Jaipur: Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) has announced its 3rd edition of India for Animals 2014 (IFA2014) in association with The Dogs Trust and Compassion in World Farming. IFA2014, India’s largest conference for animal protection, will be held in Clarkes Amer, Jaipur starting 12 to 14 September 2014.

A large number of national and international leaders of animal protection will be present on a single platform, including Padma Shri Norma Alvares, Padma Bhushan D.R. Mehta, Dr. Chinny Krishna, Anthony “Ace” Bourke, Clarissa Baldwin, Philip Lymbery, Les Ward, Christine Townend, among others to participate in discussions, workshops, panels and small-group breakouts. Such interaction will give an opportunity to delegates to share and collaborate on strategies to protect animals.

Norma Alvares, Chairperson, FIAPO said; “Taking another step towards making this world a better place for animals and recognizing their importance in the society. IFA 2014 is our effort to provide a much needed platform to the community working towards the cause in India.”

The participatory sessions will be for innovation in animal protection, issue based group discussions on common problem and solutions, among others. While Ace Bourke will give a talk on ‘The Lives We Save’, Norma Alvares will give an update on ‘Animal Protection in India’ from the FIAPO’s Chair. The other talks will include: the Status of Animal in India, Improving the lives of Dogs, a discussion on captive elephants in India and a panel discussion on Making India Rabies Free.

A large number of workshops have also been earmarked at the IFA 2014. Some of the topics are:

Ø      Animal Care, First Aid, Rescue and Handling

Ø      Building and Running a Successful Animal Protection Organisation and learning to manage volunteers

Ø      Communication: Writing, Speaking, Photographing our message and utilizing social media

Ø      Education, Outreach and Making Animal Protection Count

Ø      Fundraising for Animals

Ø      Holy Cows in Gaushalas

Ø      Impacting Animal Experiments through Ethics Committees

Ø      Improving your Adoption Programme

FIAPO invites all individuals interested in associating with the cause of animal protection and welfare.

An alert was sounded by Bihar government Saturday as over three lakh cusec of water entered Sone river following heavy rainfall in Jharkhand.

The government asked people living along the river bank to vacate their huts and houses and not to venture into the river.

“There has been very heavy rainfall close to Daltonganj in Palamu district of Jharkhand. The water is now moving through Koel river towards Sone. We are expecting around 3 lakh cusec water to reach Indrapuri barrage in Rohats district in Bihar tonight,” said Disaster Management Department Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Vipin Kumar Rai.

As a result the water level in Sone river may shoot up suddenly and endanger the people living close to it or those who have settled in parts of the river bed. It could also harm those who enter the river, especially the fishermen, he said.

“The alert encompasses Aurangabad, Rohtas, Arwal and Bhojpur districts through which Sone passes in the state. We have also asked the district administration to be ready to tackle any untoward incident,” said Rai.

The OSD, however, clarified that the alert is not about flood and there is no reason for people staying in the four districts to panic. Sone flows through the southern parts of Bihar and merges in the Ganga at Koilwar in Bhojpur district.

Chennai : On the occasion of Ozone Day, time has come to retrospect one major challenge faced by the refrigeration and air conditioning industry worldwide which is the on-going pressure to accept Low Global Warming Potential (GWP) Refrigerants that have lesser impact on the environment.

In the process of adhering to the guidelines set by the Montreal Protocol, developed countries widely use R410a refrigerant in air-conditioning as R22 has been phased out. However there are concerns over R410a’s higher GWP of 2100 Vs 1810 of R22. A safer alternative is CO2 which is favourable due to thermo physical properties.

Developments in CO2 technology have surprised many in the industry, and have, in some cases, disproved the notion that CO2 is thermodynamically unsuitable as a refrigerant. Rather, CO2’s favourable thermo physical properties support the use of the refrigerant. In certain applications, CO2 offers heat recovery capabilities, which can decrease emissions and energy bills by reducing heating costs.

Companies in India especially those which export to the EU should be aware of the F-gas regulation, especially the timelines and the bans it defines. Not all bans have yet to be clearly defined, but, despite most sectorial bans being some years away, the market is expected to begin reacting very soon.

“There is a need to create awareness about this regulation among India Inc. We need to closely monitor how this law is interpreted into actual market solutions and if rightly done, natural refrigerants can pave the way for a green future”, said Mr. Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss India.

More than a decade ago, Danfoss developed a method of evaluating the business risk of low-GWP solutions, taking into account all factors within technology, safety and cost.

Danfoss Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Controls Division has understood the need for developing environment friendly components and solutions. Automatic Controls portfolio from Danfoss includes Thermostatic Expansion Valves, Solenoid Valves, Ball Valves, Check Valves, Sight Glass and Filter Driers, for commercial air conditioning applications. There is a need for companies to stay committed to research and develop products for low-GWP refrigerants, both natural and synthetic, to fulfil customers’ needs for practical and safe solutions without compromising on energy efficiency.

Researchers have developed a new tool to overcome a major challenge of predicting how organisms may respond to climate change. “When climate changes, organisms have three choices: migrate, adapt, or go extinct,” said lead author Matt Fitzpatrick of the University of Maryland Centre for Environmental Science’s Appalachian Laboratory.

“We’re bringing the ability to quantify that adaptation piece that had largely been missing up to this point,” said Fitzpatrick. Organisms are adapted to live in certain environments and not others.

However climate change is forcing them to live in climates to which they may not be well adapted. Animals can move around, but things like plants and trees are rooted in the ground and must withstand climate change or die, researchers said.

Scientists have combined genetic analyses with new modelling approaches for the first time to help identify how well balsam popular trees are adapted to handle climate change.

The scientists sampled the genetic code of 400 trees from 31 locations across northern North America and combined the genetic variations with computer modelling techniques to map how important genes differ within balsam poplar and to locate where trees may have the best chance of survival in a rapidly warming world.

Up until now, scientists have sought to quantify the risk of climate change to different species by mapping where those species occur today based on climate and then predicting where they may occur in the future.

“The problem with the approach is you’re assuming all individuals within a species are identical, like assuming all humans will respond identically to an illness,” said Fitzpatrick.

“Some will respond differently given different genetic backgrounds,” he said. It turns out that all members of a species won’t react the same way to climate change.

Some poplar trees are already adapted genetically to handle climate changes expected over the next few decades while others are not – just like some people a more likely to survive a disease than others.

Increasingly local adaptation to climate is being studied at the molecular level by identifying which genes control climate adaptation and how these vary between individuals. This type of modelling of variation in genetic makeup represents an important advance in understanding how climate change may impact biodiversity, researchers said.

“We’ve developed the techniques to associate genetic variation to climate and to map where individuals may and may not be pre-adapted to climates expected in the future,” said Fitzpatrick. The study was published in the journal Ecology Letters.

Hero Motocorp Rides Into A Greener Tomorrow With “Garden Factory” “It is a momentous occasion for us as we synergise environment and cutting-edge technology to unveil our fourth manufacturing unit, which is a garden of health and productivity, where we don’t only manufacture products but also nurture life. We believe in giving back to the environment as much as we take from it. And that is why Hero has kept the ‘green concept’ in focus while building this ‘Garden Factory’. As leaders in the automotive industry, we fully realise our responsibility as an opinion leader in the fast changing industrial environment. With the knowledge that a cleaner, pollution-free environment is the only way forward, we are ushering in an era of change. Today, we are living up to that commitment by unveiling the first of our ‘Green Concept’ manufacturing unit which will serve as a template for our upcoming production facilities to replicate.

“Augmenting our capabilities, HMCL’s highly-automated Global Parts Centre is our big stride in building self-sufficiency.

“We have lined up total investment of over Rs5000 Cr (US$ 800 Million) across the globe, including the manufacturing plants in Colombia and Bangladesh, and the new plants coming up at Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh and the Hero Global Centre for Research & Design at Kukas in Rajasthan.”

PawanMunjal Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director Hero MotoCorp Ltd.

The state-of-the-art platinum-class manufacturing plant of Hero MotoCorp Ltd at Neemrana in the Northern Indian state of Rajasthan has gone on stream, in keeping with the company’s vision to surpass 100 million units in cumulative production by year 2020. The plant will be officially inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Smt. VasundharaRajeScindia.

Hero’s one-of-a-kind-garden factory that will redefine manufacturing is based on the core principle of sustainable development as the company remains committed to maintain the highest ecological  standards.From efficient building envelope, to the Big Foot air handlers, to water and energy optimisation – the Garden Factory demonstrates HMCL’s environmental aspirations.

With the launch of this facility, about 120 km south-west of the national capital New Delhi, Hero MotoCorp now has four globally-benchmarked manufacturing units in India – Haridwar in the hill state of Uttarakhand, Gurgaon and Dharuherain the northern state of Haryana, and Neemrana. The combined installed production capacity of the company has now risen-up to 7.65 million per annum – well in course to achieve the stated objective of 12 million annual capacity by Year 2020.

HMCL has injected a sum of Rs 1050 Crore(US$ 175 million) as initial investment to build this sustainable manufacturing unit balancing nature, business and mankind.

Adjacent to the plant is Hero MotoCorp’s state-of-the-art Global Parts Centre (GPC) which has automated storage and retrieval system, automated packaging and sorting system, on-line tracking of parts through Warehouse Management System (WMS), lean manufacturing systems and most importantly, a similar Green Building Concept.

Aiming to double its annual turnover to over Rs 3000 Crore in the next two to three years, the GPC is designed to have minimal manual intervention while significantly enhancing productivity.

The new plant will manufacture HMCL’s range of motorcycles and scooters.  Going forward, the company has plans to develop high-end two-wheelers from this facility. The current production capacity of the plant is 750,000 units per annum which is likely to go up with rising demand.

The unveiling of HMCL’s new plant at Neemrana – just over a year after construction began – showcases the perseverance & aggression with which the company is working towards realising its long-term vision of reaching higher volumes to meet growing demand from domestic and international markets.

Hero MotoCorp is also set to commence construction of its fifth & sixth manufacturing plants in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh respectively.

When operational, all these plants – including the ones in Colombia and Bangladesh – will take the total installed capacity of Hero MotoCorp to 12 million units of two-wheelers.

With the hunters of migratory Amur Falcon birds turning into protectors, Nagaland has become the “Falcon capital” of the world, officials said on Tuesday.

“Against the general perception of Naga people being compulsive hunters, the success of Amur Falcon conservation has put Nagaland on the global map; and the sheer number of the Amur Falcon population here has made it the ‘Falcon Capital’ of the world,” Nagaland’s divisional forest officer (Doyang) Zuthunglo Patton said in a statement.

While migrating to African sub-continent every winter to escape the extreme cold of Siberia, thousands of Amur Falcon birds roost in Nagaland for over a month.

Till two years ago, the raptors were slaughtered in large numbers by locals and eaten as food.

The forest official said focused and relentless awareness in the last one year had brought about the success.

“The communities of Pangti and adjoining villages in Wokha District have turned the spectacular migration of these magnificent birds into a lifetime opportunity for tourists whose jaws drop in utter amazement over the unforgettable sight,” Patton said.

Last week, the first batch of Amur falcons arrived in the Doyang Reservoir, after which the villagers of Ashaa, Pangti and Sungro once again reaffirmed their last year’s commitment and dedication to protect the falcons with the support of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Nagaland forest department.

WTI’s CEO Dr Jagdish Kishwan said they had formed protection squads of around 30 former hunters who patrol the area to make sure that all visiting falcons were safe.

This year with the return of the birds to Nagaland a ‘Welcome Programme’ was organised by the Forest department on October 1 at Pangti village.

Two watch towers have also been constructed in the area to witness the phenomenon of mass migration of these birds.

Rapid Action Project (RAP), run by WTI and Natural Nagas with assistance of the state forest department to protect the birds, has now turned its attention on the Assam’s Dima Hasao district where also the birds stop for a few weeks during October and November where they are hunted and traded.

RAP’s Radhika Bhagat said they started an awareness programme in the area to encourage locals to help conserve these birds which play an important role in the eco-system by helping check the insect population.

The RAP project team is going to hold consultative meetings with the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council members along with forest department authorities and local village heads.

The team was also pushing for a resolution against hunting of Amur falcons in Umrangso, she said.

Images from INSAT-3D, which became operational in January this year, played an important role while tracking Cyclone Hudhud which hit the east coast of India on 12th October, according to Indian Meteorological Department.

“This was for the first time that all the “products” of INSAT-3D satellite were fully utilised with the development of new products like enhanced IR imageries and coloured enhanced imageries and were made available through an exclusive page for cyclone images in IMD website (www.imd.gov.in),” a report by IMD said.

Launched in July 2013 by INSAT by the ISRO from French Guiana, the satellite became operational in January this year and linked to its website.

It is a meteorology specific satellite. Before INSAT 3D, images were used by from another meteorological satellite Kalpana 1.

INSAT 3D not only gives colour imageries, but also images of better resolution compared to Kalpana 1.

During Cyclone Phailin, which hit east coast at the same time last year, images from Kalpana played a vital role.

“The images from the INSAT 3D give better resolution and allow more precise forecast,” said Mritunjay Mohapatra, Scientist, incharge of Cylone Warning Division.

“Kalpana’s images are black and white whereas INSAT 3D has colour images. It helps in giving more accurate forecast. This time our system was more like the National Huricance Centre in the US,” said A K Mitra, Director (software).

A senior IMD official, however, added that a lot needs to be done in getting better resolution.

Hudhud originated from a low pressure are over Tenasserim coast and adjoining North Andaman Sea on 6th October 2014.

It concentrated into a depression over North Andaman Sea the next day morning over the North Andaman Sea while moving west-northwestwards.

On the same day the region and associated wind speed was about 25-30 knots. The wind speed was relatively higher in northern sector of the system.

According to satellite observation, intense to very intense convection was seen over Andaman Sea and adjoining area on 7th October.

It made landfall on the coast on 12th October inflicting maximum damage to Visakhapatnam district.

Gujarat state administration is preparing to face ‘Cyclone Nilofar’, which has developed in the Arabian Sea and is likely to move towards the state’s coast, Gujarat meteorological department on Sunday said.

The MeT department today issued a warning here asking port authorities to hoist distant warning signals.

“The cyclonic storm has developed in the Arabian Sea. The system would move initially north-northwest wards during the next 48 hours. Keep hoisted distant warning at your port,” the port warning of the meteorological department read.

An Ahmedabad Meteorological Centre official said here that the exact situation of the cyclone could be ascertained only after 48 hours.

“At present, the cyclonic storm is centred in the west central and adjoining south west area of the Arabian sea. The exact situation, how and whether it will affect the Gujarat coast, can be ascertained, only after it moves from its current location. It may take 48 hours to ascertain that,” Additional Director of Ahmedabad Meteorological Centre Manorama Mohanty said.

If it moves towards the Gujarat coast, then it may bring atmospheric changes like rainfall and strong winds, but at present it is difficult to say anything, Mohanty said.

Considering the probability of ‘Cyclone Nilofar’ hitting the Gujarat coast, the Kutch district collector has issued an advisory to various authorities directing all sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) and mamlatdars to keep their control rooms functional.

District Collector Mahendra Patel has also asked authorities of the Kandla Port Trust (KPT), the state maritime board and the forest department, besides all talatis and sarpanches in coastal villages to remain alert.

Control rooms would monitor the situation and issue alert every three hours to authorities in the coastal region of the state, the advisory said.

Gujarat state relief commission D N Pandey said that the situation is being monitored.

The cyclonic storm ‘Nilofar’, which originated in the Arabian Sea, has now intensified and is likely to make a landfall on 31st October near Naliya village in Kutch district, the Meteorological Department said on Monday.

‘Nilofar’ has intensified into a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ and is expected to bring heavy rains in coastal areas of Saurashtra and Kutch accompanied by high speed wind.

Officials said Gujarat administration is bracing to meet any challenge arising out of the cyclone, the second one to hit India this month after ‘Hudhud’, which caused large-scale devastation in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

“The severe cyclonic storm ‘Nilofar’ lying over west- central Arabian Sea has intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm.

“It is currently positioned in west-central Arabian Sea, about 1170km south-west of Naliya village, 1230 km south- southwest of Kutch and 880km east-southeast of Oman,” the Department said.

“It would initially move north-northwestwards during the next 24 hours and then recurve northwestwards and cross Gujarat and adjoining Pakistan coast around Naliya by 31st October morning.

“However as the system would come closer to Gujarat coast, it would weaken and cross the coast as severe cyclonic storm,” it added.

Looking at the situation, the Met has told authorities to hoist distant warning signal No 2 on all ports.

“Due to the cyclone, we are expecting bad weather on 30th and 31st of October. There will be heavy rains in coastal region of Saurashtra and Kutch on these days. Sea will be rough to very rough. Thus, we have issued cyclone alert to the State Government,” said Manorama Mohanty, Director, Ahmedabad Meteorological Centre.

Hyderabad : Japanese miniature plants, Bonsai grown in small containers from NAARM & Neelima Horticulture and Sacred Plants, herbal products from Pragathi Rsorts stand out among other stalls in exhibition at the ongoing 3rd Intl Conference on Agriculture & Horticulture at HICC, in Madhapur.

The Complete Garden Shop displayed wide variety of Bonsai Plants which include 30 years old Bonsai Banyan Tree.  It costs Rs 25000/-.  The other plants that have been stealing the show include: 25years old Chinese Banyan Tree that costs Rs 25,000/-; Ganesh Shaped, 15years old Aedanium plant and 15 years old Parker Bonsai. Both cost Rs 15000/- each.  Collaborative venture of NAARM and Neelima Horticulture, it offers complete Bonsai experience and training.

Sacred Plants, Medicinal Plants which include Lavanga Tulasi, Mint Tulasi, Lakshmi Tulasi, Krishna Tulasi and other are displayed by Pragathi Resorts a bio diversity Park at Proddutur village in Shankarapally mandal of Ranga Reddy.  According to the company Chairman Dr. GBK Rao,  it  has evolved the environment management system and plantation technology to avert calamities from causing devastation in coastal regions.

Another interesting thing to note is to discover how “nature” has become so “precious”.   A visit to the stall of Pragathi Resorts, you will realise that.  Pragathi Resorts offers Nature Walk.  It is a home to 750 species of Herbal and Sacred Plants.  You can spend a morning in the lap of the Nature, admire a beautiful sunrise as you walk around the lake, listen to the birds and discover some of the most scenic photo spots of the Resort. You can savour herbal tea, pick organic produce from its garden. You can taste fresh milk at its Goshala.  To do all this, you need to chip in Rs 500/- for two hours.     That’s not all. Sagai to Bidai, you can even get married in the lap of the nature and green cover, says the company.

If we abuse mother nature, we need to even pay in future for the air we inhale.  We have abundant natural resources for everybody’s need, but, nobody’s greed. Natural resources must be preserved.

Cyclonic storm ‘Nilofar’ is expected to make landfall nearNaliya in Kutch district of Gujarat on the morning of November 1 but with a reduced intensity, India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said.

The system, which turned into a very severe cyclonic storm yesterday, lay about 1,080km southwest of Naliya this afternoon and 1,110km south west of Karachi in Pakistan.

“It would move northwest wards during next 12 hours and then gradually recurve northeast wards and cross North Gujarat and adjoining Pakistan coast around Naliya by November 1 forenoon,” IMD said in a bulletin.

“However, as the system would come closer to Gujarat coast, it would weaken and cross the coast as a cyclonic storm,” it added.

Under the influence of this system, heavy to very heavy rainfall has been forecast along the coastal districts of Saurashtra and Kutch from October 31 night.

Squally winds of speed 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph would commence along and off Gujarat coast from October 31 night and would become 80-90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph at the time of landfall.

The Met has already asked authorities to hoist distant warning signal No 2 on all ports.

Cyclone ‘Nilofar’ comes just weeks after cyclone ‘Hudhud’ hit the Eastern states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, causing extensive damage in Vishakapatnam.

Deutsche Bahn has been named best non-listed company in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for their extensive climate protection activities by the non-profit organisation CDP. CDP (previously Carbon Disclosure Project) awarded the transparency of DB’s 2013 climate reporting 99 out of a possible 100 points. DB’s climate protection achievements are given the best grade of A. This puts the company among the top performers internationally. CDP is one of the best known rating organisations in the field of sustainability; it rates the climate protection management of almost 2000 industrial companies. The award was presented during the CDP Climate Leadership Conference in Munich.

This result places DB among the 187 leading global companies listed by the CDP in the internationally recognized Climate Performance Leadership Index in their first year of participation. Dr. Karl-Friedrich Rausch, Chief Sustainability Officer at DB und Member of the Management Board for Transportation and Logistics: “This award gives us confirmation that we are on the right track with our climate protection activities. We want to offer our customers climate-friendly products and services. Millions of customers such as BahnCard holders and corporate Bahn customers are already travelling on our long-distance trains with 100% green electricity – CO2-free.

Climate protection has been a central topic since the 1994 railway reform and is now part of our group vision DB2020.  DB wants to become an ecological pioneer and is continually increasing its energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy sources in the traction current mix. It has already achieved a share of 35.2 %. With the green products in the long-distance network, DB is also coming closer to achieving their climate protection goal of reducing global specific CO2 emissions by 20 percent between 2006 and 2020.

Expediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project of cleansing the Ganga, the Centre will be constituting 25 special teams to check the source of pollution of the holy river so that further action could be taken accordingly.

The teams to be drawn from different wings of the Ministry of Water Resources would inspect various drains of the river during winters as there is no flow from the glaciers then, which will give ample scope to them to locate the source of discharge released by industries and other polluting factors.

The exercise, which is expected to be completed before the commencement of summer, would be subsequently carried out in all the Ganga-flowing states, sources said.

“For instance, the teams would be inspecting five or six drains (nullahs) at Kanpur to prepare the data. This would help us draw plans on the requirement of treatment plants,” an official said.

Moreover, it would also help in quantifying the volume of effluents discharged by the industries for initiating appropriate action in the future.

“Initially, we thought about employing consultancies for the purpose. But we then decided to carry it out on our own as we will have first-hand information about pollution,” the official noted.

The exercise is being done in winter since effluents get mixed up in the river’s natural flow in summer along with the water from melting glaciers, thus reducing the chances of identifying the source of pollution.

The Ganga originates as Bhagirathi from the Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas at an elevation of about 7,010-m in Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand and flows for a total length of about 2,525-km before its outfall into the Bay of Bengal through the former main course of Bhagirathi-Hooghly.

Over the years, the Ganga and its tributaries have become the channels of transport for industrial effluents and drains for the wastewater of cities.

The problem has arisen largely due to the discharge of untreated urban waste and industrial effluents from the large and medium cities located along the course of the Ganga and its tributaries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday re-constituted a high-level advisory group on climate change, days ahead of a crucial UN meet on global warming in Peru.

While the government retained TERI chairperson R K Pachauri, Nitin Desai and retired diplomat Chandrasekhar Dasgupta as the non-government members of the 18-member ‘Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change’, environmentalist and director general of Centre for Science and Environment Sunita Narain and industrialist Ratan Tata have been dropped.

Both Tata and Narain were members of the high-level panel on climate change constituted by the UPA government in 2007.

The advisory body had not met for the past three years.

Asked about Narain’s absence in the newly-constituted panel, Environment Ministry officials said there is a provision in the notification that the chairman can invite any other minister/officer/expert to any meeting of the committee depending upon the context of the meeting.

Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, had come under attack from various quarters over the IPCC’s 2007 report that said the glaciers in the Himalayas will disappear by 2035 due to global warming.

But the TERI head had maintained the mistake was “unfortunate”.

Headed by Modi, the re-constituted council, tasked with evolving a coordinate national action for assessment, adaptation and mitigation of climate change at national level, also saw increase in the ministerial strength with induction of Urban Development Minister and Coal Minister as members.

These ministries were not represented in the previous council.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh and Coal Minister Piyush Goel are the members of the council.

Abu Dhabi :  For four days next January, thought-leaders, policy makers and technologists from the global water industry will once again convene in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, for the third edition of the International Water Summit (IWS). At a time of rising global populations and diminishing water resources, the need for actionable solutions to unlock the water-energy nexus and ensure global water security has never been greater.

IWS is a platform that seeks to address that challenge. From next generation, cutting-edge technologies that enhance resource management and efficiency, to investment capital and policy reform, IWS illuminates the key global water industry issues, offering a holistic view of the challenges and opportunities faced.

Hosted by Masdar in partnership with Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA), the 2015 IWS edition will again form a key element of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week – the largest gathering of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

IWS comes at a time when there is a need to increase desalination capacity to more than 5,000 million gallons a day to meet projected regional demand – primarily from the energy and food industries. Last year, GCC nations committed US$32 billion to water and renewable energy projects. Further afield, more than US$12.5 billion of investment is earmarked for water projects across the MENA region in 2015 alone.

In fact, the current rapid rate of water depletion across MENA may see the region categorised as one with ‘physical water scarcity’ by 2030. With IWS taking place in parallel to WFES and EcoWaste, it offers a unique opportunity to explore the co-innovation taking place across the full sustainability value chain and capitalise on the vast commercial opportunities available across the region.

Michel Jarraud is Chair of UN Water – regular participants at IWS. With 2015 marking the end of the UN’s ‘decade for action on water scarcity’, the next edition of IWS offers a chance to reflect and consider the next steps.

Jarraud agreed that the event provided an opportune moment to address the complex nexus challenge.

“IWS offers a platform for policy and decision makers and stakeholders – practitioners, research institutes, the private sector, financers and business leaders – to meet, discuss pressing issues related to water, share experiences, exchange technologies and cooperate to meet the needs of sustainable development in the region,” he said.

“The IWS also offers a venue for addressing the complex question of shared water resources and help build the necessary cooperation among stakeholders and countries. The organisation of the IWS in the broader framework of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and co-located with the World Future Energy Summit and the International Renewable Energy Conference is remarkable.”

IWS has confirmed that 70 global experts will participate in the event’s conference to be entitled ‘Promoting Water Sustainability in Arid Regions’. The event’s conference will also address:

- Water conservation and future water sustainability

- Strategic direction within the GCC

- Regional project investment

- Integrated water resource management

- Improving water re-use

- Smart water technology and water network efficiency

- Energy efficient and clean technology desalination

- Used water treatment and water usage in commercial buildings

- The nexus of water and energy in food

With water at the heart of sustainability, the IWS demonstrates Abu Dhabi’s and the UAE’s regional leadership on these critically important issues.

The 2015 IWS will be held under the patronage of H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. Hosted by Masdar and organized by Reed Exhibitions, the Summit will be endorsed by the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water, Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority, the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi, the Regulation and Supervision Bureau, and Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company.

IWS – Water & Energy Statistics

- 2.5 billion – people remain without access to sanitation

- 1.3 billion – the number of people across the world who lack access to electricity

- 768 million – estimated number of people who remain without access to improved water sources

- 55 per cent – the increase in global water demand expected by 2050

- 40 per cent – percentage of global population expected to be living with severe water stress by 2050

- 60 per cent – percentage of energy demand rises expected to come from China, India and Middle East

- US$300 billion – level of investment in GCC water sustainability projects between the period of 2012 – 2022

- 180 – the number of expected exhibitors

- 70 – the number of confirmed speakers

Unsustainable developmental policies and rising insensitivity towards nature have put “in serious danger” at least 10 of the country’s famous bird habitats, revealed a new study.

Conservation society Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) said that its recent findings clearly show that at least 10 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) – as they are now called globally are in serious danger of being lost forever.

BNHS studies and monitoring across the country have shown that the IBAs including Kutch’s famous Flamingo City, Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in Solapur-Ahmednagar of Maharashtra and Sewri-Mahul Creek in Mumbai are among the most threatened habitats in the country.

Flamingo City is possibly the only breeding ground of the migratory bird in a great magnitude in Asia.

The scattered grassland plots of the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary are home to the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard. Their population at the sanctuary has plummeted from 27 birds in 2006 to 12 in 2012 and a mere three birds in 2013.

The other bird habitats which are in grave danger of losing tree cover include Sailana Kharmor Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh; Tillangchong in Andaman-Nicobar; Dihaila Jheel and Karera Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh; Basai in Haryana; Sardarpur Florican Sanctuary in Dhar and Ranebennur in Karnataka.

“Many other IBAs, although not on this list, are also threatened by various types of unsustainable human interference,” says the new research titled “IBAs in Danger” by BNHS and its global partner BirdLife International.

According to it, destruction or disturbance due to infrastructure development, wrong anti-people conservation policies, indiscriminate livestock grazing, industrial and sewage pollution, indiscriminate agricultural expansion including use of pesticides, rapid urbanisation and poaching are some of the major reasons behind the loss of biodiversity and habitat in these and other areas.

“Unfortunately in India, nearly 50 per cent of the IBAs are not getting any sort of official recognition from the government agencies,” said Raju Kasambe, Project Manager of BNHS’ IBA Programme.

“Our future generations will never pardon us for destroying the important habitats of birds in such a callous manner,” he added.

Powerful roar of white tigers will soon reverberate in Madhya Pradesh’s Vindhya region as the world’s first White Tiger Safari would begin in Rewa, which was once home to this rare breed of the big cats.

“The world’s first White Tiger Safari would begin soon at Mukundpur near Rewa where the first white tiger was spotted by erstwhile ruler Maharaja Martand Singh in 1951 from Sidhi forest area (it was named as Mohan),” Madhya Pradesh Public Relations Minister Rajendra Shukla told PTI today.

Initially, two female white tigers would be brought to begin the Safari and later a male white tiger, too, would be introduced to them for multiplication, he said.

“Nearly 99 per cent work on the Safari has been completed and it would be launched anytime next month,” the Minister said.

The white tiger was caught by Martand Singh on May 27, 1951 from Sidhi district’s Bargadi forest area and later the animal was brought to Govindarh Palace in Rewa from where it escaped the very next day and then again found in Mukundpur area about 26-27 km away from Rewa.

Mohan then remained in the area for over two decades and its progenies spread gradually to other parts of the world, Shukla said.

“Though its progenies made their home in different parts of the world and zoos, they were found in their place of origin till 1976 only,” he said. “Now, the white tigers would roar again in the area after nearly 40 years once the safari would begins,” the Minister said.

The zoological park already existing in Mukundur will now be known as “Mukundpur Zoo and Mohan White Tiger Safari” while the breeding centre will be named after Maharaja Martand Singh, he said.

Madhya Pradesh ‘Madhyam’ will also exhibit the entire history of white tigers at the Safari to abreast the visitors about its origin and how it was first found in the forest area near here by then Maharaja Martand Singh.

Quoting historians, Shukla informed that after Mohan came in contact with a female white tigress, Radha and later when their progenies multiplied, a total of 114 white tigers were found on earth at time in different sanctuaries and zoos across the world.

Mohan’s last progeny was identified as Virat who mated with Sukethi. But Virat died on February 2, 1976, following which Sukethi was shifted to Delhi.

The plan to bring white tigers back to their origin was formulated when Shukla was the Forest Minister of the state in 2008 and later it was sent to the Centre for approval.

The proposal was approved on July 5, 2010 by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and the Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi gave its nod to the layout plan three years later.

“If everything goes as per plan, then Vindhya region of the state will reverberate with the roar of white tigers next month,” he added.

The recently concluded ‘SanskritiKnowledge Quest 2014’,UP State Quiz Competition initiated and managed by Sanskriti Group of Intuition,witnessed a huge turnout of 2000 students coming from various institutions across the state. FORE School of Management, Delhi, was the knowledge partner of the event which was held at the sprawling campus of Sanskriti Institute of Management & Technology, Mathura.

Chairman of Sanskriti Group, Mr. Sachin Gupta, one of the youngest edupreneurs of the country, said “India have no dearth of talent. It is in abundance. As academicians we need to nurture and encourage them to develop themselves beyond the curriculum in order to be equipped to take on the world. Learning should not be confined to classrooms. This competition, the first of its kind in Uttar Pradesh, was a part of our ongoing skill development initiatives and going by the colossal response, the event has received; we are contemplating making this an annual affair.”

Sharing similar sentiments Dr. Jitendra K Das, Director FORE School of Management, Delhi, said “India is in a growth path and is going to be super powerin the next decade irrespective of the Government’s role. To counter this,our talent force need holistic growth and all round skill sets. Patronizingsuchstudent’s development activities should be seen as a social responsibility. At FORE we take pride to associate with similar skill development and talent hunt activities.”

The initial round of the contest was conducted earlier across the state and 463 teams were selected and grouped in clusters while progressive screening was conducted till 10 teams made it to the grand finale.

With an objective to sensitize students on factors influencing their growth and career path, topics were selectively chosen from academics, current developments, socio-culture-gender diversity. The event was conducted by Nirmalya Pal, from DebriN Synergy, who kept the studentscaptivated through the day. Prizes worth more than a Lac of Rupees were up for grabs. Keeping the time, distance and inconvenience of the students in mind, organisers at Sanskirti arranged for special buses for the participants from Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur, Agra, Meerut, Aligarh and far away cities.

Mumbai : Sterling Holiday Resorts (India) Limited, India’s leading Leisure Hospitality and Vacation Ownership company, has launched a nationwide initiative to contribute to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign to clean India.

Sterling’s commitment to clean India encompasses the company’s Head Office, entire network of 21 resorts, and 12 sales offices across India. To date, over 750 Sterling guests at the company’s resorts and employees have taken up the cause of a Clean India by undertaking to clean up public spaces in and around the company’s resorts and offices.

To date, Sterling’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign has resulted in efforts to clean up popular tourist spots such as Pillar Rocks in Kodaikanal and area around Loknath Temple in Puri, to name just two. In cities where Sterling has offices, Sterlingers and their families have dedicated time to cleaning public spaces. For example, Sterlingers in the company’s Corporate Office in Chennai woke up bright and early on Friday, November 28 to sweep away the litter and dust on the streets of Nehru Nagar, Chennai.

Commenting on the initiative, Ramesh Ramanathan, Sterling’s Managing Director, said, “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a crucial nation building effort. A clean India will make every citizen proud especially since each Indian would have played a role. Needless to say, a Clean India will go a long way towards enhancing India’s image as an attractive tourism destination. Sterling is proud to be part of this effort and is committed to participating in the country’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign on an ongoing basis. To ensure this, we have a year-long calendar in place. Further, by encouraging participation by our guests, employees and their families, we believe we will help spread awareness and build the momentum towards a Clean India.”

source : Lokesh Shastri

India on Thursday expressed confidence that negotiators at the UN Climate Change Summit in Lima could put in place the stepping stones towards a post2020 deal under a comprehensive, balanced, equitable and pragmatic Convention that will address the genuine needs of developing nations.

Speaking at the High Level Segment of UNFCCC COP-20 at Lima on Thursday, Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said India is committed and ready to play its part in the global fight against climate change.

“We are pursuing action-oriented policies to bring rapid development to our people while purposefully addressing climate change…We have shown that we have the vision and the political will to act,” he said.

“Our ambition in the post-2020 period is directly linked with ambitious actions in the pre-2020 period by the developed countries, otherwise the poor people in developing countries will not get the carbon space to achieve sustainable development,” he said.

Noting that the number of poor people in the world is more than twice the combined population of Europe and all of them are in developing countries, he said, “We are determined to ensure development to all these people and provide them with basic services of energy, water, sanitation, healthcare, education and employment.”

“We in India are committed to protecting the interests of the poor. We did in it WTO for ensuring food security of our people,” he said, adding that the success of India’s endeavors in all these issues will also be critical for the success of the global efforts for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Despite our serious resource constraints, we are undertaking ambitious actions to undertake adaptation and mitigation actions, including through lowering of the energy intensity of our economic growth, increasing energy efficiency across sectors and making greater use of renewables,” he said.

“We hope to put in place in Lima, the stepping stones towards a post-2020 agreement under the Convention that is comprehensive, balanced, equitable and pragmatic,” Javadekar said, adding that it should be able to address the genuine requirements of the developing countries by providing them equitable carbon space to achieve sustainable development.

Adherence to the principles and provisions of the Convention is the key, he added.

“It is equally evident that developing countries could do more if finance, technology support and capacity building is ensured. This must be a key focus of the new agreement,” said the minister, who is leading the Indian delegation.

“If we believe that the global warming threat is real, then we must deliver on the agreed commitments as a matter of priority,” he said.

“We hope to achieve a positive outcome which will set us on the path to an ambitious, comprehensive and equitable agreement at Paris next year,” he added.

Javadekar met the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern among others.

He also met with the leaders of Australia, Germany and France and attended a dinner with the Like Minded Developing Country group.

Javadekar told Ban that though India is positively engaged in the draft text negotiations, it did not want parties to operate “as if this is the last opportunity,” noting that there is an entire year before Paris.

He said though finance commitment announcements seemed to be a positive highlight from the first days of the Lima talks last week, it is “not a happy story” as much anymore.

India is still pushing for financial commitments that fit into the Convention mandate that they be “new, additional, and predictable,” which is not always the case with the latest country commitments.

In his remarks, the minister said that “developing countries are allocating significant portions of their scarce national resources on adaptation, which remains an immediate and urgent global priority.”