Comanagement of natural resources Local learning for poverty education

Full-scale review of poverty

what is poverty? The Planning Commission is set to undertake an exercise to find a quantifiable answer to the question. It has proposed to the Union government to set up an expert group to redefine poverty and, consequently, reassess the percentage of India's population living below the poverty line. The last such revision was done in 1993 (see box: Evolving concept).

Technosolutions

across the world, silent and ceaseless crises regarding public health and environmental degradation urgently require the mobilisation of global science and technology. Gearing technological innovation towards solving the crises, by meeting the needs of the poor and the environment in which they live, is among the most critical challenges of the 21st century.

Stones unto stones

Several years ago, when the demand for a separate hill state called Uttarakhand was first raised, I had asked an eminent environmentalist of the region, why was he not actively supporting the campaign. If there were a hill state he would be in a powerful position to influence its forest management policies and, thus, see his dreams turn into reality. But his answer was simple: If you break a stone, all that you get is two stones.

Bad environment makes the poor more susceptible to diseases

How are the poor more susceptible to diseases? The poor are more susceptible to diseases because they live in poor environmental conditions. Due to poor sanitation, incidence of gastrointestinal diseases and diarrhoea are very high. The rate of infant mortality is also high because they consume dirty water and fall victim to water-borne diseases. Interviewee:  V Ramaswamy

A collector's item

THIS book contains all one would want to know about environmental management in the context of the existence of plenty alongside poverty. But for those not familiar with the dynamics of the symbiotic human-nature relationship, the elaborately worded theories may be a trifle difficult to understand.