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Issue 3 / August 2019Sustainability Newsletter

A compilation of independent projects by students under Sustainability specialization, MA Development

Contents

Foreword3

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Where’s our waste: Perceptions of how the municipal Solid Waste Management system works in Mumbai Ayesha Mehrotra

Do floods damage drinking water quality? Assessing the impacts of floods on drinking water qualityIn Kerala Deepankar Venkata Reddy

Renewable energy and urban lifestyles: Compatibility between renewable energy and energy demand in Delhi National Capital region (ncr)Kiran Bhagavatula

29 Socio-ecological study of ponds in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh Vimal Kumar Mishra

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Impact of the proposed Villupuram-Nagapattinam bypass Highway on local landowners around Auroville, Pondicherry Tara Braganza

Impact of Mining : A case study of Singareniin Yellandu, Telangana Vavilala Durgaprasad

16 Socio-ecological impacts of urbanization onEast Kolkata wetlands, West Bengal - A Case StudyMadhureema Auddy

22 Farming the Cities: Bridging the rural-urban rift Shruthi Suripeddi

19 Analysis of stakeholders’ perspectives on restoration at Pallikaranai wetland ecosystem, Chennai Nivedita Ravindranath

32 Links and Resources

Foreword

We are happy to present the third edition of the Sustainability Newsletter from the School of Development. This edition presents nine stories from the two months long independent projects done by the Sustainability specialization students of MA (Development)2017-19 batch.

As in the previous three years, Sustainability students studied a variety of issues. This newsletter presents nine cases among them, including the impact of unprecedented floods in Kerala, displacement by coal mines of Telangana, ponds in Shahdol, new highway usurping farm lands near Chennai, wetland ecosystems of Kolkata and Chennai, waste management in Mumbai, renewable energy in Delhi and urban farming in Hyderabad. The analyses in the stories presented here reflect the interdisciplinary lens that the specialization imparts.

Hope you find this newsletter interesting and informative.

Sustainability initiative,Azim Premji University Image credit: Raghvendra S. Vanjari

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Issue 3 / Aug 2019

Sustainability Newsletter

Image credit: Raghvendra S. Vanjari

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The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) is formally responsible for the management of waste in the city. The prevailing approach has been one of collection and disposal, garbage is collected from communities by the municipal authorities and disposed off at the three main dumping sites that are currently servicing the city. With fast growing population and urbanization, waste has become a serious problem of the city. Mumbai generates waste to the tune of 7,025 tonnes per day (Iyer, 2016). The waste consists of: 5,025 tonnes of mixed waste (bio-degradable and recyclable) and 2,000 tonnes of debris and silt. The goal of this research was to understand the perceptions of the population on the topic of Solid Waste

Where’s our waste?:Perceptions of how the municipal Solid WasteManagement system works in Mumbai

AYESHA MEHROTRA

Organic waste in an apartment complex

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The SWM Rules of 2016 is said to be a well-elaborated and inclusive policy, however the implementation is not up to what is expected in terms of the outcomes. This could possibly mean that there is a lack of flow of communication between stakeholders - the MCGM officials and the residents of slum and apartment communities. The challenges faced by communities, government bodies and workforce within SWM depended on the role they played in the process. The communities faced the challenge of how to manage the waste, the government bodies felt a lack of response despite claiming constant communication with the communities and the workforce faced the challenge of health issues and overwork.

b) Waste segregation and recycling are central narratives around SWM.

These terms were in the vocabulary of most participants during the research and seemed to remain important processes in terms of waste management. In residential communities, segregation was being carried out due to municipal mandates, but slum communities viewed recycling as means of income. What was waste to upper-class communities might not be considered the same by slum dwellers. It highlights the value of waste and how it is

Management(SWM) in Mumbai. I also tried to understand the policies designed and implemented on waste management in Mumbai. The research focused on two questions-

a) how effectively, in terms of disposal are the SWM rules, 2016 being implemented by the MCGM, and

b) what are the challenges faced by the stakeholders of Solid Waste Management in the disposal process? The locations and participants were purposively sampled from among slum communities and non-slum communities, to get a full understanding of the topic. The participants of the study included residents and association members of the communities chosen for the study, MCGM officials and staff and garbage truck drivers. A total of 18 semi-structured interviews were carried out, where 5 were MCGM officials, 6 residents, 4 slum dwellers and 3 truck drivers. The participants were asked permission to be recorded before the interview was carried out.

Key findings a) Implementation of policy reflects lack of processes in the management of waste, questioning the feasibility of the system in place.

BMC truck parked on the road

utilized differently upon disposal. About 60% of the respondents interviewed focused on waste management as an important part of their lives, and a dominating subject in terms of social stratification.

c) Definitions and perceptions of waste by various stakeholders are different in the context of waste management.

Definition and perceptions of wastes varied vastly between stakeholder categories. Perceptions of waste reflected he strata to which respondents belong and their level of involvement in SWM process. MCGM officials maintained a high regard for their work in

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Composter in a residential area

terms of collection, transportation and disposal. Although there are many challenges (most spoke of the high population rate being a large cause for mismanagement), the officials spoke positively in terms of efforts and process implementation from their end. They also had a differing perspective on waste, as they adhered to the SWM Rules of 2016 as their point of reference for defining what waste is. Truck drivers were all on the MCGM’s payroll and seemed to be indifferent to many questions and a few did not have opinions in the context of waste and its disposal and transportation. They also had indifferent reactions towards questions related to the MCGM, where they seemed more or less satisfied with their duties and salary.

The study points to the need of better communication and equal involvement of stakeholders in the process. Community initiative and government compliance are also helpful focal points for a smoother process. Involving non-governmental organizations working in this field could be another option to look at.

References:

Iyer, H. (2016). Case Study of Mumbai: Decentralised Solid Waste Management. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 35, 101-109.

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Water is an invaluable resource and is part of life. Many cultures and civilizations evolved on the banks of water sources

The motivation behind this research was my memories associated with drinking water. As we live in a drought prone area, I have witnessed my mother walking around 1 km to get drinking water from a well. Though water was available in the flooded area in Kerala during September 2018, how that became unconsumable moved me deeply and made me to inquire this question.

Do floods damage drinking water quality? Assessing the impacts of floods on drinking waterquality in Kerala

DEEPANKAR VENKATA REDDY

Water hyacinth moved towards the settlements (Near Thannerumukkam bund)

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Key findings

Although the total usage is modest, people in many areas have not been using well water for drinking purposes for many years now. Of the water actually used, about 40% is for domestic purposes. It should be noted that much of this (about 70-80%) “returns” as wastewater into the ground. Since wastewater after domestic use is not treated, this may contribute to deteriorating water quality in some patches.

Many wells appeared to have high salinity above the 600-ppm recommended by WHO, but no clear spatial pattern emerged. While the water quality data was accurate, the short duration of the study did not allow to test many samples. The pH was low (up to 4) in wells rather than in lake area where the water was untouched for years. There was no evidence about the pollution of well water from people. TDS (up to 1845 mg/l) parameters was also beyond consumable levels at certain points. Reason for this could be floods in low lying areas, while in higher elevated areas people left the water untouched in wells for years. All other chemical elements are mostly seen in higher concentrations in low lying areas where water was mixed with agricultural chemicals that are used for paddy crop as the drainages are connected directly to the lake water.

This study was conducted during the months of November and December 2018, at the flood affected places of Kottayam, Aluva, Kuttanadu. The study had three objectives; to understand various sources of drinking water and find the impacts of flood, to understand ground water and drinking water quality and availability within the flood affected region and to analyse the expenditure on drinking water per family.

Three primary sets of activities are undertaken:

a) Identified and geotagged all the water (wells) of the required area, measured depth to water, pH levels and conductivity and mapped these in ARCGIS software. The geo locations were tagged in through Garmin GPS tool (mobile version) and then loaded into the map. The elevations were recorded from elevation profile map downloaded from Bhuvan, for cross checking the GPS records. and to show the elevation in meters when clicked on the map. I did not test microbial quality, because it was infeasible to ship samples to labs. Moreover, all drinking water of Kottayam is being treated

b) Mapped all the sources to various use of water to estimate water consumption per day which has increased after floods

c) Identified the quality of drinking water after the floods.

The real threat would occur in a drought year where people try to use well water which is untouched for many years, if piped water supply is halted. In such a period, the high-density urban area would quickly suck the groundwater dry. Nonetheless, the places with its large green (unpaved) patches is likely to act as an important buffer by maintaining a groundwater “ridge” and preventing polluted water intrusion. Any efforts to direct runoff from the surrounding areas into the lake instead of the river, to “soak in” and recharge groundwater might be therefore beneficial for long-term sustainability. It is worth interpreting these preliminary results in the broader context of Kerala’s water supply situation to understand the limitations of this very small study which is done after floods.

Reasons for water pollution:

There are many ways in which water is getting polluted,

1) Industrial wastes: Industrial wastes from Ernakulam are directly dumped into Vembanad lake and that further carries the water down stream, the other rivers which pumps water into the river also getting polluted through various waste dumping into it. This makes water getting polluted.

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2) Tourism: Dumping of plastics and other wastes, diesel and oil spilling from the house boats also pollutes water.

3) Sewage: As this area is below sea level there is no way of keeping any sewage pipe lines, as they are fragmented islands. So, people made small holes at some places and used them as toilet pits, which has great possibility of dissolving into water.

4) Agriculture: Kuttanadu grows paddy twice a year and the pesticides and fertilizers sprayed on them is close contact with the river waterApart from the above, Thannermukkam bund which is constructed to prevent salt water from the sea entering the paddy fields also has an effect on water quality. Actually, salt water used to control natural hyacinth and was also good in getting fresh minerals from the sea through tides. After constructing the bund, the salt water was halted entering into the river which increased the growth of natural hyacinth, slowly impacting aquatic life.

The communities are well aware of the situations of the flood and impacts as they are not new to the floods. They believe that floods are useful for flushing out polluted water and bringing in fresh water. But what happened this

time was that the flood brought more polluted water. Until the above pollution is mitigated, the impacts on drinking water will remain high, affecting the health of users

Paddy crop submerged by the floods (Kuttanadu)

Mud brought by floods deposited on land (2km awayfrom lake, Kumarakom)

Elevational profile of water sampling points, blue colour represents lake area (Map created in ArcGIS)

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I. Introduction

Energy (in various forms like transportation fuel, building energy, workspace energy or cooking fuel) is an important factor that governs almost all our daily activities. If we look at per capita energy consumption among countries, USA and Australia have high per capita energy consumption. People living in cities tend to lead high energy consuming lifestyles (Arbabi and Mayfield, 2016).

Urban human settlements are responsible for 76% of total energy consumption worldwide, and 60% of this energy consumption comes from fossil fuels. Over 71% of the total energy consumption by urban settlements is also related to direct CO2 emitting sources majorly coal, natural oil and gas (Arbabi, 2016). With growing economic capacities, lifestyle of urban population is changing and energy demands are increasing (The World Bank, 2011).

KIRAN BHAGAVATULA

Compatibility between renewable energy and energy demand in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR)

Renewable energy and urban lifestyles:

Solar pV at one of the residential society

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At one side there is increase in energy demand, on the other side there is growing consciousness on global warming and human induced climate change. As a result, there is a need to shift to renewable forms of energy.

When we talk about transition from non-renewable energy forms to renewable energy forms, power density plays a huge role. Power density is defined as power generated by source for a given area. The table below compares power densities of different energy sources (Smil, 2010)-

Power SourcePower Density (W/m2)

Low High

Natural Gas

Coal

Solar (PV)

Solar (CSP)

Wind

Biomass

200

100

4

4

0.5

0.5

2000

1000

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10

1.5

0.6

In the case of locally produced electricity like the roof top photovoltaic cells, it is important to analyse what is the area required to meet the demand and adequecy of the area available in urban spaces. Transition of fossil fuelled civilization to renewable sources of energy would mean higher fixed land requirement (Smil, 2010).

With increasing urbanisation and population, there is demand for more dwelling spaces and people now prefer living in high rise dwellings (The World Bank, 2011). With shrinking residential spaces in cities, buildings with higher FAR (Floor Area Ratio) are coming up (Times of India, 2018). The question is can renewable energy cater to the growing needs of the cities? If yes, then to what extent? What is important to analyse is the space availability in urban areas.The other defining factors that I want to bring in, apart from spatial availability, are various socio- economic, cultural and dwelling factors that govern the energy choices. Electricity usages in domestic dwellings are result of occupant’s choice of energy needs like lights, comfort, entertainment which shows in the interlink age between socio-economic, dwelling and cultural factors. Socio-economic factors include the income of the family, attitude towards electricity consumption of occupants, number of

occupants, age of the occupants and the role of head of household in energy appliance choices. Dwelling factors include number of rooms, heating\cooling systems and the building construction. Cultural factors add another perspective on how religious sentiments and festivals drive the energy choices (Jonas et al.,2015)

II. Research question and method

What is the gap between the power densities of renewable energy generation and loads in different socio- economic categories in Delhi? Several sub-questions were framed to address this overarching question.

a) What are the daily load profiles of energy consumption across socio-economic classes in Delhi?

b) What is the available roof top area and capacity of solar panels?

c) What are the energy consumption activities that are performed during peak and non- peak hours?

d) What is the correlation between space available for PV installation and electricity consumption?

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e) What socio-economic factors govern their energy choices?

f) How does family composition affect their electricity consumption?

g) How does dwelling aspects like number of rooms, building structure, lighting patterns define their lifestyle and energy choices?

h) How cultural sentiments shape energy choices?

Recently Delhi witnessed increase rooftop solar PV connections. As per BSES Rajdhani (Bombay Suburban Electric Supply) records, total of 604KW, 262KW and 178KW rooftop solar net metering has been installed in residential, institutional and commercial areas (The Times of India, 2018).

Research design was cross-sectional where more than one case i.e. different socio-economic class was analysed at one point of time. Quantitative approach was used to collect and analyse basic statistics related to monthly electricity usages, available rooftop area, cost of installation, family composition, family monthly income (Alan Bryman, 2008). Qualitative approach was used towards collective narratives

of people and analyse the data in broader themes of attitude towards use of energy saving equipment, financial capacity, attitude of household responsible person, number of rooms, cultural and religious sentiments.

I used convenience sampling method for creating sampling frame from secondary sources. Sample frame consisted of 30 individual households and 20 residential societies that were running on solar pV. Out of the sample frame I randomly selected 7 residential societies and 10 individual households (85 respondents) for data collection. The total number of respondents were 92. I also took perspectives of vendors who were involved in installation on solar pV across Delhi-NCR. The motive behind meeting them was to get general perspective on different class of people who opt for solar pV and how various other factors like government policies play an important role in energy access.

III. Findings

As many as six out of seven household residents doubled their solar panel. Financial capability was the empowering factor that gave high income family enough roof space and access to high efficiency solar panels to meet their energy demands. In terms of roof top area, upper middle class had enough roof top area to meet

their needs but in case high income families, large rooftop plus high financial capability allowed them to expand their energy needs. This finding was directly reflected in power density of solar pV which was higher than what literature had to offer. The average power density of solar pV was 10 w\m2 in the case of individual household and 28w\m2 in the case of societies. Even though in this case, it is difficult to arrive at a formula to calculate the power density, factors like efficiency, structural arrangement of the panels, the maintenance and mainly the business models are reason behind the huge difference in poor densities.

Panel capacity vs Roof top area

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Under government policy, there were two business models for solar power installation and operation-

1) Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) - The household serviced does not own the generation equipment, which is owned by an external organisation such as a Government agency or the RESCO. The user does not carry out maintenance, all maintenance and repair service are provided by the RESCO. The user pays a service charge that covers the capital repayment requirement and the cost of providing for maintenance and repairs. Generation may be distributed among many households instead of being centralised at a power station.

2) Capital expenditures (CAPEX)-In this model, the entire investment comes from the power consumer, consumer generally hires a solar EPC company who provide turnkey installation of entire solar power system and hand over assets to consumers. EPC also do annual operation and maintained (O&M) of plant on mutually agreed cost per annumThe general observation was that residential societies with middle income and upper middle-income classes opted for CAPEX model whereas residential societies of higher income class opted for RESCO model. Capex model is cheaper

compared to RESCO model as it involves only fixed cost of installation. RESCO model includes fixed charges as well as maintenance charges. In case of CAPEX model, the maintenance was poor as individuals who had no technical knowledge were doing the maintenance.

Families with teenagers and senior citizens were found to consume more electricity than others. However, with the given sample size it was difficult to generalise. This relation was arrived by comparing families with same number of members. A better approach that can be taken up later will be, to study per capita energy consumption. In terms of change in choice of household equipment and solar pV, there was no significant relationship found between them. Families had opted for energy saving equipment long before they shifted to solar pV. Respondents did agree that their electricity consumption increases during festivals like Diwali and Christmas, but there was not enough data to substantiate it.

85% of the respondents performed high power consuming house activities between 7pm-11pm of the day. Most power consuming activities during peak hours included washing and drying of clothes, ironing clothes, use of dishwashers, geysers, microwaves, cooking.

All the respondents expressed that there should be subsidies on solar panel installation however this did not stop them from shifting to solar pV as they had the financial capacity. However, in case of lower middle-income class and lower income class absence of government subsidies were the major hurdle for shifting to solar pV.

IV. Policy Implications and way forward

The findings show that privilege of roof top availability and capacity to expand the solar panel capacity is only with high income classes. Most high-income societies opted for RESCO model which is a better business model in terms of efficiency on the longer run. For middle income and lower income classes, roof top area

Panel capacity vs Monthly income

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was the major hurdle. Given the available roof top area, cost of efficient solar pV that could meet their energy needs was the challenge for middle income families. Hence government policies like steady solar subsidies are important to make sure that there is penetration of solar pV and energy access to economically weak strata of the society. It is also important to analyse different policy models that can increase penetration of solar pV and make it accessible to all. Such families should be encouraged to shift to Solar energy under RESCO model by giving subsidies on fixed and operational service charges.

The findings also showed that providing access to solar pV is not enough. There should be also awareness and mindset change regarding power consumption and lifestyles. Otherwise shifting to renewable energy will be just a source shifting pressure on renewable sources of energy to meet the rising demands.

Solar pV at one of the individual respondents house

References

Arbabi, H., and Mayfield, M. (2016). Urban and Rural—Population and EnergyConsumption Dynamics in Local Authorities within England and Wales. Buildings 6(3), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings6030034

Jones, R. V, Feurtes, A. and Lomas, K. J (2015). The socio-economic, dwelling and appliancerelated factors affecting electricity consumption in domestic buildings. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.Volume 43, 901-917.

Kumar, A. J. (2018) . Now, floor area ratio in Kerala among highest inIndia. Times of India. Retrieved fromhttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/now-floor-area-ratio-in-state-among-highest-in-country/articleshow/62372362.cms

Smil, V. (2010). Power Density Primer: Understanding the Spatial Dimensionof the Unfolding Transition to Renewable Electricity Generation. http://vaclavsmil.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/smil-article-power-density-primer.pdf

Times of India (2018). By year-end, 2,000 rooftops in Delhi to have solar energy: BSES. (2018, September20). Retrieved from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/by-year-end-2000-rooftops-to-have-solar-energy-bses/articleshow/65877981.cms

World Bank (2011). Urbanization in India: Integral part of economic growth. Retrieved fromhttp://web.worldbank.org/archive/website01291/WEB/0__CO-22.HTM

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Urban commons including wetlands constitute important socio-ecological systems providing valuable ecosystem services. However, unplanned rapid urbanization has resulted in large-scale decline and transformation of commons, adversely affecting the traditional and vulnerable users. Conducting surveys in Bengaluru and reading articles including those of ecologist T V Ramachandra triggered my interest in this field. It made me ponder over what gives rise to such problems. Who are the losers and winners in the process of rapid change around lakes? Despite rapidly improving insights, many questions remain unanswered relating to the complexity of transformation in wetlands as a result of urbanization.

East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW), a network of natural and manmade wetlands, constitutes an important but neglected ecosystem of Kolkata. Located on the eastern fringe of the city, and

MADHUREEMA AUDDYA case Study

Socio-ecological impacts of urbanization onEast Kolkata wetlands, West Bengal:

covering an area of about 12,500 hectares, the wetlands are spread over 37 mouzas (rural administrative units) in the districts of North and South 24 Parganas in West Bengal. Traditionally maintained by the conventional wisdom of the urban poor, EKW provides a range of valuable ecosystem services. Often considered as the kidneys of Kolkata, they provide livelihoods for many. The low-cost traditional recycling practices undertaken by the fishermen and farmers in the area have led to mainly three eco-environmental practices viz. wastewater fisheries, sewage-irrigated paddy cultivation and vegetable farming on garbage substrates. However, with rapid urban sprawl, constant pressure from real estate and with illegal conversion of the wetland area for leather Illegal construction of high rise buildings at EKW

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processing units, housing complexes and road construction, the area under the EKW is declining at an alarming rate leading to changes in its use and management. In the process of such transformation, this study examines the perceptions of different stakeholders of EKW over the value of wetland, their response to such change and its impact on human-water resource relationship.

A qualitative study was carried out through purposive sampling in Bhagbanpur and Kharki mouzas under Sonarpur block and Hadia mouza under Bhangor I block of EKW, which are the most threatened areas of EKW. This involved conducting semi-structured interviews with 45 individuals including EKW users (fishermen, farmers), and non-users including local residents, government officials and activists.

Role of indigenous knowledge systems of the urban poor

Dr Dhrubojyoti Ghosh, a United Nations Global 500 laureate, used to say, “It is not policies but the traditional wisdom and love of the people in EKW, which protects it” This very fact becomes evident when one visits EKW and talks to the people there. From excavating the ponds to the correct depth, mixing the suitable quantity of

Dredging activities carried by Charchariya Fisheryco-operative to deepen Bheri water depth

sewage, cleaning the water through applying lime and oil cakes (referred to as khols) and kerosene, protecting the embankments through water hyacinths to allowing the sufficient time to ensure conversion of the waste into fish feed- the fishermen do everything, Such close association with the fishponds (locally called bheris) and the mastery of the traditional users over the resource recovery activity is indeed noteworthy.

Transformation in status, land use and perspectives around EKW

Several projects have been sanctioned by the government in the form of flyovers and widening of roads through the core of the ecologically sensitive wetlands. Such beautification projects have adversely affected the valuable ecosystem services including provisioning services (through fresh supply of fish and vegetables), regulating services (through natural wastewater treatment) and recreational facilities. In the process, the worst affected have been the communities dependent on EKW. Uncertainty dooms their lives whereby they are confronted with a choice between selling their lands or continue farming given the rapid incidence of land grabbing.

The major challenges witnessed have been reduced sewage availability owing to construction of new roads, siltation of bheris and change in water quality due to the untreated effluents disposed by the nearby Kolkata Leather complex. This has added to the burden of farmers and fishermen as increasing incidence of fish disease over the years and consequent investments in medicines and additional fish feed from local markets have led to high production costs. However, problem emerges, as those with small plots cannot afford to buy such expensive medicines and thus suffer losses due to reduced fish catch and resulting low incomes. In many cases the fishponds are often dredged by fishery cooperatives

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New roads built around the wetland

in response to such reduced wastewater availability. However, the viability of dredging activities, which involves deepening of water in fishponds, can be questioned given the fact that it disrupts the natural cycle and that fishes have always thrived in shallow waters in EKW.

Perceptions of different stakeholders on the social, ecological and political aspects of transformation.

Most of the people who did not depend on the wetland and worked elsewhere in the city had supported the filling up of sewage-fed fisheries for building roads, industries, houses and educational institutions as they believed that such development activities provides better livelihood opportunities, improves transport amenities and ensures better places to stay. A general trend of ignorance about the wetland was evident among the commuters and non-users where majority were migrants. On the other hand, the fishermen and farmers dependent on the wetland for livelihood opposed the idea as the wetland formed their primary source of livelihood.

The larger political and power dynamics became evident as some fishing families alleged that ponds are being deliberately sabotaged with channels blocked up mainly to force them

to abandon their livelihoods. Again, while fishery cooperatives have been created to protect the bheris, party politics at the top level tend to squeeze out money from the bheris by misleading the fishermen to take wrong decisions. What makes the urban poor more vulnerable is the lack of opportunity to shift to other occupations due to lack of required education and skill.

The interviews also revealed that with advent of modern employment opportunities, the perception over the value of the wetland and the incentive to maintain the ecosystem is changing. The younger population often prefers to engage in jobs in cities or in the nearby Kolkata Leather Complex, which would ensure higher income and thus better lifestyle.

Way forward

In the face of such immense productivity of EKW, the larger question arises: Are people willing to let go of this valuable resource? With growing incidence of illegal encroachment, unraveling such complex issues becomes necessary to understand the impact on human-water resource relationship with urbanization. In an era of urban sprawl and increasing generation of urban wastewater, the EKW helps us reimagine the way we look at wastewater and the extensive potential to reuse it for a variety of purposes. The immense significance of this ecosystem, thus, needs to be recognized and recorded. It must be noted that decline of EKW would not only threaten the livelihood of thousands of fishermen and farmers, but would also mean loss of the city’s natural waste water treatment plant which otherwise the municipality of the city would have to set up. Breaking the existing power and political dynamics, the need of the hour is a joint effort by all the relevant government ministries together with civil society organizations and the citizens of Kolkata to protect systems like EKW in a meaningful manner and deliver environmental and social justice.

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NIVEDITA RAVINDRANATH

Analysis of stakeholders’ perspectiveson restoration at Pallikaranaiwetland ecosystem, Chennai

Wetlands are extremely important ecosystems that recharge ground water, regulate floods when precipitation rates are high and manage micro-climate. Pallikaranai in Chennai is a wetland that is severely impacted by urbanization. The wetland ecosystem that was once 7000 hectares is now merely 670 hectares (Opili, 2019). This wetland shapes and contributes to the hydrological activity of 3 major basins in Chennai namely the Kovalam basin, Coovam basin and Adayar basin. Studies conducted showed that the swamp drains the entire area west of it and about 10,000 cubic foot per second of water drains into this large wetland from these basins. However, this wetland has witnessed severe degradation

Pallikaranai marsh(Photo source : Wikipedia)

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over the decades due to the growing garbage dumps, infrastructural developments and flourishing real estate business with the IT boom in Chennai.

The research was aimed at understanding the social ecological changes at Pallikaranai and the role of various stakeholders and their views on restoration of the wetland. The rationale behind selecting the area of research and the topic was because of the interest in learning how best to conserve productive ecosystems like wetlands, the lack of language as a barrier and also because of witnessing the land use and land cover change over a duration of five years.

The methodology included qualitative and quantitative data collection, through interviews among stakeholders contacted through snowball sampling. The total sample size was 32 which includes members of urban households, semi -urban households, vendors, experts from different backgrounds (government officials from different departments – forest, PWD, Public health and Preventive Medicine, members Care earth, Professors from the Centre for Water Resources Management, Anna University and IIT Madras, members of the Pallikaranai Welfare Association and journalists).

Key Findings

Data collected from various reports show that the Solid waste management Rules, 2016 was not followed and that the corporation, although owned 154 acres of the land did not receive permits to dump garbage in these areas (Remya, 2010). Further toxicity reports also indicate that groundwater levels are extremely contaminated. The toxicity levels are highest at 4m depth in the old dumping ground sections (Shanti, 2010). Primary data collected indicates that state departments have not efficiently managed and conserve this land. It was previously viewed as Kazhiveli i.e wasteland by the revenue department until the forest department took over the reigns of managing 670 acres of the land. Further field observations have shown that it is the marginalized sections of the society residing in slums who have been worst affected as they have not had access to clean drinking water and rely on contaminated water for the same.

The Department of Public health and Preventive Medicine records that there is only one Primary Health Centre in the area and no Secondary Health Centre in the area to treat those affected by diseases. Private hospitals in the area also did not divulge details on the number of people affected by contaminated

water supplies. Almost all residents in urban areas had water filters in their houses. 42% of the urban respondents experienced increased headaches and migraines that they attributed to water and air pollution. 28.5% believed this to be significant cause for deteriorating health along with change in lifestyles and other reasons such as hereditary patterns while 28.5% of the respondents didn’t notice any health impacts.

There are around 40 associations registered under the Pallikaranai Welfare Association. They belong to different categories – some are involved in sports; the others are involved in public issues that need immediate attention and only 5 of them are involved in any work that pushes for this wetland to be conserved. These 5 groups are involved in talks with corporation officers, municipal authorities, PWD officials etc. They have posted numerous letters to the mayor’s office and also to corporation offices requesting for issues to be solved. However, they receive replies much later and also nothing moves forward.

Despite environmentalists and scientists pressing for the need to protect the wetland, nothing much has been achieved realistically. Various tanks have been cleaned and restored and sections of the land fenced to

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avoid disturbance from the public. However, construction debris is still dumped and so is sewage. The dump yard has only been increasing in size and garbage is now dumped from various parts of the city at night. Infrastructural projects have not been halted and businesses – small and large have opened up.

Almost all restoration work has come from areas where real estate has not flourished. Migrants who have various livelihoods are actively part of this and in the beginning when Care Earth (an environmental NGO) started restoration work, they received maximum support from women in slums in the lower classes of society. Around 36% of the urban stakeholders were aware of some ongoing restoration activities. All the respondents from urban households believed that awareness is key to solving issues such as this. Around 36% of the respondents believed that the area of focus should be waste segregation and 29% believe that the focus should be on law enforcement, public action through means of demanding justice and also working with the government.

Broader issues impacting the wetland

Many of the problems with wetland conservation and restoration are symptomatic of larger issues of governance, overlapping jurisdictions of departments and urban development planning. The master plans are not available to the public and therefore it becomes difficult for concerned stakeholders to deliberate and improve the planning and development process. There was a huge delay in the implementation of master plans in Chennai. In fact, the second master plan presses for developmental projects and infrastructure in south Chennai, which is where Pallikaranai is located. The political stability of a region like Tamil Nadu and also the fact that the various processes and decisions taken are opaque and not in view of the public contributes to adding difficulty in planning and implementation of the plans. Urgent steps for a more democratic and participatory urban planning process in general and an inclusive approach to restoration of Pallinkaranai recognising the poorer sections’ perspectives and uses will prevent further degradation of this valuable ecosystem in Chennai.

Image source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallikaranai_wetland#/media/File:Pallikaranai_marsh.jpg

References

Opili, P. (2019). Grass threatens Pallikaranai marsh. Times of India, Chennai, February 2, 2019 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/grass-threatens-pallikaranai-marsh/articleshow/67802150.cms

Shanthi, S. (2010). Analysis of leachate quality in Perungudi dumpsite, Unpublished ME thesis, Anna University, Chennai.

Remya. S. (2010). Compliance to rules governing Solid Waste Management Masters thesis, in Centre for Water Resource Management, Anna University, Chennai

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My winter project drew inspiration from the idea of a rural-urban rift being the cause for many of the urban environmental and social issues today such as pollution of water bodies, the energy spent and wastage involved in transporting food from long distances. The latter is even more jarring in the context of the persistent hunger and malnutrition among the urban poor stemming from the commercialisation of agriculture which prioritises profits over access and nutrition. This led me to the question of whether an alternate conception of the city taking into account this idea of a rural-urban rift be able to address these issues?

My research project focused on urban farming in my hometown Hyderabad, where growing one’s own food is gaining popularity. The idea was to identify and understand the various facets of urban farming in Hyderabad and how they were addressing the problem of the rural-urban rift. Two of the facets, terrace gardening and sewage irrigated farming along the Musi river were focused on, for the purpose of the project.

SHRUTHI SURIPEDDI

Farming the cities:Bridging the rural-urban rift

Sewage irrigated fields growing paddy and fodder grass

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Terrace gardeners were approached through the Facebook page ‘intipanta’ and were interviewed trying to gain an understanding of how growing one’s own food was linked to healing the rift. A couple of farmers using sewage water for irrigation in the village of Kachivani Singaram situated along the fringes of Hyderabad were interviewed to understand the kind of crops grown, irrigation methods used and where the crops were transported to while also understanding how their practices contributed towards healing the rift.

Wastewater irrigators and terrace gardeners

Around 354 ha in Kachivaram Singaram, Parvatapuram and Qutubullapur depend upon the Musi river water for irrigation (Amerasinghe et al, 2008). Fodder grass, rice and leafy greens are grown in this area, though the latter are cultivated on a tiny fraction of the land under cultivation owing to the profitability. Most of this is transported to markets in Hyderabad but some amount of leafy greens cultivated is kept for consumption at home. An estimated 1250 MLD of sewage is released into the Musi out of which 652.8 MLD are treated while the rest is untreated (Starkl et al, 2015). A mixture of this treated and untreated sewage is used for irrigating the fields, through mostly flood

irrigation. Based on approximations, the three villages stated would use around 6474 ML per season which implies around 18.5% per cent of the sewage generated per season goes back to these fields. These figures would only imply a rough estimation as a river is a very dynamic entity. An estimated 9309 ha is irrigated by Musi water (Amerasinghe et al, 2012).

Farming with wastewater, and thereby recycling nutrients, comes with its own hazards. Such farmers are consistently at risk of being infected with pathogens or hazardous chemicals from industrial effluents. These farmers are also drawn from amongst marginalised communities, so they have minimal choice with respect to their livelihood options.

On the other side of the story, there is a new wave of tech savvy ‘urban farmers’ who communicate and share ideas over internet platforms to cultivate organic produce at home. Around 40000 households in the Greater Hyderabad region out of 2200000 practice terrace gardening (taking into account newspaper estimates, intipanta subscribers and the Telangana Statistical Yearbook, 2017 for number of households) meeting close to 4.5% of the vegetable demand of households in Hyderabad.

Though the reasons for cultivating their own food is more of an individual concern (such as health) the effect was beyond the individual’s concern. For instance, there was more appreciation for the value of manual labour which prompted one to consume what was required. There was also an understanding that growing one’s own produce required a planning at community level and not individual household level. For most, this became a way of life, more of a ‘duty’ towards society and environment and not a mere hobby. These changes are crucial towards addressing the problems created by the rural-urban rift because at the root of it is the individual’s alienation from their fruits of labour and society. Some

Channels to route Musi water

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respondents also seemed to have a strong understanding of them being just a small part of a larger system which allowed them to, for example, see the merits of natural pollinators and, as Sai (name changed) states, a “10% natural tax” in the form of produce loss to insects was a given and had to be accepted.

Is the ‘rift’ healing yet?

Considering all of the above, a hesitant yes. But for a large part it is only a faint scratch on the surface. It is ridden with its own complexities and the motivations or capacity to take up urban farming aren’t equal for all. The poor would find it difficult to access space or water, in the case of Musi farmers, practice urban farming compared

to a middle-class urban farmer who has gone through a permaculture course offered by the local NGO.

For starters there isn’t a clear policy and implementation towards urban farming, even though encouraged by the local governments. And how would such a policy help?

There has been an observed development, even though rare, towards community gardens during the course of the study. This could be encouraged further and would have the added benefit of keeping the waste local since these gardens would demand compost which would come from the wet waste of the locality. Presently, these 40000 terrace gardening households compost a little above 2% of the biodegradable waste using the per capita waste estimates by Kumar et al (2017). This presents an unexploited opportunity to help solve the biodegradable waste woes of Indian cities.

Owing to water scarcity, there have been demands for urban sewage to be effectively treated and recycled. Won’t this lead to betterment of livelihoods of the Musi farmers?

In other words, understanding the idea of the rural-urban rift, the causes behind and the how it may be addressed does present a radical view of how cities can develop.

References:

Amerasinghe, P., Weckenbrock, P., Simmons, R., Acharya, S., & Drescher, A. (2008). An Atlas of Water Quality, Health and Agronomic Risks and Benefits Associated with “Wastewater” Irrigated Agriculture.

Amerasinghe, P.; Jampani, M.; Drechsel, P. (2012). Cities as sources of irrigation water: An Indian scenario. IWMI-Tata Water Policy Res. Highlight, 53, 1–8.

Kumar, S., Smith, S. R., Fowler, G., Velis, C., Kumar, S. J., Arya, S., ... & Cheeseman, C. (2017). Challenges and opportunities associated with waaste management in India. Royal society open science, 4(3), 160764.

Starkl, M., Brunner, N., Amerasinghe, P., Mahesh, J., Kumar, D., Asolekar, S. R., ... & Sarah, S. (2015). Stakeholder views, financing and policy implications for reuse of wastewater for irrigation: a case from Hyderabad, India. Water, 7(1), 300-328.

Harvest from respondent’s terrace garden (pic credits to respondent)

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We all have used highways at some point in our commute. Yet, how many of us have stopped to consider the cost of their construction? Not the monetary cost, but the human one.

The Chennai-Salem proposed bypass Highway has gained a lot of media attention, though this is not the only Highway proposed in the state of Tamil Nadu. There are many other shorter proposed bypass routes that would have the same drastic consequences as a big road. One of these is a six-lane Bypass Highway, to be constructed between the Villupuram-Nagapattinam Section of NH45-A.There are already two well-known and used highways in very close proximity to the proposed Villupuram bypass. So the question then arises - why create a third road between these two? The aim of my study was to understand what local landholders feel

TARA BRAGANZA

Impact of the proposed Villupuram-Nagapattinam bypass highway on local landowners around Auroville, Pondicherry

Farmer at Bommayarpalayam

about the highway. I interviewed a sample of landholders in four villages just outside of Auroville. These communities make a living off cashew cultivation, fishing and running small shops.Auroville is an internationally recognised entity, but the people of the study area lack agency to raise their voices.

The forest and its people are in danger

One of the villages in this study is located in the Pichandikulam forest. The forest shelters these people, provides them with non-timber forest produces and firewood, and is also home to a variety of IUCN listed rare and endangered species (like leopard, barn owl, jackal, loris), as well as 367 species of unique medicinal plants

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and 289 flora. The forest type is a Tropical Evergreen Dry Forest (TEDF), unique to Southern India. TEDF forests are only second to tropical rain forests in richness and abundance of species. The Pichandikulam forest is one of the only remaining 0.01% of surviving TEDF forests of India. The people of these forests have a symbiotic relationship with the forest, and over generations have become integral to the forest maintenance and survival of species. Their skills and lifestyles (hunting for food, weaving, harvesting fruit and nut from trees,etc.) are adapted to the natural environment, and not to urban ways.

Fields will be lost forever

The proposed highway will pass not ony through forest, but also agricultural land. My study shows that there is a correlation between the size of the land holding and the participants’ stance toward the bypass highway: the larger the landholding, the more in favour of the highway and vice versa. One of many fields that will disappear with the construction of the highway bypass is the property of Lingarajan, a poor farmer of one of the villages. He is a third generation farmer who supports his wife and 3 children through farming. He cultivates ragi, ginger, turmeric and banana on 2 acres of land, and earns just

enough to meet his expenses. His wife’s family is from Pichandikulam, so she gets some forest produce to eat and sell at the market. Alternate options of employment for him is labour work. He cannot become a driver since he doesnt know how to drive, and hence is very worried and upset that he will lose his livelihood and dignity. The story of the findings

On analysing the findings further, one understands that there is a strong relationship between land holding and caste. Those of lower social status have smaller landholdings and are more likely to get disproportionately affected by the highway. It can also be seen that responses against displacement varied amongst men and women. Apart from land and financial concerns that both had, men were more concerned with how they would provide for their families and women were more concerned about social status; how would they mingle with a new social group of women if they were to be displaced?It must also be noted that most participants found out about the highway when survey officers came to their fields with police protection to demarcate the land for the highway. This was intimidating for them since there is no police station in the locality; police interference in issues is very rare.

Despite differences in land holdings, caste groups, and social politics, the majority of villagers is against the road and the people stand more or less united. In protest against the bypass, the villages, through the Panchayat, and with the help of Auroville, have written a letter against the proposed highway to the Block Panchayat Office, to pass on to higher authorities. The communities all see eye to eye on the overall impact that a highway has on everyday life, and so have cast aside their differences with the understanding that the quality of living matters more than faster mobility. Land is precious,limited, and the fields and forests matter just as much (if not more) as roads.

Forest at Kuilapalayam

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Mining has been an age old agent of displacement of people, livelihood, ecology and culture. The story of mining is incomplete without the struggles against it in the wake of insecurity and stress that it generates. My own experience of growing up in a mining impacted landscape motivated me to select this topic for my winter project of eight weeks.

My research focused on how mining induced displacement caused considerable social and economic changes to individuals and community as a whole in Singareni coal mines. It also touched upon the impact of mining on the ecosystem and its consequences.

VAVILALA DURGAPRASAD

Impact of Mining :A case study of Singareni in Yellandu, Telangana

Woman of Adivasi community farming near the mine

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The research design was qualitative involving interviews with families selected by snow ball sampling. Thirty families were interviewed with the help of a questionnaire. Interviewed families included farmers, migrants and people who were affected by Rehabilitation &Resettlement [R&R]. Selected stories were used as case studies.

Findings

As every other displacement story, the community is unhappy about the R&R package that they have received. As the displacement started prior to the Land Acquisition Act [LAA] the R&R package was considered very unsatisfactory. There are legal tussles with the Government to provide them a new package according to LAA.

The impacts are different for different families from the same community. The families which were once well settled became vulnerable than others from the same community by losing their land, house and livestock. Their social status has been entirely reversed. The families which were known for owning land became cattle rearers. Young men and women find it difficult to find a

spouse and quality of education has suffered. Debts increased and farming community experienced loss of traditional practices. They are still in search of new livelihoods. There is a huge ecological destruction as the Yellandu region was known for its flora and fauna. Certain species like Sambar deer, wild dog, wolf, hyena and leopard have become rarer and flora like teak, wild almonds, bamboo, neem etc. were felled.

Personal Reflection

Displacement as mentioned in literature appears to be negative from all angles. The way displacement affects the community differs between individuals and between families. In a way it can drastically change the family circumstances and roles of individuals in the family. This study helped me in understanding how education plays a key role in taking decisions to move ahead in the time of crisis. Evaluating forest policies to know how these are being implemented in Yellandu before and after mining, especially with respect to restoration of mined areas is an important study to be conducted.

Bottom of open cast mine

Landscape after mining

Changing global climate and deteriorating water sources create water crises leading to conflicts between people, states and countries. Conservation of traditional water systems of cities and villages are therefore extremely important. I studied five rural and five urban ponds in Shadhol, MadhyaPradesh. The urban Ponds were Mohanram, Gharaula, Bada tala, Devtara and Narsarha. Mohanram pond is surrounded by Hindu, Jain, Sindhi and Muslim religious structures and is situated just 200m away from city’s commercial center. The Gharaula pond was once the most used and the biggest pond situated in very dense part of Shahdol,but is now totally ignored. The

Socio-ecological study of ponds in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh VIMAL KUMAR

MISHRA

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Pollution from cultural practices

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Map showing the ponds studied (Google Earth)

Marginalised communities are highly dependent on ponds

Through these interviews I tried to understand different issues contributing to deteriorating condition of ponds. These interviews were conducted around ponds, or at houses, offices or temples near the ponds. All these interviews and discussions gave me a fair understanding of not just the water scarcity issues pertaining to community but also the socio-ecological condition of the entire ponds system of Shahdol district.

Key findings

There are so many small water bodies of sizes varying from 3 to 16 Acres. Most of the smaller ponds are owned by individuals and are used for personal commercial purposes like irrigation for cultivation of chestnut. These people are largely rich and have large land holding. Various socio-ecological factors contributing towards ponds’ deterioration are caste dynamics of society, modern water uses and irrigation techniques, climate change, pollution, soil erosion and illegal mining. Most of these factors are interconnected, but underestimated by local authorities.

Rural ponds in Sagra are found to be used at large scale, especially by women for washing cloths and bathing. This space facilitates social interaction and improve harmony among

Badatala pond is one of the controversial ponds for its ownership and is not used by surrounding people.

The Narsarha pond is situated at boundary of urban area and it is vulnerable to industrial activities although it has good greenery around. Devatara pond is close to old settlement area in the city. Few of these ponds were as large as s 14-15 acres once, but now reduced to below 10 acres. The five rural ponds studies are Sagra, Magri, Karmhayi, Panchmatha and Jamui. Except Panchmatha pond all are close to city (within 5km). Panchmatha is 15km away from city at Singhpur and due to its religious value and being state heritage, this pond got some attention from people as well as administration. Jamui and Sagra ponds are large (15 acres) and well-used ponds situated in Jamui and Kotma village respectively. The other two ponds, Magri and Karmhayi are small(4-5 acre) and ignored ponds from Kudri gram panchayat.

The research involved a total of 53 unstructured interviews, maximum 6 to minimum 3 around each pond. Few respondents were interviewed around ponds that are dried up. Also, I discussed with researchers from the university and Chief municipal officer of Shahdol regarding the history and present condition of ponds.

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community. But as the villages have at least of 2-3 Ponds close to each other, there is clear caste division in their use. Villagers used to manage these ponds till 1990s but now people have become totally dependent on private water sources and uses of these ponds is declining very fast. Local administration have funds, but due to lack of monitoring and corruption pond management schemes are not implemented. During interview of Sarpanch and ward member I found that they are not fully aware of schemes to rejuvenate such water bodies. Also, close to this pond illegal mining was going on for brick work. Few nearby ponds have been owned by local families and sometimes funds get diverted

only for them. Plantation around pond was done through MNREGA in 2012 which is clearly visible now and the positive effects of plantations include reduced soil erosion from bunds and more birds, animals and people using the pond.

Urban ponds, are managed mostly by upper layers of society or government. For eg. Mohanram pond gets good attention from city administration and in every 2-3 years receives financial assistance from municipality fund, MLA fund, mineral fund etc. Conflicts between temple trust members affects actions required for benefit of pond but they fight for developing infrastructure around their own area majorly. Due to continuous construction around pond, water quantity and quality have been affected. In many summers it completely dries up. Previously both parts were connected, but now they are not and has a very wide road(15-20m). Few children come there for fishing and picking coins after festivals. Before festival, the water surface near the temple’s side are cleaned but only for few meters. So, after festival, lots of garbage can be seen on the water surface and near steps. But as every full moon and small festivals (almost 2-3 times in a month) are celebrated around this pond, administration continuously tries to clean the pond. Anti-littering awareness programmes of

Ponds harbour rich biodiversity

administration have not been effective. Apart from this pond, individually owned/leased ponds are in very bad shape due to lack of property rights and disputes. In urban spaces many ponds were bifurcated due to road construction which also made them vulnerable to pollution.

In conclusion, I have tried to throw some light on not just the need of maintenance of ponds in any small city, but also various factors, especially supply of piped water and proliferation of bore wells alienating people from traditional water bodies. Rural setting apparently have more sustainable ponds than urban areas. In urban areas, schemes similar to MNREGA for villages should be used for improving ponds.

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Sustainability in Higher Education for the Global South: A Conversation across Geographies and Disciplines

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How can sustainability be integrated into undergraduate, postgraduate and professional courses? A workshop with the goal of exploring this question was organized by Azim Premji University in January 2015. The counterquestions, discussions and potential solutions raised during the workshop are presented in this paper.

Links and Resources

Articles

Ecology, Economy andSociety- The INSEE JournalVolume 2Issue 2; July 2019

CONVERSATION: Practising Sustainability Science: Challenges In Teaching And Research

Editorial Note: Sustainability Education: The Importance of Diversityby Harini NagendraRead here

Sustainability: Challenges in Teachingby Seema PurushothamanRead here