Introduction The natural as well as socioeconomic variability of state Rajasthan which includes water resource management, agriculture, forestry, tourism etc. are highly influenced by a key component of hydrological cycle i.e. precipitation. Therefore, it is necessitated for predicting future precipitation change since it is an input for climate impact model to assess the consequences of global change in the climate. GCMs under climate input model often found inadequate due to the limited dep...

Introduction Plastics are used in varied applications and have become an integral part of our society. The global cumulative production of plastics for the past 13 years is half the plastics produced from 1950 onwards.1 The global plastic production is also expected to increase in the future. The increasing rate of global plastic consumption for the next 20 years is anticipated to reach the production levels of more than 600 metric tonnes.2 It is an undeniable reality that our mother earth is...

Introduction Renewable energy is not only an alternative clean and environmentally friendly source of energy, but rather it is a real need especially during large scale crisis due to the possibility of its local control and operation. Photovoltaic (PV) systems, among other renewable and new energy sources, can be considered as the most available renewable source in Syria. However, maximum harvested energy due to the nonlinearity in PV module characteristics of PV system is not fixed, but r...

Introduction India’s economy is dependent on the agricultural production, which in turn is dependent one of the monsoon rainfall and its distribution. The year to year fluctuation in rainfall as well as the fluctuation within the monsoon season governs the crop growth, development and yield. Earlier studies on rainfall probability in India have been carried by many workers (Singh et al., 2009; IMD, 2010 and Halikatti et al., 2010). Rainfall, the main driver of the hydrological cycle...

Introduction While modelling the rainfall-runoff process of a basin it is to be noted that this process is highly nonlinear and time-varying. Such properties of this hydrological process indicate that it is always a challenging task to describe it by simple models. In reality, the response of a catchment show high temporal variability throughout the year and this variability depends on rainfall pattern (both temporal and spatial), evaporation, catchment characteristics and many other hydrolog...

Introduction Rivers are a much-valued feature of the natural ecosystem as these perform numerous vital functions. However, owing to its indiscriminate utilization due to the population explosion and various developmental activities, this vital resource is now under tremendous pressure. Additionally, a meeting of diverse water necessities for irrigation, human and industrial consumption has become a challenge. Further, the rapidly expanding industrialization and urbanization have also exhauste...

Dear Readers I am glad to present before you the April 2019 issue of the journal. I thank all the reviewers, editors and the journal office for their cooperation in the timely publication of the issue. This issue includes diversified articles covering emerging research topics. The theme of this editorial is the threats to the Himalayan Ecosystem which is threatened by expanding local anthropogenic activities and transported pollution. The energy and food needs of mankind have significant i...

Introduction In agrarian countries like Pakistan, the amount of organic waste in solid waste is up to 75%. Most of the organic waste is dumped into dumping site without any segregation.1 Considering the lower economic status of Pakistan’s farming community, high capital investment often leads to lower quantity application. These are the reasons why the application of organic soil inputs even over a period of years has not been able to regenerate healthy soil to attain sustainable pr...

Introduction In spite of frequent and significant alterations in the past, the earth’s environment has been amazingly constant for the past ten thousand years.1,2 This period is known as Holocene. In the Holocene epoch, nature driven the environmental change, by virtue of that regular temperature, biogeochemical flow, and freshwater availability, all confined within a comparatively narrow range, which allowed human development. But ever since the industrial revolution, the ...

Background Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) alludes to the monitoring of the effects liable to emerge from a noteworthy task (or other activity) essentially influencing the normal and man-made condition.1 The official evaluation of the feasible impacts of a proposed strategy, program or venture on the earth; options in contrast to the proposition; and measures to be received to ensure nature.2 EIA is a procedure for advising chiefs of the potential ecological results of improvement optio...

Introduction Experts opine climate change adversely impacts multiple sectors challenging the livelihood and food security of high natural resource-dependent communities, especially fishing communities and fishery-based livelihoods.1 Marine fishery is susceptible to a wide range of climate change implications, which range from ecological impacts, like loss of coastal wetlands, coral bleaching, increased acidification of oceanic water, changes in freshwater inflow,2 to human side impacts, such ...

Introduction Urban lakes are inland aquatic systems supporting ecosystem through biodiversity sustenance and acts as a source of water in lean season. Recently, urban lakes are in the merge of extinction due to encroachments, siltation as well as eutrophication from domestic and industrial effluents.1 The lakes in Bengaluru are also facing similar problems as indicated by satellite images and information available with Survey of India.1,2 These are subjected to varying degrees of degradation ...

Introduction Water, the most precious resource of the planet earth assumes vital importance for sustainable environmental health in the present century because of its persistent exploitation across the globe. The deterioration of groundwater and surface water quality is alarmingly high.1 Typically water gets contaminated by various factors such as the population explosion, rapid urbanization and agricultural development, which are continuously contributing to the degradation of the water sour...

Introduction Problems with indoor air quality are important risk factors of human health in low-, middle and high-income countries.1,2 The concentrations of certain pollutants in indoor air may be 2 to 5 times and occasionally more than 100 times higher than those in outdoor air.3,4 An indoor environment has numerous emission sources, such as materials, temperature, humidity, ventilation, air exchange between outdoor and indoor environments, human activities,5, 6 topography, micro-en...