Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
mountain range in the north are the major source
of freshwater supplies to the subcontinent. Due
to rising temperature and changing precipitation
pattern, the glaciers are retreating at an alarm-
ing rate, posing immediate threat to fresh water
availability in the South Asian countries (WWF
Report 2005). The direct evidence of real climate
change impacts in the Himalaya requires imme-
diate attention of the international community as
well as regional and national policy makers for
consideration in any future development planning.
likely to further add to the growing changes and
decline in the productivity of marine ecosystems
in India's coastal sites.
INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
AS SUSTAINABILITY TOOLS
IN BUILDING KNOWLEDGE
PROCESSES
In recent times the Indian subcontinent has been
exposed to many global environmental changes
and increasing the vulnerability of its ecosystems
and people. Two of the most sensitive ecosystem in
the subcontinent, namely the coastal region and the
Himalayas are under tremendous pressure from a
wide range of biotic and abiotic pressures leading
to increased stress to the natural ecosystem and
livelihood of people. The increased pressure from
resource scarcity in such critical ecosystems often
cause a severe imbalance to the economic growth
and livelihood patterns of local people and regions.
This has long term implications for sustainability
of a region's diversity from environmental,social,
economic and technological perspective. The use
of information and communication tools is a step
in understanding some of the dynamics of such
complex ecosystems and can greatly contribute
to the mitigative efforts of environmental stress.
Increasing use of technology also means that
there needs to be a holistic approach to building
capacity of all levels of stakeholders to understand
some of the techniques for adapting to changing
environmental conditions.
Sundarbans
Sundarbans is the world's largest mangrove eco-
system, a UN World heritage site, a biosphere
reserve, now under severe stress due to sea level
rise and associated problems. The four million
inhabitants residing in the Indian Sundarbans are
severely stressed due to abnormal climate impacts
affecting their overall livelihood. The threat to the
survival of endangered species like Tiger, Turtles
and some of the rare mangroves is also a major
conservation issue in this unique ecosystem.This
will adversely affect the overall ecological bal-
ance and increase the vulnerability of the region.
Immediate attention is required from the world
community as well as stakeholders at the local
level, to develop an effective coping mechanism
to reduce the vulnerability of the region.
Coastal Ecosystems
The coastal region of India is perhaps one of the
most productive and ecologically diverse land-
scapes covering over 6000 kms of coastline. The
importance of promoting regional fisheries in
enhancing local livelihoods through sustainable
measures is an important aspect of maintain-
ing local ecological balance. A vast majority of
coastal communities are currently facing stress
form various pressures like large scale develop-
ment along costal sites which threaten to affect
Coastal Ecosystems
The oceans and seas are an integral part of the
earth's climate system and are responsible for
maintaining the natural circulation patterns.
According to the Inter Governmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) climate change impacts
