Dear Readers, Hope you are safe and doing well. I am pleased to present before you this issue of Current World Environment. In spite of tremendous pressure due to second wave of COVID-19, the authors, editors and the staff of journal office have shown their great cooperation to bring out this issue in time. I thank all the contributors for their dedication for making the successful release of this issue. The COVID-19 shutdown has been a major challenge for mankind. This pandemic perio...

Introduction Sustainability is the basic requirement to nurture all the natural resources for existence, thereby maintaining and avoiding their depletion for an ecological balance. The Brundtland commission has emphasised that the goals of Sustainable Development (SGD) need to focus on social, economic, and environmental aspects. A society that enforces sustainable ways to meet the needs, embraces environment, conserves the natural resources, and has good sustainable economic growth.1,2,3 I...

Introduction Heveabrasiliensis, Pennisetum purpureum and Mangifera indica are common tropical plants known for their fast growing, high productivity and high concentration of phytochemicals respectively. M. indica is known for its fruits rather than its leaves making the leaves constitute wastes as they fall off the tree. P. purpureum, grows as weed, and springs out easily from uncultivated land while H. brasiliensis plants are grown for its latex making the leaves also readily available fo...

Introduction River water is a dynamic system and dissolves varieties of substances from industrial waste and domestic waste water- sewage and the access of so many substances and microorganisms leads to severe contamination of river water1.  Since long, rivers are used as valuable freshwater sources for drinking cum domestic purposes, irrigation, construction, hydro power generation, water transport, fishery, water sports and in amusement parks2. Huge quantity of water is required ...

Introduction The desire of the national, regional and international policy makers to combat global environmental challenges is unquestionable1. This is evidenced by the crafting and adoption of seventeen (17) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – agenda 2030, wherein the fight against climate change features prominently as goal number thirteen2,3. The increasing concentration of greenhouse gases especially nitrous oxide, methane, carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons and others in ...

Introduction In the last few decades, the problems of airborne bacteria and fungi in indoor environments have significantly increased worldwide1. The quality of the living spaces and occupants' health and well-being can be influenced directly or indirectly by microbes in buildings2-6. The problems of indoor microbes in the built environment have been taken seriously into account by biologists in collaboration with building designers7, 8. Kembel et al. summarised the three essential ...

Introduction More than three billion people in the world use solid fuels collectively in the form of biomass and coal and meet their energy demands for cooking foods or lighting etc.1,2. The percentage of biomass use is more visible in Africa, South-East Asia and in Central and South America3. Biomass burning is more common in the rural area than the urbans and people use traditional cooking stoves of inadequate combustion chamber and poor ventilation. Sometimes, open burning of biomass for...

Introduction Noise is one of the major urban pollutants affecting the majority of streets of modern cities1,2 and environmental noise pollution has been a growing worldwide problem over the past few years.3 Numerous studies have reported that the increase in the noise pollution is primarily because of the increase in the usage of the vehicles.4,5,6,7,8,9 Many studies have reported that there is evidence that exposure to traffic noise may be associated with wide range of psychological and ph...

Introduction Indiscriminate water pollution due to urbanization, industrialization and modern agricultural practices alter physical, chemical and biochemical characteristics of water bodies (Indra and Shivaji, 2006). Heavy metal pollution in freshwater ecosystem is of great environmental concern in these days because of bioaccumulative and non-biodegradable nature of the heavy metals (Walker et al., 2006).The natural sources of heavy metals include weathering of rocks and volcanic eruptions...

Introduction This era has witnessed tremendous increase in generation of municipal solid waste. The major reasons for this increase are continuous increase of population, rapid urbanization and escalation in living standards due to the rise of economy1,2. Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a heterogeneous mixture and consists of biodegradable and non biodegradable components. The biodegradable waste mainly comprises food waste, paper, leaves, wood trimming, textile, leather etc., while non biod...

Introduction Wetlands are having many global processes such as carbon cycle, fisheries production, shelter for local and migratory birds and biogeochemical cycles. They are not only ecologically important but also contribute in economy of that area. Wetland export 20% of total world’s organic carbon in nature. It also contributes to biomass production where in animals although small but form an important fraction of this biomass. Wetlands particularly riverine wetlands provide imp...

Introduction Environmental pollution is a present global issue waiting to be addressed. It is a subject that troubles us physically, economically and disrupts the day to day functioning of our lives1,2. Wastewateris usually classified as municipal wastewater (domestic wastewater or sewage) and industrial wastewater, which is inevitable in a country like India3,4. Efficient treatment of the wastewater is a big challenge to the corresponding authorities. India faces severe problems of collect...

Introduction Lonar Lake is located in Buldhana district which is one of the famous historical place in Maharashtra, India (19º58′N, 76º31′E). It is said that nearly before 50,000 years, there was formation of impact crater due to collision of meteor. There is vast chemical and biological diversity in it created due to meteor impact. It is very essential to study this place so it may open secrets of universe. The research on Lonar Lake began in 1823 and ...

Introduction Heavy metals contamination in ground water is a major problem across the world. Heavy metals are naturally present in the ecosystems. However, in recent decades the heavy metal concentration levels are increasing in ground water, river and soil system due to anthropogenic activities such as chemical industries, mining, fertilizers, emission from automobiles, and agriculture runoff.1-4 Heavy metal contaminations in the ground water system are a serious concern in most of the dev...

Introduction Climate change means a change or variation in climate which is caused by an anthropogenic activity that alters the configuration of the earth’s environment and which is besides natural climate variability detected over certain periods1 under UNFCCC Article 1(2) Definitions and It is a serious environmental issue worldwide. It is mostly caused by the atmospheric build-up of Green House Gases (GHGs). Global fluctuations in the concentration of carbon dioxide are mainly ...

Introduction Pesticides are being used indiscriminately to maintain a sustainable yield of various crops necessary to support the ever increasing animal population. They constitute a prime component of agricultural runoff which gets intermingled to the adjacent water bodies affecting the life of different non-target organisms (Raina et al., 2009).The contamination of aquatic ecosystem by pesticides is a global problem (Hill, 1985; Sibley and Kaushik, 1991). Human beings are the worst victim...

Introduction The mighty Himalaya contains a plentitude of medicinal plants and its habitants possess the knowledge of traditional medicinal plants. Indian Himalaya region (IHR) harbors about 1748 (23.4% of India) plant species recognized for their medicinal values. The higher diversity of medicinal plants in IHR is represented by the occurrence of a variety of native (31%), endemic (15.5%) and threatened elements (14% of total Red Data Book plants of IHR).1The need of medicinal plants is co...

Introduction Textile is one of the major industrial sectors in the world which requires huge amounts of consumables for different processes such as dyeing, washing, sizing, finishing and rinsing that consists of many types of chemical reagents include i.e. polyurethane, polyamide, phosphates, softening agent, stiffening agents and chelating agents 1. During textile processing, a large quantity of textile wastewater has been produced. The wastewater generated from textile processing is highl...

Introduction History tells us about the massive earthquakes which collapsed livelihood in different parts of the world in recent time. North-east India is one of the most active seismic zones which experienced a number of devastated earthquakes. The seismotectonic domain of North-east India is delimited between the two great barriers, i.e. the great Himalayas in its north and the Indo-Burma ranges towards far east. The entire NE-India is configured within latitude 22-290N and longitude 90-9...

Introduction River ecosystems are most important lotic fresh water habitats for many aquatic animals and benthic animals are one of these animal. Benthic animals are generally found in both of fresh water habitats i.e. – lotic habitats and lentic habitats. Benthos spends their whole life in bottom of aquatic ecosystem because of their feeding nature. Basically they are detritus feeders and divided in to two types – microzoobenthos and macrozoobenthos. Macro benthos are t...

Introduction Rivers are the principle source of water supply for larger population in urban and rural parts of Kerala, southwestern State of India. But, many of the small rivers in Kerala get dried during summer and flooded during monsoon seasons. Since water is one of the most vital commodities, the over-exploitation of water resource and water pollution is a problematic condition which ultimately leads to water scarcity problems. Apart from the dissolved or suspended chemical pollutants, ...

Introduction The human populations of eastern India (West Bengal mainly) and Bangladesh are severely suffered by arsenic (As) contamination of water and food1, 2. The concurrent application of As enriched irrigation seems to be the major reason for soil build-up3, 4and subsequent accumulation in standing crops5. Generally, As residues are found in the top layer of soil or surface soil and enter the plants easily because of their low volatility and low solubility6. The As has both organic an...

Introduction Land systems comprise all methods and actions linked to the human use of land, including technological and organizational advances and orderings and the advantages obtained from land, and the unintended social and environmental consequences of societal actions. These systems have significant implications that lead to change in the land cover 1. Land use and land cover change are the main catalyst forces of global environmental change and are of significant concern because of th...

Introduction Bangladesh is a land of water, crisscrossed with almost 700 rivers. Numerous rivers flow through Barishal (administrative division), located in south-central part of Bangladesh and, Kirtankhola river is a notable and one of the major rivers in Barishal division. The total length of the river is about 160 km, but the 21 km of the river flowing through Barishal and Jhalokathi district under the Barishal division is actively known as Kirtankhola (Mahbub,1). The river Kirtankhola w...

Introduction Solid waste dumping in an open area without plan lead to a major problem for municipalities in India and worldwide. As mentioned in Solid Waste Management Rule 2016, this rule is also applicable to waste generate from Religious place, Port, Airport including Municipalities.1 Sustainable way of waste management are reduce, reuse, recycle, recover and last option is landfilling. Landfills though provide a quick and easy solution but pose a grave threat to the environment, economy...

Introduction Particulate matter is complicated mixture of fine particulates and liquid droplets. Its contains acids, organic chemicals, metals and dust particles. Due to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, the aerosol load in the atmosphere has reached a threshold limit in most of the cities in India1. Uttarakhand state in the northern part of India has high tourist activity due to its diverse landscape, religious places and high biodiversity2. Dehradun city in the state of Uttarakhan...

Introduction The transitional areas between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are called wetland where the water table is generally at or near the surface on the land which is covered by shallow water1. It is estimated that, India contains about 757.06 thousand wetlands with a total wetland area of 15.3 m ha, which is nearly 4.7% of the total geographical area of the country 2. In India, West Bengal holds a significant position for its large aquatic wealth in terms of floodplain lakes or n...

Introduction GIFT has many benefits for small – scale farmers and resource poor consumers. They allow farmers a greater return on their investment and as per the WorldFish report2&3, Genetically Improved Farm Tilapia (GIFT), is one of the most farmed aquaculture fish in Bangladesh and is helping households with an income and consistent supply of fish for consumption. Africa has gained substantial socio-economic benefits by the adoption of GIFT culture technology including ...

Introduction In this world, clean and safe water for drinking is one of the important fundamental needs for the survival of human being on earth. 1 In India accessibility of drinking water is a challenging task. In recent years, resources of fresh water system have been affected by the rapid population growth as well as development of economic system. 2, 3 All over the world, water plays the key role in the transmission of different water borne diseases and hence maintenance of the quality ...

Introduction 'Nausea' is a Latin word which implies 'unwanted level of sound ' or 'loud, distracting or unpredictable sound.' 1,2A more accurate definition would be "noise is an audible and high range of sound causing disturbance, disability or harm to health."3–6 Since it cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted, it is an underestimated environmental problem. Noise needs to be identified as a considerable threat to human...

Introduction A great challenge in biology is finding the truth behind unsolved mystery of the emergence of zoonotic pathogens. Many pathogens emerged and reemerged in the past; and estimates suggest that one new pathogen emerged every 18 months. Majority of the new pathogens had zoonotic origin in wildlife.1 Environmental changes play a great role in the emergence of certain infectious diseases and their possible reemergence, mostly in regions with high biodiversity and long term unresolved...