MEB's university-community partnerships foster new environmental leaders for business

As our society's environmental concerns have grown over the past 20 years, U.S. firms have struggled to find effective and inexpensive ways to meet their mushrooming environmental obligations. Many firms, recognizing the competitive advantages to be won through adroit environmental management, have begun to seek managers trained to deal with these issues. The corporate response has been hobbled by business schools'general failure to train managers to deal with crossfunctional issues, and by a specific failure to address environmental management in their curricula. In this article, the Management Institute for Environment and Business, a program of the World Resources Institute (WRI), describes its innovative University-Community Partnerships (UCP) project to address these shortcomings. Bringing new approaches and new thinking to management curricula, MEB and several like-minded organizations are breathing new life into the old MBA programs.     

Sustainable poverty alleviation through a forestry project in Tamilnadu State of India

The World Development Report 2000–2001 recommends action on three complementary and synergistic fronts for poverty alleviation – promoting opportunity, facilitating empowerment and enhancing security. This paper analyses the Tamilnadu Forestry Project, funded by US$100 million from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, for community forestry. The project was launched in 1997–1998 in this southern state of India and has evolved into a comprehensive poverty alleviation programme for the forest abutting villages where the proportion of poor people is largest. It endeavours to explain how the project provides the above three elements at the local level for sustainable poverty alleviation. Regeneration of forests, improvement of basic infrastructure through integration of line departments and promotion of alternate livelihoods provide ample economic opportunities. Establishment of Village Forest Councils, and delegation of sufficient powers to these Councils, has empowered the poorest of the poor. Tree assets, promotion of alternate income generation activities and water harvesting structures have provided security by reducing vulnerability to natural vagaries, particularly drought. In this project, the restoration of biodiversity and people development go hand in hand in a synergistic way that makes the project worth replicating elsewhere in the country and other parts of the world, with suitable modifications.     

Identification and evaluation of hydrogeochemical processes on river Cooum, South India

The salient features of the river water chemistry and the seasonal variations on the individual chemical parameter were evaluated and characterized. The order of abundance of the ions in the water is determined for both seasons. The contribution of chemical weathering to the water chemistry has been determined using the (Ca²⁺ + Mg²⁺)/(Na⁺ + K⁺) ratio, ternary, and Gibb’s diagrams. The results show that the chemical composition of river water during premonsoon is controlled mainly by evaporation–crystallization, while in the postmonsoon, the rock–water interaction dominates. The unique characteristic of the river water is the linear relationship among the principal ions. Hydrochemical characteristics of ions in the water were studied using 1:1 equiline diagrams. The nature of the water samples was determined using the piper diagram. The influence of trace metals on the chemical composition and the quality of the river water in the study area has been assessed using Wilcox and US Salinity Laboratory diagrams.     

Study on the fluorescence characteristics of bromadiolone in aqueous and organized media and application in analysis

The fluorescence spectroscopic behavior of bromadiolone (anticoagulant rodenticide), a substituted 4-hydroxycoumarin derivative, was investigated in water and in organized media like micelles and cyclodextrins. A detailed study on various photophysical parameters like fluorescence intensity (I_F), quantum yield (), lifetime (τ) and steady state fluorescence anisotropy (r) of bromadiolone in aqueous and in organized media was carried out. Bromadiolone in aqueous solution was observed to be in an aggregated state, thereby showing weak emission due to self-quenching. Marked enhancement of fluorescence intensity was observed in organized media like micelles and β-cyclodextrin. A preliminary investigation has been done to find out whether this enhancement of fluorescence can be used to develop a sensitive analytical method for determination of bromadialone in aqueous media. A linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity and concentration of bromadiolone was observed in the range of 0.15–7.9 μg ml⁻¹ in cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and 0.5–26.4 μg ml⁻¹ in β-cyclodextrin medium. The lower detection limit was found to be 37 ng ml⁻¹ in presence of CTAB and 23 ng ml⁻¹ in β-cyclodextrin. Comparison with 4-hydroxycoumarin, an unsubstituted analogue, was made.     

Medicinal plants: Potential for economic development in the state of Uttaranchal,India

The present study deals with the medicinal plant wealth of Uttaranchal state in northern India. A total of 964 medicinal plant species were documented with the help of a literature survey and fieldwork undertaken in the various parts of the state. These medicinal plants were used in curing 135 ailments, with the highest numbers of species being used for treatment of cuts and wounds, followed by fever and diarrhoea. Among the various life forms, herbs were dominant (64%), followed by 20% shrubs and 16% tree species. Taxonomically, Asteraceae was the dominant family, having 87 species of medicinal plants, followed by Fabaceae (58 species), Lamiaceae (49 species), Rosaceae (30 species), Liliaceae (29 species), Apiaceae (28 species), Euphorbiaceae (26 species), Ranunculaceae (26 species) and Orchidaceae (23 species). Such a rich resource base indicates the huge potential for economic development of the state through herb-based industries.     

Content of selected elements and low-molecular-weight organic acids in fruiting bodies of edible mushroom Boletus badius (Fr.) Fr. from unpolluted and polluted areas

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The aim of the study was to (i) investigate the potential of edible mushroom Boletus badius (Fr.) Fr. to accumulate 53 elements from unpolluted acidic...     

Environmental impact assessment and seasonal variation study of the groundwater in the vicinity of River Adyar, Chennai, India

Hydrochemical investigations of the groundwater and the seasonal effect on the chemical budget of ions along the course of the polluted river Adyar were carried out. From the geochemical results, it has been found that the seasonal effect does not change the order of abundance of both cations and anions, but it does change the concentration of various ions present in the groundwater. Among the chemical budget of ions, sodium and chloride were found to be the most predominant ions. The nitrate concentration in the groundwater ranges from 4.21 to 45.93 mg/l in pre-monsoon and in post-monsoon it ranges from 1.02 to 75.91 mg/l. The nitrate concentrations in the post-monsoon are high in some places especially in the upper stretch of the river. The intense agricultural activities near the upper stretch of the river may be an important factor for the higher concentration of nitrates in these aquifers. In order to determine the geochemical nature of water, the data was interpreted using the piper diagram wherein the results show the predominance of NaCl and CaMgCl types. Equiline diagrams, 1:1, were applied to evaluate the affinity ion relationship between various ions present in these waters. The quality of the groundwater was assessed with regard to its suitability to drinking and irrigation. A comparison of the groundwater quality in relation to drinking water quality standards shows that most of the water samples are not suitable for drinking, especially in post-monsoon period. US Salinity Laboratory's, Wilcox's diagrams, Kellys ratio and magnesium ratio were used for evaluating the water quality for irrigation which suggest that the majority of the groundwater samples are not good for irrigation in post-monsoon compared to that in pre-monsoon. Moreover the source of the ions in the water was examined and classified accordingly using Gibb's diagram. The analytical results reveals that the TDS values of the pre-monsoon samples were found to be lower than the post-monsoon reflecting that leaching predominates over that of the dilution factor.     

Accumulation pattern and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in liver tissues of seven species of birds from Ahmedabad, India, during 2005–2007

Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in liver tissues of seven species of birds collected from Ahmedabad, India during 2005–2007. All the samples collected were dead as victims of kite flying. Concentrations of ∑PAHs in livers of birds were ranged from 110?±?32.6 ng/g wet wt (1,078?±?320 lipid wt) in common myna Acridotheres tristis to 382?±?90.1 ng/g (2,388?±?563 lipid wt) in white-backed vulture. Statistically significant (p?<?0.05) differences in ∑PAHs were observed among species. However, year of collection and sex of birds did not show significant differences in concentrations of PAHs. The levels of ∑PAHs measured in the present study species were higher than the levels documented for a number of avian species and were lower than those reported to have deleterious effects on survival or reproduction of birds. Presence of PAH residues in birds of Ahmedabad city show the continuous input of PAHs through environmental exposure. Although no threat is posed by any of the hydrocarbons detected, continuous monitoring of breeding colonies of birds is recommended in unpolluted reference sites as well as polluted sites. It is also the first account of a comprehensive analysis of PAHs in various species of birds in India. Therefore, the values reported in this study can serve as baseline values for future research.