Arabian Sea

This report by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Mumbai deals with the study on the neglect and virtual turning of the river Mithi in Mumbai into a sewer. The river, along with its estuarine reach, provides the much-needed green lungs to the city in the form of mangroves. Neglect of this river was the main cause of the catastrophic floods in Mumbai on 26 July, 2005, which claimed nearly 1,000 lives. In what could be a monumental urban transformation initiative to be undertaken anywhere in India yet, ORF has proposed a grand vision for the reclamation of Mithi River. The study report and a documentary film ’Making the sewer a river again - Why Mumbai must reclaim its Mithi’ on the dreadful conditions of the river, was released in May, 2011 in Mumbai.

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This paper by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) presents a new approach for analysis of water productivity (WP) of rice and wheat in the Indus and the Ganges river basins, South Asia, based on the integration of readily available remote sensing, national crop productivity and land use statistics and weather data. Understanding crop water productivity over large river basins has significant implications for sustainable basin development planning.  

Three major steps are involved in producing crop water productivity maps: (1) crop dominance map, (2) yield estimates, and (3) water consumption (evapotranspiration (ET)) estimates. The crop dominance map is synthesized from the relevant, and publically available, land use/land cover (LULC) maps with ground truth data. National statistics on crop area and yields are collected, and the yields are interpolated to grid level (500 meters (m) x 500 m) using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maps.

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This work on water footprint assessments represents a pioneering effort on documenting the water consumption in Jain Irrigation Systems Limited’s (JISL) production of dehydrated onions and of micro-irrigation systems. It also assesses the sustainability of this water consumption and formulate response strategies. Read More

This report prepared by the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) provides an assessment of impact of climate change in 2030s on four key sectors of the Indian economy, namely agriculture, water, natural ecosystems & biodiversity and health in four climate sensitive regions of India, namely the Himalayan region, the Western Ghats, the Coastal Area and the North-East Region. This is the for the first time that such a comprehensive, long term assessment has been undertaken based on rigorous scientific analysis for the 2030s (all previous assessments were for the 2070s and beyond). Read More