-Down to Earth Water bodies have become even more critical in current times when cities are facing the challenge of rapid, unplanned urbanisation Lakes and Wetlands are an important part of urban ecosystem. They perform significant environmental, social and economic functions — from being a source of drinking water and recharging groundwater to supporting biodiversity and providing livelihoods. Their role becomes even more critical in the present context, when cities are facing the...

-India Water Portal Deconstructing the traditional narrow engineering based policy discourses around floods and droughts and connecting them to social and cultural realities is the need of the hour in India. India has witnessed extreme weather conditions this year. While parts of the north and south have battled drought like conditions this summer, the northeast and western coastal areas witnessed heavy rains and floods. While climate change has been highlighted as one...

-The Hindu Business Line Kochi (Kerala): In a significant attempt to protect coastal Wetlands in the wake of the climate crisis, a mobile app has been developed to collect the complete datasets on smaller Wetlands across the coastal region of the country. The app was developed by the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of the ISRO upon the request of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in line with a memorandum of...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Underlining the importance of Wetlands not only as a source of water but also as ecosystems that prevent land degradation and desertification, the Centre has identified 130 Wetlands for priority restoration in the next five years and asked states to submit their respective integrated management plan by October 15. The highest number of such identified Wetlands are in Uttar Pradesh (16) followed by Madhya Pradesh (13),...

-The Hindu Kerala needs to adopt watershed-based master planning and review building byelaws The unique geography of Kerala, with its steep climbdown from 900m high elevations of the Western Ghats to the coast of Malabar, has resulted in a land with a vast riverine network. There are no less than 44 fast flowing rivers that drain the rainwater Kerala is blessed with into the Arabian Sea. It is a lifeline that supports...