-Down to Earth The United Nations declared 2021-2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration In this Anthropocene era, human interference can be seen in every component of Earth’s ecosystem. Due to such human-mediated changes, the loss of freshwater habitats such as Lakes, ponds and wetlands, as well as their aquatic biodiversity and water quality are becoming a major concern.  Freshwater ecosystems are of enormous ecological importance and human need (such as drinking water and...

-TheWeek.in Immediate steps needed to protect city's image One night of relentless rain, and even the richest tech bosses were stranded in knee-deep waters in their plush homes, looking for coracles to reach safety. According to the India Meteorological Department, Bengaluru received 370mm of rainfall this August (131.66mm on August 30), falling just short of the all-time record of 387mm in August 1998. This day was expected. Over the years, rampant corruption in...

-TheWire.in The city needs granular administrative and planning responses to help identify the poor who are forced to live in flood prone areas out of sheer necessity. They cannot be evicted and thrown to the streets. When I was a kid, I remember my home in Bengaluru flooding repeatedly, especially during the monsoons.  This was strange as we were in Chamarajpet, a well-planned neighbourhood developed by the visionary Dewan Sheshadri Iyer, along with...

-Newslaundry.com The city is woefully ill-prepared, despite thousands of crores spent and warnings that went unheeded. Last week, Bengaluru was battered by rains that were unprecedented in scale and floods that were disastrous in impact. While the rains have abated, thousands living on the periphery of the Bellandur-Varthur Lakes in east Bengaluru are still gripped by fear, worried that deliberately narrowed drains, encroachment of wetlands, and state apathy could trigger another round...

-Peoples' Dispatch A convergence of factors such as extreme heat waves, melting glaciers, and heavy monsoon rainfall explains the scale of floods in the country. All these factors are connected to climate change Floods have devastated Pakistan this year, with 33 million people affected and more than 1,200 killed. Rivers breaching their banks coupled with the bursting of glacial Lakes inundated almost one-third of the country, causing a massive economic loss. Recovery...