ISDR
ISDR |
Institute for Sustainable Development and Research |
| About ISDR |
| ISDR Mission Statement |
| ISDR Programmes (2005-2015) |
| International Advocacy (2005-2015) |
| Millennium UN Goals (MDGs) |
| Past ISDR Activities |
| Registration and Accreditations |
| 1) | Urban-rural relationship in land management - Economic waste management system for sustainable environment in India.The Maharashtra State in India has 325 towns and 33 cities. There are 232 municipal councils including A, B, and C class, and 12 municipal corporations. These local authorities are looking after the civic administration at town or city level .These towns are now facing the acute land problem for disposal of solid waste (domestic waste, market waste and industrial waste) causing environmental pollution. The combined effect of this pollution is degradation in the soil, water and air quality, which ultimately affect the civic health in these areas. The farmers from the peri-urban areas are bringing their agricultural products including vegetables to the city market. This creates large amounts of solid waste from vegetables as well as animal excreta, especially organic waste, which contains more percentage of moisture content. The economic instruments for reduction of solid waste cannot be successfully implemented without pre-existing appropriate standards and effective monitoring and enforcement capacities. Although economic incentives have been viewed as an alternative to the traditional approach, they cannot be considered as short cuts to solid waste management. Source reduction, source separation and producer responsibility, these three factors are critical in developing and designing ecological sanitation models for economic and optimum waste management models using composting systems in towns of the Maharashtra. The municipal councils and local authorities are spending a large amount of their budget on solid waste management systems, which is a major constraint in expanding other civic services to citizens. This research study deals with the present scenario in environmental management using compost and organic waste such as night soil, animal excreta etc. and its application in agriculture and forestry from urban and rural region, past efforts to ensure the economic development of compost process from agriculture waste, kitchen waste, market waste and organic waste for sustainable environment. It also discusses some of the recent successful examples in regards to public - private and people's partnership in infrastructure provision for bio-treatment and marketing for the same. The case study emphasises extensive capacity building for sustainable environment using compost process through public participation and its application for sustainability at local level for economic use of land in urban regions. |
| 2) | Hydrological management and planning for development in watershed of Tapi river basin in India:- Case StudyThe countries in the Asia-Pacific regions have vast and varied water bodies such as dams, reservoirs, ponds, lake tanks, rice fields and lagoons. These are main sources of water supply for local development and used according to the national priority for domestic, industrial and agricultural and aquaculture purposes. India is endowed with 64 121 km of rivers, 1.90 Mha of reservoirs, 2.2 Mha of ponds and lakes, 1.4 Mha of brackish water, 8 060 km extensive coastline and 1.5 million hectares of waterlogged lands in command areas. Hence it is necessary to develop a water utilisation plan for lakes according to watershed characteristics such as runoff quality, agriculture residues etc. This research is based on the case study of the watershed management and river basin management in the northwestern part of Maharashtra State, India. The central western area of Maharashtra state consists of the Tapi river basin, and is bounded by Western Ghats on the western and southwestern boundary. The undulating slopes and hills and valleys characterise this area. The region falls within the high rainfall zone. Due to heavy deforestation and improper agricultural practices adopted by the farmers, this area is highly degraded economically and ecologically. This part of the state forms the upper catchments of the river system in peninsular India, and has been generally neglected while planning major irrigation projects. The state of Maharashtra has been facing notorious droughts in recent times. The droughts have triggered further degradation of the land due to subsistence agriculture and deforestation. Under this condition the watershed management under this river basin has gained considerable importance. This case study describes the changes in the land relationship between land-use and agriculture patterns and their impacts due to watershed management. It also reflects on the various new technologies and methods adopted for reducing erosion and sedimentation in the river systems and the lessons from initiatives by government and NGO'S in order to improve the condition of lakes and reservoirs. The research study evaluates the significance and analysis the impact of the present ongoing efforts to change the situation in the watershed under the Tapi river basin area. |
| 3) | Biodiversity consevation in Satpuda mountain region of Maharashtra state:India is predominately an agricultural country. More than 80% of its population lives in villages and about 70% of them depend on agriculture and forestry. Agriculture and forestry contribute about 40% to the gross domestic product. Therefore any significant transformation of the national economy and people cannot be conceived without the transformation of the agriculture and forestry sector. It is possible to achieve this through the application of science and technology for improvement of agriculture and forestry using biodiversity conservation. Satpuda is a hilly/mountain region in Maharashtra State located in the central part of India, which is now facing the problems of loss of biodiversity in past years either due to overuse of natural resources or due to changes in the environmental conditions. This case study deals with the role of different aspects of biodiversity conservation such as agricultural and forest species, social forestry etc. in recent years .it also discusses the causes of the loss of biodiversity in this region, its effect on the socio-economic condition of the region and the past effort to conserve the biodiversity so as to avoid environmental impacts. The case study also discusses the role of the local people in conserving the biodiversity for their socio-economic development. It also emphasises the need for extensive capacity building for assessment and conserving the biodiversity in the Satpuda mountain region using public participation for maintaining the ecological and environmental balance in this region. |
| 4) | Sustainable use of natural resources for integrated aquaculture and agriculture:Water is the key to development of agricultural as well as social and economic development of the world. Considering the shortage of water, cost involved in water storage and conveyance to the users, it is necessary to adopt innovative methods of conjunctive use of water for agricultural production using water effectively and efficiently. Aquaculture is an innovative tool in urban as well as rural agriculture to use and re-use water and waste water. Aquaculture has emerged as one of the most promising industries in the world with considerable growth potential and it is expected to contribute about a quarter to the global fishery harvest in year 2000. Availability of water is a constraint in a non-irrigated agriculture system. Aquafarming has a multidimensional context in perspective agricultural growth. It is a tool for utilising land and water more economically and optimally to increase productivity, of both land and water, through sustainable agriculture .The countries in the Asia-Pacific and other regions have vast and varied aquafarming resources Often these are the main source of irrigation in this region. Overuse of water causes salinity problems in many countries, reducing the cultivable area resulting in reduction in agricultural production. An attempt has been made in this research study to develop a plan for water management for agriculture, aquaculture and horticulture using innovative technologies from Indian experience. The case study also evaluates wastewater quality criteria for increasing agricultural productivity. It also discusses the innovative small-scale methods and technologies for food production using non-conventional sources of water for increasing productivity, especially in drought prone areas. |
| 5) | Studies on economising the waste management system of local municipalities were counducted.In this case study the composting and vermicomposting methods were suggested for implementation, which are economically and environmentally beneficial to the Municipality and local population. Different municip-alites have adopted vermicomposting technology for organic waste management. Not only will this method be effective in future, but also it will generate some amount of revenue to the municipality for sustaining the waste management system. This is a model case study, submitted to UNCHS, for replication in other small towns. |
| 6) | E-Governance for sustainable urban development:The advent of information technology as a highly leveraged enabling tool for delivery of services in the public and private sector has by now been universally recognised. This has redefined the fundamentals and has the potential to change the organisations, institutions as well as mechanisms of delivery of services for ever. In this context the issues of smart governance- electronic governance needs to be analysed. In this research study various types of software for e-governance were reviewed along with their successful applications to public utility. Networking operations were also studied for effective e-governance. Under this research study functioning of information kiosks, cyber laws, standardisation and users interfaces were studied from existing e-governance systems from different institutions in various countries including Canada, U.K. and some European countries including the Netherlands, France and Germany. |
| 7) | Studies on Harmful Algae In Marine Food Resources:Phytoplankton blooms, micro-algal blooms, toxic algae, red tides, or harmful algae, are all terms for naturally occurring phenomena. About 300 hundred species of micro algae are reported at times to form mass occurrence, so-called blooms. Nearly one fourth of these species are known to produce toxins. Harmful algae and their toxins pose a growing global problem for human health, aquaculture, fisheries, seafood trade, tourism and recreation, and the aquatic environment at a time when human reliance on coastal zones for food, recreation and commerce is also expanding. In developing countries, seafood often constitutes an important or even sole source of food and protein, especially in coastal areas. With the increasing problems of overfishing, aquaculture may become an increasingly important alternative for the supply of seafood. However, to minimise the risk of sea-food poisoning and the risk of major economic losses due to fish kills, it is important to establish adequate surveillance programmes and quality control of the seafood products which often need expert assistance from countries which have longstanding experience in biotechnological applications in the marine sector. This research study focuses on development of a plan for monitoring and management of harmful algal blooms in coastal waters for aquaculture using biotechnology from Indian experience .The study also evaluates taxonomy and biogeography of harmful algae for increasing aquaculture productivity. This study signifies that the application of biotechnologies is essential for aqua food production with special focus on eco-physiology, biochemical and pharmacological aspects of algal toxins. |
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Last modified on Thursday, January 04, 2007 at 11:36