Emerging Zoonoses and Its Management

Background:

In the past few years, emergent disease episodes have increased; nearly all have involved zoonotic or species-jumping infectious agents. Because there is no way to predict when or where the next important new zoonotic pathogen will emerge or what its ultimate importance might be, investigation at the first sign of emergence of a new zoonotic disease is particularly important. Such investigation may be described in terms of a discovery-to-control continuum: from recognition of a new disease in a new setting to complex phases involving the hard science disciplines pertaining to discovery, the epidemiologic sciences pertaining to risk assessment, and activities pertaining to risk management. Today, many activities involving zoonotic disease control are at risk because of a failed investigative infrastructure or financial base. Because zoonotic diseases are distinct, their prevention and control will require unique strategies, based more on fundamental research than on traditional approaches. Such strategies require that we rebuild a cadre of career-committed professionals with a holistic appreciation of several medical and biologic sciences.

Predicting the Emergence of Zoonotic and Species-Jumping Pathogens

In general, there is no way to predict when or where the next important new zoonotic pathogen will emerge or what its ultimate importance might be. A pathogen might emerge as the cause of a geographically limited curiosity, intermittent disease outbreaks, or a new epidemic. No one could have predicted the emergence or zoonotic nature of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy prion in cattle in the United Kingdom in 1986, the emergence or zoonotic potential of Sin Nombre virus as the cause of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in the Southwest in 1993, and certainly not the species-jumping emergence of HIV as the cause of AIDS in 1981. Consequently, investigation at the first sign of emergence of a new zoonotic disease is particularly important, although the investigation usually resembles a field- and laboratory-based research project rather than a typical case-control-based outbreak investigation. This reality must drive strategic planning for dealing with new zoonotic diseases.

Factors Contributing to the Emergence of Zoonotic Diseases

Many elements can contribute to the emergence of a new zoonotic disease: microbial/virologic determinants, such as mutation, natural selection, and evolutionary progression; individual host determinants, such as acquired immunity and physiologic factors; host population determinants, such as host behavioral characteristics and societal, transport, commercial, and iatrogenic factors; and environmental determinants, such as ecologic and climatologic influences. Emergence of new zoonotic pathogens seems to be accelerating for several reasons: global human and livestock animal populations have continued to grow, bringing increasingly larger numbers of people and animals into close contact; transportation has advanced, making it possible to circumnavigate the globe in less than the incubation period of most infectious agents; ecologic and environmental changes brought about by human activity are massive; and bioterroristic activities, supported by rogue governments as well as organized amateurs, are increasing, and in most instances the infectious agents of choice seem to be zoonotic.

Ecologic Factors Contributing to the Emergence of Zoonotic Diseases, as Exemplified by Arboviruses Diseases

Contributing to the emergence of zoonotic diseases is the capacity of microorganisms and viruses to adapt to extremely diverse and changing econiches. One of the most complex sets of adaptations concerns the arboviruses and their transmission by specific arthropods. When ecosystems are altered, disease problems of humans and animals follow. Population movements and the intrusion of humans and domestic animals into arthropod habitats have resulted in emergent disease episodes, some of which are the stuff of fiction. The classic example is the emergence of yellow fever when humans entered the Central American jungle to build the Panama Canal—many contemporary examples suggest that similar events will continue to occur. Deforestation and settlement of new tropical forest and farm margins have exposed farmers and domestic animals to new arthropods and the viruses they carry. Mayaro and Oropouche virus infections in Brazilian woodcutters who cleared the Amazonian forest in recent years is a case in point. The opening up of isolated ecosystems has contributed to emergent disease episodes. Remote econiches, such as islands, with immunologically naive potential reservoir hosts and vectors are often particularly vulnerable to an introduced virus. For example, the initial Pacific island-hopping of Ross River virus in the 1980s from its original econiche in Australia caused “virgin soil” epidemics of arthritis-myalgia syndrome in Fiji and Samoathis virus will surely reemerge. Increased long-distance air travel facilitates the movement of infected persons and exotic arthropod vectors around the world. The introduction of the Asian mosquito Aedes albopictus to the United States in water contained in used tires represents an unsolved problem of this kind. Increased long-distance livestock transportation facilitates the movement of viruses and arthropods (especially ticks) around the world. The introduction and emergence of African swine fever virus from Africa into the Americas in the 1960s and 1970s seem prophetic; although this virus is not zoonotic (it does not infect humans), this experience should raise the question concerning possible transport of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus or other tick-borne pathogens to new locales. Ecologic factors pertaining to uncontrolled urbanization and environmental pollution are contributing to many emergent disease episodes. Arthropod vectors breeding in accumulations of water (e.g., tin cans, old tires) and sewage-laden water are a problem worldwide. Environmental chemical toxicants (herbicides, pesticides, residues) can also affect vector-virus relationships directly or indirectly. Ecologic factors related to expanding primitive irrigation systems are becoming important in virus disease emergence, as exemplified by the emergence of Japanese encephalitis in newly developed rice-growing areas of southern Asia. New routings of long-distance bird migrations, brought about by new man-made water impoundments, represent an important yet still untested risk of introduction of arboviruses into new areas. Global warming, which affects sea level, estuarine wetlands, fresh water swamps, and human habitation patterns, may also be affecting vector-virus relationships throughout the tropics; however, data are scarce and long-term programs to study the effect of global warming have too often not included the participation of tropical medicine experts. Of all the ecologic factors contributing to arthropod-borne zoonotic viral disease emergence, uncontrolled urbanization is the most important. The mega cities of the tropics, with their lack of sanitary systems, serve as incubators for emerging Zoonoses—they represent the most difficult zoonotic disease risks of the next century.

Lessons from Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Epidemics

Past Venezuelan equine encephalitis epidemics provide lessons regarding today’s zoonotic disease prevention and control systems. In 1971, as the virus crossed from Mexico into Texas, agricultural disease control authorities were prepared to start shooting and burying horses in a massive slaughter campaign. There is another lesson from the 1971 and 1995 Venezuelan equine encephalitis epidemics. Thirty years ago the arboviruses community was large, very experienced in field work and disease control actions, and holistic in perspective and expertise. Arbovirologists were able to bring together all necessary expertise—entomology and vector biology, ecology, mammology, ornithology, epidemiology, and virology. However, today this community, like so many others supporting zoonotic public health programs, is very small, rather poorly experienced in field work, and scientifically fragmented. Experts on mosquito biology, genetics, ecology, and vector competence are becoming more and more separated from the people in local mosquito control agencies who are expected to terminate epidemics.

Lessons from the Equine Morbillivirus Outbreak in Australia

Recent experiences in Australia with a new morbillivirus disease add still more lessons in zoonotic disease prevention and control. In 1994, horses on a property in Queensland developed acute respiratory distress with hemorrhagic manifestations—14 of 21 infected horses died. A horse trainer and a stable-hand became ill after nursing a sick horse—the trainer died. The disease was found to be caused by a previously unknown morbillivirus. Remarkably, in 1996 fruit bats (flying foxes) were found to be the natural host of the virus. Studies are under way to unravel these findings.

Lessons from Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Epidemics

Should we be concerned about Ebola virus? Is there a risk to Africa that compares with the everyday problems of other Zoonoses such as malaria or yellow fever? Is there a risk to people in North America or Europe? If the worst that might happen is an occasional importation resulting in a small cluster of cases, should we be concerned? If the time and place of such episodes are unpredictable, should we not just wait and react after the fact? The risk reflected in these questions is difficult to evaluate because we know so little. However, we can say that as western-style hospitals become more affordable for Africans, nosocomial Ebola amplification will increase, and epidemics will get larger. These viruses and the diseases they cause need to be understood because the risk they represent is unknown and the risk for future episodes is so unpredictable—the same should be said in regard to all similarly lethal zoonotic pathogens. For example, we need to find the natural reservoir of Ebola virus and learn how its prevalence in its natural environment and how transmission to humans are regulated. In Africa, the emergence of Ebola virus could dramatically increase if its still unknown reservoir host(s) increased, the virus changed its behavior, or ecologic factors brought additional reservoir hosts into play. We need to know enough to detect such changes quickly. The concerned public would not be satisfied if public health leaders decided on a wait-and-see approach for dealing with Ebola hemorrhagic fever or other diseases with similar pathogenic potential. Dealing with Ebola virus and similar very dangerous infectious agents need not be thought of as so expansive or expensive as to be unrealistic. Field-based epidemiologic studies are needed; diagnostic systems require better placement in laboratories in Africa. Training is a major need—not through short courses, but rather through advanced career training and experience; transcending these is the need for an expanded research base, which in turn requires more national laboratory facilities and resources for work at biosafety level (BSL) 4. These needs must be met in all industrialized countries on behalf of developing countries.

Lessons from Rabies Epidemics

Rabies provides many lessons in how viral adaptation contributes to emergence in new econiches. Often, the necessary ecologic elements are in place and the recipe for emergence simply involves the introduction of virus; a dramatic illustration was the appearance of epidemic raccoon rabies in the eastern United States. The epidemic was traced to raccoons imported from Florida to West Virginia in 1977—as usual, human perturbation of an ecosystem, in this instance involving the transport of wild raccoons from an endemic site, caused trouble. One key to our understanding of this episode was the discovery that rabies virus is not one virus; rather, it is a set of different genotypes, each transmitted within a separate reservoir host econiche. In North America, there are six terrestrial animal genotypes, including the raccoon virus genotype. Raccoons bite raccoons that bite raccoons, and after some time, their virus becomes a distinct genotype, highly adapted to the host cycle. When the full significance of this discovery was realized, many mysteries of rabies ecology were clarified.

Lessons from the Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome Epidemic

In 1993, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome was first recognized in the southwestern United States. Cases have been found in 28 states; as of 1997, more than 164 cases had been confirmed in the United States and more than 400 throughout the Americas—the death rate has been approximately 45%. At the beginning of the investigation, serologic tests provided the first clue about the nature of the causative virus. Viral RNA was amplified from patient specimens, and a previously unknown hantavirus, now named Sin Nombre virus, was uncovered. The laboratory and field work resembled fundamental field- and laboratory-based research, not a traditional outbreak investigation. Sin Nombre virus and its relatives could only be dealt with in laboratories with the most sophisticated molecular biologic and immunologic technologies, the most expert staff scientists, and the kind of global perspective seen in WHO international reference centers.

Lessons from the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Epidemic in Cattle and New-Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in Humans

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom may provide more lessons than any other recent emergent zoonotic disease episode. The disease was first diagnosed in the United Kingdom in 1986; as of 1997, more than 170,000 cattle had been reported as infected, but modern statistical methods have indicated that about one million cattle had been infected, roughly half of which entered the human food chain in the United Kingdom. In 1995, the BSE agent was reported to be the cause of a new human zoonotic disease, new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. By 1997, 26 cases had been reported in the United Kingdom and one in France. A recent report from The Royal Society states that there is now a compelling case regarding new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease as the human manifestation of BSE. With such a small number of cases, it is impossible to predict future numbers of cases of the human disease, but clearly the damage to the livestock and related food industries of the United Kingdom will continue. BSE may be instructive in other ways, especially in its extension into the worlds of macroeconomics, international trade, political science, and even global governance.

The Discovery-to-Control Continuum as Applied to Zoonotic Diseases

Initial investigation at the first sign of emergence of a new zoonotic disease must focus on practical characteristics such as death rate, severity of disease, transmissibility, and remote spread, all of which are important predictors of epidemic potential and societal risk. Various elements of a discovery-to-control continuum are usually called for: discovery, the recognition of a new zoonotic disease in a new setting; epidemiologic field investigation; etiologic investigation; diagnostics development; focused research; technology transfer; training and outreach; and ultimately control, elimination, and eradication. Of course, not all of these elements are appropriate in every emerging zoonotic disease episode—decisions must be made and priorities must be set. In the initial phases in the discovery-to-control continuum, people outside the “citadel” (the traditional federal community of investigators and officials) must be recognized—local clinicians, pathologists (including medical examiners and forensic pathologists), veterinarians and animal scientists, ecologists, wildlife scientists, as well as local public health officials, many of whom have not been enamored of their experiences in dealing with those inside the citadel. The important early role of primary diagnostic laboratories and the reference laboratory networks that support them must also be recognized. In this era of the primacy of molecular microbiology and virology, it bears reminding that many of the early investigative activities surrounding the identification of a possibly emergent zoonotic disease must be carried out in the field, not in the laboratory. In the intermediate phases in the discovery-to-control continuum, the continuum progresses to the general area of risk management, the area represented not by the question what’s going on here? but by the question what are we going to do about it? This phase may include expansion of many elements: technology transfer involving diagnostics development and proof testing, vaccine and drug development and proof testing, sanitation and vector control, and medical and veterinary care activities and their adaptation to the circumstances of the disease locale; commercialization, where appropriate, of diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutic agents in quantities needed and provision of these materials through nongovernment organizations or government sources; training, outreach, continuing education, and public education, each requiring professional expertise and adaptation to the special circumstances of the disease locale; and communications, employing the technologies of the day such as the Internet and professional expertise. Further along the discovery-to-control continuum, activities become more complex. Frustration often occurs at intermediate points as administrators and politicians drag their feet in regard to resource allocation. This frustration, in turn, drives scientists back to their laboratories, to the world of research, to the front end of the continuum. Younger scientists, particularly, become cynical of the harsh political world of risk management, even though this is the arena in which their discoveries must prove themselves. More expensive and specialized expertise and resources come into play in the final phases of the discovery-to-control continuum: public health systems, including rapid case-reporting systems, surveillance systems, vital records and disease registers, staffing and staff support, logistic support, legislation and regulation, and expanded administration; special clinical systems, including isolation of cases, quarantine, and patient care; and public infrastructure systems, including sanitation and sewerage, safe food and water supplies, and reservoir host and vector control.

Conclusions

Who will be the world’s doctor? Who will be the world’s expert on zoonotic diseases? Their answers have been in the form of proposals and funding requests to expand global disease surveillance, diagnostics, communications, and emergency response systems, a global training program, and a global stable funding base. However, somewhat distinct strategies are needed to deal specifically with emerging zoonotic diseases, and these strategies have not been fully developed. Examples have been given in this paper to suggest that these strategies must involve more of a field and laboratory research enterprise than a traditional surveillance and reference diagnostics enterprise. In some cases, it is not even clear who might do the focused applied research that must underpin advances in zoonotic disease prevention and control. In present circumstances, where the survival of institutions is at stake, turf battles are exacerbated, and competition rather than cooperation between academic institutions and government agencies ensues.

Dr.Kedar Karki

Friendship Animal Wellness Center – South Florida Today

Pet Chef and holistic veterinarian Dr. Carol Falck demonstrates healthy cooking for your four-legged friends!

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How to Find a Holistic Chiropractor

Why would I want to use a holistic chiropractor?

A holistic chiropractor has a more comprehensive approach to your care. A traditional chiropractor treats only the structural component. As a holistic chiropractor, I also address emotions that may be creating disease or dysfunction and nutritional imbalances that disrupt the body’s chemistry.

What do emotions and body chemistry have to do with wellness?

Your body operates on a model called the Triad of Health. There are three components that make up the Triad– Structural, Chemical and Emotional. Combined, they present an overall state of a person’s health.

Structure is the foundation of the human body and the Triad. It includes the bones, muscles, joints, ligaments, tendons, cartilage and nerves. Shifts in structural alignment result from accidents, physical inactivity, or incorrect patterns of movement that have developed over time.

The Chemical make-up and balance of the body includes diet and vitamins and mineral intake, as well as the function of organs and organ systems. The chemical aspect is disrupted by the ingestion of nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and sugar substitutes like aspartame, as well as toxins in the air we breathe.

Emotion is the third leg of the triangle. Not only does physical well-being impact emotions, but emotions can greatly impact the body, both positively and negatively. The emotional element of the triangle includes the feelings of fear, anger, guilt, depression and anxiety.

How would you treat my symptoms?

As a holistic chiropractor, I am more wellness-oriented than symptom-oriented. I believe in the mind/body connection. I examine your body’s structure, address possible emotional causes of your symptoms, and evaluate your body’s chemistry as it relates to diet and environmental elements. We will discuss the importance of movement as a tool toward greater health and wellness.

How does the Triad of Health relate to the mind/body connection?
The sides of the equilateral triangle all affect and interrelate with one other. For example, being in a constant state of the emotion of fear may cause a muscle spasm or contraction in the back. The muscle spasm creates pain which affects more than just the back. The pain influences the food choices made, leaning more toward “comfort” foods, rather than healthy foods. Food choices affect the body’s chemistry in terms of nutritional deficiencies.

Every cell in your body is both structurally and functionally related to every other cell in your body. All your thoughts, beliefs, fears, and dreams are connected within the structure and function of your physical body. By discovering and integrating these relationships, you allow yourself to bring greater harmony into your body and mind, diminishing internal conflicts and increasing your overall health and well-being!

What is health?

Dorland’s Medical Dictionary defines health as a “state of optimal physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.”

Our bodies are wired for health and vitality, not for illness and disease. Health is how our bodies function, not how they feel. Health comes from the inside out. And, importantly, the choices we make play a part in our health and well-being.

How long have you been a holistic chiropractor?

I have been a chiropractor for 23 years, and of those, 18 have been in service as a holistic chiropractor. Early on, I recognized the mind-body connection as an element that basic spinal manipulation was not addressing. I wanted to find the cause of a problem, not just treat the symptoms. If the spine is adapting to a stressor, that’s not the cause of the problem, simply the effect. A holistic chiropractor recognizes that our symptoms are our body adapting to an environmental stressor. I coach patients daily in making lifestyle changes. I am an expert on stress and its effect on the mind/body system, on releasing energetic emotional blocks, and on diet and weight loss and what nutrition is needed.

Michael Roth
Dr. Michael B. Roth has been a holistic chiropractor for 23 years. His goal is to transform the health care system from crisis/reactive care to a wellness model of health. Dr. Roth is a dynamic speaker on health and wellness who can motivate and transform your audience and you to bring your own health and well-being to a new level! Learn more about Dr. Roth’s programs by visiting his website, www.drmichaelroth.com or contact drmroth@sbcglobal.net.

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Sand dams are combined with land terracing and tree planting to improve the conservation of both soil and water, enabling farmers to grow more food on their land. This holistic approach to development creates a positive cycle of improvement which allows people to change their lives sustainably, moving away from a situation where water and food are in short supply, towards water and food security.

Principles of Holistic Medicine $22.95 Principles of Holistic Medicine: Philosophy behind Quality of Life is a textbook in a series of books on holistic medicine and health based on the Danish Quality of Life Survey, where we asked 10,000 people about their quality of life (QOL). The results were quite surprising and forced us to recontemplate the following philosophical questions: * What is quality of life, happiness, meaning in …

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APPRAISAL OF INDIAN SITUATION – EFFECTIVE UTILISATION OF ICT IN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

Today we are living in the age of information, and communication where the information societies are rapidly transforming themselves from information society to knowledge society. Information society or rather its Japanese term “Johoka Shokai,” was perceived by the Japanese writer, Yoneji Masuda, “as a society, which would eventually move to a point at which the production of information values became the formative force for the development of the society.”

In India the significance of communication in equipping people with new information and skills; and mobilizing them for their willful participation in various development programmes and activities has been well recognized and emphasized in the country’s blueprint policy i.e the five year plans. Communication is fun, Communication is power, Communication is money and Communication is intelligence today. So a country’s growth, cultural moorings, its inner strength and competitive edge all depend greatly on communication power. In the recent years the country is on the threshold of a new communication revolution of which satellite, TV, Video are major manifestations. In this information age from high frequency wireless communication to digital compression technology, to microwave communication to silicon chips, satellite communication, optic fibers, telematics, computer graphics, Internet, world wide web, Internet protocol TV (IPTV), interactive TV (ITV), digital audio broadcasting (DAB), multimedia and so on, there is no stopping and no looking back. Communication wise the whole world is technically knit together and with the constraints of time and distance disappearing, it has been possible for humanity at large to be integrated at intellectual, economic, cultural and emotional levels, by sharing a global commonwealth of human resources, transforming the whole world virtually into a ‘global village.’

NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES – Different Perspectives And Significance

The concept of global village by Marshall McLuhan is becoming increasingly interconnected by communication technologies that is gradually defining the way we look at the world. The Gutenberg era is over. A new digital communications technology has emerged. An electronic superhighway is beginning to girdle the globe as voice, video and data converge bringing in the wake a new basket of digital multimedia and interactive communications technologies. New technologies such as Global Satellite of Mobile communications (GSM),General Packet Radio service (GPRS), Teletext, Videotex, Virtual Private Network (VPN), Wi-Fi, Coded Division Multiple Access (CDMA) etc are gaining wide acceptance due to several advantages like–

* Interactivity
* Demassification (As opposed to the old economy (which focused more on mass production and mass broadcasting to a mass audience), the new economy breaks down (demassifies) production. The focus, in terms of production, is now shifted to customization, segmentation, and individualization. This trend leads to narrowcasting).
* Asynchronity (the exchange of data, figures, and conversation takes place on a real time basis, without the presence of all the participants).
* Immediacy
* User friendly
* Narrowcasting (A narrowcast is the transmission of data to a specific list of recipients. Cable television is an example of broadcast model in which the signals are transmitted everywhere and anyone with an antenna can receive them. The internet uses both a broadcast and a narrowcast model. To transmit to selected individuals. Cable TV and satellite radio are examples of narrowcast services because they reach only their subscriber base. Mailing lists are another example.)
* Infotainment (A television program with a mixture of news and entertainment features, such as interviews, commentaries, and reviews).
* Ease of updating
* Instantaneous message dissemination
* Time saving and
* Cost Effective

Marriage of mediums or rather, Convergence is today a reality and India is fast waking up to the digital era, re-shaping the way the individuals and organisations produce, process, market, collaborate and share information. The launch of paid Internet radio services on Yahoo! And Rediff.com, Edge, Third Generation (3G) and Bluetooth, Internet on TV, are some of the new technologies that have been used for the benefit of mankind. At the same time, there is an increasing demand from consumers for data delivery, telephony services, global roaming, e-mail, video and Internet access on one single device. These needs have resulted in global standards that are more open, making available the vast knowledge base and providing substantial increase in productivity, a better quality of life, enhancements in education and recreation and cross cultural understanding.

COMMUNICATIONS SCENARIO: Then And Now

Coming to the access of these new technologies, no wonder it can be safely said that the Indian middle class have moved at a much faster pace than expected. If you still deny than consider the communications scenario.

Within a decade the average citizen owns a private telephone, television and personal computer. In addition to these, telephone and Internet access is increasingly provided by phone booths and cyber cafes situated in public places. In 1947, when India gained independence, it had only 84000 telephone lines, to reach out to a population of 300 million. By 1999, India had an installed network of over 25 million telephone lines, spread over 300 cities, 4869 towns and 310897 villages, making India’s telecommunication network the 9th largest in the world. Another most successful achievement was the introduction of mobile telephone services in 1995, along with pager services. By 1998, India had one million cell phone users in its four metropolitan cities, with 45% in Delhi followed by Mumbai 35%, Calcutta 12% and Chennai 8%. Another 500,000 or so existed in towns and cities. Previously the use of cell phone was restricted only among the urban elites, corporate leaders and business professionals, but currently the omni presence of rural phone in rural setting is also very much conspicuous. These services satisfies the strong cultural need of the pan Indian to keep constantly in touch with the family members. For a vegetable seller in a remote village of Karnataka, uses his mobile phone, to supply and take orders for his customers, who lives in far off villages. He has no pucca house, nor he has any pucca shop. What he has is a small make shift shop, a two wheeler moped and a Nokia 1100 mobile phone. Again Yashwant Singh a villager in Hoshiarpur of Punjab, owner of several trucks, has purchased cell phone for his truck drivers, to keep with them in constant touch. Many well to do farmers in India often own mobile phones keeping in touch with block and district level officials, checking market information, scheduling transportation, pick ups and so forth. Many mobile users access mobiles for listening to FM radio or MP3 DVD player, capturing images and videos and simultaneously transfer them via infrared or Bluetooth to other mobile users, use multimedia through 3G (Third Generation), send SMS and MMS playgames and various other purposes.

The traditional sectors like radio and television have also undergone functional displacement, owing to the changing times and needs. DTH (Direct to Home) technology which takes cross border satellite programmes direct to viewers homes without the intervention of cable operators, is the future of TV. DTH TV is digital and interactive and offers up to a hundred subscription channels. Also development of radio has taken giant strides in the past few years. Satellite radio was a major innovation, followed by Podcasting, which is currently riding high on the success of Apple computers ipod. Technically speaking Ipod are basically digital basic (MP3) players with local storage and Internet connectivity – the latter is required for downloading audio and other files from web servers via RSS or XML protocol. Podcasters are like web loggers, amateurs who create radio like programs of commentary, music and humour, save them in MP3 audio format and post them as websites which are ipod enabled. Then there is Digital Audio Broadcasting which consists in combining a series of services into a frequency band called a base group, enabling a multiplex bit stream to be created in which services of all shapes and sizes can be transmitted, thus providing perfect sound quality, free of interference, capable of serving a mobile audience.

In the case of personal computers, one important factor promoting the diffusion of personal computers, in India, in the late 1990s was the rise of various financing schemes. More and more middle class could purchase computers. Till 2000 a typical Pentium II desktop computer cost about 50000 Rupees (rs), which was quite a heavy burden upon the middle class. But the things changed with the alternative model of an assembled piece where the consumer brought the computer home, by choosing the specific configuration of a computer-like the speed and amount of ram, modem speed, speakers and monitors etc. and surprisingly all this within a very affordable range. Now the situation has changed to such an extent that even branded laptops are available for rs 30000. The enthusiasm for the computers was immediately visible through the internet. Cyber cafes were quick to catch the pulse of the market and in 1995 after Internet connectivity was made available to the individuals and the organisations, on a commercial basis, cyber cafes sprang up to add zeal. These cafes unleashed opportunities before an individual. It enabled an individual to log on to the net, surf it, play games, watch video, e-mail, chat, e-shop for Rs10/-15/per hour. Initially urban centric now it has spread its wings to rural areas too, by upgrading themselves into ICC (Internet Community Centres ), providing net surfing, net telephony, telephone, multimedia, video conferencing and photocopying services all in one.

Further the Internet gave rise to an era of e-business-both e-marketing and e-commerce. E-marketing requires the use of the Internet to market ones products and services, and e-commerce is commercial transactions between two parties on the Internet. In India though these concepts are relatively new, yet many individuals and organisations are entering into these business as they are time saving, cost effective and most important of all ensures 100% transparency and improves efficiency. The age old concept of middle class, underhand activities and unethical practices and unjustified harassments are gradually being overcome by these e-business. Some of these e-business companies who have established themselves as a reputed brand name in the international arena are Metal Junction Services limited, e-bay, Amazon.com, Aditya Birla, IFB, Dell, etc. Today the Internet is accessed via cable TV, telephone, mobile phones, palm tops, and DTH apart from the conventional computers.

1. The Internet has ushered into a new era where it is concerned with the creation of wealth not only through production, processing and transportation of goods but also through information – networks using technological know how, management practices and remote processing, like customer help, medical transcription, data and research processing etc. Internet has given rise to several new occupations like website designing, e-commerce, Internet patrol, technical writer, content developer, multimedia specialist, graphic designer, etc. Today tele working is gradually in rise in India, considering the presence of a solid telecommunications infrastructure, favourable policies for free global trade, and the availability of low cost English talent. Several BPO’s and KPO’s are gaining wide popularity among the young university graduates. The corporates, the organisations, the educational instituitions are armed with the newest of these technologies like VPN (Virtual Private Network), Wi-Fi, V-SAT and broadband etc.

CASE STUDY 1

Andhra Pradesh has already implemented four e-governance initiatives, adopting the old and new technologies like -

• CARD- Computer Aided Administration of Registration Department

This enables a person regarding registration of land, purchasing of land, ascertaining marketing value, transfer duty, etc. that which took earlier days and hours,now took only 15 mins.

• APSCAN- Andhra Pradesh State Secretariat Administrative Network.

• APSWAN- Andhra Pradesh State Wide Network

Both of these networks help in interaction among the villagers, government officials, block development officers, chief minister, state secretariats, and the extension agents through video conferencing.

• TWINS- Twin Cities Network Services

This services is provided to the two cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Here the citizens are provided all kinds of services like-electricity bill, phone bill, driving license, holding tax,insurance claim-all under one roof.

CASE STUDY 2

In a rural country like India, health remains a perennial. But Maharashtra has achieved astounding success in routing information to the villagers not only health conscious but also avail them of all those benefits of doctors and medicines, that their urban counterparts are habituated to enjoy. It’s a dose of e-medicine for rural folks across the state. The doctors and experts together treats patients in the remote interiors of Maharashtra via satellite. Civic authorities ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) and state officials have joined hands to make success their project. Here the patients in the rural areas get easy access to the modern facilities without having to travel long distance and spending big bucks. Thus the patients and the physicians in distant areas remain in constant touch via telecom network.

CASE STUDY 3

Recent government records show that more than 25% (59 million school-aged children) are still not enrolled in a school. Despite these poor figures in education, India has highly competent human resources as also a strong base in ICT, which if utilized to its maximum capacity in future, India will be among the topmost Asian countries. The Bridges to the Future Initiative – India ( BFI) seeks to improve the basic skills, literacy and entry in vocational skills of out-of-school youth and young adults in poor communities in several Indian states. To achieve these goals, the BFI employs innovative and cost-effective ICT tools and methodologies to improve the quality of teaching, learning in basic and vocational education and to assist community members in obtaining information resources that can improve their daily lives. At the official level, the BFI is situated under the patronage of MHRD and state education agencies (initially Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, where formal MOU’s are signed in May 2001).

INDIA’S INFORMATISATION PROCESS-

India’s informatisation process started in 1990, which accompanied by the liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation policy, opened up borders for several MNC’s like McDonalds, Reebok, Pepsi, Coke etc. And also encouraged individuals to come forward to set up their own private organisation. The NEP (New Economic Policy) by Manmohan Singh reflected India’s enthusiasm to pursue an informatisation route. Prior to this Rajiv Gandhi government instituted favourable policies in electronics, software and telecommunications and pushed for the application of information technology in computerising the Indian railways reservation system, banks and land records. During his tenure, the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), The Centre for the Development of Advancement Computing (C-DAC) and the NIC (National Informatics Centre) were established. Also he invited Texas instruments, GE, and Hewlett Packard triggering the rise of Bangalore Technopolis. Further the establisment of a National Task Force in 1998 in the Atal Behari Vajpayee regime under the co-chairmanship of AP’s the then chief minister Chandra Babu Naidu was a watershed event in India’s road to informatisation. Its action plan made 108 recommendations on ways of utilising technologies for socio-economic development, it recommended the privatisation of internal services, the waiver of license fees for private Internet, service providers allowing ever cable operators and ISD/STD booth operators to use their infrastructure to enhance Internet access and zero duty on all it products by 2002 ad. It further recommended that software and IT be treated as a priority sector by banks for five years and that students, teachers and schools be offered computers at reduced prices. The task force wanted every ISD/STD booth in the country to be turned into an information kiosk providing access to the Internet and related services like e-mail. More over in 1999, it introduced an IT bill in parliament for facilitating e-ommerce and e-business activities and created a 25 million venture capital fund to fuel computer start ups.

Not surprisingly some of the famous and richest IT Indians are Aziz Premzi (Wipro), N R Narayanmurthy (Infosys), Vinod Khosla (co-founder of Sun Microsystems), Sabeer Bhatia (co-founder of hot mail) and Sam Pitroda, who had spearheaded the country’s communication revolution to a large extent.

From the above situation one can summarise the India’s informatisation effort-

• India has vast potential to compete with world’s best – Japan, Germany, U.S, and U.K. The rich resources, huge talent and billion population should be tapped by the Indian government and thus facilitate innovation, enterpreneurship and creativity, rather than stiffling it or creating barriers like red tapism, bureaucratic hassles in approval and licenses. India’s enthusiasm and zeal should motivate young enterpreneurs to come forward and be an active member in the participatory process for socio-economic development in the country. The informatisation strategy through which an information society emerges centres on new communication technologies, on research universities where technical brainpower is trained and research and development is conducted,and on favourable government policies. With this India is poised to become an it world power.

• The infrastucture, the economic policy and various other policy and strategies should be directed towards facilitating of India’s communication revolution. For eg the PCO’s, ICC’s, cyber cafes that have come up has not only provided employment to the young people but also has enabled the individuals to empower themselves and others with knowledge and information.

• Indian personalities should also play a role model for the coming generation. The role of conventional media like radio and TV should be imitated and most importantly folk media should be merged with it to create a far wider acceptance. The DD should be more innovative and the government should ensure the cable TV/DTH participation towards a more socially responsible approach rather than only spinning off money.

With the development of technologies in the past few decades, the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) is in improving economic efficiencies and enabling social development. Governments, the private sector and civil society alike note that, vast no’s of people are excluded from the benefits of these technologies, in particular people who lack the infrastructure, skills, literacy and knowledge of the dominant internet language-English. They also recognize the opportunities for ICT to bring about change not only to address existing obstacles to the social and economic development of these groups, but also to transform the very systems that create these inequalities in the first place. ICT must be deployed to build an information society where everyone specially disadvantaged women, poor and rural people – can fully participate as citizens and reap the benefits of the information revolution.

According to Robert Schware, lead informatics specialist, the global ICT dep’t of the World Bank, said that India did take up over 200 pilot projects in the area of e-governance; out of which only 100 are worth taking up full scale and can be replicated in other parts of the country. In his answers to the global scenario in e-governance, he said- “that it is estimated that approximately 85% of e-governance projects in developing countries are total failures, approximately 50% are partial failures, only some 15% can be fully seen as success.” Though he commented that the primary factors for the failures include inability to deliver government services that provide benefit to citizens or business, lack of clarity on business perspective projects are done in departmental isolation rather than via a single co-ordination body and lack of political will and leadership and lack of skills in project management among some.

There are many countries that have achieved a reasonable amount of success in their e-government initiatives. For e.g. according to Cap Gemini Ernst & Young consultants, during 2003, Denmark had achieved 72% of government services on line with an 87% score on degree of sophistication. Other countries that have high rate for particular e-government services includes the U.K, Spain, Greece, Finland, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Romania and Mexico. According to Sudhir Narang, Vice President, government and service provider business, Cisco systems, India & SAARC, “almost every state has an IT policy in place with the aim of evolving itself from being an IT-aware to an IT-enabled gov’t.  State gov’ts are fast recognizing the benefits of an IT-enabled working environment”. Shivaji Chatterjee, senior director, sales and marketing, Hughes Escorts Communication, says “IT has a vital role to play in all transaction that the gov’t undertakes. It helps the gov’t cut red tapism, avoid corruption, and reach citizens directly.” Adds Rajiv Kaul, MD Microsoft, India– “ a strong technology infrastructure can help central and state gov’ts deliver a comprehensive set of services to citizens.” The Karnataka’s gov’ts ‘Bhoomi’ project has led to the computerization of the countries old system of hand written rural land records. Through it, the revenue Dep’t. has done away with the corruption ridden system that involved bribing at every step. ITC’s E-Choupal unique web-based initiative offers farmers the information, products and services they need to enhance productivity, improve farm-gate price realization and cut transaction costs. Farmers can access the latest local and global inform on weather, scientific farming practices, as well as market prices at the village itself through this web portal all in Hindi. The national e-governance plan (2003-2007), reflects the strategic intent of the central gov’t. in the right perspective. In the future State Wide Area Networks (SWAN), & Community Information Centers (CIC), projects have to be rolled out, backed by a strong Public-Private Participation model (PPP), to achieve long term sustainability. Already the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and national institute of smart government (NISG) has hosted India’s first S. Asia public sector ICT summit. The theme of the summit was ‘new models for e-govt. in S. Asia and the world’ & was targeted at senior govt & policy makers from the countries in S-Asia including India.

Again if the example of Mizoram, then it can be seen that ever since its inception in 1989, the continuous and tireless efforts of NIC Mizoram have resulted in spreading of ICT culture in the state. NIC along with the government of Mizoram has taken up many initiatives in facilitating and promoting e-governance in various sectors such as transport, land record, public health engineering, accounts and treasuries etc. –

For eg in transport communication ‘Sarathi’ and ‘Vahan’ provide provide a complete solution for district transport office (DTO) computerization including registration, licensing, permit and enforcement, tax and fee collection etc. a vehicle statistics information systems has been developed that helps in collection of various reports required annually by state transport authority of Mizoram.

26 CICs (Community Information Centres) have been established since 2000 which are equipped with computers, VSAT, TV, web cameras, printers, ups etc. Two qualified operators manage these CICs which provide the following services to the people in the far flung and remote areas of the state. E-mailing , web browsing and document priority; imparting IT training to the villagers, students, etc, providing G2C (government to consumer) services such as support for BPL survey, village council elections, publications of tenders, notifications etc.

PROBLEMS ENROUTE TO INFORMATISATION

Though from the above discussion it might seem that India has successfully become an information society and can be considered for future knowledge society, yet wait before coming to any conclusion .consider these:

• Although India ranks 18th in the world in terms of usage of TV, radio, and Internet and with an entertainment industry having as size of Rs 14,400 crore in 2000, which is expected to rise to Rs 80,000 crore in 2009, yet amidst the expected fast rate of media development, rural India is marginally affected. Without effective communication no society can be apt enough to adopt dynamic models of development communication. Rural India faces a lot of problem. They are:-

• 1. Wide communication gap

• 2. Traditional values and attitudes

• 3. Large and diverse population

• 4. Low socio-economic status

• 5. High cost of mass media

• 6. Illiteracy

• 7. Stereotypes and prejudices

• 8. Low motivation

• 9. Defective opinion leadership

• 10. Persuasion difficult

• 11. Feedback difficult

• 12. Acute social deformity

• In a society where till recently the mother has scarcely spoken, the wife has spent her life without virtually seeing her husband, loveable children are produced without seeming parental interaction, it is very difficult to consider the meaning of communication and hence such a society demands mutual interaction, literacy dissemination, physical interaction, institutional transmission, political participation and cultural togetherness.

• Indian media is largely urban centric. All the development that have taken place in the recent years gave rise to a rural urban divide. The important challenge is to reach the unreached and to include the excluded in its efforts to create an information society for all. Starting by consulting at the grassroots level is essential. Top-down projects generally don’t work. These end up by providing information that people do really need or use at an incomprehensible level of technical detail and terminology.

• The effective utilization of ICT is still unknown to many. The lack of policy support and political will is also due to lack of awareness of economic, political, and social benefits ICT can bring. The level of awareness among professionals and decision makers in the region about the role of ICT in development is generally low.

• Connectivity and access at an affordable cost in the region in particular, in rural and remote areas is still a problem. Computer literacy is low and the common model based on individual computer access in most cases is unfeasible due to high computer costs and lack of energy resources. Low cost devices such as handhelds can contribute to mitigating this problem, but they are not available or they do not have any utility value in many rural or marginalized societies. The same applies to other useful communication technologies such as low cost FM radio stations, but here the challenge is often the lack of political will to open the broadcasting sector for communities to own and manage community radio/TV. Even the radio/TV sets provided by the government remain unutilized due to reasons like intermittent electricity supply, want of repair, or inadequate infrastructure.

• Internet has been largely popular with the people who are well conversant in English. Lack of appropriate local content and diversity in the Internet like local language, local problems and local needs has posed the greatest challenge. Development of local content in many language has been insufficient due to lack of language processing capacity. Tools to capture analogue content into digital form for many Indian languages are yet not available and this has slowed down the digitalization of existing analogue content in text mode and the development of pages enclosing indigenous knowledge. Incapacity to develop local content is equally a challenge for many electronic media and in particular for cultural and educational programmes suitable to local audiences.

• Lack of software, lack of local trainers capable of imparting various skills related to ICT, content development and media operations a challenge which makes it difficult to extend the information society beyond affluent citizens in the region. Moreover most softwares are prepared by persons who have no knowledge about rural people, they are born and brought up and fed on the contents of Zee, Sony, Star Plus etc. difficulties abound. In one e.g., the officer involved in computerizing land records in one Indian state recently said more than half of them are either legally contested, or in the names of the dead people, or illegible etc. yet the computerizing of land records is on the agenda of almost every Indian state.

• The most of the traditional systems have not been exploited fully. Lack of innovativeness and creativity is a major factor. Generally all the programmes are made with the bureaucratic mentality, such that if the programmes are educative, they are boring as they cannot sustain the interest of the viewers for long and if they are entertaining they are not educative. Consequently they lack the personal touch and hence lack credibility. More so with the failure of public service broadcasting, the meaning has lost somewhere in the bureaucratic tangles. The information people initially say they need, may not always be what they end up using. in the M.S. Swaminathan Pondicherry project, for e.g., male farmers originally said they needed information about agriculture. In fact, their largest single usage of village info. Kiosks was to get information about government programs.

• India underwent a high degree of change in terms of commercialization and media information. Proper utilization and meaning of information has been distorted to give rise to western media imperialism and consequently the digital divide. The information gap is real and and runs between north-south, rich-poor, young-old, literate-illiterate, rural-urban, and men-women.

• IT should not be simply identified with computers and internet. Some of the inventive uses of the IT involve radio, television and embedded chips, potentially useful satellite inventories etc. The classic e.g. is the use of automated butterfat assessment equipment in Gujarat, which has radically simplified the process of automating milk and paying diary farmers.

• Lack of business process modification- in many well meaning projects & duplication of the manual process in the it environment was seen as major reasons for the end users/citizens not associating any value addition with the projects & looked upon e-governance as an unwelcome addition to the hurdles to be crossed before getting the work done. For e.g. in depts. which maintain land records specially in rural areas the details regarding land ownership, cropping patterns etc were computerized, but no legal sanctity was given to the output generated by such systems in absence of a commensurate change in the status.

• More talk than action- lot has been talked about. Seminars, conferences and workshops at national, international, local level has taken place a lot. Various five year plans have been planned. But few actions have taken place in reality so far.

• Financial sustainability- the goal of financial sustainability is rarely achieved. Granting that initial start up costs have to be borne by someone, very few projects even plan for long term sustainability and even fewer achieve it.

• A successful commercial ict sector does not necessarily trickle down to ordinary Indians. Proposals by state governments to develop it for the masses often place primary emphasis on developing software technology parks, improving education at higher levels of information technology etc. though these goals are praiseworthy, yet there is very little evidence as to the increased growth rate of software industry in relation to improved living conditions, more schools and colleges, better healthcare, eradication of poverty, more jobs, or any other benefits.

• Apparently technical decisions concerning IT regulation, bandwidth allocation, pricing mechanism, transmission standards etc, can have profound effects on whether or not information technologies benefit ordinary Indians. One case is the requirement that internet service providers guarantee to cover an entire state. This effectively precluded local entrepreneurs from providing internet connectivity in small & medium towns, unlike local initiatives that have helped spread satellite television rapidly in rural India. Analysis of the impact of technological decisions on it for the common man is largely absent.

• Wiring India- until the cost of last mile of basic devices & of local language software are brought down, the goal of wiring India will remain unachieved . Though low cost technological solution alone cannot solve the problem, but they are requisites for IT India.

• Credibility- one cannot believe in what they are told. A no. of projects that are publicized turn out, on a site visit, to have closed, or not yet to be in operation, or to have detoriated from their stated original goals.

PROMISES OF ICT-

• One of the most promising uses of ICT. In practice, it involves distinguishable activities-

• 1. E-governance- It is the computerization of government functions itself, as discussed specially by Andhra Pradesh. This proposes connecting the state government headquarters to district officials, computerizes registration, legal proceedings, land records, state offices etc, for the benefit of the administrators of the state. Also e-governance may also mean government to people and people to government connections whereby citizens obtain direct access to records, rules and information about entitlements that they need or want in their daily lives.

• 1. E-commerce- B2B , B2C, C2B, C2C platforms can be utilized fully for the benefit of the customers as also for the business organizations, for an efficient and smooth transaction, free and fair trade practices.

• 1. Commercial funding- commercially funded ICT networks have considerable promise. For e.g. the Warana project, though heavily funded initially by the state of Maharashtra and by Delhi, is currently maintained by the sugarcane co-operative in the area and offers tangible benefits to sugar producers and growers. The E.I.D. Parry project in Nelikuppan Tamil Nadu expects advantages in terms of improved information to their producers about best agricultural practices. ITC-IBD has set up a large no. of IT Chaupals for soya bean, shrimp and coffee farmers with the goal of reducing the costs of production that currently go to middlemen. It has enabled economic capacity to proliferate at the base of the rural economy by providing farmers with farming know-how and services, timely and relevant weather information, transport price discovery and access to wider markets. Many people in developing countries lack access to basic financial services such as savings, credit, insurance and money transfers. Most of the transactions in such economies are in cash and involve very small amounts. Services supporting the unique requirements of these types of financial transactions can be very useful. A case in the point is M-PESA, one of the more popular services for developing countries, offered by safaricom which is Kenya’s leading telecommunications company. Currently only 10% of Kenyans have formal bank accounts and M-PESA allows people without bank accounts to complete simple financial transactions, primarily person-to-person money transfer. Since the introduction of the service in march 2007, three million users have registered, and the service has been growing in popularity.

• 1. While the needs and wants of the urban wealthy are familiar to the developed world, the unique needs of communities closer to the base of the pyramid suggest interesting new services opportunities.

At IBM’s India research laboratory, the researchers are trying to develop a mobile software platform, called the ‘spoken web’, for delivering the above kinds of services to communities in emerging countries. The spoken web is a network of voice sites, which exists and operates on the telephony network rather than the internet. Accessing the spoken web does not require an expensive computer, an internet connection or the ability to read and write. People can browse voicesites by talking to them and traverse from one voicesites from another via voilinks, and even conduct transactions simply by talking. What’s more a phone number can act like a URL in the traditional web, and one does not need a high end mobile device to access the spoken web, a plain old rotary phone can do the job. Interaction with customers and dissemination of government information everything can be possible in the mobile web.

INDIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

Even though there are huge disparities en-route to informatisation, India’s focus on growth of the ICT sector has paid rich dividends in terms of export earnings, employment generation and its image of an emerging economy. Large corporations are becoming competitive by deploying enterprise wide solutions to interpret data and make panning and decision making data based. Many have started to feel that the next century will be the century of knowledge. A nation’s ability to convert knowledge into wealth and social good through the process of innovations going to determine its future. The economics of knowledge will dominate the coming century.

To meet the twin objective of growth with equity, knowledge cannot be the prerogative of a few, everyone in the society must have access to knowledge and become knowledge workers. Nations which do not create knowledge societies will vanish into the oblivion. But those that do create knowledge societies will have the potential to lead the world. Now before embarking into a knowledge society, one must first know what is a knowledge society? Creation of a knowledge society should revolve around creating, sharing and using knowledge and information to create wealth and improve the quality of life. Knowledge can be defined as familiarity gained by research and experience, and includes

* Know What (knowledge about the fact),
* Know Why (scientific knowledge of the principals and laws of nature),
* Know How (skills or the capability to do something) and
* Know Who (information about who knows what and how to do what).

If the Indian society has to become a knowledge society, then it is important that every Indian becomes a knowledge worker. We need to recognize the concept of a knowledge worker in the broadest possible sense. It is not scientists and technologists alone, who will be knowledge workers. Even a farmer can be a knowledge worker, provided he understands the soil that he is sowing his seeds in and how he lives in an information village, where he has the benefit of short and medium range weather forecasting to plan his farming activity and so on.

PRIORITY OF A KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

A knowledge society is characterised by new structures of knowledge, methods of dissemination and a technology that permits and sustains unrestricted access to knowledge control over it. Since all human activity uses and creates knowledge, the existing societies are also, in this sense, knowledge societies. Human activity uses and creates knowledge and each society should be characterised and identified by its knowledge base (Lokavidya).

The societal transformation has to be through large-scale development in education, health-care, agriculture and governance. These will turn to employment generation, high productivity and rural prosperity. Such models should aim to provide opportunity for rural economic development and prosperity. Youth in the locality could be easily trained to cater to the requirement of IT enabled services. This will also make available place and manpower at very cheaper rates when compared to urban localities. This will also aid in stopping movement of families towards urban localities. More so the model should try to improve the quality of life in rural places. Knowledge powered rural development is a essential need for transforming India into a knowledge power and high bandwidth rural connectivity is the minimum requirement to take education, health care, and economic dynamism to the rural areas. Knowledge society leading to knowledge superpower can prosper and survive only in the environment of economic security and internal security. Nation has to work for transformation into developed India. For eg if people find that they can book railway tickets through the web in a reliable and secure manner,  then nobody will take the pains to travel by scooter or the bike.

CASE STUDY 4

The knowledge system for sustainable food security in the villages of Pondicherry has the empowerment of rural women, men and children with information relating to ecological agriculture, economic access and utilisation as its goal. Such a knowledge system is being managed by the local youth at the village knowledge centre from where the computer aided information system is operated. Farmers who are becoming the knowledge workers are also being trained to maintain a “soil health card” to monitor the impact of farming systems on the physical, chemical and microbiological components of soil fertility.

Enlightened citizens empowered with knowledge will be able to see the crucial link between the 5 Es:  namely environment, ecology, economics, equity and ethics. They will then not be guided by misinformation fed by vested interest groups. But they will use their knowledge to decide on their own as to what is wrong and what is right. They will not stop projects that lead to economic development but they will stop those that lead to destruction .

CASE STUDY 5

ICT policy of Malaysia

Malaysia being a middle income economy is able to shift from agrarian society in a single generation (during ’60s to ’80s). ICT has played a dual role in the development of Malaysia, one in product sector and another one as a strategic enabler. Malasia took two major initiatives to address both the issues of economic competitiveness and social equality, such as Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) targeting economic development and National Information Technology Agenda (NITA) targeting social development. In 1996 National Information Technology Council (NITC was formed in 1994) came out with national IT agenda, with a people centred approach to development. ITA was operationalised with five e-trusts model. They are e-economy, e-public services, e-community, e-learning, and e- sovereignity.

Access to knowledge can impact effectiveness when individuals feel enriched (with new ideas, solutions to problems) and are able to seek information at the time and place where it is needed. Thus knowledge management initiatives should supplement traditional networking through face to face contact. The rural populace lacks the life skills required to filter through the vast information available on the Internet and identify information most relevant to them. The role of intermediaries in interpreting the information needs of rural communities ,collecting the information from public domain sources and dissemination of the information in local text and idiom is very important, as has been demonstrated in pilots in Kothamale and in Pondicherry.

STEPS NEEDED FOR FULL PROOF KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

• Crear Creation of IT mind set in India-

Information and technology are moving so fast that it has been impossible for general public to keep a tab on the events. There is a need for awareness of it among the people and its utilisation. For e.g. many people though know what is Internet, they dabble with only its minimal applications whereas it has far reaching and in-depth utilisation and impact.

• Promoting development of an enabling policy environment--

To be a knowledge society India needs to develop holistic national policy promoting an enabling environment for a knowledge society for all. In the policy development process special efforts should be taken to address to equitable access, human resources, and application development. Also the linkages between the knowledge society and media and in particular public service broadcasting as a conduit for educational and cultural content should be addressed as an integral part of the policy formulation process and media law revisions. In formulating policy India should encourage transparent dialogue with all the members including the civil society, communities and private and public sector agencies.

• Promoting equitable access-

India should promote shared access through community multimedia centres and conduct assessment of current access models. India should support innovations in low cost community access targeted specially at marginalised groups. With the possibility to use ICT, librarians and archivists offer great potential as knowledge workers. Many libraries and archives in the region do not provide online access to their readers. Libraries if properly equipped with ICT, can become for many people an effective gateway to the information society.

• Enhancing knowledge management capacity-

The process of knowledge management for both content and availability is an essential part of modernisation. Human resource development in information management for knowledge workers should take a central place in India’s communication and information programme. To support capacity building, particularly in the area of human resource development, India should provide training of local trainers in the fields of ICT at various levels. Also India should promote specialised training programmes for disadvantaged groups to reap the benefits of ICT particularly in ICT enabled learning and enterpreneurial opportunities.

• Developing appropiate content

India to promote appropiate content development, should rely on creating proactive partnerships with extension services (education, agriculture, health), government agencies, non-governmental agencies, media organisations, and professional organistions. It should be geared towards the ethos and relevance of the local people, and their problems and needs. The universal access cannot be achieved without promoting multilingualism in cyberspace. India should also motivate and support the efforts of public institutes and universities to identify and promote technologies and tools capable of digitizing local contents.

• Developing Public Service Broadcasting

India should continue to harness the potential educational and cultural role of Public Service Broadcasting and need for public service broadcasting to reposition itself to fulfill this function. The challenge to transform public service broadcasting as a democratic platform and an enabling tool for masses to migrate into an eventual knowledge society remains relevant. This is more so with the potential to use broadcasting as a disseminating technology for distance learning in remote rural areas with the possibility of simultaneous data casting of distance learning modules. Repositioning Public Service Broadcasting to act as an interface to bring benefits of ICT to the greatest number of people is a real challenge. India in collaboration with the partners should strive to introduce sharing of high quality educational content through the public service broadcasting systems .There is also a need to ensure a greater gender balance and to supporting media training for women.

• Promoting community radio

The central public interest principle in broadcasting is that of universal access. This principle of access should allow people to participate meaningfully in their community and society. It also includes greater access to the means of production and participating in broadcasting. Community owned and operated radio networks can make radio a truly participatory communication tool. Community radio

1. Stimulates community participation
2. Raises the efficiency of decentralisation, enhances local level transparency and accountability. and
3. Involves people in the design, implementation and evaluation of local development programmes.

Community radio also has the potential to act as an interface between communities and internet. Converting community radio into multimedia centres with access to information networks should be main thrust of India’s approach to promote community radio.

• Regional flagship programmes

India should establish regional flagship programmes.

1. ICT’s for reaching the unreached- should focus on developing sustainable operational models for the unreached groups to access and use knowledge resources for development.
2. Supporting development of national information and communication policies. Should develop a resource kit for information and communication policy formulation leading to knowledge society. This will include comprehensive guidelines on the policy development process with civil society participation and
3. Human resource development- should include development of interactive self-learning training courses to increase the skills of the local trainers as well as increasing access to knowledge resources through a portal.

CASE STUDY 6

E-SEVA project of Andhra Pradesh-

From a mere 4,800 transactions a month in august 2001 to a whooping 7.5 lakh transactions a month in February 03, e-seva, Andhra Pradesh, G2C (Government to citizen) utilities service project has come of age, offering nearly 43 services ranging from payment of utility bills to issuing of certificates, permits to licenses, reservation of buses to B2C services.

CASE STUDY 7

The project SAUKARYAM

Saukaryam in Vishakapatnam is among the few projects using the net effectively to connect citizens to civic administration in real time. People can settle their bills online, check the status of building and water supply plans, receive information on births and deaths, track garbage clearance, even scan tender notices. The idea behind the project is to track every service that is offered by the corporation online; from taxation to public works to city sanitation. Also it offers a discussion forum for people.

CONCLUSION

Though India can boast of an informatisation process which is going down well, yet it would be blunderous on its part to get smugged off easily with its partially achieved success. The problems which are seemingly appearing minuscule, are only the tip of an iceberg, which urgently requires timely intervention, before it assumes gigantic proportion. Instead of resting on its laurels, the government should take note of the loopholes in the machinery itself, which affect seriously the vision of this project.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. “Within a decade….family members”, India’s communication revolution-from bullock carts to cyber marts — Everett M Rogers and Arvind Singhal — Sage Publications.

2. “In the case of personal computers….affordable range”. India’s communication revolution – from bullock carts to cyber marts — Everett M Rogers and Arvind Singhal — Sage Publications.

1. Case Study 1—-India’s communication revolution – from bullock carts to cyber marts — Everett M Rogers and Arvind Singhal — Sage Publications.

2. Communication revolution — Kewal J Kumar.

3. www.bsnl.in

MOU MUKHERJEE-DAS
A First class Third Post Graduate in Mass Communication from The University of Burdwan, currently I am working as a lecturer in the Department of Media Science, teaching Advertising, Branding and Marketing in the NSHM College of management and technology. A NET qualified MARCOM Specialist, I started my career as a Guest Faculty in The University of Burdwan and Michael Madhusudan Memorial College, Durgapur. With five years of teaching experience I have wide exposures in presenting papers in conferences and seminars, and writing in various research journals and books related to branding, Advertising, PR and Marketing. My domain knowledge spans from Advertising, Marketing and Corporate communications, in short Marcomm. I have attended and presented papers in seminars and conferences of national and international repute on Branding and Marketing. I have published papers on branding in the research journal of the University of Burdwan and ICFAI Journal of Brand Management. One of my research article is published in the executive MBA Book, of ICFAI, in September 2008. Another research article on ICT, is also due to be published in form of a book in June 2009.

Maji Mazuri USA

Maji Mazuri is a social economic development program created in 1984 by Wanjiku Kironyo and based in Nairobi, Kenya. Mrs. Kironyo, a family marital therapist, began her work with a counseling center for women and children in Nairobis slums. The program has grown and is currently composed of six interrelated projects. The mission of Maji Mazuri is to help people to escape from the bondage of poverty, ignorance and myth and become fully developed individuals. The vision is to provide the foundation, education and support needed for the children, youth and families in Nairobis slums to become self-sustaining in terms of social, economic and spiritual well-being. Simply providing a home for orphaned children or telling the youth to use a condom will not solve the problem.

A holistic approach is needed and the solution involves working within the community. Programs must seek to address the root causes of poverty and help the community to recognize how poor behavioral choices directly result in the increased spread of HIV/AIDS. System wide changes must be effected if there is hope for ending the cycle. Each of Maji Mazuris projects is designed with the principle of holistic, community-based approaches to addressing socio-economic inadequacies.

The projects range from treating handicapped, abandoned and orphaned children to providing training for residents of the community to become self sufficient, to training the youth on HIV/AIDS awareness and having them spread the word in the community.

To find out more, please visit http://www.majimazuri.org.

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Is holistic medicine legitimate?

Insureance companies are in business to make money. They know how to put thier bottom line in the black. So with this said, why is it that insurance companies will pay nothing for holistic health care or products? They will pay for spine manipulation, but that is because some medical doctors prescribe it.

If holistic really works it should be able to save insurance companies a fortune. They are quick to pay most any fee conventional medical providers hand them.

Is holestic medicine a farce, or is there some explainable reason for this? It can’t be politics, Insurance companies are in business to make money. Any thing they could do to cut their outlay should interest them.

Steeleyj Yes, some insurance companies will pay for alternative treatments, but never without a prescription from a medical doctor. As you know, virtually all medical doctors feel a need to badmouth anything holistic.

Holistic medicine is not illegal. It is also not considered to be conventional Western medicine as defined by the American Medical Association. As such it is not recognized by insurance companies and the medical community at large.

Is it a farce? Who knows? The main reason insurance companies won’t accept holistic medicine is the very great possibility of lawsuits from their policy holders who, upon receiving treatment, find themselves either no better, or actually worse.

Why I Use Naturopathic & Holistic Health Care, since 1974

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Chiropractic Care $29.95 …

Healing whole: a revolution in the way that employers handle their workers’ behavioral issues is underfoot. A holistic approach to healing will empower … story): An article from: Risk & Insurance $9.95 This digital document is an article from Risk & Insurance, published by Thomson Gale on June 1, 2007. The length of the article is 3369 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation DetailsTitle: Healing whole…

Dog Health Care — How to Keep Your Dog Happy and Healthy $4.77 Nothing beats the companionship of a pet of your own. And no other animal deserves that coveted title of “Mans’ Best Friend,” more than dogs.Dogs throughout current history have made us laugh. How about Pluto, Goofy and Scooby Doo? And some have made us cry. . .Lassie saves Timmy and how about Rin Tin Tin?Many modern day dogs are trained as rescue dogs. After undergoing intensive trainin…

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Neck/Shoulder Massage Lesson from Health-Choices School

www.Health-Choices.com From the Premier International Holistic Massage Therapy School in the North East.

An excellent yet simple demonstration by Owner and President of The Health-Choices Holistic Massage Therapy School in Princeton, NJ.

This 5 minute demo will show you some very easy but effective neck and shoulder massage techniques that can help you melt stress away from your family or friends.

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Sustainable Medicine

Sustainability, broadly defined as the capacity to endure, has become a wide-ranging term that can be applied to almost every facet of life on earth, from a local to a global scale. For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which in turn depends on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources. The incorporation of sustainability within the practice of medicine and dentistry is a newly emerging model of healthcare that ideally will be available to all persons and is good for people and the environment.

Sustainable healthcare is the practice of medicine and dentistry that recognizes the link between the environment, medicine and human health and seeks to provide better healthcare while protecting our limited environmental and medical resources. The sustainable, green approach to healthcare is much more comprehensive and more beneficial than a holistic approach alone. The following are the basic principles of ecologically sustainable medicine:

- Safe and harmless
- Clean and non-toxic
- Cost-effective
- Non-polluting
- Adaptable and flexible
- Accessible to all people
- Renewable
- Protective of the quality of life on earth, the environment and earth’s natural resources
- Synergistic with human health and planetary well-being
- Connected with the web of life

Conventional healthcare, in contrast, focuses on cure and specialization, costing more money and often limiting care to only those who can afford it. Conventional medicine places emphasis on treating the end points of disease rather than employing the precautionary principle and focusing on prevention and the link between human health and the environment. In addition, conventional healthcare consumes huge quantities of resources, which are becoming scarce and many of the waste products of healthcare actually do harm. The over-prescribing and misuse of pharmaceuticals, the improper disposal of pharmaceuticals, the incineration of bio-hazardous waste and the utilization of medical products containing environmental toxins, poses a serious threat to human health. There is an undeniable connection between our health and the environment. The environment, both locally and globally, both indoors and out, is a primary determinant to your health. The WHO (World Health Organization) puts the value of clean air, clean water and healthy land for uncontaminated food and recreation close to 60% of the primary basis for a healthy life, affecting you just as much as your genetic makeup!

The implementation of sustainable medicine and dentistry lies in two directions. One is the way of prevention, health promotion, and a public health priority. Here the focus will be on reducing the social and environmental problems that are now reckoned to be the most significant source of illness, disease, and premature death. The other direction is toward greater personal responsibility for health, laying upon individuals a far stronger obligation, backed by appropriate social and economic incentives, to take care of their health and simultaneously, laying upon society a stronger obligation to change those social and economic institutions that generate, or abet, poor health (D. Callahan, www.teleosis.org).

How can you incorporate sustainable healthcare into your everyday life?

- Eat healthy food, preferably organic and locally grown
- Engage in regular exercise, preferably outdoors, walk to places
- Rest regularly
- Understand your local environment (where are places for you to engage in active recreation, where are places that have hazards or risks that should be avoided)
- Purchase supplements and medications in small amounts (everything you buy has to be disposed of if unused)
- Choose personal care products (PCPs) that are natural and non-toxic (the improper disposal and overuse of PCPs and pharmaceuticals are posing a serious threat to our municipal water system and the ecosystem)
- Only use antibiotics when absolutely necessary and listen to your doctor
- Seek practitioners that endorse sustainable medicine and dentistry.

At ORA Dental Studio and ORA Oral Surgery & Implant Studio we are committed to the wellbeing of our patients, our team, our community, and the environment. We are proudly the first green group dental practice in the nation and have not only built green healing facilities, but practice green health care as well. For more information visit www.oradentalstudio.com and www.orasurgery.com.

Steven A. Koos DDS, MD

Chicagohealers

Our mission is the education and advocacy of natural medicine and a holistic lifestyle. Anything from what we put into our bodies to the products we purchase to how we invest our money to how we treat the earth has an impact on our whole being and ultimately each other. Our magnificent innate ability to heal becomes repaired and enhanced with the help of wonderful practitioners and guides. We strive to work with top practitioners to bring helpful education in form of the news, events and this informative website to assist you on your wellness journey.

Chicago Holistic Dentistry

http://chicagohealers.com/dentistry-h… Dental care which makes use of the body-mind connection, seeks non-surgical and biologically sound treatments, and complimentary alternative therapies to fix dental problems and improve overall health.

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Wetland Ecosystem Conservation: A Review

1. Introduction

A system is a group of parts that interact through one or more processes (Odum 1983). The term ecosystem was introduced and defined by Tansley (1935), who as “a fundamental organizational unit of the natural world that includes both organisms and their spatial environment.” Ecosystems have since been defined in various ways, and at different spatial and temporal scales (Golley 1993; O’Neill et al. 1986; Evans 1956). Some ecologists define ecosystems on the basis of biotic organisms, populations, or communities. For example, Hutchinson (1978) considered the ecosystem to be the environmental context in which population or community dynamics occur. Others define ecosystems in terms of their abiotic characteristics and processes (Rowe and Barnes 1994). For example, Lindeman (1942) defined ecosystems as “…the system composed of physical, chemical, and biological processes active within a space/time unit.” Regardless of whether the emphasis is on biotic components or abiotic characteristics and processes of ecosystems, both remain integral to the concept of ecosystem. Rowe (1961) emphasized this when he defined ecosystems as “…a three dimensional segment of the earth where life forms and the environment interact.”

Wetland ecosystems have been defined in a variety of ways by researchers, resource managers, and regulatory authorities, depending on their specific needs and objectives (Mitsch and Gosselink 1993). In the applied world of regulation, planning, and management, wetlands are usually defined in terms of their physical, chemical, and biological characteristics such as hydrologic regime, soil type, and plant species composition. For example, in classifying wetlands for mapping, inventory, and other purposes, Cowardin et al. (1979) defined wetlands as “…lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water…” that are characterized by the presence of hydrophytic vegetation, hydric soils, and surface water during the growing season.

Wetlands are often biodiversity ‘hotspots’ (Reid et al., 2005), as well as functioning as filters for pollutants from both point and non-point sources, and being important for carbon sequestration and emissions (Finlayson et al., 2005). The value of the world’s wetlands are increasingly receiving due attention as they contribute to a healthy environment in many ways. Wetland functions are defined as the normal or characteristic activities that take place in wetland ecosystems or simply the things that wetlands do. Wetlands perform a wide variety of functions in a hierarchy from simple to complex as a result of their physical, chemical, and biological attributes. For example, the reduction of nitrate to gaseous nitrogen is a relatively simple function performed by wetlands when aerobic and anaerobic conditions exist in the presence of denitrifying bacteria. Nitrogen cycling and nutrient cycling represent increasingly more complex wetland functions that involve a greater number of structural components and processes. At the highest level of this hierarchy is the maintenance of ecological integrity, the function that encompasses all of the structural components and processes in a wetland ecosystem. Wetlands are one of the most productive of all ecosystems, and carry out critical regulatory functions of hydrological processes within watersheds (Banner et al. 1988). Regulating water quality, water levels, flooding regimes, and nutrient and sedimentation levels are a few of these processes (Gregory et al. 1991). As with any natural habitat, wetlands are important in supporting species diversity and have a complex of wetland values. Moreover, the pattern of seasonal variation of the wetland affects the bird population fluctuation (Imran. A. D and Mithas. A. D 2009). Even small wetlands are extremely important to the conservation of biodiversity because they provide critical breeding habitat where dispersed populations can exchange genetic material, reducing the risks of extinction (Semlitsch and Brodie 1998).

The present review is aimed at providing in a nutshell, the distribution of wetlands, the value of Wetlands, the causes and consequences of the loss of wetlands and their conservation status with special reference to India.

2. Distribution of wetlands in India

In India a total area of 40494 km2 is classified as wetlands. This consists only 1.21 per cent of the total land surface. Most of the wetlands in India are directly or indirectly linked with major river systems such as the Ganga, the Cauvery, the Krishan, the Godavari and the Tapti. A Directory of Wetlands in India (1988) gives information on the location, area and ecological categorization of wetlands of our country. Wetlands in India are distributed in different geographical regions ranging from Himalayas to Deccan plateau. The variability in climatic conditions and changing topography is responsible for significant diversity. They are classified into different types based on their origin, vegetation, nutrient status, thermal characteristics, like 1. Glaciatic Wetlands (e.g., Tsomoriri in Jammu and Kashmir, Chandertal in Himachal Pradesh).

2. Tectonic Wetlands (e.g., Nilnag in Jammu and Kashmir, Khajjiar in Himachal Pradesh, and Nainital and Bhimtal in Uttaranchal).

3. Oxbow Wetlands (e.g., Dal Lake, Wular Lake in Jammu and Kashmir and Loktak Lake in Manipur and some of the wetlands in the river plains of Brahmaputra and Indo-Gangetic region. Deepor Beel in Assam, Kabar in Bihar, Surahtal in Uttar Pradesh).

4. Lagoons (e.g., Chilika in Orissa).

5. Crater Wetlands (Lonar lake in Maharashtra).

6. Salt water Wetlands (e.g., Pangong Tso in Jammu and Kashmir and Sambhar in Rajasthan)

7. Urban Wetlands (e.g., Dal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir, Nainital in Uttaranchal and Bhoj in Madhya Pradesh).

8. Ponds/Tanks, man-made Wetlands (e.g., Harike in Punjab and Pong Dam in Himachal Pradesh).

9. Reservoirs (e.g., Idukki, Hirakud dam, Bhakra-Nangal dam).

10. Mangroves (e.g., Bhitarkanika in Orissa).

11. Coral reefs (e.g., Lakshadweep).

12. Creeks (Thane Creek in Maharashtra), seagrasses, estuaries, thermal springs are some kinds of wetlands in the country.

The Indo-Gangetic flood plain is the largest wetland system in India, extending from the river Indus in the west to Brahmaputra in the east. This includes the wetlands of the Himalayan terai and the Indo-Gangetic plains. The vast intertidal areas, mangroves and lagoons along the 7500 kilometer long coastline in West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Mangrove forests of the Sunderbans of West Bengal and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Offshore coral reefs of the Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Mannar, Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Ninety-four wetlands have been identified for conservation and management under the National Programme for Conservation and Management of Wetlands.

These wetlands are eligible for financial assistance on 100% grant basis to the concerned State Governments for undertaking activities like survey and demarcation, weed control, catchment area treatment, desiltation, conservation of biodiversity, pollution abatement, livelihood support creation of minor infrastructure, educational awareness, capacity building of various stakeholders, and community development. So far 24 States have been covered; the remaining States are expected to the covered in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.

Wetlands play a vital role in maintaining the overall cultural, economic and ecological health of the ecosystem, their fast pace of disappearance from the landscape is of great concern. The Wildlife Protection Act protects few of the ecologically sensitive regions whereas several wetlands are becoming an easy target for anthropogenic exploitation. Survey of 147 major sites across various agro climatic zones identified the anthropogenic interference as the main cause of wetland degradation (The Directory of Indian Wetlands 1993). Current spatial spread of wetlands under various categories is shown.

3. Wetland losses – a threat to ecological balance

Threats to wetland ecosystems comprise the increasing biotic and abiotic pressures and perils.

Biotic

(1) Uncontrolled siltation and weed infestation.

(2) Uncontrolled discharge of waste water, industrial effluents, surface run-off, etc. resulting

in proliferation of aquatic weeds, which adversely affect the flora and fauna.

(3) Tree felling for fuel wood and wood products causes soil loss affecting rainfall pattern,

loss of various aquatic species due to water-level fluctuation.

(4) Habitat destruction leading to loss of fish and decrease in number of migratory birds.

Abiotic

(1) Encroachment resulting in shrinkage of area.

(2) Anthropogenic pressures resulting in habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity.

(3) Uncontrolled dredging resulting in successional changes.

(4) Hydrological intervention resulting in loss of aquifers.

(5) Pollution from point and non-point sources resulting in deterioration of water quality.

(6) Ill-effects of fertilizers and insecticides used in adjoining agricultural fields.

Coastal ecosystems are among the most productive yet highly threatened systems in the world. These ecosystems produce disproportionately more services relating to human well-being than most other systems, even those covering larger total areas, but are experiencing some of the most rapid degradation and loss:

(1). About 35% of mangroves have been lost over the last two decades, driven primarily by aquaculture development, deforestation, and freshwater diversion.

(2). Some 20% of coral reefs were lost and more than a further 20% degraded in the last several decades of the twentieth century through overexploitation, destructive fishing practices, pollution and siltation and changes in storm frequency and intensity.

(3). There is established but incomplete evidence that the changes being made are increasing the likelihood of nonlinear and potentially abrupt changes in ecosystems, with important consequences for human well-being. These nonlinear changes can be large in magnitude and difficult, expensive, or impossible to reverse. For example, once a threshold of nutrient loading is crossed, changes in freshwater and coastal ecosystems can be abrupt and extensive, creating harmful algal blooms (including blooms of toxic species) and sometimes leading to the formation of oxygen-depleted zones, killing all animal life. Capabilities for predicting some nonlinear changes are improving, but on the whole scientists cannot predict the thresholds at which change will be encountered. The increased likelihood of these nonlinear changes stems from the loss of biodiversity and growing pressures from multiple direct drivers of ecosystem change. The loss of species and genetic diversity decreases the resilience of ecosystems —their ability to maintain particular ecosystem services as conditions change. In addition, growing pressures from drivers such as overharvesting, climate change, invasive species, and nutrient loading push ecosystems toward thresholds that they might otherwise not encounter.

(4). Many wetland-dependent species in many parts of the world are in decline; the status of species dependent on inland waters and of waterbirds dependent on coastal wetlands is of particular concern. Although the evidence has geographical limitations and is chiefly from species already globally threatened with extinction.

The primary indirect drivers of degradation and loss of rivers, lakes, freshwater marshes, and other inland wetlands (including loss of species or reductions of populations in these systems) have been population growth and increasing economic development. The primary direct drivers of degradation and loss include infrastructure development, land conversion, water withdrawal, pollution, overharvesting and overexploitation, and the introduction of invasive alien species.

The current loss rates in India can lead to serious consequences, where 74% of the human population is rural (Anon. 1994) and many of these people are resource dependent. Healthy wetlands are essential in India for sustainable food production and potable water availability for humans and livestock. They are also necessary for the continued existence of India’s diverse populations of wildlife and plant species; a large number of endemic species are wetland dependent. Most problems pertaining to India’s wetlands are related to human population. India contains 16% of the world’s population, and yet constitutes only 2.42% of the earth’s surface. Indian landscape has contained fewer and fewer natural wetlands over time. Restoration of these converted wetlands is quite difficult once these sites are occupied for non-wetland uses. Hence, the demand for wetland products (e.g., water, fish, wood, fiber, medicinal plants etc.) will increase with increase in population. Wetland loss refers to physical loss in the spatial extent or loss in the wetland function. The loss of one km2 of wetlands in India will have much greater impacts than the loss of one km2 of wetlands in low population areas of abundant wetlands (Foote Lee et al. 1996). The wetland loss in India can be divided into two broad groups namely acute and chronic losses. The filling up of wet areas with soil constitutes acute loss whereas the gradual elimination of forest cover with subsequent erosion and sedimentation of the wetlands over many decades is termed as chronic loss.

Acute wetland losses

(1). Direct deforestation in wetlands: Mangrove vegetation are flood and salt tolerant and grow along the coasts and are valued for fish and shellfish, livestock fodder, fuel wood, building materials, local medicine, honey, bees wax and for extracting chemicals for tanning leather (Ahmad 1980). Alternative farming methods and fisheries production has replaced many mangrove areas and continues to pose threats. Eighty percent of India’s 4240 km2 of mangrove forests occur in the Sunderbans and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Anon. 1991). But most of the coastal mangroves are under severe pressure due to the economic demand on shrimps. Important ecosystem functions such as buffer zones against storm surges, nursery grounds and escape cover for commercially important fishery are lost. The shrimp farms also caused excessive withdrawal of freshwater and increased pollution load on water like increased lime, organic wastes, pesticides, chemicals and disease causing organisms. The greatest impacts were on the people directly dependent on the mangroves for natural materials, fish proteins and revenue. The ability of wetlands to trap sediments and slow water is reduced.

(2). Hydrologic alteration: Alteration in the hydrology can change the character, functions, values and the appearance of wetlands. The changes in hydrology include either the removal of water from wetlands or raising the land-surface elevation, such that it no longer floods. Canal dredging operations have been conducted in India from 1800s due to which 3044 km2 of irrigated land has increased to 4550 km2 in 1990 (Anon. 1994). Initial increase in the crop productivity has given way for reduced fertility and salt accumulations in soil due to irrigated farming of arid soils. India has 32,000 ha of peat-land remaining and drainage of these lands will lead to rapid subsidence of soil surface.

(3). Agricultural conversion: The primary direct driver of the loss and degradation of coastal wetlands, including saltwater marshes, mangroves, seagrass meadows, and coral reefs, has been conversion to other land uses. In the Indian subcontinent due to rice culture, there has been a loss in the spatial extent of wetlands. Rice farming is a wetland dependent activity and is developed in riparian zones, river deltas and savannah areas. Due to captured precipitation for fishpond aquaculture in the catchment areas and rice-farms occupying areas that are not wetlands, water is deprived to the downstream natural wetlands. Around 1.6 million hectares of freshwater are covered by freshwater fishponds in India. Rice-fields and fishponds come under wetlands, but they rarely function like natural wetlands. Of the estimated 58.2 million hectares of wetlands in India, 40.9 million hectares are under rice cultivation (Anon. 1993).

Chronic wetland losses

(1). Degradation of water quality: Water quality is directly proportional to human population and its various activities. More than 50,000 small and large lakes are polluted to the point of being considered ‘dead’ (Chopra 1985). The major polluting factors are sewage, industrial pollution and agricultural runoff, which may contain pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides.

(2). Introduced species and extinction of native biota: Wetlands in India support around 2400 species and subspecies of birds. But losses in habitat have threatened the diversity of these ecosystems (Mitchell & Gopal 1990). Introduction of exotic species like water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) and salvinia (Salvinia molesta) have threatened the wetlands and clogged the waterways competing with the native vegetation. In a recent attempt at prioritization of wetlands for conservation, Samant (1999) noted that as many as 700 potential wetlands do not have any data to prioritize. Many of these wetlands are threatened.

(3). Ground water depletion: Draining of wetlands has depleted the ground water recharge. Recent estimate indicates that in rural India, about 6000 villages are without a source for drinking water due to the rapid depletion of ground water.

4. Condition and Trends in Wetland-dependent Species

There is increasing evidence of a rapid and continuing widespread decline in many populations of wetland-dependent species. Data on the status and population trends of species in some inland wetland-dependent groups, including mollusks, amphibians, fish, waterbirds, and some water-dependent mammals, have been compiled and show clear declines. An overall index of the trend in vertebrate species populations has also been developed and shows a continuous and rapid decline in freshwater vertebrate populations since 1970—a markedly more drastic decline than for terrestrial or marine species.

Even in the case of more poorly known wetland fauna, such as invertebrates, existing assessments show that species in these groups are significantly threatened with extinction. For example, the IUCN Red List reports that some 275 species of freshwater crustacea and 420 freshwater mollusks are globally threatened, although no comprehensive global assessment has been made of all the species in these groups. In the United States, one of the few countries to comprehensively assess freshwater mollusks and crustaceans, 50% of known crayfish species and two thirds of freshwater mollusks are at risk of extinction, and at least one in 10 freshwater mollusks are likely to have already gone extinct. Nearly one third (1,856 species) of the world’s amphibian species are threatened with extinction, a large portion of which (964 species) are freshwater-dependent. (By comparison, just 12% of all bird species and 23% of all mammal species are threatened.) In addition, at least 43% of all amphibian species are declining in population, indicating that the number of threatened species can be expected to rise in the future. In contrast, less than 1% of species show population increases. Species dependent on flowing water have a much higher likelihood of being threatened than those in still water. (Figure 5) Basins with the highest number of threatened freshwater species— between 13 and 98 species—include the Amazon, Yangtze, Niger, Paraná, Mekong, Red and Pearl (China), Krishna (India), and Balsas and Usumacinta (Central America). The rate of decline in the conservation status of freshwater amphibians is far greater than that of terrestrial species. As amphibians are excellent indicators of the quality of the overall environment, this underpins the notion of the current declining condition of freshwater habitats around the world.

Key vulnerabilities

Gitay et al. (2001) have described some inland aquatic ecosystems (Arctic, sub-Arctic ombrotrophic bog communities on permafrost, depressional wetlands with small catchments, drained or otherwise converted peatlands) as most vulnerable to climate change, and have indicated the limits to adaptations due to the dependence on water availability controlled by outside factors. More recent results show vulnerability varying by geographical region (Stern, 2007). This includes significant negative impacts across 25% of Africa by 2100 (SRES B1 emissions scenario, de Wit and Stankiewicz, 2006) with both water quality and ecosystem goods and services deteriorating. Since it is generally difficult and costly to control hydrological regimes, the interdependence between catchments across national borders often leaves little scope for adaptation.

Impacts

Climate change impacts on inland aquatic ecosystems will range from the direct effects of the rise in temperature and CO2 concentration to indirect effects through alterations in the hydrology resulting from the changes in the regional or global precipitation regimes and the melting of glaciers and ice cover (e.g., Chapters 1 and 3; Cubasch et al., 2001; Lemke et al., 2007; Meehl et al., 2007). Studies since the TAR (Third assessment report of IPCC) have confirmed and strengthened the earlier conclusions that rising temperature will lower water quality in lakes through a fall in hypolimnetic oxygen concentrations, release of phosphorus (P) from sediments, increased thermal stability, and altered mixing patterns (Jankowski et al., 2006). In northern latitudes, ice cover on lakes and rivers will continue to break up earlier and the ice-free periods to increase (Duguay et al., 2006). Higher temperatures will negatively affect micro-organisms and benthic invertebrates (Kling et al., 2003) and the distribution of many species of fish (Kling et al., 2003); invertebrates, waterfowl and tropical invasive biota are likely to shift polewards (Zalakevicius and Svazas, 2005) with some potential extinctions. Major changes will be likely to occur in the species composition, seasonality and production of planktonic communities (e.g., increases in toxic blue-green algal blooms) and their food web interactions (Winder and Schindler, 2004) with consequent changes in water quality. Enhanced UV-B radiation and increased summer precipitation will significantly increase dissolved organic carbon concentrations, altering major biogeochemical cycles (Frey and Smith, 2005). Studies along an altitudinal gradient in Sweden show that NPP can increase by an order of magnitude for a 6°C air temperature increase (Karlsson et al., 2005). However, tropical lakes may respond with a decrease in NPP and a decline in fish yields (e.g., 20% NPP and 30% fish yield reduction in Lake Tanganyika due to warming over the last century ­ O’Reilly et al., 2003). Higher CO2 levels will generally increase NPP in many wetlands, although in bogs and paddy fields it may also stimulate methane flux, thereby negating positive effects (Zheng et al., 2006). Boreal peatlands will be affected most by warming and increased winter precipitation as the species composition of both plant and animal communities will change significantly (Weltzin et al., 2000, 2001, 2003; Berendse et al., 2001; Keller et al., 2004;). Numerous arctic lakes will dry out with a 2-3°C temperature rise (Smith et al., 2005). The seasonal migration patterns and routes of many wetland species will need to change and some may be threatened with extinction. Small increases in the variability of precipitation regimes will significantly impact wetland plants and animals at different stages of their life cycle. In monsoonal regions, increased variability risks diminishing wetland biodiversity and prolonged dry periods promote terrestrialisation of wetlands as witnessed in Keoladeo National Park, India (Chauhan and Gopal, 2001).

5. Wetland management – current status

Wetlands are not delineated under any specific administrative jurisdiction. The primary responsibility for the management of these ecosystems is in the hands of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Although some wetlands are protected after the formulation of the Wildlife Protection Act, the others are in grave danger of extinction. Effective coordination between the different ministries, energy, industry, fisheries revenue, agriculture, transport and water resources, is essential for the protection of these ecosystems.

Cardinal Constituents of Comprehensive Strategy for Wetland Conservation:

The conservation and management of wetlands calls for a comprehensive strategy, ranging from legal framework and policy support to inventorization, institutional mechanism, capacity building, and community participation. The position with regard to these aspects is as follows:

Legal framework

Though there is no separate provision for specific legal instrument for wetland conservation, the legal framework for conservation and management is provided by the following legal instruments:

1. Several legislations have been enacted which have relevance to wetland conservation. These include Forest Act, 1927, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Water Cess Act, 1977 and the umbrella provision of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

2. India has set up 505 Wildlife Sanctuaries and 100 National Parks, 14 Biosphere Reserves, 6 Heritage Sites, Projects on Tiger conservation and Elephant conservation and Marine Turtles conservation with the objective of effective conservation of wetlands, and floral and faunal wealth in forest areas.

3. Notification declaring the coastal stretches of seas, bays, estuaries, creeks, rivers and backwaters, which are influenced by tidal action (in the landward side) up to 500 metres from the high tide line, and the land between the low tide line and the high tide line as the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 1991 under the provision of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. This proposes graded restriction on setting up and expansion of industries, including pressures from human activities.

4. Portions of the listed sites have been declared as Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks.

5. Guidelines for sustainable development and management of brackish water aquaculture have been drawn up. State Governments like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have aquaculture guidelines also at the local level.

6. The Biodiversity Act, 2002, and the Biodiversity Rules, 2004, are aimed at safeguarding the floral and faunal biodiversity, and regulating their flow from the country to other countries for research and commercial use. Thus, their provisions also contribute towards conserving, maintaining, and augmenting the floral, faunal and avifaunal biodiversity of the country’s aquatic bodies.

Policy Support: National Environment Policy (NEP), 2006

Our National Environment Policy (NEP), approved by the Cabinet on 19 May 2006, recognizes the numerous ecological services rendered by wetlands. The NEP states:

‘Wetlands are under threat from drainage and conversion for agriculture and human settlements, besides pollution. This happens because public authorities or individuals having jurisdiction over wetlands derive little revenues from them, while the alternative use may result in windfall financial gains to them. However, in many cases, the economic values of wetlands’ environmental services may significantly exceed the value from alternative use. On the otherhand, the reduction in economic value of their environmental services due to pollution, as well as the health costs of the pollution itself are not taken into account while using them as a waste dump. There also does not yet exist a formal system of wetland regulation outside the international commitments made in respect of Ramsar sites. A holistic view of wetlands is necessary, which looks at each identified wetland in terms of its causal linkages with other natural entities, human needs, and its own attributes.’

The Environmental Policy identifies the following six-fold Action Plan:

1. Set up a legally enforceable regulatory mechanism for identified valuable wetlands to prevent their degradation and enhance their conservation. Develop a national inventory of such wetlands.

2. Formulate conservation and prudent use strategies for each significant catalogued wetland, with participation of local communities, and other relevant stakeholders.

3. Formulate and implement eco-tourism strategies for identified wetlands through multi stakeholder partnerships involving public agencies, local communities and investors.

4. Take explicit amount of impacts on wetlands of significant development projects during the environmental appraisal of such projects; in particular, the reduction in economic value of wetland environmental services should be explicitly factored into cost-benefit analysis.

5. Consider particular unique wetlands as entities with ‘Incomparable Values’, in developing strategies for their protection.

6. Integrate wetland conservation, including conservation of village ponds and tanks, into sectoral development plans for poverty alleviation and livelihood improvement, and the link efforts for conservation and sustainable use of wetlands with the ongoing rural infrastructure development and employment generation programmes. Promote traditional techniques and practices for conserving village ponds.

Inventorization

Survey and inventorization should take into consideration identification of different human activities, effect of both industrial and domestic effluents, and information obtained through remote sensing to be verified with the ground truth data for getting proper results. This component includes mapping of catchment areas through revenue records, survey and assessment, and land-use pattern using GIS techniques, with emphasis on drainage pattern, vegetation cover, siltation cover, encroachment, conversion of wetlands, human settlements, total area encroached, human activities at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, and their impact on catchment and water body. The following surveys of wetlands have been undertaken so far:

1. Asian Wetland Directory, 1989 – identified 93 Wetlands of International Importance.

2. Wetland Directory published in 1990 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests using questionnaire survey.

3. Identification of 2167 natural freshwater wetlands covering 1.5 million ha area.

4. Identification of 65,253 man-made freshwater wetlands covering 2.6 million ha area.

5. WWF-India and the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 1993 identified 54 additional wetlands of international importance with more details.

6. Space Application Centre using remote sensing techniques identified 27,403 inland and coastal wetlands covering 7.6 million ha

7. Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology under UNDP project has undertaken survey of 72 districts.

8. A project on ‘National Wetland Information System and Updation of Wetland Inventory’ has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The objectives of this project are (1) to map and inventorize wetlands on 1:50,000 scale by on-screen interpretation of digital IRS LISS III data of post and pre-monsoon seasons, (2) to prepare State-wise wetland Atlases, and (3) to create a digital database in GIS environment in respect of all wetlands in the country.

9. The Centre for Advanced Studies in Marine Biology at Annamalai University, Parangipettai, has been assisted in project mode for updating all wetlands in the country.

Institutional mechanism

(a) It is imperative to have multi-disciplinary, holistic and integrated approach for achieving long-term sustainable wetland conservation and management measures. At present, various models exist in States and different nodal agencies are responsible for implementing the Wetland Conservation Programme. In some States, the programme is executed by the Department of Forests and/or Environment or Urban Development; in some others, it is the Department of Irrigation or Science and Technology or Fisheries. However, the Wetland Conservation and Management is a specialized technical and scientific field where multi-disciplinary approach is needed, involving a number of components like water management, sustainable fisheries development, hydrological aspects, socio-economic issues, community participation, weed control, biodiversity conservation and use of aquatic macrophytes for nutrient recycling process, hydrological aspects providing information about inflow/outflow pattern in the system, nutrient fluxes and nutritional dynamics. These aspects need to be dealt with in a coordinated manner by managers having expertise in the relevant fields.

(b) Taking into consideration the complexity of the issue, the State Steering Committees have been constituted under the chairmanship of Chief Secretaries of the States having members from all Departments concerned. The Committee is also expected to have representatives from communities, NGOs and academicians. The officer from the nodal department acts as a member-secretary of the Committee. The success of the programme depends upon its strong institutional mechanism where conservation efforts are undertaken through integrated and multi-disciplinary approach. However, due to inadequacy of infrastructure and staff, conservation activities are yet to acquire comprehensiveness and sustainability in some States.

State Governments have been advised to consider constitution of Wetland Conservation Authorities so that experts from various Departments undertake conservation activities in a more scientific, cohesive and sustainable manner.

(c) Some States have already constituted Authorities for execution of wetland conservation programmes in their respective States. Notable among them are Chilika Development Authority in Orissa (mandated to manage all identified lakes in the State); Loktak Development Authority in Manipur; Shore Area Development Authority in Andhra Pradesh; Lakes and Waterways Development Authority in Jammu and Kashmir; Lake Development Authority in Karnataka and Lake Conservation Authority in Madhya Pradesh.

Capacity building

Capacity building is a major tool without which no conservation activity is possible. We need to have good infrastructure, trained people, and case studies to teach values and functions of wetlands in an integrated and multi-disciplinary manner. The Ministry has taken several initiatives in this regard as per details given below.

(a) It has published several reports/documents on conservation and wise use of wetlands which include six monographs on Ramsar sites in collaboration with WWF India and eco-tourism guidelines for Chilika Lake.

(b) During the Tenth Five Year Plan, several training programmes have been conducted in collaboration with different academic organizations/research institutes/State Governments/international NGOs to impart training on various components of wetland conservation which include wise use, catchment area treatment, weed control, hydrological aspects, research methodology, preparation of management action plans and community participation. Training is imparted to policy makers, senior/ middle level managers, organizations, stakeholders and others. A National Training Programme for Integrated Water Resource Management and Wetland Conservation was organized during 7-11 August 2006 by Chilika Development Authority with the financial support from Ministry of Environment and Forests. More training programmes are proposed to be organized at different regions of the country.

A series of regional workshops were organized in various parts of the country to make people aware of the importance of wetlands and integrate their traditional knowledge in the planning process. The following regional and international workshops were organized during the Tenth Plan:

1 Western Region, Gujarat

2 Southern Region, Kerala

3 Eastern Region, Orissa

4 North-Eastern Region, Manipur

5 Central Region, Madhya Pradesh

6 Northern region, Uttar Pradesh

7 Northern region, Jammu and Kashmir

8 Southern region, Lakshadweep

9 International Workshop on High Altitude Wetlands, Sikkim

10 Meeting of Board of Directors of Wetland International, Rajasthan

Holding regional workshops along with research organizations and wetland managers is an ongoing feature.

Community Participation

(a) No decision-making is complete without participation of local people whose livelihoods depend on wetland resources. People have been using wetlands since time immemorial. We have to blend both traditional and latest scientific technologies to achieve long-term conservation goals. Participatory Rural Appraisal exercise involving local communities should be the main ingredient of community participation. It should also take into consideration issues of women and gender sensitization and involve women in the management process.

(b) The component of community participation comprises the following constituents.

1. Assessment of resource availability by surveys and participatory rural appraisal of the site.

2. Stakeholder analysis

3. Contact with external institutions for resource and technical advice

4. Utilization of wastes and aquatic weeds for energy regeneration, for example through installation of community- based biogas plants.

5. Additional alternate income generation programmes like handloom, handicrafts, integrated farm management techniques and other measures to reduce pressure on wetlands.

6. Highlighting of gender-related cross-cultural, governance-related practices and other special concerns for assessment by community.

(c) The Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs), also referred to as Village Protection Committees (VPCs) or Eco-Development Committees (EDCs), are expected to play an active role in conservation and management of wetlands located in forest fringe areas, i.e. normally within a radius of 5 km of forest boundary. The JFMC/ VPC/EDC shall be instrumental in mobilization of communities and for implementing equitable access to information rights.

Use of Geo-spatial technology in wetland management

Remote sensing data in combination with Geographic Information System (GIS) are effective tools for wetland conservation and management. The application encompasses water resource assessment, hydrologic modeling, flood management, reservoir capacity surveys, assessment and monitoring of the environmental impacts of water resources project and water quality mapping and monitoring (Jonna 1999).

Flood zonation mapping

Satellite data are used for interpretation and delineation of flood-inundated regions, flood-risk zones. Temporal data helps us to obtain correct ground information about the status of ongoing conservation projects. IRS 1C/D WIFS data having 180 km spatial resolution and high temporal repetitiveness has helped in delineating the zonation of flooding areas of large river bodies, thus helping in the preparation of state-wise and basin wise flood inventories.

Water quality analysis and modeling

Remote sensing data is used for the analysis of water quality parameters and modeling. Water quality studies have been done carried out using the relationship between reflectance, suspended solid concentration, and chlorophyll-a concentration. In the near infrared wavelength range, the amount of suspended solids content is directly proportional to the reflectance. Due to spatial and temporal resolution of satellite data information of the source of pollution and the point of discharge, inflow of sewage can be regularly monitored. Using IRS LISS II data (Sasmal & Raju 1996) monitored the suspended load in estuarine waters of Hoogly, West Bengal in a GIS environment. In this study band 4 of the data set was found to show a wider range of digital classes indicating a better response with depth than rest of the bands. Landsat TM and IRS –1A data were used to estimate sediment load in Upper lake, Bhopal (Raju et al. 1993). This study showed high relationship between the satellite as well as ground truth radiometric data and total suspended solids. Different image processing algorithms are also used on Landsat MSS dataset to delineate sediment concentration in reservoirs (Jonna et al. 1989). Qualitative remote sensing methods have been used for real time monitoring of Inland Water quality (Gitelson et al. 1993) Airborne sensor has also been used to study the primary productivity and related parameters of coastal waters and large water bodies (Seshmani et al. 1994).

Water resource management

With the development of highly precise remote sensing techniques in spatial resolution and GIS, the modeling of watershed has become more physically based and distributed to enumerate interactive hydrological processes considering spatial heterogeneity. A distributed model with SCS curve number method called as Land Use Change (LUC) model was developed (Mohan & Shresta 2000) to assess the hydrological changes due to land use modification. The model developed was applied to Bagmati river catchment in Kathmandu valley basin, Nepal. The study clearly demonstrated that integration of remote sensing, GIS and spatially distributed model provides a powerful tool for assessment of the hydrological changes due to landuse modifications.

Mapping of Wetland

The Space Application Center (SAC) has mapped the wetlands at 1:250000 scale in the mainland as well the islands using the visual interpretation of coarse resolution satellite data. The states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Goa Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Andaman, Nicobar, Lakshwadeep, Dadra and Nagerhaveli were mapped at 1:50000 scale. However, in the rest of the country, only wetlands of 56.25 ha and above in size could be mapped. It is known that a vast majority of wetlands-often in number, extent and conservation importance is below 50 ha in size (For example, those in the Indo-gangetic plains and in the Deccan peninsula). Thus, the inventory covered only a small number of wetlands: more over, the conservation values are not known for those wetlands even whose inventory has now been obtained. The data merely indicates location of wetlands, the classification of wetlands on 1:250,000 scale is moreover, only geomorphologic in nature (such as Oxbow lakes, Playas, Lakes and Ponds etc.) and has no other factual biological conservation value. By itself, the information will only be partly useful for conservation of wetlands. This estimate is likely to be twice if we include wetlands of size 50 ha or less (Das et al. 1994 for Etwah and Mainpuri districts of U.P.).

6. Conclusion

Threats to wetland ecosystems comprise the increasing biotic and abiotic pressures and perils. About 35% of mangroves have been lost over the last two decades, driven primarily by aquaculture development, deforestation, and freshwater diversion. Some 20% of coral reefs were lost and more than a further 20% degraded in the last several decades of the twentieth century through overexploitation, destructive fishing practices, pollution and siltation and changes in storm frequency and intensity. The primary direct driver of the loss and degradation of coastal wetlands, including saltwater marshes, mangroves, seagrass meadows, and coral reefs, has been conversion to other land uses. In the Indian subcontinent due to rice culture, there has been a loss in the spatial extent of wetlands. Wetlands in India support around 2400 species and subspecies of birds. But losses in habitat have threatened the diversity of these ecosystems Introduction of exotic species like water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) and salvinia (Salvinia molesta) have threatened the wetlands and clogged the waterways competing with the native vegetation. As many as 700 potential wetlands do not have any data to prioritize. Many of these wetlands are threatened. In monsoonal regions, increased variability risks diminishing wetland biodiversity and prolonged dry periods promote terrestrialisation of wetlands as witnessed in Keoladeo National Park, India. So far as current status of wetland management in India is concerned, Wetlands are not delineated under any specific administrative jurisdiction. The primary responsibility for the management of these ecosystems is in the hands of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Although some wetlands are protected after the formulation of the Wildlife Protection Act, the others are in grave danger of extinction. Effective coordination between the different ministries, energy, industry, fisheries revenue, agriculture, transport and water resources, is essential for the protection of these ecosystems. The dynamic nature of wetlands necessitates the widespread and consistent use of satellite based remote sensors and low cost, affordable GIS tools for effective management and monitoring.

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About the Author

I am Imran Ahmad Dar. I have completed my M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences in Kashmir University, India and i am doing research (Ph.D) in the department of Industries and Earth Sciences, Tamil University, India. I am having seven(refreed and peer reviewed) international publications. In addition i have presented three papers in National Symposium/Conferences. Moreover, presently, i am the Editor of the journal- Journal of Wetland Ecology, besides being the reviewer of Journal of Coastal Research and Journal of Hydrology.

How is children’s development interconnected?

im doing my NVQ level 2 and im and need 2 know about holistic development i hope some1 can help

There are 6 main areas of development (fine motor, gross motor, cognitive, communication, social/emotional, and adaptive). Each domain is development is interconnected in its own way. For example, if a child is learning to zip a zipper on his/her coat. First, does the child have the fine motor skills necessary for placing the zipper together and pulling upward…but not only that, does the child have the cognitive skills to know the process of doing that. Another example, if a child is looking at a book, is he/she holding it the correct way and can they identify words, pictures, etc. in the book, which would be cognitive? Secondly, can the child physically turn the pages?

All development is related. Those are two examples with fine motor and cognitive, but there are tons of others that incorporate all developmental domains, especially communication.

Hope that helps!

Wangari Maathai on Holistic Development

Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of the Kenya-based Green Belt Movement, describes holistic development and the need for justice, accountability, and responsibility in governance. (See www.greenbeltmovement.org.)

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