Developing procedures for assessment of ecological status of Indian River Basins in the context of environmental water requirements

Developing procedures for assessment of ecological status of Indian River Basins in the context of environmental water requirements
Author: Smakhtin, Vladimir, Arunachalam, M., Behera, S., Chatterjee, A., Das, S., Gautam, P., Joshi, G. D., Sivaramakrishnan, K. G., Unni, K. S.
Publisher: IWMI
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2007
Genre: Ecosystem management
ISBN: 9290906685

This report attempts to introduce a prototype scoring system for the ecological status of rivers in India and illustrate it through the applications in several major river basins. This system forms part of the desktop environmental flow assessment and is based on a number of indicators reflecting ecological condition and sensitivity of a river. The unique aspect of this study is that it interprets, for the first time, the existing ecological information for Indian rivers in the context of environmental flow assessment. The report targets government departments, research institutions and NGOs which are engaged in environmental flow management and associated policy development, and suggests some subsequent steps in environmental flow work in India.

Treadle pump irrigation and poverty in Ghana

Treadle pump irrigation and poverty in Ghana
Author: Adeoti, Adeoti, Barry, Boubacar, Namara, Regassa, Kamara, Abdul, Titiati, Atsu
Publisher: IWMI
Total Pages: 34
Release: 2007
Genre: Feed-water pumps
ISBN: 9290906715

Treadle pump (TP) technology has been promoted by Enterprise Works Worldwide (EWW) as an alternative to the traditional rope and bucket irrigation that is necessary to overcome the challenge of uncertain and inadequate rainfall for agricultural production. The aim is to improve output, increase incomes and reduce poverty among farm households. This study examines the strategies used for dissemination of the TP and the dynamics of its adoption and impacts, with a special focus on poverty reduction. The results of the study reveal that time and labor savings for irrigation, increased size of irrigated areas and lack of fuel requirements are the attractive features of the TP for those who adopt it. Adoption of TP increases land and labor productivities; and also net farm incomes. The study also demonstrates that adoption of the TP reduces poverty.

India's water future to 2025-2050: business-as-usual scenario and deviations

India's water future to 2025-2050: business-as-usual scenario and deviations
Author: Amarasinghe, Upali, Shah, Tushaar, Turral, Hugh, Anand, B. K.
Publisher: IWMI
Total Pages: 52
Release: 2007
Genre: Water resources development
ISBN: 9290906871

With a rapidly expanding economy many changes are taking place in India today. The business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, which assumes the continuation of current trends of key water demand drivers, will meet the future food demand. However, it leads to a severe regional water crisis by 2050, where many river basins will reach closure, will be physically water-scarce and will have regions with severely overexploited groundwater resources. While the alternative scenarios of water demand show both optimistic and pessimistic water futures, the scenario with additional productivity growth is the most optimistic, with significant scope for reducing future water demand.

Rivers of the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta

Rivers of the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta
Author: Kalyan Rudra
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2018-04-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319765442

This is the first comprehensive book on the rivers of the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta. This volume covers all aspects of this highly populated region including land conflicts and environmental impacts such as the Indo-Bangladesh conflict over sharing of trans-boundary water. This book addresses the topic from a highly interdisciplinary perspective covering areas of geography, geology, environment, history, archaeology, sociology and politics of the Bengal region. The book appeals to a wide range of audiences from India, Bangladesh and the international community. The style of presentation makes it easily suitable for students, researchers and interested laymen.

Institutions, impact synergies and food security: a methodology with results from the Kala Oya Basin, Sri Lanka

Institutions, impact synergies and food security: a methodology with results from the Kala Oya Basin, Sri Lanka
Author: Saleth, Rathinasamy Maria, Dinar, A., Neubert, S., Kamaiah, B., Manoharan, S., Abayawardana, Sarath, Ariyaratne, Ranjith, de Silva, S.
Publisher: IWMI
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2007
Genre: Food security
ISBN: 9290906863

The success of development programs depends on the role of underlying institutions and the impact synergies from closely related programs. Existing literature has limitations in accounting for these critical factors. This paper fills this gap by developing a methodology, which can quantify both the institutional roles in impact generation and the impact synergies from related programs. The methodology is applied to the Kala Oya Basin in Sri Lanka for evaluating the impacts of three development programs and 11 institutions on food security. The results provide valuable insights on the relative roles of institutions and the varying flow of impact synergies both within and across impact pathways.

Environmental Sustainability from the Himalayas to the Oceans

Environmental Sustainability from the Himalayas to the Oceans
Author: Shikui Dong
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2017-01-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319440373

The book is written in the backdrop of the environmental impacts of and future requirements from the natural environment for rapid economic growth that has characterized recent economic history of China and India, especially over the past few decades. The environmental impacts of such rapid economic changes have been, more frequently than otherwise, degrading in character. Environmental impacts of economic activities create degraded natural ecosystems by over utilization of nature’s provisioning ecosystem services (from Himalaya to the Ocean), as well, by the use of the natural environment as sink for dumping of unmarketable products or unused inputs of economic activities. Such processes affect wide range of ecosystem processes on which the natural environment including human population depend on. Critical perspectives cast by various chapters in this book draw attention to the various ways in which space and power interact to produce diverse geographies of sustainability in a globalizing world. They also address the questions such as who decides what kind of a spatial arrangement of political power is needed for sustaining the environment. Who stands to gain (or lose) what, when, where, and why from certain geographical areas being demarcated as ecologically unique, fragile and vulnerable environments? Whose needs and values are being catered to by a given ecosystem service? What is the scope for critical inquiry into the ways in which the environment is imagined, represented and resisted in both geopolitical struggles and everyday life? The book provides insights to both academics from diverse disciplines and policy makers, civil society actors interested in mutual exchange of knowledge between China and India.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity
Author: Oscar Grillo
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2014-05-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9535113151

The current world biodiversity consists of an inestimable amount of living forms, that at all levels, from genes to biomes, from individuals to populations, from species to communities, are in constant pursuit of the best strategies to react to the natural and anthropic environmental changes. The arrangement of new and dynamic ecosystems balanced by the formation and the vanishing of species, is the direct consequence of these changes. This book contains comprehensive overviews and original studies focused on ecological and ecosystem functioning studies, hazards and conservation management, assessment of environmental variables affecting species diversity, also considering species richness and distribution, in order to identify the best management strategies to face and solve the conservation problems.