-Press release by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) dated 18 May 2022 Geneva, 18 May 2022 (WMO): Four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – set new records in 2021. This is yet another clear sign that human activities are causing planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere, with harmful and long-lasting ramifications for sustainable development and...

-Down to Earth blog Sustainable vision is key to balancing current needs and future demands March 22 is celebrated as ‘World Water Day’ every year. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 gave this call. Since then, this day has been celebrated globally, adopting a new theme each year. The theme chosen for 2022 was ‘Groundwater: Making the invisible visible’. The theme appealed to governments and stakeholders to diagnose current...

-The New Indian Express Women in Chinnaparakudy tribal settlement find a source of livelihood, reports  Nejma Sulaiman IDUKKI: Many tribal hamlets in Idukki still follow the primitive practice of secluding menstruating girls and women for up to a week in special huts called ‘valaimapura’. At the Chinnaparakudy settlement in Adimaly panchayat, however, the ‘menstrual hut’ has been converted into a hub of creativity, one that offers a livelihood for women.  Earlier, like in...

-India Spend/ Scroll.in These programmes should look at skilling the workforce for paid jobs rather than unpaid, part-time volunteers. Central government programmes on water emphasise groundwater management by the community in a decentralised manner but, by and large, these schemes are silent on the availability, training and deployment of a skilled workforce for this task, especially in rural areas. Water management at the most decentralised, local levels is often a part-time, volunteer or...

-Down to Earth The belief that the HPC could protect this fragile ecology has been shattered. I can do no more, Ravi Chopra wrote Environmentalist Ravi Chopra has resigned as chairman and member of the High Powered Committee (HPC) for the Char Dham Project, citing an assault on the Himalayas in an explosive letter. Chopra was offered the chairmanship of the HPC in September 2019. He mentioned what compelled him to take it...