Chronicle of a journey foretold

there are parched river beds as well as flowing rivulets; water at depths of 3-5 metres and dry wells even at 60 metres; hectares of land filled with cacti and areas lush with mango, lime, even water melon: the contrasts cannot be more stark among villa

Ramsar is not a strong, strict and rigid convention

Is there a comprehensive wetland management policy in India? There is neither a policy nor a plan for wetland management in India. Ad-hocism prevails without understanding the science or the system. There have been plans to make a draft policy and submit it to the government for consideration, but I do not know what the government has done. There is no policy; even the Ramsar sites do not require specific laws. Interviewee:  Brij Gopal

People in development

THE reality of participation has often differed from the rhetoric. In fact, much development, which is participatory in nature, has remained top-down in practice. This may be so because even though participation has been promoted, there has been no change in personal attitudes and more so in the bureaucratic set up. It has remained a challenge to learn the art of facilitation, and to share more widely what it entails in method, in personal behaviour and attitudes.

Very vague

There is no doubt in the minds of anybody that the world is steadily heading towards a global water crisis. For one water was always a scarce resource and of late the scarcity is growing. Coupled to this is the problem of pollution of water sources by domestic sewage, agricultural run off and industrial effluents. The International Water Management Institute in Colombo has estimated that even if the global water use efficiency was increased to 70 per cent by 2025 there would still be a demand for 17 per cent more water.

Deaths foretold

Ninety per cent of the 50,000 persons who died in the October 29, 1999, super cyclone that hit the Ersama block in coastal Orissa would be alive today - if only the population there had been evacuated inland, beyond the reach of the three 10-metre-high tidal waves that swept away everything in their wake. And there was all the time in the world to do it.

Creating a wonderland

following the Arab oil embargo in 1973, when queues for petrol lengthened at petrol pumps all over usa and Europe, the Wall Street Journal carried a front-page feature on a South American community that had "solved" the energy crisis by devising equipments powered by renewable energy sources. The report was on Gaviotas, a village in Colombia.

Power of the people

SIX years of research and policy experiments, and first hand observation by the World Bank has revealed that many industries in poor and developing countries are running cleaner than a decade ago. A World Bank report titled Greening Industry: New Roles for Communities, Markets and Governments states this trend is good news for some of the world's poorest people.

JFM panels empowered

village-level Joint Forest Management (jfm) committees -- registered as societies under the relevant Act -- will execute jfm programmes throughout the country.

City with a new concept

the Union government is considering applying the Green City Concept to Gurgaon in its commitment to the United Nations Development Project's ( undp ) Agenda 21. Agenda 21 is the world community's response to the un General Assembly's call to halt and reverse the effects of environment degradation.

Valley of weeds

"In my mountaineering wandering I have not seen a more beautiful valley than this... this valley of peace and perfect beauty where the human spirit may find repose," said Frank Smythe, who came across this valley of dreams during one of his mountaineering trips in 1931.