Copper in India: Present and future outlook

The availability of mineral resources plays an important role in India's national economy. Copper, one of the important non-ferrous metals, has various industrial uses and demand for it is increasing in India where the inventory and production of copper, though not comparable with developed countries, shows an impressive growth rate, particularly during the last decade. With an increasing rate of industrial production envisaged in future plans copper consumption is expected to rise. Logistic curves have been used to study the potential long-term production capability under the dynamic concept of reserves and resources, with curves drawn for various estimates of total available resources. The production figures shown are not final and are subject to change due to a number of factors. This approach merely provides a method for projecting trends in future production.     

能源供应安全视角下中印生物质能源利用的比较

中国和印度是世界上两个人口最多的国家,中印两国作为世界上两个能源消费大国,如何满足众多人口和经济快速增长对能源的需求,以及提供安全的能源供应是中国和印度都在考虑并试图解决的紧迫问题,分析印度的生物能源利用政策对我国有重要的现实意义和参考价值。我国在1993年成为石油净进口国,1994年我国进口的原油仅为290×104t,进口依赖度为1.9%。到2009年我国石油净进口量为21 888.5×104t,进口原油的依赖度上升到了52.5%。我国日益增加的对国际石油市场的依赖对我国能源安全供应构成了极大的风险和挑战。我国在"十一五"期间,在生物质能源的利用上取得了很大的成绩。但还存在一些问题,主要问题是原料来源和成本不稳定、缺乏统筹规划、发电上网制度不完善、相关政策配套措施和实施细则不完善等因素在一定程度上影响了生物质能产业的发展。印度政府积极支持的生物质利用技术,包括利用清洁发展机制大量开发的生物质能CDM项目,这类项目大约占印度全部注册CDM项目的三分之一左右。印度从能源多元化供应的角度和扶持乡村可持续发展的角度上开发利用生物质能项目的实践是值得我国借鉴的。     

An empirical approach to assessing generic adaptive capacity to tropical cyclone risk in coastal districts of India

Differences in impacts of climate hazards across exposed units are determined by many factors including the severity of the hazard itself, the population that is exposed to the hazard and the coping capacity of the exposed units to the hazard. Coping capacity or adaptive capacity results from a combination of development status (generic capacity) and interventions pertinent to the hazard (specific capacity). This paper explores the extent to which the generic adaptive capacity may explain the variation in tropical cyclone impacts. Therefore this paper offers an empirical approach by which adaptive capacity may be measured and validated against actual outcomes. Results not only validate the role of generic adaptive capacity in explaining variations in impact but also reveal that general development indicators are not very important as far as predicting outcomes is concerned. Those indicators of development that can be linked to the impact process are significant in explaining and predicting impact. This can help identify those aspects of generic adaptive capacity which are important from the perspective of policy action for enhancing adaptive capacity to a particular climate hazard.

Development of regional climate mitigation baseline for a dominant agro-ecological zone of Karnataka,India

Setting a baseline for carbon stock changes in forest and land use sector mitigation projects is an essential step for assessing additionality of the project. There are two approaches for setting baselines namely, project-specific and regional baseline. This paper presents the methodology adopted for estimating the land available for mitigation, for developing a regional baseline, transaction cost involved and a comparison of project-specific and regional baseline. The study showed that it is possible to estimate the potential land and its suitability for afforestation and reforestation mitigation projects, using existing maps and data, in the dry zone of Karnataka, southern India. The study adopted a three-step approach for developing a regional baseline, namely: (i) identification of likely baseline options for land use, (ii) estimation of baseline rates of land-use change, and (iii) quantification of baseline carbon profile over time. The analysis showed that carbon stock estimates made for wastelands and fallow lands for project-specific as well as the regional baseline are comparable. The ratio of wasteland Carbon stocks of a project to regional baseline is 1.02, and that of fallow lands in the project to regional baseline is 0.97. The cost of conducting field studies for determination of regional baseline is about a quarter of the cost of developing a project-specific baseline on a per hectare basis. The study has shown the reliability, feasibility and cost-effectiveness of adopting regional baseline for forestry sector mitigation projects.

Sources of hydrocarbons in sediments of the Mandovi estuary and the Marmugoa harbour, west coast of India

Surface sediments were collected from various locations of the Mandovi estuary and the Marmugoa harbour. Sediments were analysed for organic carbon (OC), total lipids, n-alkanes concentration and composition. Concentrations of OC, total lipids and n-alkanes varied spatially and ranged from 1 to 2.5%, 176 to 1413 microg/g dry weight (dw) sediments, and 0.8 to 3.2 microg/g dw sediments of the Mandovi estuary, respectively; and from 0.6 to 2.9%, 233 to 1448 microg/g dw sediments, and 1.6 to 10.7 microg/g dw sediments in the Marmugoa harbour, respectively. Long chain, odd carbon n-alkanes (C(23)-C(33)) in the Mandovi estuary, whereas short chain, even carbon n-alkanes (C(11)-C(21)) in the Marmugoa harbour sediments were more abundant. The total HC concentrations, n-alkane composition, CPI, UCM and other evaluation indices suggest the dominance of terrestrial hydrocarbons in the estuarine while petroleum derived hydrocarbons in the harbour sediments. This conclusion was further supported by the abundance of hopanes with C(29) to C(34) alpha, beta compounds and steranes with C(27), C(28) and C(29) compounds in the harbour sediments.     

Whose land? Whose water? Water rights,equity and justice in a peri-urban context

Based on research in peri-urban areas, this paper explores questions of water justice in the context of emerging global cities. With the growth of large cities, authorities focus on meeting their water needs through infrastructure expansion and supply augmentation. The changing water needs and priorities of peri-urban locations, which provide land and water for urban expansion, receive scant attention. This paper looks at changing patterns of water use between rural and urban uses, based on research in peri-urban Gurgaon, an emerging outsourcing and recreation hub of North West India. It describes the diversity of ways in which peri-urban residents lose access to water as the city expands. These processes raise important questions about water justice, about the politics of urban expansion, and the implicit biases about whom these cities are meant for.     

Social vulnerability and pneumonic plague: revisiting the 1994 outbreak in Surat,India

The 1994 outbreak of pneumonic plague in Surat, India is revisited and analyzed using the pressure and release (PAR) model. Overviews of the outbreak, of India's experience with plague, and of the disease are provided and the PAR model is used to trace the production of vulnerability via root causes, dynamic pressures, and unsafe conditions and to explain the why, when, and where of the epidemic. The emergence of plague in Surat was an unfortunate amalgam of prior hazard events and of factors generating vulnerability. Root causes include the country's colonial legacy and a complex and pervasive social hierarchy promoting caste and class interests over the common good. Dynamic pressures include: a curative-focused healthcare system; a weak civil society; misplaced spending priorities; and public and private corruption that deprived public health programs of needed funds and which compelled workers to live and labor in unhealthy environments. Unhealthy public, residential and workplace environments; fragile economic conditions; and a lack of surveillance and preparation are immediately linked to the outbreak and to the transmission of pneumonic plague.     

Chaos and complexity in development

SUMMARY

The paper outlines some main features of chaos theory. Examples of chaotic systems in society and the environment are given. Spontaneous interaction of components, without being planned or directed, is known as ‘self-organising behaviour’. Chaos is an essential aspect of this self organisation, occurring in many forms. A chaotic system is defined as one that shows sensitivity to initial conditions. If the errors relative to the initial conditions become too great, the system will eventually collapse. Development projects are sensitive to such initial conditions. In particular, two examples in development are outlined in some detail and commented upon. One is the occurrence of a project promoting self-organising systems among the poorest of the poor. The other outlines how rehabilitation after resettlement in a power project has transgressed the ‘edge of chaos’ socio-emotionally, in spite of the socioeconomic development being good.     

Source apportionment studies for particulates (PM10) in Kozhikode,South Western India using a combined receptor model

In the present work, source apportionment studies were carried out for particulate matter – one among the significant pollutants as addressed by The National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Advantages and disadvantages of each receptor model were addressed using a combined receptor model which integrates Factor Analysis (FA), Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF) and Chemical Mass Balance (CMB). Verification of the approach was done using sets of synthetic data as well as field data from Kozhikode. Sampling was carried out in National Institute of Technology, Calicut for a period of over 26 days with 24-hour sampling. The sampling gave an average PM concentration value in the range of 29.174–129.176 µg m^?3. Studies using field data revealed five dominant sources and their contributions obtained from CMB and PMF were compared. Soil dust (contribution from CMB: 18%; contribution from PMF: 16%), marine aerosol (17%; 25%), construction and aggregate processing (46%; 11%), garden waste combustion (18%; 45%), and vehicular exhaust (1%; 3%) were major contributors in the site under study. The outcomes of the study integrated with the support of local authorities and by the acceptance of residents can definitely curb the pollution levels in the site under the study.     

Do developmental initiatives influence local attitudes toward conservation? A case study from the Kalakad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve,India

We evaluated the conservation attitudes of the local villagers living adjacent to the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in southern India 6 years after implementation of a World Bank funded eco-development project. We assessed attitudes towards three facets of conservation: the tiger, an emblematic species signifying India's commitment to wildlife conservation; the forest, a principle source of fuel-wood and other products; and the Forest Department, which manages the forest. More specifically we predicted that (i) attitudes would be an effective predictor of resource use interest in the forest and (ii) benefits obtained from the EDP would create more favorable attitudes towards conservation and the protected area employees. Twelve villages located within 3 km from the reserve boundary were chosen and 2-3% of the households interviewed with regard to their attitudes towards these three facets of conservation, their household resource use patterns, wealth, sex, age and length of residency. We found significant associations between wealth, sex, age and both tiger and forest conservation. Providing benefits has not changed the underlying attitudes of the communities. The poorer sections of society, whether receiving benefits or not, tended to support tiger conservation because conserving wildlife did not affect their livelihood in any way, whereas both the rich and poor had misgivings about forest conservation due to dependency on forest products. We conclude that the eco-development project has not effectively addressed the most important of the local concerns.