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Editorial

Advisors Narne Prabhakar Kaza Krishna Rao Dr. N. Harinath Dr. V. Haraprasad Advisory Board M. Gopala Krishna, IAS (Retd.) C.S. Ramalakshmi, I.F.S, Dr. N. Bhaskara Rao

RECENT FLOODSâ&#x20AC;Ś NEED TO LEARN LESSONS he recent floods in July and August in Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka claimed more

Prof. D.N. Reddy

Dr. Rameshwar Rao

years, in addition to late onset of monsoon most of the rain is falling in less number of days. It

Prof. P.G. Sastry Er. G. Prabhakar

S. Raghupathy Prof. I.V. Muralikrishna

than 200 lives, displaced several lakhs of people, caused damage to agricultural crops and enormous loss to the properties worth more than tens of thousands of crores. In recent

is unfortunate that the respective state governments have failed to take this change in climate into consideration. It is time to restore the environmental imbalance that has caused this

Editor

change. During floods last year, the environmental scientists pointed out that this is a man-

Dr. P. Narayana Rao

made disaster and the impact would have been lesser if the Madhav Gadgil Report were imple-

Associate Editor Dr.B.Ramana Naik

mented. The committee recommended strong restrictions on mining and quarrying, use of land for non-forest purposes such as high rise buildings. Report also recommended protecting the forest and natural resources with the co-operation of local self-governments and people.

Sub - editor Swarajyam P. Design arcongraphics@gmail.com

Interestingly India is celebrating International Day of the World's Indigenous People on 9th August. UN Declaration on Indigenous People recognized the value of indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional practices that are contributing the sustainable and equitable development. According to article 8 of the declaration " states shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, ter-

Edited, Printed & Published by P. Narayana Rao on behalf of society for environment and education, hyderabad.

ritories or resources and any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights". Article 18 states that " Indigenous people have the right to participate in decision making in matters which would affect their rights through the representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as

Address for communication 302, Padma Nilayam, St.No. 1, Shanti Nagar, Hyderabad - 500 028.

to maintain and develop their own indigenous decision making institutions". In India we call our indigenous people as scheduled tribes .Government of India passed Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act or PESA 1996 to ensure self-governance through traditional Gram Sabhas for people living in the Scheduled Areas and also The Scheduled Tribes and Other

email: nraopotturi@yahoo.com contact: 9247385331 (The views expressed by authors

Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights ) Act called Forest Rights Act, 2006 to establish the rights of forest dwelling communities to land and other resources. Unfortunately the Above acts are not implemented by the successive Central and State

may not be necessarily be the same

Governments seriously and forests were denuded and lakhs of tribals were displaced. That is

as those of magazine)

the precise reason for the nature's revenge and tribal's 'curse. August 2019

Environment & people

From night jasmine to banana blossoms:

content

India's centuries-old love affair with edible flowers

'Clean Water Is a Luxury We Cannot Afford'

Open Savannahs Versus Wooded Thickets What's the Future for Pune's Hills?

The Four Ways in Which India's Water Blessings Are Turning Into Disasters

Hiking In Seoul: 5 Routes Where You Must Go For A Soul-Stirring Experience

Asian Media Has Misled the Public on AIR POLLUTION

New mangrove study shows exactly how coastal forests protect economic activity during cyclones

Microplastics from homes and factories It's the Environment, Stupid.

are ending up inside mussels off Chennai's coast

Why are elephants' brains so large ? Climate change is a big part of the answer

Women Take the Lead Tackling Climate Change in Bangladesh

Environmental Conferences in August

Eco quotes

Eco IQ

Eco cartoons

Mom's Cancer Makes Farmer Go Organic; Grows Chemical-Free Food & Saves 60% Water

Environment & people

August 2019

A Rural Sanitation Model That Works

From night jasmine to banana blossoms: India's centuries-old love affair with edible flowers he edible inflorescence of the banana tree is a culinary gem. Bengali kitchens, for instance, turn out a phenomenal assortment of dishes with it - simple mocha bhaate (steamed banana blossom) mashed up with pungent mustard oil and green chilies; gheesoaked mocha ghonto (a dry curry) topped with freshly grated coconut; crumb-fried croquettes filled with fried peanuts; and a tangy chutney flavoured with roasted spices. In Assam, banana blossoms cooked with pigeon meat is a coveted delicacy. Kitchens down south drum up a delicious variety of curries, stir-fries, fritters and chutney with it. This is not the only flower, though, that is cooked in kitchens across India. An extraordinary variety of indigenous edible flowers have traditionally been used here as vegetable or spice, to add colour or to infuse flavours, or for their medicinal properties. While edible flowers are now a growing global trend, multiple works of ancient and medieval Indian literature reference them. One example is yoghurt and buttermilk flavoured with spices such black pepper, dry ginger and cumin, and ironwood flowers, which is mentioned in Lokapakara, a book written in the 11th century. The Ni'matnama - a fascinating and quirky book of recipes put together in the late 15th century by the eccentric epicure Ghiyath Shah, the Sultan of Malwa, and his son Nasir Shah - details how a variety of flowers, including roses, jasmine, water lilies, champa, jujube and trumpet flowers can put to a variety of culinary

uses such as flavouring oils and brewing unique spirits and fragrant essences. There are recipes for blue water lilies stuffed with plain boiled rice, tied with a string and cooked in a pot; pickles made with horseradish flowers and mango flowers; and meat cooked in a ditch whose walls have first been rubbed with flowers of various kinds. Supa Shastra, which was written around the same time by King Mangarasa III, documents the culinary traditions of medieval Karnataka and mentions a preparation called chuchhuroti, which is flavoured with ghee, sugar, edible camphor and fragrant palmyra flowers. More recently, in his book Cooking Delights of the Maharajas, Digvijay Singh, the former maharaja of Sailana in Madhya Pradesh, archives a recipe for tesukaphool or palash flowers, which are also known as

flame of the forest. The petals are first boiled and then cooked in sesame oil with onion, garlic and spices such as cumin and mango powder to make a dry curry of sorts. Food writer Saee Koranne-Khandekar points to an intricate recipe for guravali, or deep-fried dough, with a sweet filling, from Ruchira, Kamlabai Ogale's iconic Marathi cookbook. The exacting recipe calls for jasmine buds to be inserted into the guravali in a painstaking process so that when the dish is served the next morning, the buds would have bloomed and infused it with their fragrance. "It's a fine example of sophisticated traditional cooking," she said. (Source: scroll.in)

August 2019

Environment & people

In March this year, while carrying three pots of water in the scorching sun one afternoon, 24-year-old Manta Rinjad fainted on the deserted pathway from the well to her house. "Nobody even saw me on the street lying like a dead person," she says. "When I woke up after 20 minutes [I saw that] I'd spilled all the water. Somehow, I walked back home and woke up my husband who made namak-sakhar [saltsugar] water for me." his year, Mamta, like the other women of Galtare, has had to begin her gruelling daily summer treks to a dug well, located three kilometres away, much earlier than in the past. The two dug wells in Galtare village of Wada taluka in Palghar district of Maharashtra complete-

Environment & people

August 2019

ly dried up in February. In previous years, the people here say, the water in the village's dug wells - which they use for drinking and cooking - has lasted till the beginning of May. After that, the women have to walk to the distant well, which usually has some water left. But in 2019, the scarcity began months earlier. "We have suffered water problems every summer, but this year all our sources of water are going dry," says 42year-old Manali Padwale, who, like Mamta, works at a large temple complex near the village as a cleaner for Rs 155 a day, where her husband works as a driver. "We have not once been supplied with water tankers and we don't have enough money to buy them," she adds. The Vaitarna river, which passes at a distance of around half a kilometres from the village, is one of the major sources of

water for Galtare's 2,474 residents (Census 2011), most of them from the Koli Malhar and Warli (listed as Varli in the Census) Adivasi communities. By May this year, the river had only a pile of rocks and barely any water. In previous summers, the people of Galtare say, the Vaitarna has had more water. "The little water [now] left in the river is used to wash cattle and then the same dirty water flows into the village taps," adds Manali. A poor monsoon is one of the reasons for the receding water. Data of the India Meteorological Department shows that in 2018 Palghar recorded its lowest rainfall in three years - 2,390 mm (from June to September) compared to 3,015 mm in 2017 and 3,052 mm in 2016 during the same months. "The rainfall has kept decreasing, the summers are starting early, the river is drying, and due to more heat we need more water to drink as well," says Pradip Padwale, who works as a driver at the temple complex, earning Rs 250 a day ferrying guests and visitors. "Due to excess deforestation in the region the

rivers are drying up," says Stalin Dayanand, an environmentalist based in Mumbai. "They have turned into a seasonal river from a perennial river. This happens when the relationship between the forests and rivers are broken." The water from the Vaitarna is supplied to Galtare's 449 households through 12 community taps, for which the panchayat charges Rs. 30 a month from each house. These taps ran dry two weeks ago. In the past, the children of the village have sometimes become ill after drinking the contaminated tap water. "Small children don't understand that it's dirty water," says Pradip's wife, 26-yearold Pratiksha Padwale; they have two sons, Pratik, 10, and Pranit, 8. "Two months ago, around 11 p.m., Pratik got very sick. He kept crying and vomiting. We had to go and knock on an autowala's home in the next lane to take us to the hospital," she adds, referring to the nearest primary health centre in Hamarapur village, eight kilometres from Galtare. The Padwale family owns three acres of land right outside the village, on which they grow paddy and millet. "Many families in our village own 2-3 acres, but without water it's useless. Even though I am a farmer I work as a driver during the summers," says Pradip. There is only a trickle of water from the two old borewells in the village, and the hand pumps break down frequently. In 2018 and during panchayat elections in 2015, the people of Galtare recall, the panchayat surveyed the village land and dug five more borewells, but did not install hand pumps. "I even got the stamp papers ready, stating my land can be used for for the hand pump. The panchayat still hasn't started the construction," says Pratiksha. "We get funding of only Rs 10 lakhs per year. It costs Rs 80,000 to dig one borewell. We have to use the funds for other necessities too," says 32-year-old Yogesh Vartha; his wife and Galtare's sarpanch, 29-yearold Netra, stands silently while he responds to my queries. When the water sources dry up, the women and girls of the village usually bear the increased burden of fetching and storing it for their families. "Bring us tankers from the city, we are exhausted," shouts Nandini Padwale, while trying to scrape water from the bottom of that dug well

three kilometres away. It's now her family's only source of drinking water. She is standing on top of the 100-feet deep well's threefeet surrounding wall and pulling out a plastic bucket with a rope. One misstep and she could fall right in. It takes Nandini around 50-60 minutes to go to the well and return home, and she makes at least four trips in her day - twice starting at 6 am, once around noon, and then again in the evening at 6 pm, before it gets dark. "I can't stop mid-way to rest," she says. "It's already hard to balance the pots. It will take all day if I keep putting them up and down from my head." This daily labour of collecting clean water - across a total of 24 kilometres in

let on forest land around eight kilometres from the village, where they cultivate crops on forest land plot. "We have a well in our pada [hamlet] with clean water in it," says Deepali Khalpade, who belongs to the Warli community, and shifted to the pada five years ago. "Even though it takes me an hour to walk to the temple [where she works as a gardener], it's better than living in the village without water." Every summer, for five years, the women of Galtare have participated in a morcha to the house of Vishnu Savara in Wada town (listed as Vada in the Census), around 30 kilometres from Galtare. Savara is a Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former minister for Tribal Development.

four trips - has caused her severe knee pain. "It has ruined my knees," says 34year-old Nandini. So instead of carrying nine litres of water in three metal pots, she now hauls eight litres in two plastic pots. Her husband Nitin owns two acres on which the family cultivates rice and chickpeas, and he occasionally also works as a driver. Mamta Rinjad, who fainted that day in March, also makes four-five trips a day to the well, carrying two pots on her head and one at her waist, each containing four litres of water. The 25-30 kilometre daily walk for water is even more difficult for her because of a disability. "One of my legs is shorter than the other since birth," she explains. "My leg goes numb when I carry water on my head every day." In desperation, over the years, some members of around 20 families from Galtare have moved permanently to a ham-

Every time, they are turned away with false hopes. "Even though Vishnu saheb belongs to our village he has done nothing to help us," Yogesh says. It's noon on a Sunday as we speak, and the women and young girls are stepping outside their homes yet again, carrying several empty pots "Clean water is a luxury we cannot afford. I have learned to balance two handas on my head. It saves us time," says Aasmita Dhanva, 15, while rushing to join a line of women waiting near the hand pump for their turn to fill water. "My chest and back hurt from using the pump. The pressure of the water is so low that it takes 20 minutes of pumping to fill one six-litre handa, says 27-year -old Sunanda Padwale. Her ten-yearold daughter Deepali takes over the task from her mother. She tries to work the pump only to realise the water is over. (Source: thewire.in)

August 2019

Environment & people

C.P. Rajendran

Does the fear of god motivate people to protect environmental resources? The lessons I learnt from my journey across Himachal Pradesh a few months ago taught me that religious beliefs and environmental consciousness have a negative correlation in India. n one day of my travel, I happened to be in Manikaran, a small town to the north of Kasol near the High Himalaya. Geologically, this is a unique site where the Indian and Asian tectonic plates converge deep underground, generating heat and melting rocks. The water around these rocks then flows through fractures in the latter and shoots up as jets above the surface. Such locations are considered holy in India's religious traditions, and Manikaran is no exception: it is endowed with a Hindu temple as well as a gurudwara. As is usual with such places, businessmen have developed a market for religious tourism centred on them. These days, the people that visit Manikaran leave behind a train of organic and inorganic waste along a majestic stream that snakes its way through from the snowy peaks of the Himalaya. But why is a place considered holy by two religions treated so badly? The people who would insist on maintaining clean spaces within Hindu devotional centres don't see it fit to extend the same civil courtesy to the world at large, and we see the effects of this throughout the country. It's possible to make a similar complaint about the ineffective management of waste generated during massive religious festivals such as the famous Kumbh Mela. But what is comical is that a report on the initiative by the Government of Himachal Pradesh, published under the theme 'environment' by NITI Aayog, makes a ridiculous statement: that "the Sustainable Plastic Waste Management Plan is an inno-

Environment & people

August 2019

vative and simple yet highly effective solution that has not only alerted the community about the menace of plastic and the need for sustained waste management practices but also set up a robust mechanism for its achievement." What you see in Manikaran makes a pathetic commentary of this "effective plastic waste management" - and is yet another example of governments agencies' fondness for hunky-dory reports that have no relation to ground realities. As you come down along the mountainous roads of Himachal and then Uttaranchal, you'd be blessed to see a trail of plastic mounds on the sides following you all the way. Shortly before you reach the heart of the national capital, these mounds crescendo into the pinnacle of environmental malfeasance in Ghazipur village, where a towering mound of garbage - now 65 m high lords over the human settlement around it, forcing the people there to battle for survival every day. If this is happening right under the noses of the country's most powerful people, it's no surprise that the situation elsewhere in the country is equally bad. Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata may not host landfills higher than the one in Ghazipur but it would seem they are trying. If we aspire to belong in a technosavvy society, the country should also be adept at finding solutions to our rapidly deteriorating environmental conditions. We are fast closing in on a point of noreturn where environmental upkeep is concerned. As Lori Garver, the former deputy NASA administrator, recently said on the space agency's efforts to put a woman on the Moon by 2024, "The

impossible problem today is not the Moon. And it's not Mars. It's our home planet." There is much truth in this statement (and room for debate). If we can celebrate the technological feats of Chandrayaan 2, we must also expect that our garbage problem is solvable. During Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992, the phrase "It's the economy, stupid" was very popular in the United States. This is now valid in India as well but so is another one: "It's the environment, stupid". Indeed, India's environmental deterioration has been stupendous, and now poisons people and their livelihoods en masse. The country ranks 178 out of 180 on environmental performance, barely off the bottom of the list, according to a biennial report prepared by the Yale and Columbia Universities in 2018. The Centre for Science and Environment released a reportearlier this year that said: The burden of solid waste is becoming unmanageable. In fact, 79 major protests against unsanitary landfills and dump yards have been recorded in 22 states in the past three years. Maharashtra, which registered 16 major protests, leaves 43 per cent of its waste unprocessed. While India claims to process 96 per cent of its biomedical waste, eight states and [union territories] have defaulting hospitals. The country has also recorded a 56 per cent increase in the number of hazardouswaste generating industries between 2009 and 2016-17. At the same time, most of these industries are not properly maintaining their waste inventory, as

mandated by the law. Of all the waste we produce, plastic products seem to be dealing the most damage to freshwater, estuarine and marine environments. To contain this menace, the authorities will need to improve all aspects of waste management on a war footing. One study estimated that 4.8-12.7 million tonnes of plastic waste entered the oceans in 2010 alone. This impacts indigenous marine resources in multiple ways - fish consume them and are killed, disrupting the ecosystem - and erodes coastal landscapes. Plastic waste, including plastic bags, are currently dumped with other domestic solid waste in landfills. Instead, they would be better off separated at the primary level and channeled for recycling. However, none of India's major cities can claim decent separation centres. The government must immediately devise a 'National Action Plan' that will indicate measures to increase the rate of solid waste collected, recycled and reused, for example through an MGNREGA-like scheme. This strategy could reduce the need to manufacture new plastic bags and throwaway plastic items. The plan should also ensure all major urban centres set up facilities to efficiently recycle solid waste while helping change our behaviour to adopt greener lifestyles. The government could also evaluate the feasibility of forming environmental protection groups to oversee these efforts and manage the production of solid waste. The alternative is dire. The country's landscape is already being ravaged by plastics. We are on the verge of environmental collapse. (Source: https://thewire.in)

August 2019

Environment & people

Open Savannahs Versus Wooded Thickets What's the Future for Pune's Hills? Moses Ezekiel, a professor of botany at Wilson College, Bombay (now Mumbai), wrote in 1917, "There is perhaps no area in the Bombay Presidency that has received more painstaking and prolonged attention at the hands of (plant) collectors and taxonomists than the easily approachable trap hills, near and around Poona." hese trap hills are essentially the Vetal and Parvati hill complex, or simply 'tekdis', as Punekars know it. Located in the midst of a rapidly expanding city, these spaces serve as important and accessible getaways for regular walkers, joggers and nature enthusiasts. The vested sense of pride and association is so strong among these citizen groups that they have been able to play a significant role in influencing the present and future of these hills. For instance, by vehemently lobbying against the Paud-Balbharti link road that would cut through the hills, these groups have forced the Pune Municipal Corporation to reassess this project. Similarly, the forest department's plans to build a concrete wall ascertaining its territory and preventing encroachment on the hills have met serious opposition.

Environment & people

June 2019

Restricted access, destruction to the ecology and biodiversity of the hills, as also to the efforts of various afforestation initiatives that have been undertaken by a green brigade of conscious citizens have been the key points of contention. Afforestation history of the Pune hills Afforestation endeavours on the tekdi are far from recent. An excerpt from the communicationbetween E.A. Garland, a divisional forest officer of Bombay Presidency and W. Burns, the economic botanist to the Government of Bombay, states, " The area (Bhamburda-Vetal hills) was afforested in 1879. â&#x20AC;Ś Some spasmodic plantation work limited to Teak or Sandal may have been attempted from time to time, but no (prior) record of such work exists, nor can any great success have been obtained judging from a scrutiny of the existing stock." These unsuccessful attempts were replaced by monoculture plantations undertaken by the forest department in the 1950s and a dense stand of an exotic tree species, Gliricidia sepium, had already been reported from the Vetal hill by 1964. On the Parvati hill, there are records of exotic and some indigenous tree plantations installed by the forest department in 1973. These represent a shift in focus from raising trees commercially for timber to shade species that would enrich soil nutrients and provide fuelwood and fodder in the post-independence period. And a fur-

ther shift, after the 1970s, aimed at demonstrating forestry features and creating forest-parks that would serve as recreation centres for citizens. Early publications by botanists and horticulturalists see these as success stories. Statements such as "the original bare hill has been converted to a beautiful natural park" are testament to this. But how much do we know about the 'original' status of the hills before these interventions? As it turns out, a fair bit actually! The time before monocultures Moses Ezekiel noted in 1917 that the vegetation of the hill was scanty and typically xerophytic, i.e. plants adapted to dry conditions. He recorded the presence of stem succulents (cacti-like plants), deciduous shrubs and trees, grasses and ephemeral herbs. With reference to the BhamburdaVetal hill, Burns wrote in 1931 that "trees here are sufficiently widely spaced to permit a vigorous growth of grass between them." The trees that were most common

included Boswellia serrata, Anogeissus latifolia, Lannea coromandelica, Terminalia tomentosa, Cochlospermum religiosum and Pterocarpus marsupium. As is evident in the photograph above, the vegetation consists of dwarf trees and shrubs sparsely scattered through a herbaceous understory. We now know that these are typically savannah ecosystems, where trees and shrubs are embedded into a continuous grassy layer and don't form a closed canopy - quite unlike typical forested landscapes. Besides, other, more cultural evidence also points towards the existence of a more open, grass-dominated system in the past. The discovery of microlithis - stone tools associated with a nomadic pastoral community, the Dhangars - indicates their use of the hills over the last 2,000-3,000 years for grazing. Additionally, the presence of shrines dedicated to Mhatoba, Khandoba and Vetal, prominent pastoral folk deities, on top of Vetal and adjoining hills further elicits this association. Now, foresters in colonial times valued trees much more than grass and felt that livestock grazing disturbed their forestry activities. This mindset of valuing forested landscapes over naturally open, sparselytreed ecosystems undoubtedly trickles deep into our bureaucratic setup even today. However, such thinking is not limited to the forest department; more recently, it appears to be pervasive. Tree plantations form the core of modern-day environmental movements, particularly as a means to tackling climate change. The 'greenery' goal

In the last decade, a fresh wave of afforestation activities, led by NGOs and citizen groups have made their mark on the hills of Pune (see here, here and here). The common species that have been preferred and used have been listed by one such group. These include some native to India as well as exotics like Gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium) and Subabul (Leucaena leucocephala), the latterconsidered to be one of the most invasive plants in the world. Now, a quick analysis reveals three things: 1. The immediate goal of such initiatives is to make the hills greener, 2. A variety of avenues for funding tree plantations and voluntary support from well-intentioned, enthusiastic folk who strongly believe in the cause are available, and 3. Although there seems to be an understanding that using native species is ecologically better, the species currently being used bear little resemblance to the naturally occurring pool recorded from the hills These activities are changing the fundamental nature of the ecosystem i.e. transforming it from a more open, mixed treegrass system to a woody forest, and these changes could gradually wipe out extant, local biodiversity. For example, a study comparing the floristic surveys conducted for the tekdis between 1901 and 1997 recorded the loss of 72 native species, most comprising tuberous herbs (Dipcadi montanum, Ceropegia bulbosa, Habenaria longicalcarata, etc.) and some deciduous trees (Schrebera swietenioides, Garuga pinnata, Buchanania lanzan, etc.).

We also know that some of the above mentioned species perform poorly in shaded environments and need bright-light conditions to grow. Additionally, disturbance to the topsoil from activities like contour trenching may lead to a loss of species that use the shallow soil depths (e.g. tuberous herbs, grasses), as also the loss of a treasured seed bank that holds a key to the vegetation of the future. Future of the Pune tekdis The current approach towards uplifting the face of the hills is possibly based on the notion that open, low tree-cover systems are 'degraded' and 'barren' i.e. not quintessentially forest. However, historical evidence from the last few centuries indicates that the hills have indeed supported such open ecosystems, especially those plants adapted to more dry climatic conditions and a thin soil layer. Dry, deciduous trees will shed their leaves in the dry season and grasses will dry out. The hills will naturally not look lush and green year-round. That is the biological nature of the system! In this race to green the hills, we will slowly lose vegetation that is essentially characteristic of such landscapes and, in the process, possibly other dependent biodiversity as well. As citizens, we must seriously begin to debate whether and how much we want to intervene and further manipulate the hills' vegetation. We must keep in mind the rich ecological and cultural history of the land. Given that we have access to resources that point us to the hills' native vegetation, we have provided a list of some species that can be planted if doing so is absolutely neces-

August 2019

Environment & people

Himanshu Thakkar

Blessings are complicated. They come with a lot of attachments. And if you cannot manage them, you could invite disasters. ndia is a blessed country in so many ways as far as water endowment is concerned. We are blessed with monsoons, rivers, aquifers, the Himalaya, the rich traditional techniques and management systems, to name a few. But the cumulative impact of our mismanagement over the last several decades has now coming out in the form of a manyheaded crisis. Unfortunately, the government treats water management as its exclusive monopoly. To call for a people's movement for water conservation in such a situation would be disingenuous, to say the least particularly when the water-resources establishment is doing everything against sage advice. For example, the Ken-Betwa river interlinking project, the government's top priority among such projects, involves cutting down 46 lakh trees in droughtprone Bundelkhand and facilitate the export of water to other areas. Imagine how much water the 46 lakh trees can harvest. Or consider this other example: Between April 25 and June 12, 2019, the Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams, on the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers respectively, released over two billion cubic metres of water in nonagricultural season, most of which flowed away to Pakistan. This was of course against the public statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the erstwhile Union water resources minister Nitin Gadkari, both of whom had said not a drop of water would flow out of India's share of Indus water to Pakistan. Leaving that aside, it is well-known that Punjab and Haryana suffer massive groundwater depletions every year. So why was the dam water not used to recharge groundwater? This brings us to the following question: so what are some of the key dimensions of India's water management crisis? There are four.

I. The groundwater lifeline Most of the water India uses today comes from over 30 million wells and tubewells. Irrigation is India's biggest water need, and over two-thirds of the irrigated area uses groundwater. About 85% of Environment & people

August 2019

the rural domestic supply and over 55% of the urban and industrial water supply comes from groundwater, and these numbers have only been climbing for at least four decades now. In fact, some estimates show that over 90% of the additional water that India used since about 1980 has come from groundwater. It sounds like an immitigable blessing. But that's not how blessings work. Data from the Central Ground Water Board shows that in about 70% of areas, groundwater is being depleted and in many places, it has been exhausted or is on the verge of exhaustion. Its quality is deteriorating. Warning signs have been visible for decades now, but the government has done little to address the crisis. In fact, India's water resources establishment, led by the Big Dam ideologues at the Central Water Commission, has ensured that the government doesn't even acknowledge that groundwater is India's water lifeline. That would be the first step. Such an acknowledgement, through the National Water Policy, would mean that India's water resources policy, plans and programmes will effectively be working to preserve this lifeline. This would need action on four fronts. First, we need to understand where groundwater recharge happens, and protect recharge mechanisms like forests, floodplains, rivers, wetlands and local water bodies. Second: we need to enhance recharge from these mechanisms where possible. Third: we need to create more recharge mechanisms, including reverse borewells. Fourth, and most importantly: we need to regulate groundwater use. Such regulation is necessary according to the resource's location and its contours. Groundwater occurs in aquifers. Aquifers in most places are local, and groundwater use is also local. Ergo, regulation has to start at the local level, enabled by legal, institutional and financial instruments. For cities and industries, this may include pricing mechanisms, with higher price for higher users and an element of cross subsidisation for the poorer people. Unfortunately, no effective action has been taken on this groundwater regulation front. The Central Ground Water Authority, set up under the Supreme Court's orders in 1996, has been acting like a licensing body rather than a regulating body. Regulation

does not mean you pay and exploit. It would mean restricting and stopping wasteful and unjustified water-use activities in critical areas. Regulation should ensure that water withdrawal is within the limits of annual recharge. II. The degraded catchments While Chennai's water scarcity grabbed headlines this summer, few remembered that only in July 2018, all the dams on the Cauvery, the most important river basin of Tamil Nadu, were so full that water had to be released to the already-flooded downstream rivers. The Mullaperiyar dam provided another bounty to Tamil Nadu in August 2018. When the Cauvery dams were overflowing around July 24, 2018, the southwest monsoon in the basin was actually below normal. What does this phenomenon - of overflowing dams less than halfway through the monsoon, and when rainfall is below normal, followed by an unprecedented water crisis less than a year later - signify? The answer would be relevant for most river basins in India: that our catchments have a lower capacity to capture, store and recharge rainwater than before. So rainfall in catchment areas is quickly ending up in the rivers and reservoirs, leading to floods during the monsoon but dry riverbeds and water scarcity soon thereafter. Deforestation, destruction of wetlands and other water bodies, and the declining capacity of the soil to hold moisture, are all contributing to this tragedy. So the way to reverse the scarcity crisis is to reverse all of this. III. The urban water policy vacuum The urban water footprint is going up in multiple ways, but the urban water sector is operating in a policy vacuum. Specifically, there are no policies, guidelines or regulations to guide the sector. Under the circumstances, the cities won't harvest rain, won't

recharge the groundwater, won't reduce transmission and distribution losses, won't adopt other demand-side measures, won't protect its water bodies, and won't treat and recycle its sewage. Instead, they demand lazy, easy solutions like more and bigger dams, more river interlinking projects and/or massive desalination projects. The government has a Smart City programme but, inexplicably, it is not for water-smart cities. As a first step towards correcting this situation, India urgently needs a National Urban Water Policy that will define what a water-smart city is and provide best-practice guidelines for various aspects of the urban water sector.

IV. Outdated water institutions India's water institutions were established soon after Independence, though some were older They operate with an outdated mindset and within an institutional architecture. An overhaul has been overdue. The clearest problem with India's water institutions is symbolised by the fact that we don't have reliable information about water in India. This is because the Central Water Commission, which heads India's water institutions, is involved in so many functions that are in conflict with each other. We need an independent institution, along the lines of the US Geological Survey, with the principal mandate to gather all the key water information on a daily basis and promptly place it in the public domain. But such an institute should have no role in (cont... on page no. 32) August 2019

Environment & people

Hiking In Seoul: 5 Routes Where You Must Go For A Soul-Stirring Experience

Seoul is one of the most popular cities in the world and with its growing fondness, it is becoming one of the top tourist destinations as well. The city is the biggest in Korea and has a lot of attention from every traveler and tourist. Seoul has a perfect blend of old and new together with skyscrapers and K pop coexisting with beautiful ancient royal palaces. There is a lot that one can do when visiting the city but if you have an inkling towards adventure then you are in for a treat. Hiking in Seoul is something that every local has access to and enjoys thoroughly, thanks to their transportation system. There are several trails that can be hiked on and can be enjoyed for their utmost beauty. Best Time To Visit Seoul is truly a beautiful coun-

1. Namsan A small hike that is surrounded by beauty in abundance, Namsan is perfect for casual walkers. It is located in the heart of the city and provides a gorgeous view. If you decide to go in the evening, having dinner at the N Seoul Tower is a must where you can get a panoramic view of the whole place as it is located on top of the hike.

2. Dobongsan There are trails that you can choose, but hiking in Seoul Bukhansan is something that most hikers aspire as it has multiple trails each with a stunning and captivating view to Located in the middle of Bukhansan National Park, hiking in Dobongsan is something that all you hardcore hikers would love to do. It is situated at a height of 740 meters and is one of the most difficult hikes but of course the most rewarding too. Since it is difficult to do, there is far less crowd than any other hike trails. There are a densely forested area as well as rocky terrains with a magnificent view all around. The various terrains of this place make it the hardest hiking in Seoul Korea.

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August 2019

try that offers the best of nature in every direction you go. But both spring (March to May) and Fall (Mid September to early November) turns this city into something like a wonderland. Spring is dominated by the color pink as it is the time for the cherry blossom to bloom and the whole place turns pink and white. The weather becomes pleasant and ideal for you to spend outdoors. While during fall, you can see the city turning all yellow, red and orange with a slight nip in the air with beaming sun. Five Hiking Places In Seoul Korea Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a list of the most gorgeous and famous hiking trails in Seoul where you can embark on a blissful adventure with your loved ones. Take a look!

3. Seoraksan This is one of the highest peaks in Seoul situated at the height of 1708 meters and is a favorite of many mountaineers. There are multiple starting points and depending on the one you choose, this hike can be done within 3 hours.

4. Songnisan There are so many hikes that give a stunning view of the landscape but Songnisan is truly a magical place to hike. Known for the good-looking mountains that stand here tall, Songnisan is one of the favorite places. If you go here in autumn you would be awestruck by the beauty of the places the leaves turn all red and orange. One of the most beautiful views from here is the lovely cloudshrouded Mujangdae. This trail is best to tick off your mountain hiking in Seoul.

5. Naejangsan The highest peak of Narjandsan is Sinseobong at b763 m. The most common trail that hikers usual take can be finished in 3 hours and consists of some of the most wonderful views.

Packing List For Hiking in Seoul

While you prepare for your hiking around Seoul make sure to pack these essentials that will really make it comfortable for you. Hiking Shoes This is no brainer. When planning to trek or hike, make sure that you pack the most comfortable shoes that will make it more comfortable for you. A good pair of shoes will not let your feet feel the uneven terrain of the hike. You would want to purchase sturdy shoes the ones that go a long way. Lightweight clothes Do not forget that while you are hiking near

Seoul, you would be working out like crazy and burning a lot of calories, which also means that you would sweat. Hence make sure that your clothes are lightweight that dry up super easy. Rain Jacket Whether you visit Seoul during spring, summer, winter or autumn, you would see rains pouring every now and then. Especially when you go on hikes into the mountains. Packing a light rain jacket would be a great thing to do so that you are not stopped by the rains. (cont... on page no. 17) August 2019

Environment & people

by Jovita Aranha

The change was not limited to what he had to unlearn, but in a shift in his mindset. Since he genuinely enjoyed farming, the transition was not that difficult. avdeep Singh was raised on a farm in the village of Farwahi, a stone's throw from Barnala in Punjab. Although his parents worked in different professions, they were always connected with the soil and practised agriculture on their six-acre family plot in the village. Even after completing his post-graduation with an MA in Defence Studies, Ravdeep remained close to the soil and nature; he knew he wanted to pursue agriculture, despite his educational background. "My focus was clear-profits, and immediate profits. In the process, I invested in heavy, newer, and bigger machinery. Despite knowing how chemicals could affect one's health, I did not care. I was all about greater yield and financial gains because my input cost was very high, and my loan debt continued to increase. It was a crisis for survival," he tells The Better India. In August 2009, everything changed. His mother fell severely ill. It was only a matter of time until the doctors gave their diagnosis. Cancer, he was told. In 2011, after a long battle with the end-stage disease, Ravdeep's mother passed away. But for those three years, he studied how he could move away from chemical farming. Until then, the farmer hadn't even come across the term 'natural farming'. "If not chemical, what other forms of farming could I do? Chemical farming was so mainstream that I never put any thought into an alternative." His interactions with Pinglewara Trust, literature from Subhash Palekar, and a few workshops by Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM) introduced him to the method. "In 2011, I shifted to the organic farming model." The change was not limited to what he

Environment & people

August 2019

had to unlearn, but in a shift in his mindset. Since he genuinely enjoyed farming, the transition was not that difficult. While some of the grains include corn, wheat, sorghum; he also grows lentils and legumes such as lean yellow lentil, split pigeon peas, urad, chickpeas, split chickpeas, oilseeds, sesame, and flax seeds. The fruits grown are guava, lemon, kinnow, sweet lime, grapefruit, sapota, banana, mango, grewia asiatica, grapes, karonda, and dates. To reduce the risk of pest attack, he uses intercropping techniques where he mixes vegetable seeds and spreads them at random. This leads to confusion among pests, drastically dropping the probability of an attack. Ravdeep believes that the diversity on the farm and the strength of the soil play a role in tackling pests. That being said, he doesn't believe in killing them because they are a part of nature. He has also set aside an acre of land that looks like a forest. Thriving on its own, with no human intervention, it boasts of several fruit trees, herbs, and shrubs. Green manuring is one of his techniques to nourish the soil. Here, manure is created by leaving uprooted or sown crop parts to wither on a field so that they serve as a mulch and soil amendment. The plants used for green manure are often cover crops, grown primarily for this purpose. After this, they are ploughed under and incorporated into the soil while green or shortly after flowering. He also uses biomass from the field such as dry leaves, twigs, branches, and cow dung, to create compost. He practices mulching that helps increase the soil's water retention capacity too. "We use 60 per cent less

water in natural farming. Plus, the growth and quality of the final crop is way higher." Since the effort behind ploughing the field due to these techniques has reduced, he has been able to cut the use of machinery by more than 50 per cent. Ravdeep shares that only a few years ago, he was planning to replace his 35 horsepower tractor with a bigger vehicle of 50 horsepower at a loan of Rs 2.5 lakh. But since he switched to organic farming, he no longer needs such heavy-duty machinery. He now uses only a few small pieces of equipment to maintain the farm. He has zero fertiliser and pesticide costs because biomass and dung are both available on his field. This has reduced his input costs by a great deal. He adds that since weeds are more powerful than crops, they are mulched and turned into nutrients for the soil. Here's a farmer who doesn't have a problem with weeds on his farm! When asked about the change in his income, he says that the impact of natural farming cannot be measured against monthly or gross income. It takes time to reach what a farmer once earned through chemical farming, but the longterm benefits are many. In a final message to farmers across Punjab and India, he says, "If we continue to douse our fields with chemicals, in the next two decades, Punjab will turn into a desert, and that too, a poisonous one. If we want to save Punjab and keep our nation healthy, we have no other alternative than turning to natural farming. It is the need of the hour." (Source: thebetterindia.com)

(page no. 15 cont...) Daypack Pack yourself a small daypack that has all the mandatory everyday needs like first aid kit which consists of medicines, ban-aids, knickknacks to eat when hungry and small swiss knife. Waterbottle Whether you are easy hiking in Seoul or not hydrating yourself is a must. Therefore make sure you are carrying a bottle of water during the hike. Jacket If you are hiking in Seoul during autumn you would want to do yourself a favor and pack a slightly warm jacket that keeps you protected from the cold during the trail. Tips That You Need To Know Do not forget to pack sunscreen No matter what season you are planning to visit Seoul, do not forget to pack sunscreen as the sun is always harsh and strong here. Hike in the morning Since all the hiking sites are easily accessible, it is better that you start your hike early in the morning to avoid the rush as well as to protect yourself from the sun and humidity. National Parks are extremely cheap While deciding on a location to hike, always remember that hiking in national parks doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any entrance fee or are very cheap. Hence you can choose one of these places. Camping and Swimming is a no-no in most of the national parks There are strict rules that say that you cannot camp in any random location in the national parks but only in established mountain shelters. Apart from this, no not swim in any of the water bodies no matter how hot or tempted you get. All you can do is submerge your hands and feet in them. Mobile service One of the best things about Seoul is that you would always have a phone signal even though the weather is really bad or you are hiking in the remotest of the locations. All you need is a south Korean sim. Soju Shots Traditions are fun and so is this one related to hiking. This might be one of the most important hiking tips that you may come across. Before starting your hike take a shot of Soju for luck and next when you reach the top as a congratulatory shot. (Source: traveltriangle.com)

August 2019

Environment & people

Public misunderstandings about the cause and impact of air pollution is being driven by poor media reporting in South and Southeast Asia, a new study finds. he media in South and Southeast Asia has helped to build a hazy public perception of air pollution by reporting it superficially, insufficiently or incorrectly, says a new report by Vital Strategies, a US based public health institution. The report titled 'Hazy Perceptions' analyses more than half a million social media posts between 2015 to 2018 in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Mongolia and Pakistan. "Our report finds that public perceptions about air pollution do not match the evidence," said Anchal Mehta, a member of the study team. Air pollution causes more than 4 million deaths each year globally. South and Southeast Asia account for around 1.5 million - or 37% - of these deaths. Most important drivers of air pollution ignored The most important sources of pollutants, such as household fuels, power plants and waste burning, receive less pub-

Environment & people

August 2019

lic attention than sources such as vehicular emissions, the report found. A recent study by Clean Air Collective in India showed that 90% of Indians interviewed across highly polluted cities do not understand the causes and effects of air pollution. "This could be partly because of media coverage that doesn't reflect the current evidence and science," the report says. Less signi?cant sources of air pollution such as vehicular emissions are mentioned more frequently than more signi?cant sources like power plants and waste burning. Another study carried out by Vital Strategies in India in 2014 and 2015 showed that the majority of news about air pollution omitted information about the major health impacts or the effect on vulnerable populations. In India, focus on vehicle emissions was disproportionately high compared to other sources. The debate was dominated by the Delhi government's odd-even number plate rule (restricting which cars can be on the road on what day), with vehicle pollution understood as the number one pollution source. Vehicle pollution was still seen as a number one source in other countries as well, followed by cooking and natural wildfires. "There is a gap between commonly discussed sources and actual sources of air pol-

lution. Although power plants, burning fossil fuels and waste burning are major sources for air pollution in many countries, they do not show up among top sources," the report added. Even though the 2015 haze from forest fires that affected Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia was widely reported, vehicle pollution remained the most discussed source of air pollution that year. Long term health impacts ignored The media has also focused on the short-term health effects rather than more serious long term threats of air pollution. "News and social media posts largely mention short-term health impacts such as coughing or itchy eyes, far more than health threats caused by chronic exposure, such as cancer," the report claims. Beyond deaths, air pollution causes disability from lung and heart disease, contributes to diabetes, inhibits physical activity, and negatively influences children's physical and cognitive development. Between 2015 and 2018, most of the conversations in the media and social media mention acute symptoms (75%) while mentions of chronic illness was less frequent (25%). "This reflects an important gap in awareness of air pollution exacerbation of chronic cardiovascular and lung diseases, which account for the vast majority of

deaths from air pollution," said Kass. How to influence the debate? The report recommends evidence-based communication campaigns to highlight the most significant sources of air pollution and to address the health hazards of long-term exposure. "Another critical step is ensuring that media professionals and key advocates for clean air are informed about credible data on the sources of air pollution, its health impact, and solutions, said Mehta. Interestingly, the report says the public health authorities do not influence the conversation on air pollution, but a photographer, international NGO Green Peace and an activist were on top leading influencers list. Air pollution is most frequently discussed from September through December, when air quality is worsened by the winter season and crop burning practices adopted by farmers. The report has pointed out the seasonal reporting as a challenge for engaging the public to support effective air pollution control, which requires year-round, sustained measures. The report also found that the posts about the effect of air pollution on children received more engagement on social media. "There is a clear disconnect between public understanding of air pollution and reality. While people are aware of the problem, there is a need to elevate concern about the impacts of air pollution on human health as well as the environment," Mehta added. (Source: thewire.in)

August 2019

Environment & people

New mangrove study shows exactly how coastal forests protect economic activity during cyclones angroves are incredibly productive coastal ecosystems found in the tropics and subtropics. These dense green forests are known for their bizarre-looking roots that poke up into the air from shallow water. Among the meshed webs of roots are fish nurseries, enabling humans to make a living from the marine life in and around the mangroves. Mangroves also play another important role for humans, protecting communities from major storms. Climate change is more than rising temperatures, and the increased frequency and intensity of cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons is apparent.Cyclone Fani for example, which recently struck the Bay of Bengal, was one of the strongest to devastate India in the past 20 years. Mangrove roots can break up the force of a storm surge, soaking up some of its energy and protecting people living on coasts from cyclone damage. Yet it is a challenge to effectively value and protect individual mangrove ecosystems. And we just don't have the people or funds to

Environment & people

August 2019

deliver detailed studies for even a fraction of the villages and towns sheltered by mangroves. Rule of thumb That is where we need a global rule of thumb that can be applied anywhere. It needs to be rigorously evidenced, and trusted enough for economic values to be used in planning calculations by governments and financial institutions. This is provided for coastal mangrove protection by an innovative new study in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the US. Jacob Hochard and colleagues use global data covering nearly 2,000 coastal communities in 23 countries and 194 mangrove areas. Meticulous statistical

analysis of cyclones from 2000 to 2012 provides a convincing model of how economic activity is impacted and recovers. It is well established that how brightly lit an area is at night correlates to its economic activity. Hochard's innovation is to compare satellite imagery data of nighttime light levels with a timeline of cyclones. Economic losses are estimated from reduced nighttime light levels. The area of mangrove protecting a community is divided by the length of coastline to give an average extent of mangrove per metre of coast. The authors compare how typical communities protected by smaller areas of mangrove (6m per metre of coastline average) fared over the long term versus communities with

larger areas of mangroves (25m per metre average). As differing levels of wealth make it tough to directly compare the economic impacts of mangroves in, say, Florida and Haiti, Hochard and colleagues instead express losses not in US dollar value but as relative to months of economic productivity. Losses per cyclone for communities with 6m of mangroves per metre of coastline were double that of communities protected by 25m per m of mangroves. In the former group, losses are somewhere between 5.5 and 6.5 months of economic activity. In the latter, the extra mangroves kept cyclone impacts down to between 2.5 and 5.5 months. The blue economy Mangrove forests cover just 0.5% of the world's coasts but account for an estimated 10-15% of coastal carbon capture. As we try to stop CO? levels rising and put the brakes on climate change, protecting mangroves for their blue carbon value is key. Mangrove protection from cyclones also reduces longer term deterioration of low-lying inland areas with rising sea levels. Storm surges and flooding from cyclones, which deposit salts, are greater without mangrove protection. In Bangladesh, for example, rice agri-

culture is increasingly impossible as fields are flooded with seawater. One way communities are adapting is to shift production to shrimp farms. Booming shrimp aquaculture, however, ironically requires further mangrove clearance to create space - as seen graphically in Sri Lanka. Loss of mangrove protection from cyclones then worsens coastal deterioration. Mangroves aren't only lost to aquaculture, or harvested for wood, however. Mangroves are strongly affected, for example, by polluted freshwater flowing to the coast. Conflicting objectives at different levels of government and in different locations need joining up. And mangroves are just one aspect of coastal ecosystems and economies - effective management will mean integration with seagrass systems, coral reefs and so on. The complexity is daunting. We need to be able to act using general principles that can be translated to the great majority of locations for which there are not the resources for local studies. Robustly evidenced global models such as this make that possible. The clock is ticking as mangroves are rapidly lost worldwide. (Source: https://scroll.in/article/926432/new-mangrove-studyshows-exactly-how-coastal-forestsprotect-economic-activity-duringcyclones)

August 2019

Environment & people

Microscopic plastic particles and colourants have been detected for the first time inside the commercially important Asian green mussel Perna viridis, at a Chennai fishing harbour in a preliminary study. lthough several research articles have reported the presence of microplastics even in market bivalves and fishes of natural coastal waters in Europe and Japan, the present results are surprising as this has been reported for the first time from India," said SA Naidu, author of the paper and a project scientist at Chennai's National Centre for Coastal Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences. "Chennai harbour region is influenced by industrial, domestic and other land-based sources of microplastics." The sheer scale of plastic pollution in the oceans is staggering. Scientists estimate over 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic inundating the oceans. But while large plastic debris floating in the seas and oceans that are increasingly being found in alarming quantities inside marine life such as sea turtles and whales, for example - can be spotted easily and scooped up, tiny bits of

Environment & people

August 2019

plastic, which are invisible to the naked eye, remain a pressing concern. Plastic waste dumped on land ends up in the ocean through river discharge as well as domestic and industrial waste. In the sea, ship spillages, fishing trawlers and coastal gas platforms also leave behind a trail of plastic debris. Over time, much of the debris undergoes fragmentation and degradation into tiny particles, known as microplastics which are less than 5 mm. Physical forces such as waves and currents, ultraviolet radiation and microbial breakdown are usually responsible for the degradation. Microplastics can remain afloat or sink to the seafloor and accumulate in sediments depending on their density. They can be ingested by both suspension and filterfeeders. As part of the Marine Litters and Microplastics programme of the National Centre for Coastal Research, Naidu collected five mussels from three locations in the Kasimedu fishing harbour of Chennai coast, which receives plastic debris through various sources such as fishing boats, industrial and domestic sewage and discharge from rivers. Filter-feeding

After carefully removing the soft tissues of the mussels, Naidu examined them directly under the microscope. He also treated the soft tissues with acid to digest them and isolate the microplastics. Using Raman spectroscopy, a method that determines the type of plastic from their characteristic spectral bands, Naidu deduced that the microplastics in the soft tissues were mainly polystyrene polymers around 30 micrometres in size. He also observed thread-like fibres ranging from 5 micrometres to 25 micrometres in size. Some coloured particles did not match any kind of known plastics in the Raman spectral library, suggesting they could be colourants - dyes and pigments. These microscopic colourant particles ranged from around 62 micrometres to 103 micrometres and were found in orange, green, dark red and light blue colours. Naidu believes the colourants are probably of human origin. They could have come from textiles, synthetic paints, paper printing, food, ship, idol-making and cos-

metics, among other industries. A study estimated that over 10,000 different dyes and pigments are used industrially and in 2010, India producedaround 200,000 tonnes of dyes, according to one estimate. Some of these dye effluents are discharged into the sea. It is likely that the microplastics and colourants have been ingested, believes Naidu, because mussels are filter feeders. A standard mussel filters on an average 24 litres of water per day. "When the organisms sieve water through the inhalant siphon across the complexly folded gills, planktons and other food particles are retained but along with them, non-food microplastics which are microscopic-sized and unwanted are also retained inadvertently," he explained. After the Chennai floods in November 2015, a team of scientistsobserved a threefold increase in microplastic pellets along the coast of Chennai, providing evidence for the transport of a large quantity of microplastics from land into the sea through the Cooum and Adyar rivers. Tracy Mincer, assistant professor at Florida Atlantic University, is not surprised

by the presence of microplastics in the Asian green mussel in this study. "The plastic particles were in the size range that is typically found in marine aggregates," he said. In fact, he pointed out that his team also found the same patterns in a 2018 study conducted on the widely consumed blue mussel Mytilus edulis collected from the US North East coast. "The diversity of plastic materials was similar to our findings," he noted. "With our study, we looked at not only the presence but clearance rates of plastic debris and found that for the most part, plastic tends to be expelled in pseudofeces and faeces ofMytilus edulis," added Mincer. Who does it affect? "As for the impact these plastics may have on benthic animals [organisms living near the sea bed], it seems likely that these plastic particles are putting a burden on certain suspension and filter-feeding organisms but more work is needed to understand the risks," said Mincer. "[For example] are the plastics being incorporated into animal tissue over time? And if so, do these plastic particles bioconcentrate up the food chain?" Said Naidu: "The bivalve mussels of the fishing harbour waters are not generally fit

for human consumption anywhere." He added that the study was mainly conducted to see if microplastics were found in the soft tissues of the mussels. National Centre for Coastal Research Director MV Ramana Murthy and Pravakar Mishra, the project leader of the Marine Litters and Microplastics program said: "In future, it is proposed to take up the study of mussels in different environments along the Indian coast for assessing the status and comparison between polluted and unpolluted areas. Studies on the accumulation rates and residence time of microplastics in organisms are needed to understand the transfer rates of microplastics across the food web." Recognising the severity and dangers of plastic pollution, the state of Tamil Nadu had banned the sale of plastic bags and cutlery starting January this year, following similar bans in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Goa, and Maharashtra. (Source: scroll.in)

August 2019

Environment & people

A new study will help researchers understand how modern species might adapt to the current climate crisis. lephants have long captivated our attention, partly because of their sheer size and majesty. But we're also struck by their complex behaviour. In some ways, we're fascinated because this behaviour echoes our most humane feelings. For instance, elephants have repeatedly been observed using tools andgrieving their dead. Their evolutionary history is interesting, too. It parallels humans' in many ways. Elephant ancestors originated in Africa, just like ours. Their descendants, among them mammoths, went out of Africa to inhabit other continents. And in the process they evolved the largest brain of any land animal. It weighs around 5 kg, while our own brains weigh 1.4 kg. But what drove this particular element of elephant evolution? Even though the fossil record of elephant ancestors is rich - with almost 300 species described we simply haven't known the answer for a long time. From the earliest species with small brains to the modern elephants with large brains, there was analmost 30 million-yearlong gap in our knowledge. Now, thanks to cutting edge scanning techniques and state of the art statistical reconstruction of ancestral features, we have the

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August 2019

answer. A team of scientists from South Africa, Europe and North America - including us - have spent six years reconstructing the first accurate time line of brain evolution in the elephant lineage. The results of this international collaboration have been published in Scientific Reports. And the answer to this longstanding question? Climate change is a large part of it. A shift in climate, along with other environmental disruptions and the invasion of competitors and new predators all likely played an important role in reshaping ancient elephants' brains. Knowing this not only solves a long standing scientific mystery. It also means we've got a way to understand how modern species might adapt to the current climate crisis. Climate-linked changes Our survey revealed that brain size in ancestral elephants increased in two pulses, approximately 26 and 20 million years ago. The encephalisation quotient (a measure of relative brain size corrected for body size) doubled during each pulse. This transformed the small brain of early elephant relatives into a large brain comparable in every way to that of modern species. Noticeably, these two pulses of growth in brain size correspond to periods of substantial environmental disruptions in Africa. Some 26 million years ago, Antarctica was frozen for the first time, which caused a global aridification of the climate. Africa's

dense rain forests turned into savannas and deserts. The climate then changed again about 20 million years ago to revert to a warmer and wetter African environment. This climatic instability was supplemented by the appearance of a landbridge between Asia and Africa. Before 20 million years ago, Africa was indeed an isolated continent. But because of continental drift it eventually collided with the Levant (the area encompassing modern day Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq), enabling the invasion of rival herbivores and new predators from Asia. The invasive fauna included the ancestors of modern-day lion, zebra, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and antelopes. The Great Apes did not exist yet. Some large species died out during this time; the most famous is Arsinoitherium, a rhino-like relative of elephants. Ancestral elephants had to adapt or go extinct. At that time, they were still relatively small animals, the size of a tapir, with a short trunk only. We hypothesise that a bigger brain enabled more behavioural flexibility: to be more exploratory, to migrate to look for food, to cope with a wider variety of diets (leaves, fruits, grass), and to remember the location of distant waterholes during dry periods, for example. A larger brain may have helped them outsmart competitors and avoid predators. Body and brain size Elephants were also helped by the fact that they became so big. Being large opens up a whole new world of advantages: it deters predators and

when food resources and water are scarce, a large body can store more fat and water, and a larger gut can digest food more efficiently. We found that brain size coevolved tightly with body size in the elephantine lineage. This suggests that the evolution of a big body is not completely independent from a large brain. The elephant's large brain likely evolved, not only for more behavioural flexibility, but also hand in hand with their large body. This is a cautionary tale about interpreting brain size only in the light of retrospectively applied conjectural needs for greater intelligence. Simply put, when it's found that a given lineage's brain size increased, people jump to the conclusion that this is because the lineage needed to become smarter to survive. But we must not forget that brain size is correlated to many other variables: body size is one example. Gestation length is another (more time in the womb equals a bigger brain). Usually, people think these are side effects of a larger brain, but what if a larger brain was actually the side effect of a bigger body mass? What if natural selection was acting on body size only, and brain size was just a passenger? Answers to these questions are still pending. But as our work progresses, the picture gets clearer. Thanks to our research it is now evident that environmental disruptions, including changes in climate, and the invasion of competitors and new predators, played an important role in re-shaping the brain of ancestral elephants and their behaviour. (Source: scroll.in)

August 2019

Environment & people

Women Take the Lead Tackling Climate Change in Bangladesh By Jonathan Farr and Samia Mallik, WaterAid he stakes are high for women when faced with a warming world – their livelihoods jeopardised by labour markets that tend to put men first, their family responsibilities increasing rapidly in the face of droughts and flooding, and politicians who refuse to acknowledge the challenges they face. The story of those living on the frontline of a harsher climate is simply not being heard. Women commonly face higher risks and greater burdens from the impacts of climate change. Combined with the fact that climate change has a greater impact on people who are heavily dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods, women also have the least capacity to respond to increasingly severe natural disasters such as droughts, landslides, floods and cyclones. Despite this, and often because of this, it is women who are the drivers of adaptation to climate change. By promoting their local knowledge of sustainable resource management, and leadership in sustainable practices at the household and community level, women are the innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers when it comes to tackling climate change on a day-to-day basis. With this in mind, policies and projects should strive to not only involve women in decision-making and leadership processes for climate change mitigation, but put them in the driving seat to make the tough choices. In developing countries, there are many other examples of women’s inclusion at the local level, which have led to enhanced out-

Environment & people

August 2019

comes of climate-related projects and policies at a much wider often national level. For example, in Dacope – a community in a climate-vulnerable region of Bangladesh where water resources are so

heavily saline as to be poisonous. Children and adults of the community were suffering from skin allergies, stomach problems and water-borne diseases due to the daily consumption of unsafe water from their only water source – ponds and canals. A group of women decided they could not stand by as their health and that of their families deteriorated due to lack of safe water. Things needed to change. WaterAid and HSBC have been working partnership for four years in this region of Bangladesh helping to provide water, sanitation and hygiene services to many communities. Through the project, mother-of-two, Shila Bawali, 35, successfully enlisted another 44 women into a committee called “Khona Khatail Mahila Samity” to start a fund for the installation of a reverse osmo-

sis plant to purify their water. This plant has started the water filtration process, which takes out the impurities out of the water and makes it safe for drinking. With this plant removing the salinity from ground water, it is now safe and pure to drink for the 1,300 people living in the village and also those from other communities at a very low-price.?Shila plans to sell it to restaurants and cafes, so the water not only brings health benefits but improves her family’s economic outlook too. And, as a number of the women are now trained with the essential skills to be able to maintain the water plant, it is sustainable and resilient to future climate pressures. How does Shila feel about this success? She told WaterAid that she’s now incredibly optimistic about the future – she’s confident that life will be better, her children will be healthier, and she will be able to rely on her new source of clean water. She is happy to serve the customers in her shop and is eager to see her own community blossoming with new hope. Let’s applaud women like Shila who take control of their rightful destiny, and take on new challenges and risks in their hectic lives. Through their incredible drive and ambition, they can bring about lasting change to secure the future of their family and community in the face of climate change. (Source: ipsnews.net)

August 2019

Environment & people

Research and experience across more than two decades in rural Odisha, India, show that an effective rural sanitation model requires both financial assistance and an integrated water supply. here are studies and field reports that have analysed the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in terms of coverage and use of toilets in rural India. The official government survey, the NARSS 2018-19,

Environment & people

August 2019

shows that 93 percent of rural households have access to a toilet and 96 percent of those having a toilet use them. Critiques of the survey point out the contradictions between NARSS and micro-level assessments in different parts of India. Other studies point out issues related to how comprehensive the approach to sanitation needs to be, if SBM is to truly address the large scale problems of ill-health, malnutrition, and poor quality of life caused by poor sanitation practices. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has already issued guidelines for follow-up components, such as the 'Advisory on ODF Sustainability interventions'. It is quite likely that with the Prime Minister and his government taking charge

for the second term, the sustainability of the first generation SBM efforts will be given high priority. In this context, it is pertinent to throw light on some microlevel issues, based on more than two decades of experience in rural Odisha. A rural sanitation model that works Gram Vikas, the organisation I lead, started its work in rural sanitation in the year 1994. Our model of 100 percent coverage of all households in a village, all of them building and using household level toilets and a bathing room with piped water supply, has been recognised as a best practice nationally and globally. The integrated water, sanitation, and hygiene (WSH) intervention that we sup-

port rural communities with, is built on the following principles: " Participation of 100 percent of the habitation's households; it is all, or none. " Cost sharing by the household, partially towards construction of the facilities, and fully for operations and maintenance. " Ownership and management by a village water and sanitation committee, consisting of representatives of all sections in the village. " A sanitation corpus fund built from a one-time contribution by all, towards providing cash incentives for future families in the village to build toilets and bathing rooms (ensuring 100 percent coverage at all times). " A maintenance fund through regular household fee collection, for maintenance of the piped water supply system. In 25 years (up to March 2019), the Gram Vikas WSH model has been implemented in more than 1,400 villages, covering close to 90,000 households. The villages are financed primarily through the sanitation and rural drinking water schemes of the government, and Gram Vikas has mobilised private resources to fill in gaps. What we learnt Over the past two decades, working with rural communities of different types, we have realised that bringing about attitudinal and behaviour changes towards safe sanitation is not easy. When we began in the mid-1990s, saying that every house in the village will have toilets, bathing rooms, and piped water, most people laughed. Between 1994 and 1999, we could cover only 30 villages-this resulted from our own efforts at motivating people, and not any felt desire on their part. Then started the gradual process of changefathers of unmarried girls motivating future sons-in-laws' village elders to take up the sanitation project; women taking the lead to convince their men to build toilets, and even stopping cooking for a day or two to make their husbands see reason; migrants who worked outside Odisha coming back to their own villages and motivating their parents, and so on. When it comes to rural sanitation, government financial assistance matters

Between 1999 and 2007, the government's support to sanitation, as part of the then newly launched Total Sanitation Campaign, was INR 300 per household, for below poverty line families. Support for community-led, piped water supply projects came much later, in the form of Swajaldhara in 2003. The prevalent thinking among policy makers in the early 2000s was that financial incentives were not necessary to promote rural sanitation. This was based on the limited success of the subsidy-led Central Rural Sanitation Programme, that ran between 1986 and 1998. Financial incentives to rural house-

holds for building toilets is more than a subsidy, it's about society meeting part of the costs of helping rural communities build a better life. To compare, urban dwellers who may have built their own household toilets, do not pay anything for removing the human waste from their premises; municipal governments ensure sewage lines and treatment plants. The cost of this (which is borne by the government) is not seen as a subsidy. And yet, the upfront payment made to rural households to help build toilets is looked down upon as wasteful expenditure. In 2011, the policy moved to a higher level of financial incentives to rural households for constructing individual house-

hold latrines, mostly likely in recognition of the fact that rural households needed the financial incentive as motivation to change sanitation behaviours. But today, with statistics showing 93 percent or more coverage of toilets, the policy prescription is likely to move to the pre-2011 phase-big financial incentives are not needed for building rural household toilets. Our experience has taught us that nothing can be further from the truth. First, actual coverage of usable toilets is likely much less than what the numbers

show. Second, households will need support for repairs and upgradation of the already built latrines. In addition, there are two categories for whom the financial assistance must continue: those who, for various reasons, have not constructed latrines so far; and new households that have come up in villages that have already been declared open defecation free (ODF). Availability of water in the toilet is critical to encouraging use and maintenance of the facility In most cases, where water is not available in proximity, the load on women to carry water has increased. A pour-flush latrine, the type mostly preferred, requires at least 12 litres of water per use. With 4-5 members in the household, the minimum daily requirement becomes about 60 litres,

August 2019

Environment & people

forcing women to collect at least three times the water they would otherwise collect. We have observed that without water in the household premises, women's water carrying load increases to more than twice the pre-latrine times. The addition of a bathing room, affords women more privacy, and a better way to keep themselves clean and hygienic. In most villages we have worked with, women especially, equate this part of their physical quality of life to what people in the city enjoy. During the last few years, financial allocation for rural water supply has decreased. While the?allocation?to?drinking water?has?reduced?from 87 percent (2009-10) to 31 percent (2018-19), the?allocation?to?rural?sanitation has increased from 13 percent to 69 percent in the same period. This is definitely not a desirable situation, as noted by many. Mainstreaming the community-owned and managed method of rural water supply will ensure equitable distribution Doing this, rather than pushing for large water supply projects across many villages, will give rural communities and local governments greater control over managing their resources and meeting the needs of every household in an equitable manner. The Swajal programme of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, which talks about village level, community-based water projects, is a step in the right direction. Much greater push is needed by the central government to ensure that the state-level apparatus moves to a more enabling and empowering approach in addressing rural drinking water needs.  Communities at their level.  Make individual household-level piped water supply the standard design principle for rural water supply projects.  Build community capacities to manage groundwater resources and undertake watershed and springshed interventions.  Integrate water quality management as a communitylevel initiative, by demystifying testing technologies, and creating a wider network of testing laboratories. 3. Deepen and integrate WSH interventions for better health and nutrition outcomes at the community-level  Incentivise states to achieve stronger schematic and financial convergence between National Health Mission and the Integrated Child Development Services at the intermediate and gram panchayat level. 4. Create a multi-stakeholder institutional platform to deepen and sustain SBM across rural India  Incentivise states to enable Panchayati Raj Institutions to play a greater role in the SBM process.  Allow for more active participation of civil society organisations as facilitators and implementors, to support rural community-based institutions to adopt sustainable sanitation interventions. Provide financial incentives to such organisations based on outputs and outcomes. (Source: ipsnews.net)

Environment & people

August 2019

Environmental Conferences in August

12th

10th Academic International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities-AICSSH 2019 August (Oxford) Oxford, United Kingdom

13th

2019 2nd International Conference on Bioenergy and Clean Energy (ICBCE 2019) Singapore, Singapore

13th

The 4th Asia-Pacific Research in Social Sciences and Humanities (APRiSH) Jakarta, Indonesia

13th

2019 5th International Conference on Advances in Environment Research (ICAER 2019) Singapore, Singapore

14th

12th Bangkok International Conference on Environment, Agriculture, Biology & Natural Sciences (EABNS-19-Thailand) Bangkok, Thailand

15th

The International Conference on Anthropology Colombo, Sri Lanka

16th

International Conf. on Recent Trends in Agriculture, Environmental Sustainability&Climate Change 2019(ICAEC-2019) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

19th

2019 The 2nd International Conference on Renewable Energy and Environment Engineering (REEE 2019)--Scopus and Ei Munich, Germany

20th

The 18th International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies, SET2019 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

20th

4th International Conference on Energy, Environment and Economics (ICEEE2019) Edinburgh, United Kingdom

20th

International Conference on Rural Development and Entrepreneurship (ICORE) Yogyakarta, Indonesia

21st

2019 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Tourism Management (ICSTM 2019) Budapest, Hungary

22nd

International Conference on Environment and Life Science (ICELS) Pattaya, Thailand

24th

3rd International Conference on Academic Research in Social Sciences and Humanities (ARSSH-2019) Beijing, China

24th

International Conference on Recent Trends in Business, Social Sciences & Humanities Research (BSSH-AUG-2019) Budapest, Hungary

24th

International Conference on Behavioral and Health Sciences (ICBHS- 2019) New Delhi, India

26th

Environmental Microbiology and Soil Microbiology Summit Toronto, Canada

26th

Global Meeting on Environmental Toxicology & Ecological Risk Assessment Dubai, United Arab Emirates

28th

Int. Conference on Technology Management, Industrial Engineering, Applied Sciences, Networking & Computer Applications Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

29th

Association of Pacific Rim Universities Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub (APRU SCL) Conference Sydney, Australia

30th

2nd ICSTR Rome â&#x20AC;&#x201C; International Conference on Science & Technology Research, 30-31 August 2019 Rome, Italy

31st

IAET International Conference on Manufacturing, ICT, Software Engineering, Applied Sciences & Smart Materials Amsterdam, Netherlands

31st

2nd International Conference on Innovative Approaches in Sciences, Engineering and Technology ISET-2019 Osaka, Japan

31st

2nd International Conference on Social Issue in Management, Public Administration and Economics (SMPA) Osaka, Japan

31st

2019 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 16th International Conference on Research in Life-Sciences & Healthcare (ICRLSH), 31 Aug-01 Sept, Rome Rome, Italy August 2019

Environment & people

(page no. 13 cont...) water resources development or management. Similarly, we need a National Rivers Commission to monitor the state of India's rivers and produce reports and recommendations about what ails these water bodies. Similarly, river-basin organisations will have to be inter-state bodies that develop all the relevant knowledge about the state of the country's river basins. Prime Minister Modi, in his Mann Ki Baat on June 30, 2019, the first episode in his second term, highlighted the importance of water conservation and then used the 8% figure: "You will be surprised that only 8% of the water received from rains in the entire year is harvested in our country." Where does that 8% come from? Modi did not elaborate but India's annual rainfall is around 4,000 BCM, 8% of which comes to 320 BCM. That is approximately the storage capacity of India's big dams. However, big dams are not rainwaterharvesting options; they are storage options. Then again, they aren't the only or best storage options. Those titles belong to groundwater aquifers, which are benign, naturally gifted, low cost, low impact and efficient. Wetlands, local water bodies and the soil are similarly qualified alternatives. But by mentioning this 8% storage figure, the prime minister is privileging big dams as well as ignoring all the others. And until our water-resources establishment does not get out of this bias for big dams and big projects, there is little hope that our water blessings will not become disasters. (Source: thewire.in)

Eco

Quotes “I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.” —Mother Teresa “The Earth is what we all have in common.” Wendell Berry

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” -George Bernard Shaw “Time spent among trees is never time wasted.” - Anonymous Away, away, from men and towns, To the wild wood and the downs, To the silent wilderness, Where the soul need not repress its music.” - Percy Bysshe Shelley

“He that plants trees loves others besides himself.” - Thomas Fuller

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken.” - Leo Tolstoy

“The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.” -Lady Bird Johnson Environment & people

August 2019

Eco

Eco Facts 1. Air pollution kills 800 people every hour or 13 every minute, accounting for more than three times the amount of people who die from malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined each year. 2. Some of the same pollutants contribute to both climate change and local air pollution, including black carbon or soot - produced by inefficient combustion in sources like cookstoves and diesel engines - and methane. 3. The five main sources of air pollution are indoor burning of fossil fuels, wood and other biomass to cook, heat and light homes; industry, including power generation such as coal-fired plants and diesel generators; transport, especially vehicles with diesel engines; agriculture, including livestock, which produces methane and ammonia, rice paddies, which produce methane, and the burning of agricultural waste; and open waste burning and organic waste in landfills. 4. Household air pollution causes about 3.8 million premature deaths each year, the vast majority of them in the developing world, and about 60 per cent of those deaths are among women and children. 5. 93 per cent of children worldwide live in areas where air pollution exceeds WHO guidelines, with 600,000 children under 15 dying from respiratory tract infections in 2016. 6. Air pollution is responsible for 26 per cent of deaths from ischemic heart disease, 24 per cent of deaths from strokes, 43 per cent from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 29 per cent from lung cancer. In children, it is associated with low birth weight, asthma, childhood cancers, obesity, poor lung development and autism, among other health defects. 7. 97 per cent of cities in low- and middleincome countries with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not meet the WHO minimum air quality levels, and in high-income countries, 29 per cent of cities fall short of guidelines. 8. About 25 per cent of urban ambient air pollution from fine particulate matter is contributed by traffic, 20 per cent by domestic fuel burning and 15 per cent by industrial activities including electricity generation. 9. Keeping global warming â&#x20AC;&#x153;well belowâ&#x20AC;? 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F), as governments have pledged to do under the 2015 Paris Agreement, could save about a million lives a year by 2050 through reducing air pollution alone.

1. What is the action of task environment in artificial intelligence? a) Problem

b) Solution

c) Agent

d) Observation

2. What is the expansion if PEAS in task environment? a) Peer, Environment, Actuators, Sense b) Perceiving, Environment, Actuators, Sensors c) Performance, Environment, Actuators, Sensors d) None of the mentioned 3. What kind of observing environments are present in artificial intelligence? a) Partial

b) Fully

c) Learning

d) Both Partial & Fully

4. What kind of environment is strategic in artificial intelligence? a) Deterministic

b) Rational

c) Partial

d) Stochastic

5. What kind of environment is crossword puzzle? a) Static

b) Dynamic

c) Semi Dynamic

d) None of the mentioned

6. What kind of behavior does the stochastic environment posses? a) Local

b) Deterministic

c) Rational

d) Primary

7. Which is used to select the particular environment to run the agent? a) Environment creator

b) Environment Generator

c) Both Environment creator & Generator d) None of the mentioned 8. Which is used to provide the feedback to the learning element? a) Critic

b) Actuators

c) Sensor

d) None of the mentioned

9. Where does the performance measure is included? a) Rational agent

b) Task environment

c) Actuators

d) Sensor

August 2019

Environment & people

Climate Emergency Is the heatwave that scorched Europe last week a prelude to our future?

Sorry, Son! What kind of world are we handing over to the next generation? Environment & people

August 2019

Environment & People

RNI - 63997/94