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Is Water Really Scarce?

Posted by Rajat Bansal on February 11, 2010 at 6:11am

Is Water Really Scarce?

Answer to my question may seem to be very obvious i.e. "YES", however i have contradictions to this. According to my best of the knoweledge water will never be scarce on our planet.

We often mistake water with fresh water. I agree that fresh water (aquifers, rivers, glaciers) is depleting at a very rapid pace and the graph is ever surging. This is due to our rapid civilization, industrialization, population growth and lower mortality rate. But the water itself is not losing its characterstics, it is in a different physical form that is not suitable for human use. Our hydrological cycle is still into existence but our earth is not able to seep that water due to concrete blanket over it. This water thus overflows into nalas then to rivers and ultimately mixes with marine water.

Since inception of mankind, we have taken water as granted and have believed that water is available free in nature.

Purifying any form of water to drinking form, cost some energy and that is what takes on our pocket.

I strongly believe that the real problem is NOT WATER BUT ENERGY.

Comments and suggestions invited.

RAjat Bansal

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Public Consultation & Presentation

Posted by Rohan V. Kale on February 10, 2010 at 12:01pm

Dear Friends,

My self Rohan i am doing PGD in Environmental Science, i need information about Public Consultation & Presentation for my project purpose so please help me what is this topic is actually what it contains.

thanx & Regards,

Rohan Kale

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Guidance in evaluating Hydrocarbon product (Automobile lubricants etc.) penetration and consumption pattern in Water and Soil.

Posted by Hidam Tonsana on February 9, 2010 at 2:41pm
Dear All,

I have uploaded a brief info (as a blog in http://www.paryavaran.com/profiles/blogs/change-in-water-quality-due-to) earlier in my profile regarding the said topic. With the help of this forum I want to seek guidance from the experts and professionals to throw some light on some of my queries:

  1. How hydrocarbon products (such as Automobile lubricants etc.) penetrate in the soil?
  2. What are the possible patterns and factors involved?
  3. Has there been any studies carried out in relation to this topic?

Regards

H. Tonsana
http://tonsana.blogspot.com/
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The jam and jelly made of ‘Mohua’ flower.

Posted by KANNA KUMAR SIRIPURAPU on February 9, 2010 at 12:56am

BHUBANESWAR: Mohua, a prominent forest produce, is generally known for its usage in manufacturing of traditional liquor. But, it is all set to serve breakfast tables after its transformation into yummy jam and jelly.

Guess who are processing it into jam and jelly? Women members of remote forest villages in Nayagarh district have taken the lead. Hundreds of visitors at the ongoing tribal fair here are halting for a moment in front of the stall selling jam and jelly made of ‘mohua’ and taken note of the product. Mahua’ has been a very popular non-timber forest produce among tribals of Orissa since time immemorial. It is a deciduous tree found both in forest as well as non-forest areas in all parts of the State. In fact it is common throughout central India-Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.


“Mohua’ cannot be kept for long duration for which it never fetches its actual value in the market. We made little technological intervention by removing stigma part of ‘mohua’ flower which is causing bitter smell. Then dried ‘mohua’ is altered to paste. After addition of preservatives, the jam and jelly are ready for consumption,”. “Sagadbhanga and Gocchabari are two villages located in the fringe of Baisipalli Wildllife Sanctuary in Nayagarh district where the experiment is carried and 10 kg of dried ‘mahua’ has been processed into delicious ‘mohua’ jam and jelly,” says Sweta Mishra, programme officer of Vasundhara. Now the women groups have come together to form a cooperative called ‘Ma Panthei Mahila Cooperative’ to have collective procurement and trading of the forest produce.


http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/08/stories/2010020855300300.htm

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Executive Summary of Inventorization of Green House Gases – Sources and Sinks in Delhi

Posted by Samraj Sahay on January 29, 2010 at 11:55pm
http://www.delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/5fa00f80410c7d319880fa579a6b604f/Executive+Summary.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=5fa00f80410c7d319880fa579a6b604fThis is an summary of my work on inventorisation of greenhouse gases in Delhi, India.The report recently got published on the Delhi Government site which had sponsored the project.I,on behalf of CEMDE,DU, successfully carried the research from different source sectors of Delhi.Its USP:Carbon Map of Delhi!
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I-Tracker - a new initiative by the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance

Posted by KANNA KUMAR SIRIPURAPU on January 28, 2010 at 5:18am
You may be interested in a new initiative by the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance that is developing new tools to support Indigenous management of land and sea country – including formally designated Indigenous Protected Areas.I-Tracker uses the renowned and free Cyber Tracker software (www.cybertracker..org) on rugged handheld PDAs. It provides for electronic user friendly, customisable data collection in the field and data download and management and GIS analysis capacity in the office. It is being taken up enthusiastically by the growing workforce of Indigenous Rangers across north Australia.Our I-Tracker website is at http://www.nailsma.org.au/projects/i-tracker.html and a video on the Djelk Rangers using I-Tracker can be seen at http://www.nailsma.org.au/projects/nailsma/itracker_whos_involved.html.A report on the recent review of I-Tracker can be downloaded from http://www.nailsma.org.au/publications/itracker_report.htmlWe welcome hearing from anyone with similar experience and particularly Indigenous groups who have similar interests in monitoring tools and are interested in sharing learnings.If you would like to know more about NAILSMA and its other programs please start with a visit to our website - www.nailsma.org.au.RegardsDr Rod KennettSaltwater Country ManagementNorth Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management AllianceTel:+61 8 (08) 8946 6271Fax:+61 8 (08) 8946 6388Email:Rod.Kennett@cdu.edu.auAddress:NAILSMAPurple 12.3.27Charles Darwin UniversityDarwin NT 0909
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EIA process - India

Posted by RAGHAVA on January 24, 2010 at 7:08am
The new EIA process in Indiaexact opinion behind EIA scoping is still unknown. We apply for Terms of Reference along with project details to appraise the project and provide a comprehensive terms of reference for carring out EIA studies. But, it was observed that irrespective of the project / pollution potential etc the terms of reference issued by the Committee remains same. How can this be justified.if this is so then why call the project proponent to appraise the project and spoil their time and money. rather the TOR can be issued even without calling them to a meeting
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NOBEL FOR LIN OSTROM: Are Indian policy makers listening?

Posted by Prakash Kashwan on January 3, 2010 at 9:10am
Prof. Elinor Ostrom, one of the two laureates chosen for this year's Economics Nobel Prize, has devoted her life to dismantling prevailing orthodoxies and disciplinary boundaries. A number of these orthodoxies pertain to ideas of 'development', with which India is now grappling. Therefore, this is an apt moment to pause and reflect upon the development paths we have chosen, in light of Elinor Ostrom's work.Lin, as the professor is fondly known among her colleagues, built upon and took to new heights the contributions made by her senior colleague and husband Vincent Ostrom. Vincent has pursued the philosophical challenge posed by Alexander Hamilton, i.e. "whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice". Lin has gone further with this question, and has attempted to understand and explain, "How can fallible human beings achieve and sustain self-governing entities and self-governing ways of life?"At the University of California in 1965, for her doctoral research, Lin Ostrom studied efforts to halt the intrusion of saltwater into a groundwater basin within the Los Angeles metropolitan area. She concluded that the success of these efforts was founded on cooperation among citizens who deliberated, bargained, and made constructive use of a variety of institutional arenas.Lin's view was - and is - contrary to the conventional wisdom aptly captured in the Tragedy of Commons thesis propounded by biologist Garrett Hardin. Hardin had argued that the resources held in common were doomed to a tragic downward spiral of degradation as each individual within the community would attempt to maximise his or her gains at the cost of the resource, and even the other members of the community. Lin's findings from the Los Angeles study showed otherwise, that the community could evolve institutions to manage its resources successfully.The metaphor of this Tragedy of Commons has been conveniently exploited by those who advocated either blanket privatisation on the one hand, or unencumbered state control on the other hand over natural resources such as forests, water, and village grazing lands. Thus, Lin's work has provided counter-arguments to both agendas. In the 1990 book Governing the Commons, Lin argued that either privatisation or the leviathan - a strong state - were not the only choices, insisting that under certain conditions, local communities could successfully overcome the challenge of managing their commons by crafting appropriate rules and conventions.However, Lin cautions that her work should not be taken to mean that communities will succeed no matter what. Successful governance arrangements are often characterised by cooperation at several scales, at times involving institutions such as judiciary, and democratic arrangements for policy formulation and implementation. In her recent work, Lin argues against applying her findings too broadly, for instance, to advocate decentralization as a cure for every ill plaguing a society. Thus policies and programs that romanticise either the state control of resources, a mere hand-over of natural resources to local community groups have little chance of success in the long run.Similarly, centralized programs of so-called partnership between the government and local leaders not accountable to the larger community, such as the much talked about "Joint Forest Management" in India, are also simplistic. Instead, what is required is a nuanced and deliberative process of arriving at governance arrangements that are informed of local realities and address the interests of different concerned groups.Lessons for IndiansIndia has had a long tradition of community-based conservation of land, water, and forest resources. For instance, hundreds of community groups in Orissa, Gujarat, and Uttarakhand have protected the village forests despite lack of incentives and virtually no cooperation from the forest department. A large majority of Indians still rely on Common Pool Resources (which may not always be managed under a Common Property Regime) such as water, forests, and grazing land. Add to this the tradition in several parts of our country where post-harvests, even privately owned agriculture fields turn into commons. Moreover, the reliance on commons is not merely of income, as is often argued inadequately. It is essential for the very survival of sections within rural and tribal communities. For us Indians, the reliance on commons is a question of human development as well as environment conservation.Indians also have rich intellectual traditions that offer the norms and conventions that should guide the conduct of our societal affairs. Unfortunately, members of what is sometimes referred to as the "call-center generation", which is fast occupying the role of opinion-makers in our society, don't appreciate these nuances. They fall for simplistic but gratifying quick-fix solutions. Protect all remaining forests at any cost; plant large number of trees every June 5th; deal militarily with the dissent in tribal areas; and so forth.This is precisely where Lin's work, often summed up as an exercise in evolving a craft of association, may come handy. How do the Delhiites think of their 'association' with the tribals in Dediapada? Such reflection is a pre-requisite for dealing with the challenges we face in devising systems of governance that do justice to our social, cultural and geographic diversity. Moreover, the commons are not just about local forests and local association, particularly in this era where the whole environmental discourse is defined by climate change an issue that is about development as much as it is about environment. Local lessons and domestic sensitivities should play a vital role in defining our position at the global negotiating table too.Finally, it is pertinent to consider the kind of scholarship that Lin and her colleagues from around the world practice. It involves combining theoretical insights from different fields through a variety of research methods, something that is underlined by the awarding of the Economics Nobel Prize to Lin, a Political Scientist, who works in the mould of a Political Economist. Moreover, she has and continues to work with Mathematicians, Computer Scientists, Biologists, Geographers, Foresters, and Anthropologists, to name a few.Given that building the academic and research institutions should be India's top priorities, we should meticulously work on encouraging interdisciplinary work among scholars from around the country. This may help us nurture not only scholars but citizens who appreciate the nuanced deliberations required for finding humble solutions to challenges that seem daunting. ⊕Prakash Kashwan03 Nov 2009Prakash Kashwan author is one of Prof. Ostrom's doctoral students at the School of Public & Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington. He is currently working on his dissertation research on questions of forest rights and forest conservation in India.Originally published at India Together.Portions of this article were first discussed here.
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AnyWhere Solar Lighting Kit

Posted by KANNA KUMAR SIRIPURAPU on December 24, 2009 at 6:00am
The AnyWhere Solar Lighting Kit is a revolutionary new weather proof solar lighting product developed for use in off grid Solar lighting applications. The AnyWhere Solar Lighting Kit has built in Energy storage and management which eliminates the need for a separate battery and controller in a solar home system installation.http://www.secbattery.com/sec_industrial_battery_company/products_and_services/3,1,312,17,27769.html?
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Growing strawberry in the tribal-dominated area - Hillarious!!

Posted by KANNA KUMAR SIRIPURAPU on December 21, 2009 at 6:30am
This is a funny initiative taken up by the mining giant Vedanta under its Corporate Social Responsibility programme, I find it very hilarious for the facts that, first it is an exotic species, secondly the communities have no control over its market, thirdly it will effect the local food crops, and what about the propagation of this? Do the communities have the nursery and other facilities and having known the impacts of introduction of exotics (animals and plants) how far do you recommend the introduction of an exotic species like this in ecologically sensitive areas like forests!!!! can some one tell me this. Please read the article in which this initiative was shown in a very colourful way. This is my view would like to know your perspective too.. Thank you.http://kalingatimes.com/business_news/news2/20090110_Farmers_grow_strawberry_in_Kalahandi_district.htm
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India has a Eco-Label, really?

Posted by KANNA KUMAR SIRIPURAPU on December 1, 2009 at 2:30am
To increase consumer awareness, the Government of India launched the eco-labelling scheme known as `Ecomark’ in 1991 for easy identification of environment-friendly products. Any product which is made, used or disposed of in a way that significantly reduces the harm it would otherwise cause the environment could be considered as Environment-Friendly Product.-Santhosh Ramdoss.http://envfor.nic.in/cpcb/ecomark/
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Change in water quality due to Automotive Lubricants penetration

Posted by Hidam Tonsana on November 23, 2009 at 8:21am
Water quality is the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water. The most common standards used to assess water quality relate to drinking water, safety of human contact and for the health of ecosystems. The parameters for water quality are determined by the intended use. Work in the area of water quality tends to be focused on water that is treated for human consumption or in the environment.Environmental water quality, also called ambient water quality, relates to water bodies such as lakes, rivers, and oceans. Water quality standards vary significantly due to different environmental conditions, ecosystems, and intended human uses.Some people use water purification technology to remove contaminants from the municipal water supply they get in their homes, or from local pumps or bodies of water. For people who get water from a local stream, lake, or aquifer (well), their drinking water is not filtered by the local government.A lubricant (sometimes referred to as "lube") is a substance (often a liquid) introduced between two moving surfaces to reduce the friction between them, improving efficiency and reducing wear. They may also have the function of dissolving or transporting foreign particles and of distributing heat.One of the single largest applications for lubricants, in the form of motor oil, is to protect the internal combustion engines in motor vehicles and powered equipment.A Motor Servicing Centre performs lots of activity which includes all kind of Cleaning, Mechanical, Electrical Work & Denting / Painting. Taking care of Private / Passenger Cars involves heavy utilisation of water resources and the washed away water becomes the source of contaminants in local water bodies. AC servicing and other servicing is also the source of contaminants. Car Wash may be Interior or Exterior Cleaning.• Small Car = Maruti 800, Esteem, Indica, Indigo, Ikon, HondaCity Etc.• Big Car = Tavera, Qualis, Innova, Scorpio, Sumo, Bolero Etc.Every Motor Company has their own Servicing Centre and the effective utilisation of water resources differs from company to company. The effluent of the washed water is either disposed to local water bodies or goes underground.The complexity of water quality as a subject is reflected in the many types of measurements of water quality indicators. The following is a list of indicators measured for the study:Chemical assessment• Conductivity• Dissolved Oxygen (DO)• Chemical oxygen demand (COD)• Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)• Dissolved metals and metalloids (lead, mercury, arsenic, etc.)• Dissolved metals and salts (sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, manganese, magnesium)Physical assessment• pH• Temperature• Total suspended solids (TSS)• Total dissolved solids (TDS)• Turbidity• Colour of water.
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Avoid Plastic - Change to Eco-friendly Products

Posted by RAGHAVA on November 6, 2009 at 5:40am
Dear Friends,Every one knew that plastic bags are non-degradable and cause pollution problems. But we indian are addicted to use plastic bags in every walk of our life. If not we, our family members even after repeated request won't discard using plastic bags (my experience). Because using plastic bags is more convinient and easy. Even after government bans the usage of plastic bags, we find them thrown in an indiscriminate manner not only in public places but also at historical places, rivers, ponds and reservoirs etc. Lets try to resolve this problem right from our end and pass it on to our neighbours and so on.This may be difficult but not impossible.
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United Nations University International courses at Tokyo for 2010

Posted by Madimetla VenkataPraveen Chandra on October 30, 2009 at 10:23am
United Nations University will organize the tenth regular session of its six-week UNU International Courses (UNU-IC) at UNU Centre in Tokyo, Japan, from 10 May through 18 June 2010. The UNU-IC programme is designed for postgraduate students and young professionals (with a college or university degree) in various occupations in Japan and abroad who wish to pursue careers in international fields in public-service or private organizations, including the United Nations, multinational corporations and non-governmental organizations as well as national foreign service organizations. The courses are designed to provide analyses of global issues from both theoretical and empirical perspectives.The UNU International Courses are taught in a cooperative fashion by a team of scholars and practitioners comprising both in-house and outside experts. One of the unique features of the UNU-IC is that many of the practitioners come from United Nations organizations. Another important characteristic is the direct access to teaching faculty and the support provided to course participants by the UNU in-house academic staff who serve as academic counsellors. The UNU-IC also draw on the research projects undertaken at the UNU Centre in Tokyo and at various UNU Research and Training Centres and Programmes (RTC/Ps) located around the world. The courses, though advanced in nature, are open to graduate students and professionals in various occupations who are not necessarily specialists in the fieldPlease click on the link provided belowhttp://www.unu.edu/ic/
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