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

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

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

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

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

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

Introduction Drought occurs over most parts of the world, even in wet and humid regions. This is because drought is distinct as a dry spell relative to its local normal condition. On the other hand, arid areas are prone to drought because their rainfall amount critically depends on a few rainfall events.2 Weather prediction agencies from all over the world forecast El Niño conditions in 2014 with impending danger of drought. The frequency of such events has been high in t...

Introduction The herbaceous layer plays an important role in forest ecosystem; it contains the highest number of species and nutrient cycling (Gilliam, 2007; Jhariya et al., 2013, Parihaar et al., 2014). This layer is also responsible for approximately 12% of the Gross Photosynthetic Production (GPP) of a forest ecosystem (Bargali and Bargali, 2000; Muller, 2003). Herbaceous vegetation also affect regeneration of trees therefore, has important implications for the regeneration of trees (Chand...

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

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

Introduction Defined as the change of fertile and productive lands into non-productive desert areas, desertification remains as a major environmental concern in most arid, semiarid, and sub-humid areas of the world (Dregne, 1977; UNCCD, 1994; Herrmann and Hutchinson, 2005). Desertification may results from various natural and human-associated factors such as wind or/and water erosion, destruction of vegetation covers and water resources, water logging, soil salinization and alkaliza...

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

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

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

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

Introduction Dengue is a viral disease transmitted to humans by the bite of infected females of the main vector Aedes aegypti and to lesser extent Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.1 The World Health Organization has classified dengue into three categories according to disease severity; Dengue Fever (DF), Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF), and Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS).2 Severe dengue (DHF and DSS) causes lethal complications that included severe hemorrhage, plasma leakage, organ i...

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

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

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

Introduction It is misleading to label small water bodies as unimportant and insignificant, because it is our common experience that little things carry more importance in our lives. However, it is not undeniable that small aquatic systems are taken as irrelevant to global problems and are ignored in nearly all globally important views and processes such as carbon processing and transport. Small water bodies are inherent part of the biosphere and the interconnected network of global metabolic...

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

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

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

Introduction Good drinking water quality is essential for the wellbeing of all population and essential for their health. According to the WHO about 80% of all the diseases in human beings are related to water.1 Tremendous is increase in the request for clean water due to quick growth of population and the speeded pace of industrialization.2 The increase in population and expansion of economic activities undoubtedly leads to increasing request of water for various purposes. ...

Introduction Environmental engineering and novel energy technologies are at the forefront of research1-4 as part of a key strategy towards sustainability and a cleaner environment. One of the main concerns within the field of renewable energies and environmental engineering is wastewater treatment. In arid regions such as the Saudi Arabian peninsula, where 20% of wastewater is used for irrigation purposes it is especially important to monitor wastewater plant operations as w...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Introduction During the past three decades, because of increased small and large scale industries in the country along with increasing population, there is a pressure on ground water resources.1 It has been observed that nearly 10% of population is devoid of safe drinking water.2 In India more than 90% of population of several states is dependent on groundwater resource for drinking and other purposes.3 Presently groundwater is a source used for agricultura...

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

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

Introduction Rapid urbanization growth has caused accelerating rate of urban poverty. This happens due to uncontrolled migration from rural areas to urban areas as well as from small urban centres to large urban centres. In this process, the poor settle in informal sector of economy inhibiting areas for their own convenience and affordability, resulting into mushrooming of slums in general. Slums are considered as illegally occupied houses and creating a nuisance of environmental pollution an...

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

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