Introduction Estuaries are characterized by a spatiotemporally complex environment in terms of both physical and chemical aspects driven by external forces of river flow, tide and ocean waves, or influx of sediment and nutrients.1 Therefore, several definitions of estuaries from the standpoint of physical characteristics or salinity distribution exist.2 In addition, estuaries are important habitats for conserving biodiversity of species that live in only brackish water.3&

Introduction There are various methods for removing heavy metals from waste water including chemical precipitation, membrane filtration, ion exchange, liquid extraction or electrodialysis (Sitting 1981; Patterson 1985). However, these methods are not widely used due to their high cost and low feasibility for small-scale industries (Sohail et al. 1999). In contrast, adsorption technique is by far the most versatile and widely used. Several metal-retaining resin, containing a variety of comple

Introduction Solid or liquid particles suspended in the air are termed as aerosols. These particles generally range from 1nm to 10 μm size diameter1. Atmospheric aerosols are contributed by several natural and anthropogenic sources such as earth crust, volcanic eruption, ocean and sea spray, industries, biomass burning and vehicular traffic etc. During recent past, aerosol production from anthropogenic sources has increased significantly. Studies have reported that atmospheric aerosols

Introduction The North African state of Libya is in one of the driest regions of the world with an annual rainfall ranging from just 10 mm to 500 mm. Just 5% of the entire area of Libya exceeds 100 mm annually. Evaporation rates are also high, ranging from 1,700 mm in the north to 6,000 mm in the south.1 Some of British researchers have found that Libya is floating on the vast reserves of groundwater, and they have assigned the amount of groundwater/aquifers that Africa has. The reserve of

Introduction During the last few decades, as a result of the climate change1 variation in rainfall pattern has drawn a lot of attention for protection of the food production and available fresh water.2 Some rising trend of precipitation including monsoon rainfall is observed in central Asia, whereas a decrease is found in the south Asia.1 The Indian climate is mainly characterized by monsoon rainfall which is well supported by several studies.3-6 Major parts of Indi

Introduction Wetlands are found throughout the world landscape and covering nearly 6% of land area (i.e. 8.6 million km2).1 Indian wetlands are home of the one fifth of country’s biodiversity within less than 5% of the total geographical area of India.2 A total of 4290 large lakes and uncountable small water bodies present in India.3,4 Haryana is located between 270 29’ to 300 56’ N latitudes and 740 27’ to 770 36’ E

Introduction The quality of water is defined in physical, chemical, biological forms in each category and the water quality parameters are selected on the basis of their intended use. A number of sites for the water quality monitoring create voluminous information and results in complexity to categorize the quality of water for various purposes. Such classifications are generally used for comparison of quality of water on individual parameter basis as per the national and international standa

Introduction The Himalaya, youngest mountain range of the world covers about 18% of total geographical area of India. Forests constitute (50% of India’s forest cover) an important natural resource base in the Himalaya, most important being the temperate broad leaf forests, which are largely dominated by different species of oak (Quercus species).1 Oaks (Quercus spp.) are the dominant, climax tree species of the moist temperate forests of the Indian Himalayan region

Introduction Industries are responsible for the release of billion gallons of wastewater containing high levels of salt and organic matters1 into the environment. Such a huge amount of waste generated in the world is capable of being reused as a source of water supply in areas with water shortages.2 More efficient treatment methods should be utilized before reusing and/or discharging the saline wastewater to the environment.3   Table&nbsp

Introduction Studies reveal that the water scarcity cannot be ignored right through the world. A prediction study of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that about 2000 million people would suffer due to water crisis by 2050. It also reveals that nearly one-fifth of the world’s population would access unsafe water for drinking purpose. Exploitation of groundwater in unplanned and unscientific manner has caused both hydrological imbalance and degradation in q

Introduction The term “cultural landscape” embraces a diversity of manifestations of the interaction between humankind and its natural environment and about ideas and meanings, concepts and interpretations, dynamics and dialogues. Cultural landscapes are those where human interaction with natural systems has, over a long time, formed a distinctive landscape. Then Cultural landscape is a complex phenomenon resulting from both natural- geographical and social-cultural pro

Introduction Environmental issues are increasingly gaining importance among societies worldwide.1  In the process of developing new products, climate change emerges as an issue of strategic importance because companies are considering climate change related risks and opportunities in product planning. Consumer’s environmental knowledge and concern and environmental regulations such as Kyoto Protocol and Montreal Convention are deeply influencing world business.2 In

Introduction India is a country with 1.21 billion people and total land area of 3,287,263 km2.1 About 68 per cent of India’s population still live in rural areas and depend largely on non-commercial sources of energy such as fuelwood, biomass, and agricultural residue for their energy requirements for cooking and heating. In India, the domestic sector has been one of the largest consumers of energy accounting for 40 to 50 per cent of the total energy consumption.2&nbsp

Introduction Algae (macro and micro) have been taken in consideration as a residual biomass ready to be used for energy purposes. Algae, especially microalgae, were found to be the only source of renewable biodiesel that is capable of meeting the global demand for transport fuels.1 The idea of using algae as a source of fuel is now being taken seriously because of the increasing price of petroleum and more significantly, the emerging concern about global warming that is associated with burnin

Introduction Parasites are specialists in host environment with close co-evolutionary ties. Convolution embodies two components, togetherness (Co-) and history (Evolution). Co-evolution encompasses both microevolutionary and macroevolutionary associations. Host specificity (by the parasite) and defense mechanism (by the host) play important role in the microevolutionary studies. It is important to integrate micro and macroevolutionary patterns and processes in order to generate a more robust

Introduction The importance of combating environmental degradation in diverse human socio-economic activities has lead to increased calls for a shift to organic farming practices so as to improve the health of soils, ecosystems as well as people. The main idea behind organic farming is 'zero impact' on the environment. Increasing consciousness about conservation of environment as well as health hazards are the major factors that led to the growing interest in organic farming i

Introduction Population pressure, urbanization, industrialization by a long way, added up the huge amount of waste which is toxic and non-toxic to the aquatic ecosystems. These Pollutants alters the physico-chemical quality of water which eventually upset the biotic components of the aquatic system. Physico-chemical analyses show different concentrations of chemical pollutants, but they do not reflect its effect on ecological condition of water, as they do not integrate ecological factors.17

Introduction Rare earth elements are series of seventeen chemical elements which include the lanthanide series from Lanthanum (La), Scanadium (Sc), Tolutetium (Lu), and Yttrium (Y) in the periodic table.1 They are known as ‘‘rare earth elements’’ because most of them were isolated as oxide from rare minerals in the 18th and 19th century.2 The entire world stores an estimated 100 million metric tons of rare earth oxide (REO) and the regions havi

Introduction India is facing a serious problem of natural resources scarcity, especially that of water in view of population growth and economic development.1 Most of fresh water bodies all over the world are getting polluted, thus decreasing the portability of water.2&3 We need water for different purposes such as dinking, irrigation, industries, swimming, fishing etc. Thus water for different purposes has its own requirements in terms of composition and purity as w

Introduction Steel plant slag is a solid industrial waste generated from steel industries in production of steel and mainly these wastes includes blast furnace and steel melting slag (open hearth or LD process slag). It can be categorized as carbon steel slag and stainless steel slag according to the type of steel, and as pretreatment slag, Linz-Donawitz (LD) converter slag, electrical arc furnace slag (EAFS), ladle refining slag and casting residue according to the steelmaking process (Meng

Introduction Solar energy has been continued to utilize by various countries since 1900’s. In the present era a variety of the techniques are there, to utilize solar energy in various aspects of households and commercial sectors. Cooking, water heating, desalination, power generation, heating and cooling of buildings, even lightening now can be operated on solar energy in different households and commercial sectors worldwide.11 This energy is radiated from the sun in all directions

Introduction About sixty-seven percent of irrigation water applied to crop through runoff and evaporation. Though, the evaporation is significant component of irrigation efficiency, not much attention has been given to it. Generally, irrigation water applied in agriculture is based on experience of farmer. So, evaporation component should be incorporated in development of any irrigation project or plan. The plant losses their water through the process of evaporation and transpiration. Evapotr

Introduction Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing alarmingly since the pre-industrial era and is mostly driven by population growth and industrialization. Today, the world is confronted with the challenges or concerns of anthropogenic induced climate change which is adversely affecting economic and social progress across continents. In its fifth assessment report, Intergovernmental Panel on climate Change (IPCC) has highlighted the need of additional mitigation efforts

Introduction Groundwater is the most esteemed wealth of nature for sustenance of life on earth and any developmental activity. Despite being a common commodity, water is scarce on the earth and has no substitute. As per Kumar et al., 2005 retrieval of safe drinking water is imperative, as 30 % of urban and 90% of rural Indian population depends utterly on untreated groundwater resources. Understanding of the hydrogeochemical processes and pollutant source and regular monitoring of water quali

Introduction Air pollution is a major concern before scientific communities and policy makers all over the world, especially in developing countries. With the rapid growth in population, urbanization, industrialization and economic growth, there is a steady surge in demand of mining and energy sectors. This puts a substantial pressure on the environmental regime, particularly on the ambient air. The mining and energy industries are the foremost sectors responsible for the severe deterioration

Introduction Banks can play a crucial role in maintaining sustainability by becoming a promoter of sustainability. Sustainable development tends to shift the focus of the business fraternity from their traditional bottom line approach of profit to the approach of triple bottom line where the focus lies on three Ps i.e. People (society), Planet (environment) and Profit (economy) and the decision point is the point of intersection of the three considerations (Fig. 1). F

Introduction The population of buffalo, sheep, goat and cattle in 2012 in India is 105, 71.6, 140.5, and 199.1 Million.1 They produce a huge amount of dung per day which is a good fertilizer but it is not managed in a scientific manner. Use of raw dung as such or in the form of farm yard manure causes nutrients loss. The nutrient’s content of this dung can be increased by composting. Composting is a process in which the microflora and macroflora of dung degrades the materia

Introduction Cage culture is commonly practiced worldwide in both freshwater and marine environments, including open ocean, estuaries, lakes, ponds and reservoirs.1,2 Cage cultured fish are entirely dependent on formulated diets.3 Relatively small portion of the organic matter and inorganic nutrients in feed applied to cages is transformed to fish biomass. It is estimated that for every ton of fish production in cage culture, 132.5 kg of nitrogen and 25.0 kg of phosphorus ar

Introduction     Iran is a country of great culture and advanced civilization, and its natural and cultural heritage diversity has made it one of the top ten world tourism countries, and its archaeological, cultural, natural and geological attractions has created an excellent platform for development of geotourism.1 Geotourism, as a tourism subcategory has become an important part of tourism studies. Iran has a beautiful&