence accumulating since the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report reveals that global warming is accelerating, at times far beyond projections outlined in earlier studies, including the latest IPCC Report. New modelling studies are providing updated and more detailed indications of the impacts of continued warming.
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Local politics, political institutions, and public resource allocation
This paper examines how political institutions and local power structures interact with and influence local public resource allocation in the Indian state of Karnataka. It use data from 80 village councils and 225 villages to examine how this local political economy influences the allocation of public resources. The empirical strategy exploits certain features of a policy that
Outside the cap: opportunities and limitations of greenhouse gas offsets
Carbon offset programs require the application of rigorous quantifi cation, verifi cation, and enforcement criteria in order to ensure that the integrity of greenhouse gas (GHG) caps is not compromised. Some types of climate change mitigation activities—especially those involving soil or forest carbon sequestration—are less likely to meet these criteria than others.
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Pakistan’s cotton and textile economy: intersectoral linkages and effects on rural and urban poverty
Pakistan's cotton, textile, and apparel industries are key sectors of the nation's economy; their performance can contribute to either a rise or fall in poverty.
Climate policies improve health
Health savings of up to 25 billion euro could be achieved every year in the European Union if stronger climate policies were implemented, says a new study.
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Good practices and lessons learned in integrating ecosystem conservation and poverty reduction objectives in wetlands
This study was driven by two objectives: to develop a framework and methodology for assessing the outcomes of conservation-poverty reduction initiatives and to apply it to such initiatives in wetlands to understand conditions and methods that can support the integration or balancing of ecosystem
Rapid turns in European renewable energy policy: advocacy and framing in the proposed trading of guarantees of origin
The EU has assumed ambitious targets and strategies for the promotion of renewable sources of energy (RES) binding to all its member states. This report examines the proposed EU-wide policy instrument designed to help achieve the targets on renewable electricity and heat - the trading of Guarantees of Origin
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Status of human-wildlife conflict and mitigation strategies in Marwahi forest division, Bilaspur Chhattisgarh
Marwahi forest division is well known for human-sloth bear conflict. Available forest cover is highly degraded, fragmented and interspersed with agricultural crop fields, and small townships. Data since 1990 onwards reveal 28 cases of human death by wild animals, comprising 13 men and 15 women. Except 2, all casualties were cased by sloth bear.
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Ozone: a threat to food security in South Asia
Current day concentrations of ground level ozone (O3) are commonly reducing crop yields by between 5 and 35 % at agriculturally important locations across South Asia. O3 induced economic crop losses could be in the region of $4 billion per annum for staple crops in South Asia; such losses are likely to impact more on poor and vulnerable people.
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Human-elephant conflict in the southern Western Ghats: A case study from the Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala
Human-elephant conflict in Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary and adjacent areas was studied based on observational methods during the year 1993 to 1996 as a part of project studying the large mammals in the sanctuary. Major animals engaged in crop damage were wild boar and elephant. The animals involved in crop damage were mainly lone males, in the case of elephants and most of the raids were at night.
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