Introduction Environmental literacy is a concept dating at earliest to the late 1980s that developed more thoroughly as a framework in the 1990s as part of environmental education1.  There are a number of competing definitions of what constitutes environmental literacy and how it is measured. These definitions proposed by major organizations include combinations of: knowledge about the environment and environmental functions (with some connection to how these impact human life), some

Introduction “Every minute, five children in developing countries die from malaria or diarrhoea. Every hour, 100 children die as a result of exposure to indoor smoke from solid fuels. Every day, nearly 1,800 people in developing cities die as a result of exposure to urban air pollution. Every month, nearly 19,000 people in developing countries die from unintentional poisonings”1 (p: 8). Rapid urbanization and economic development with increasing demand for travelling ha

Introduction Soil pollution is anordinary side-effect of several indus­tries. The oil industries is mainly responsible for soil contamination due toactions related to crude oil extraction, refineries and transfer, underground crude oil storage tanks and the wastewaters.1 Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of such above mentioned contaminants. They are hydrocarbons-organic compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen, consist of two or more benzene rings.2 Uni

Introduction The ecological failure of modern design approaches to architectural design triggered the necessity of change in architectural design approaches. The emergence of bionic and sustainable approaches in architectural domain is a representative of an attempt to counteract the ecological failure of modern age. In this paper, material-based design approach is represented as a solution to the given problem and this approach is examined to point out its strength and weaknesses toward a mo

Introduction Rapidly growing population and poor water supply facilities have encouraged people to dig their own wells in many areas which have resulted in large scale withdrawals of groundwater in Goa. Generally, water samples are analysed for a number of water quality parameters to assess its suitability for drinking and irrigation purposes.  A water quality index (WQI) numerically summarizes the information easily from multiple water quality parameters into a single value that can

Introduction Watershed is an area from which all precipitated water flows to a common outlet. In other words, watershed is a geographical dynamic unit, which covers all land that contributes runoff to a common outlet.1,2 Continuously growing population pressure resulted in the scarcity of available land and water resources.3 There are number of quantitative analysis used to calculate the topography of the watershed; and the analysis could be prepared from single watershed to

Introduction The sand bars or shoals are a natural submerged ridge, bank or bar that consists of sand and other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water near the surface. Often these rise up enough to the surface as to constitute a danger to an easy flow of the high tide and low tide water causing a threat to mangrove ecosystem. The formation of the sand bar is a more complex process and represents important morphological features of river estuaries. In the present st

Introduction Uncontrolled growth of the urban population in developing countries in recent years has made solid waste management an important issue1. The rate of urbanization has improved quality of life but at same time it has adverse effect on environment. Urbanization is increasing the level of air, noise, water pollution and solid waste generation their complexities2. Few decades ago, environment was not of any concern of scientific efforts for developing countries like India and even sol

Introduction Air pollution is a major problem faced globally and mainly arising from industrialization, unplanned urbanisation, alarming increase in vehicle fleet and population growth. Thus, persons face great pressure1 and their life quality is degraded2 from different points of view, e.g. climatic.3 With rapid development of human civilization and subsequent increased number of automobiles, air quality ultimately deteriorates. Road traffic is considered as one of the most important sour

Introduction In this rapidly growing and ever evolving society, the transportation sector has been progressing heavily day by day. Consequently, more efficient vehicles need to be developed which are cleaner and faster. As the IC engine creates pollution, posing a serious threat to nature, more research is now being concentrated on renewable energy resources like solar power, wind power and biofuel etc., which are constantly and sustainably replenished. Electric vehicles or solar vehicles are

Introduction Jammu and Kashmir is home to several valleys such as the Kashmir Valley, Tawi Valley, Chenab Valley, Poonch Valley, Sind Valley andLidder Valley. The main Kashmir valley is 100 km (62 miles) wide and 15,520.3 km2 (5,992.4 sq miles) in area. The Himalayas divide the Kashmir valley from Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir (India) while the PirPanjal range, which encloses the valley fro

Introduction Meghalaya is one of the North-Eastern State of India. Owing to high rainfall, the state is rich in water resources and a dense network of streams and rivers exist. The state is also endowed with rich mineral resources such as coal, limestone, clay, sillimanite, uranium etc. Exploitation of coal and limestone is taking place at a large scale leading to environmental degradation including deterioration of water quality.1,2,3,4,5 Studies done in surrounding areas of Meghalaya hav

Introduction Forests of Himalaya play significant role for sustainable development of the region as they not only provide timber and resin to industries but also fulfills the basic needs of villagers such as fuel, small timber, fodder, and other minor products residing nearby areas.Forest area and forest cover accounted for about 65 and 46 percent in the Uttarakhand. In Kumaun region forest cover is 40.3 percent of the state’s forest cover. The maximum forests are being managed by f

Introduction Many countries around the world consume the gonad(roe) of the sea urchin as a delicacy food. Japan and France are the two main countries which consume the maximum global production of sea urchin roe from the wild as well as aquaculture. A number of countries have developed the mariculture technologies for growing sea urchin to cater to this global demand using their local species. Among the two types of sea urchin Viz., Regular and Irregular urchins, the regular urchins are used

Introduction Global Agriculture Is Facing Numerous Challenges Like Adversely Affected Food And Nutritional Security. According To Teklu (2006), Land Is One Of The Major Conventional Inputs That Limit Agricultural Production because It Is Major Source Of Farming. Intensive Agriculture And Extreme Use Of External Inputs Are Leading To Degradation Of Soil Water And Genetic Resources. Estimates Reveal That Annual Loss Of Soil Translates Into US$400 Billion Per Year, About 10 Million Hectare Of Go

Introduction Himachal Pradesh is endowed with hydroelectric potential of about 27436 MW on the five river basins namely Satluj, Ravi, Beas, Yamuna and Chenab.The basin wise potential are Satluj (13,332 MW), Beas (5,995 MW), Chenab (4,032 MW), Ravi (3,237MW) and Yamuna (840 MW)1. Although, hydroelectric projects provides opportunities for  economic development but also have the potential to adversely affect the livelihood and well-being of local as well as downstream communit

Introduction Cement industry is the fastest growing industry in India.As per the economic advisor, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP),during the year 2013-14 in India, cement production was 255.57 million tons. But, cementindustry has facing many environmental issues. The main environmental issue associated with cement industry is emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas. Cement industry generates significant amount of CO2. Producing a ton of Portland cementg

Introduction The rivers and lakes play an important role in lives of human beings. The rivers provide irrigation, potable water, cheap transportation, hydroelectricity and livelihood to large population on the earth1&2. The Indian river system is classified in to four major categories i.e. The Himalayan, the rivers traversing the Deccan Plateau, the Coastal and those in the inland drainage basin. Indus river of Himalayan system consist of the Chenab, the Jhelum, the Ravi, the Satluj a

Introduction India is third largest coal producing country in world after China and USA, where power sector is dominated by coal based thermal power plants.1 Coal mining in India is performed with both the mining techniques i.e., underground and opencast mining. Opencast mining is the chief mining practice in our country with about eighty percent of total coal production. Opencast mining includes rupture the upper layer of rocks with blasting, drilling to excavate the valuable mineral as coal

Introduction Agricultural systems in India need improved management strategies to increase their level of self-sufficiency in terms of food production. Increased occurrence of extreme hydro-meteorological events due to climate change, population growth, and anthropogenic land and water degradation is likely to affect agricultural systems in near future more severly. An increase in food production can only come from four sources such as capturing local rain, horizontal expansion of agriculture

Introduction Natural environment, particularly the aquatic ecosystem is being disturbed by anthropogenic activities with rise in industrialization and urbanization. The decline in water quality of fresh water systems threatens its sustainability and has become one of the major environmental issues. The current scenario of Indian freshwater resources has been studied by many workers and appealed for their management as environmental problems. The increased concentrations of heavy metals in rec

Introduction Primary production refers to the amount of organic matter made from inorganic material through the process of photosynthesis.1 Primary producers are organisms able to use inorganic nutrients through the process of photosynthesis to build organic matter. Thus, to grow primary producers need essential nutrients; nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc etc. in sufficient amount.2 Primary production of reservoir helps to understand the tropic status and to assess the

Introduction India is a peninsular country with vast natural resources engulfing rich diversity of fauna and flora. The country is acclaimed to be one of the global leaders in fish production and also has huge population relying on fish as the cheaper source of protein. Besides unpromising returns from declining marine capture fisheries and capital intensive aquaculture, the country identified its reservoirs as the focus of future fisheries development plans because of its enormous resource s

Introduction The world economy has adversely been influenced due to extreme weather events like droughts, floods, cold and heat waves, forest fires, landslides, avalanche, hailstorms, thunder clouds associated with lightning and sea level rise as well as the natural calamities, like earthquakes, tsunami and volcanic eruption may change chemical composition of the atmosphere.10 The loss of forest cover directly responsible for the erosion of top soil causing floods and droughts thus a

Introduction Organophosphorus pesticides are most commonly employed in insect pest management for crop production, municipal hygiene, and disease vector control.1 Chlorpyrifos [O,O-diethyl-O-(3,5,6-trichloro-2- pyridinyl)phosphorothioate] is extensively used broad-spectrum insecticide against gall midge, cutworms, corn root worms, leaf folder, leaf hopper, etc.2 Chlorpyrifos is accessible in variety of formulations like granules, wet table powder, dustable powder and emulsif

Introduction Improper disposal of sewage effluents and irrigation practices with polluted waters has increased the concentration of metals in agricultural soils. This has led to increased concentration of metals in organic matter in soils which are fed by earthworms leading to bioaccumulation and biotransformation.  In ecosystem, biota are generally exposed to low levels of toxic pollutants, among all, heavy metals are more toxic, as they biomagnifies through food chain.1 Ea

Introduction Environment is a matrix of various ecosystems existing in a web of delicate relationship. Nature always tries to maintain equilibrium among these ecosystems. However, different activities of human being have started affecting the quality of the environment. Environmental pollution is observable in the form of alteration of the physical, chemical and biological qualities of the natural resources such as water, air and land. Pollution is a significant feature of environmental conce

Introduction In present days, Azo dyes also cause a serious environmental pollution by release of waste water through textile industrial.1 The annual production of azo dyes is estimated to be around one million tons, and more than 2000 different azo dyes are currently in use.2 Azo dyes are used in a number of industries such as textile dyeing, food, cosmetics, paper printing, with the textile industry as the largest consumer.3 In Textile industry, large amount of wa

Introduction Rapid urbanization and industrial development during last decade have provoked some serious concerns for the environment.1 In the last few decades, due to rapid industrialization and increase in human population, there has been a tremendous pressure on the demand of fresh water.2,3 Water quality plays an important role in promoting agricultural production and standard of human health. Water quality is much depending on the desired use of water, hence different uses requi

Introduction India has the largest area in the world (9 mn ha) under cotton cultivation and is the largest producer of cotton (2.7 mn MT, 0.3 MTha-1). Cotton is produced in 9 states in India viz. Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan,Gujarat, Maharashtra, M.P.,Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Gujarat state is the largest cotton producer in India and accounts for about 714000 MT of India’s total production with only 18 % (1.6 mn ha) of India’s total area under cotton cultivat

Introduction Anurans belonging to class amphibians occupy important position in the ecosystem being both predators and prey and are good bio-indicators of environmental pollution. Amphibians are intimately tied to aquatic as well as terrestrial environment and the quality of water in which they live can affect their growth, development, and survival.The negative impact of anthropogenic activities on biodiversity is becoming increasingly conspicuous and amphibians are currently the most global

Introduction India is the largest consumer and producer of cumin in the world. Gujarat is the leading state contributing more than 70 percent in cumin acreage and production followed by Rajasthan It is cultivated in Rabi season in areas receiving low rainfall, and possess well-drained soil, cool-dry and clear climatic condition. Optimum growth temperature ranges between 25 to 30 °C1.  Cumin requires low water2, 3.  Some researchers 4 adopted micro sprinkler irrigatio