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British colonization initiated colonial capitalist dispossession of Adivasi-Dalit-Nontribal Forest Dwellers (ADNTFD) in India. Post-independence development continued this trend, accentuated by the neoliberal turn in the early 1990s orchestrated by the then Congress government and intensified by saffron (Hindu nationalist) authoritarian neoliberalism under the recently re-elected Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014 and 2019, leading the National Democratic Alliance regime. Neocolonial continuities and current neoliberal colonial capitalist dispossession and resistance in the forest belt, or India's contemporary 'land wars', are dialectically linked to potential spaces for Participatory Action Research (PAR) with/in ADNTFD struggles. This paper explores the imbrications of the neoliberal agenda, land wars and PAR in India, and by extension, for similar contexts addressing the vicissitudes of neoliberal authoritarian capitalism in the neo-colonies.

In this paper we frame children as geological agents, very much part of epoch and biospherical processes, enfolded in Earth system changes. We draw on the experiences of Indian childhoods in a context where the land, water, animals, children's bodies and forests are being shaped by a politics of corporate city building. We analyse how children and young people contribute to Earth system changes and consider the everyday, multispecies consequences of living with anthropogenic urbanism. The paper shows how children's bodies are entangled with human and non-human forces; they are geological agents which challenge, negotiate and have cyclical and rhythmic relationships with land and resources. We argue that time, scale and multispecies vulnerabilities are important reference points in our thinking through anthropogenic processes and thus contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the place of children and young people in the new epoch.

Urbanization almost invariably accompanies development, and the cities of India and China are experiencing spectacular increases in population. The concentration of millions of people in a small mass creates challenges for public policy, especially in the areas of basic infrastructure, public health, traffic congestion, and often law enforcement as well. In this essay, I discuss five core debates in urban policy, including the optimal degree of federalism, private versus public provision of urban services, optimal land use regulation, appropriate spatial policies, and the use of engineering and economics approaches to reducing the negative consequences of density. None of these debates are close to being resolved, but researchers have managed to generate a number of useful insights in these areas. (Contains 5 footnotes.)

This paper traces the kinds of learning engendered through Adivasi trans-local and local subaltern social movement (SSM) action addressing state-corporate developmental collusions, state-caste interests and the resulting dispossession of Adivasis from land, forest and their ways of life given the economic liberalization drive to exploit resources in the rural hinterlands in India since 1991. The paper draws upon insights from the author's association with the Adivasi since 1992 and funded research into "Learning in Adivasi movements." (Contains 6 notes.)

The impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues unabated. Still, it seems that apart from contact and respiratory transmission, the design and development pattern of an area does echoes to be a contributing factor in virus spreadability. The present study considers land use and transportation system parameters under TOD mode of 16 BRT station provinces in Bhopal, India, and COVID-19 cases data were collected from April 2020 to August 2020. Further, the Pearson correlation and mediational analysis were employed to determine the relationship between TODness and COVID-19 spread cases. The bootstrapping method was used to evaluate the mediation effect and describe why and under what conditions they are related. The study shows that TODness and COVID-19 spread cases are positively correlated. The results show a considerable correlation at (p < 0.05) is 0.405 of the dispersed along with TODness of an area in the analysed 16 BRT station areas. In particular, dispersed demonstrated a high-level correlation of 0.681 with TOD areas, whereas a moderate correlation of 0.322 with non-TOD areas was mediated by diversity and the number of available transit service indicators. Diversity and availability of high-quality transit services effectively spread the virus, whereas population density and public transport mediation effects are insignificant. Outcomes from this study may help government authorities and policymakers devise a strategy and adopt preventive measures in subsequent waves of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been quite a debate to understand the scope and opportunities related to the fringe areas of urban cores and their associated areas. Indeed, planners envision fringe areas as 'great alternatives' to ease out housing pressure in cities. As many of the fast growing Asian cities, Bengaluru shows quite a rapid and haphazard development in terms of urban processes. The city has expanded rather comfortably since 1990s in a concentric pattern, but presently it is facing immense challenges in terms of land availability. City planners have struggled to find solutions, while taking measures for the decentralization of city functions in the case of fringe areas. This research highlights the physical set up and the existing land use components to understand the extension and development possibilities of the fringe region of Channapatna lying adjacent to the Bengaluru city. The study area is Channapatna, which is famous for its handmade wooden toy and doll making industries. The region is a fringe area that promises to be a great setting for residential and industrial activities. Nonetheless, the paper focuses on the current villages in the region, which are generally agriculture-oriented and thus the preservation of the land use and related conservation measures are needed in a single planning platform. The study describes the demographic parameters and discusses the current land use and future planning measures. Therefore, the focus is not on Bengaluru as the Indian software capital, but on Channapatna in Bengaluru fringe area, which has tremendously benefited from the city development efforts. As such, this development includes economic growth and sustainable planning measures that would promote the co-existence of the rural and urban land uses, safeguarding the interests of the local artisans and farmers while paving the way for urbanization. This paper highlights the demographic aspects of the villages considered for a comprehensive and cluster level planning of Channapatna with changing land uses showing its prospects in toy making industries and its nearness to the main city as a promising future of sustainable urban planning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical research concerning ecotourism has revealed the activity's socio-economic impacts, including low-wage employment-based dependencies for many rural communities. While these dynamics are important, a crucial aspect of the ecotourism industry that falls outside this conventional sort of dependency is land use dynamics, specifically land use change, sales and entrepreneurship. We examine these dynamics in Corbett Tiger Reserve, India, where promotion of (eco)tourism since the 1990s has influenced significant changes in local land use. These changes were initially facilitated by outsiders buying land and setting up hotels and resorts in villages adjoining the Reserve. Empirical research reveals that while this initial boom of outsiders buying land has waned, land owning villagers are now setting up tourism enterprises on their own land, thereby diversifying land use from agriculture to tourism. Critical agrarian research has shown that material and symbolic factors influence farmers' decision-making regarding land use change. An agrarian studies perspective thus facilitates a nuanced understanding of tourism-related land use diversification and change. By bringing agrarian and ecotourism studies approaches together here, we contribute to both by emphasising the importance of (eco)tourism in agrarian change and of attention to land use change in ecotourism studies to understand how rural people negotiate and navigate (eco)tourism in relation to land use. We also contribute to tourism geographies more broadly by highlighting how land use decision-making shapes local spaces in the course of ecotourism development. We draw attention to the broader processes of and impacts of ecotourism that shift generational rural land use influenced by changing values of land outside a protected area. Rendering land touristifiable deepens villagers' dependence on the market and alienates them from their land. Ecotourism commodifies nature, and we show that this commodification extends to rural land outside of ecotourism zones per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater sustainability in hard rock aquifers is compromised largely due to nitrate contamination from anthropogenic sources resulting in diminishing potable resources and attendant health issues. A purpose-driven study through an integrated approach was undertaken in the area of interest (hard rock aquifer) to assess the variations in nitrate concentration and resultant health impacts in response to variations in monsoon and land use patterns. Groundwater samples (n = 284) were collected for a period of three years (2017–2019) and analysed. From the analytical data, it is inferred that 27% and 9% of groundwater samples in the study area have high NO3− values of > 45 mg/l and > 100 mg/l, respectively. NO3− contamination zones mapping illustrates that NO3−contaminated area (> 45 mg/l) varied seasonally 1164 km2 (2017), 1086 km2 (2018) and 1640 km2 (2019)) and high-risk area (NO3− > 100 mg/l) has reduced drastically during 2018 due to dilution by monsoon (277 km2 (2017), 41 km2 (2018), 634 km2 (2019)). The lowest NO3− and Cl−concentrations are recorded during 2018 which coincides with high rainfall (2061 mm). NO3− concentrations in response to land use pattern indicate that the hot spots (NO3− > 45 mg/l and > 100 mg/l) are observed in groundwater samples of residential areas which are vulnerable to contamination from domestic wastewater, septic tanks and other pollutants. Further, wastewater infiltration facilitated the dissolution of certain minerals in the unsaturated zone which enhanced the accumulation of NO3− and other ions in this aquifer. Mineral weathering, denitrification and evaporation processes also affected the groundwater chemistry. The health risk model (HQoral) indicates that groundwater in 1261 km2 (2017), 1232 km2 (2018) and 1669 km2 (2019) is unsuitable for drinking (HQ > 1) and causes adverse health risks to the local inhabitants. The study has identified areas from the central and southeastern regions significantly affected by nitrate pollution underpinning the necessity of using treated groundwater for drinking purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding synergies and trade‐offs between forests, water, and climate change is warranted for designing effective policies and strategies for managing water and forests, which are essential for sustenance, ecological proliferation, and economic development. Forests are considered global storehouse of resources, functioning as ecosystem service providers, such as recyclers of terrestrial water to maintain quality and quantity of water but are constantly regulated by climatic parameters. These interlinkages are further complicated by the highly debated role of forests in water regulation and consumption, anthropogenic changes in land use, changing climatic patterns and their subsequent impacts on the hydrological cycle. However, policy and planning for natural resource management seldom consider the interrelationships between forest, water, and climate change due to lack of consensus, misrepresentations and difficult conversions of the complicated interactions to policy. We review and discuss the existing research on these interrelationships with different approaches using a range of hydrological, climatic, and land use indicators. We further suggest incorporating long‐term data for forest, water, and climate into conceptual, statistical, and stochastic models may yield better projections with fewer uncertainties rather than those focusing on linear interactions between paired components. Thus, there is a need for exploring these interactions holistically rather than in silos from the perspective of natural resource management particularly in developing nations such as India that have a pressing need to develop new and synergize existing strategies for sustainable management of forest and water under changing climatic variables. This article is categorized under:Science of Water > Hydrological ProcessesScience of Water > Water and Environmental ChangeWater and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban green spaces (UGS) can counter the ill effects of urbanization in high-density cities. Studies related to these aspects are rare in Indian cities, however. This article aims to assess the availability and accessibility of UGS in Raipur, India. The objectives are to identify the status of UGS alteration, determine the status of available UGS, and identify the optimum population density for which UGS can be made available and accessible. Land use change detection, fragmentation index, availability index, UGS per capita, and neighborhood accessibility are used to assess aspects of UGS. The results show an increase in built-up area (24.32 percent) from 2010 to 2020. They also show a decrease in the UGS availability index and an increase in the fragmentation index from the city center to the outskirts. Uneven distribution of UGS categories is found all over the studied urban area. Low-density areas have more UGS per capita available than high-density areas, whereas medium-high-density areas have the maximum UGS accessibility. The study concludes with density-wise implications to maximize the UGS benefits and identifies medium-high density as the optimum density that allows high accessibility to the available UGS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Soils at 57 ancient Hindu temples in India are documented from field profiles as a basis for understanding livelihoods of the five cults of Puranic (Smarta) Hinduism during the first millennium CE. Similar soils were found at different temples of the same deity, but different kinds of soils at temples of different deities. Temples of Ganesha and Hanuman, for example, are alluvial Entisols and Vertisols, the principal cultivable soils of India. Temples of Vishnu and Lakshmi are well drained Alfisols and Aridisols suitable for grazing, housing and markets. Different soils supported different livelihoods, social classes and cults, such as servant (shudra) class for farmers Ganesha and Hanuman, and herder-merchant (vaishya) class for Vishnu and Lakshmi. This result matches accounts in the Matsya Purana (250–500 CE) specifying dark organic soils for shudras and red soil for vaishyas. Puranic Smarta polytheism may reflect amalgamation of different tribal traditions during expansion of Gupta and other Hindu empires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have made ambitious pledges to increase forest areas to mitigate climate change. However, the availability of land to meet these goals is not well understood. Global studies indicate substantial potential, but do not account for local land‐use and regional variation, crucial for policy making. Using India as a case study, we use a machine learning framework to define the bioclimatic envelope of forest cover and map this against current land‐uses with varying suitability for restoration. We estimate the additional feasible area for restoration to be only 1.58 Mha, cumulatively sequestering 61.3 TgC, which is substantially less than estimates derived from global studies. However, we also find up to 14.67 Mha of opportunity for agroforestry in current agricultural land, delivering up to 98.1 TgC nationally. In the UN Decade of Restoration, we recommend developing forest restoration strategies that are compatible with existing land‐uses, such as agroforestry, especially in countries that have large smallholder agriculture holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study quantifies the spatiotemporal changes in high-population growth and high-density rural regions of India, areas that are also referred to as "urural." The urural areas are remote, high-density rural areas far from zones of urban influence, experiencing growing population pressures. Using satellite-borne remote sensing data and its analysis of select districts in the State of Bihar, the study confirms the hypothesis that land use changes are underway in these remote rural regions while drawing attention to the alarming degree of these changes. High population density, population pressure, and economic changes in remote rural regions are the leading causes of significant land use transformations. The transformations are so substantial that these areas can no longer be characterized as rural by definition. Dramatic changes in all types of land use are evident, but most notable are decreases in land dedicated to agricultural use, receding water bodies, and rampant deforestation, with significant increases in built-up areas and bare land. Further, more land is being used for brick manufacturing to satisfy rampant building construction, degrading prime agricultural land to become bare and barren. The situation calls for an urgent and multi-pronged intervention from all levels of the government. As a start, the urural areas urgently need urban amenities, especially water, drainage, sanitation, and healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study represents the novel methodology for quantitative evaluation of the coordinated relationships (CR) between BRTS and land use under transit-oriented development (TOD) mode by using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. By using the most robust indicators of the BRTS and land use as input-output. Ranking assigned to the TOD area according to their coordinated development score. The superefficiency DEA method is used as a ranking methodology to rank the extremely efficient TOD area. With the help of DEA projection theory by utilizing the slack variables, the target value is assigned to inefficient TOD area to make it efficient. This methodology applies to 16 TOD area in Bhopal city, India. It is an adaptive method to find out the CR between BRTS and land use. Measuring CR is useful for efficient and sustainable urban planning. This study will provide sustainable station level planning for urban planners and experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the emerging literature on freight studies by identifying the optimal freight traffic analysis zone (FTAZ) system at which to conduct macro-level freight travel analysis. To arrive at the optimal scale, we develop alternate zone systems by grouping census wards with similar freight-related characteristics (industrial characteristics, commercial land use characteristics, locational characteristics and socio-demographic characteristics). The resultant zone systems are analysed at multiple geographic scales and the optimal scale of each zone system is determined by performing the Brown–Forsythe test. Results suggest that a 1:3 aggregation ratio (24–28 zones) is the optimal scale for Metropolitan FTAZs, whereas the publicly available ad-hoc zone system and prior literature on National FTAZs follow 1:10 aggregation. The study findings suggest that Metropolitan planning organizations need to reconsider their existing data collection strategy, consider a larger aggregation ratio and, by extension, adopt smaller zones to ensure that both local and global freight travel characteristics are captured in freight travel analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the 'Safe Operating Space' of nations are important for devising suitable strategies for the effectual implementation of UN-Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). In this context, the present study attempts to ascertain the environmental and social challenges hindering sustainable development (SD) in India along with linking these challenges to the SDGs and policy mechanisms in place for their alleviation. Environmental issues were determined by down-scaling the planetary boundaries (PB) to national scales while the social issues were highlighted in terms of their deprivation rates fixing the possession rates for all indicators at hundred percent. An in-depth analysis of available literature and scoping of national reports and databases were undertaken for the determination of national boundaries and the retrieval of values against the selected indicators, respectively. Furthermore, the existing policies and national missions were critically assessed to establish the linkages between existing challenges, SDGs and government policies. Results obtained highlighted gender inequality and severely stressed biocapacity as well as land use change as the major social and environmental issues, respectively. However, indicator based statistics compiled for rural India showed improved possession rates in the sanitation and electricity sectors thereby signifying the progress achieved by the country in these fronts. Analysis of policy frameworks revealed the existence of multiple interconnections between the SDG targets and environmental and social dimensions and thereby highlighting the role of governance for SD. A national policy for 'Safe Habitat and Sustainable Environment' along with several policy recommendations such as exploring the potential of education and research for SD were proposed for boosting the sustainability governance in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work aims at presenting certain important observations on food and water security of the peri-urban environment, by considering field data and satellite image classification to understand the spatial change pattern of natural resources and its impact on agriculture and water resources. Gautam Buddh Nagar is considered one of the important urban areas of the National Capital Region (NCR), being associated with multi-functional activity; it continues to grow in terms of infrastructure and other urban activities and the numerous infrastructural projects and other anthropogenic actions in the area cause a rising pressure on water, agriculture, and human health. The Landsat satellite images from 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2016 were classified and used to obtain the Land use / Land cover maps of the area, in order to estimate and to understand the rate of change during the last 16 years. There are mapped the important land use classes, such as the agricultural land, the vegetation surfaces, the built-up areas, the open land, and the water bodies. The results indicate the fact that during the 16 years taken into study, vegetation (2.26%), water bodies (1.65%), and agriculture (3.5%) undergone a major decline, while the built-up land displayed values increased around four times (from 3.39% to 12.26%). The results of the present work clearly showed that the large-scale changes in natural land cover affected the agriculture, as well as the surface and groundwater resources of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of past and future urban growth processes helps the decision makers to evaluate and formulate the policy documents. In an attempt to make such assessments, this study compares three commonly used urban growth models: Multicriteria Cellular Automata-Markov Chain (MCCA-MC), Multi-Layer Perception Markov Chain (MLP-MC), and the Slope, Land use, Exclusion, Urban Extent, Transportation and Hillshade (SLEUTH). This study has taken into account the land use and land cover data for the years, 1977, 1992, 2000, 2008, 2016 and prepared driving variables for urban growth. The KAPPA index of agreement indicates that the MCCA-MC, MLP-MC and SLEUTH models avoid errors by 94%, 93%, and 92% respectively. Models forecast that about 156.96 km2, 157.43 km2 and 142.43 km2 built-up areas will emerge through the process of urbanization by 2031 in the city of Udaipur. However, this assessment identified that all the models are embodied with their own advantages and disadvantages while serving specific purposes. While the MCCA-MC and MLP-MC provides a good account of the urban spread, the SLEUTH identifies the new isolated growth centres more accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geospatial technology has an enormous capacity to analyze large and diversified datasets for evaluating the hidden spatial relationship which provides a better comprehension of the subject and helps significantly in policymaking and planning future strategies. This study has examined the relationship among diversified remote sensing and GIS datasets such as GHG emission from cropland, rice cultivation area, agro-ecological region, Land use/Land cover (LULC) categories, long-term NDVI (1982−2006) based negative changes, agriculture vulnerability, drought-prone area and future (2021, 2050) climate change anomalies (RCP-6) of India for better understanding and knowledge of the GHG emission scenario, vegetation health, LULC, agriculture vulnerability, and future climate change impact. The LULC analysis revealed that 49.6% (1 628 959 km²) of the geographical area was found to be under category 'cropland'. The 32.5% of the total cropland areas are used for rice cultivation whereas around 76% of this rice cultivation area is producing high GHG emission (>1000 Mg CO2 e/yr.). LULC categories 'Cropland' and 'Plantation' show the long-term (1982−2006) negative change equivalent to 19.7 and 70.2% respectively. Similarly, around 56% of LULC categories representing the forest show the long-term negative change whereas the maximum change (139 867 km²) was found in the category of 'Deciduous Broadleaf Forest'. The 30.6% of the LULC category of 'cropland' falls in very high agriculture vulnerable areas whereas 31.7% of the same category falls in the drought-prone area. The significant increase in temperature and abrupt rainfall patterns were observed during Kharif and Rabi seasons in the future. Such variation of climate parameter in the future not only adversely affect the agriculture crop production but also the natural vegetation of India. The outcomes of the present study would support the policymakers of India to implement the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and REDD+ on an urgent priority based on a proper evaluation of the socio-economic condition of the poor people. It will certainly help in the reduction of GHG emission, forest amelioration, will bring the resilience in livelihood and mitigate the poverty among the rural communities for the betterment of people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has the second largest population in the world and is characterized by a broad diversity in climate, topography, flora, fauna, land use, and socioeconomic conditions. To help ensure food security in the future, agricultural systems will have to respond to global change drivers such as population growth, changing dietary habits, and climate change. However, alterations of how food is produced in the future may conflict with other UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as the protection of land resources and climate change mitigation. It is crucial for decision‐makers to understand potential trade‐offs between these goals to find a balance of human needs and environmental impacts. In this paper, we analyze pathways of agricultural productivity, land use, and land‐cover changes in India until 2030 and their impacts on terrestrial biodiversity and carbon storage. The results show that in order to meet future food production demands, agricultural lands are likely to expand, and existing farmlands need to be intensified. However, both processes will result in biodiversity losses. At the same time, the projections reveal carbon stock increases due to intensification processes and decreases due to conversions of natural land into agriculture. On balance, we find that carbon stocks increase with the scenarios of future agricultural productivity as modeled here. In conclusion, we regard further agricultural intensification as a crucial element to help ensure food security and to slow down the expansion of cropland and pasture. At the same time, policies are required to implement this intensification in a way that minimizes biodiversity losses. Key Points: There are trade‐offs between SDGs related to food provision, climate change mitigation, and preservation of biodiversity in IndiaFurther agricultural intensification is required to help ensure food security and to slow the expansion of cropland and pasture in IndiaIntensification efforts for agricultural production should be joined with specific measures to minimize biodiversity losses [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing awareness of the need to better constrain the contribution of atmospheric methane (CH 4) fluxes from urbanized estuaries due to the high global warming potential of CH 4 and the accelerating growth of urban expansion. This study undertook seasonal sampling campaigns to understand the impact of urbanization on atmospheric CH 4 fluxes and their drivers in a large, tropical estuary in India. Overall, the study found that the Cochin estuary emitted large amounts of CH 4 (398.8 ± 141.6 μmolm−2d−1) to the atmosphere with CH 4 hotspots reaching up to 939.7 μmolm−2d−1 were identified. The strongest drivers of CH 4 dynamics in different anthropogenically impacted zones were traced. The source of organic matter for CH 4 production was revealed to be terrestrial C3 plants, autochthonous production, marine phytoplankton, and sewage inputs. The study suggests that monsoonal urbanized tropical estuaries may be an important but under-recognized element of the global CH 4 budget. [Display omitted] • CH 4 fluxes increased thirty-two fold and were higher than in many European estuaries. • CH 4 hotspots correspond to regions highly affected by anthropogenic interventions. • Urbanized tropical estuaries are an under-recognized element of the global CH 4 budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Food production is a major driver of environmental change, and unhealthy diets are the leading cause of global disease burden. In high-income countries (HICs), modelling studies suggest that adoption of healthy diets could improve population health and reduce environmental footprints associated with food production. We assessed whether such benefits from dietary change could occur in India, where under-nutrition and overweight and obesity are simultaneously prevalent. We calculated the potential changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, blue and green water footprints (WFs), and land use (LU), that would result from shifting current national food consumption patterns in India to healthy diets (meeting dietary guidelines) and to "affluent diets" (those consumed by the wealthiest quartile of households, which may represent future purchasing power and nutritional trajectories). Dietary data were derived from the 2011–12 nationally-representative household expenditure survey, and we assessed dietary scenarios nationally and across six Indian sub-regions, by rural or urban location, and for those consuming above or below recommended dietary energy intakes. We modelled the changes in consumption of 34 food groups necessary to meet Indian dietary guidelines, as well as an affluent diet representative of those in the highest wealth quartile. These changes were combined with food-specific data on GHG emissions, calculated using the Cool Farm Tool, and WF and LU adapted from the Water Footprint Network and Food and Agriculture Organization, respectively. Shifting to healthy guidelines nationally required a minor increase in dietary energy (3%), with larger increases in fruit (18%) and vegetable (72%) intake, though baseline proportion of dietary energy from fat and protein was adequate and did not change significantly. Meeting healthy guidelines slightly increased environmental footprints by about 3–5% across GHG emissions, blue and green WFs, and LU. However, these national averages masked substantial variation within sub-populations. For example, shifting to healthy diets among those with dietary energy intake below recommended guidelines would result in increases of 28% in GHG emissions, 18 and 34% in blue and green WFs, respectively, and 41% in LU. Decreased environmental impacts were seen among those who currently consume above recommended dietary energy (−6 to −16% across footprints). Adoption of affluent diets by the whole population would result in increases of 19–36% across the environmental indicators. Specific food groups contributing to these shifts varied by scenario. Environmental impacts also varied markedly between six major Indian sub-regions. In India, where undernutrition is prevalent, widespread adoption of healthy diets may lead to small increases in the environmental footprints of the food system relative to the status quo, although much larger increases would occur if there was widespread adoption of diets currently consumed by the wealthiest quartile of the population. To achieve lower diet-related disease burdens and reduced environmental footprints of the food system, greater efficiency of food production and reductions in food waste are likely to be required alongside promotion of healthy diets. Highlights • Uptake of healthy diets in India results in small increases in GHG emissions, water and land use. • However, national averages mask substantial variation within sub-populations. • Footprints would increase among those consuming below dietary energy guidelines. • Conversely, footprints would decrease for those consuming above dietary energy guidelines. • Uptake of affluent diets would result in increases of 19–36% across environmental footprints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Land use and hydrology are interdependent, so that land use modeling could benefit from hydrologic modeling. This study aims to integrate spatial predictions of hydrologic variables as provided by a hydrologic model into a land use model for a rapidly urbanizing catchment in India. The benefits of this integration are quantified by comparing predictions of a land use model that uses a basic set of explanatory variables to a land use model that additionally uses the modeled hydrologic variables. Our results indicate that the integration of the hydrologic variables improved the model accuracy indicated by overall accuracy (+3 and + 4 percentage points (pp)), class specific user and producer accuracies (up to +8 pp) and figure of merit (+4 and + 5.3 pp) when compared with land use classifications at two points in time. Moreover, the land use patterns show that the integration of the hydrologic variables helped to avoid allocation errors. Highlights • Hydrologic variables modeled with SWAT improved CLUE-s model simulations. • A more reasonable allocation was achieved for a future scenario. • We recommend to integrate land use models and hydrologic models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this study, elemental data from portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) spectrometry was used to test the efficiency of four machine learning techniques (random forest; linear and nonlinear support vector machine; classification and regression tree) for distinguishing three land use types in India based upon scans of mineral surface (0–20 cm) soil. Results showed similar performance among the four tested algorithms, with classification accuracy of a randomly selected validation set ranging from 83% to 91%. The classification and regression tree was favored based upon simple "IF AND THEN" rules which make classification of the data simple. In sum, PXRF data was shown highly effective at differentiating land use types in India. Future work should focus on a larger number of land use classification types and possible combination of PXRF data with complimentary proximal sensing datasets (e.g., visible near infrared spectroscopy). Highlights • Elemental data from PXRF can be used for land classification. • Classification accuracy was between 83% and 91%. • Classification and regression tree analysis gave optimal land classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Urban growth management strategy in India's National Capital Region is evaluated. • There is a lack of regulatory and non-regulatory instruments for growth management. • Problems in the institutional environment are determined. • Policy implications are derived for growth management in the global South. Abstract Considerable progress has been made in theoretically understanding the process of sprawl and devising corresponding growth management strategies in the global North. However, urban growth as sprawl remains a serious challenge in the global South, cutting across various geographic and municipal boundaries. The undesirable consequences are excessive expansion as well as inadequate infrastructure and service provision. At the core of steering this development are growth management strategies aiming to secure economically, socially and environmentally sustainable growth. This paper evaluates the performance of the growth management strategy in the National Capital Region of India based on a conceptual framework covering programme design, institutional setting and market interactions. It uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate policy performance across multiple scales (city, metropolitan, state and region). The research found the limited success of policies, the failure to combine policy with regulatory and non-regulatory instruments, and insufficiencies in the institutional environment, all of which hinder effective growth management. To curtail sprawl, this paper recommends moving towards flexible growth boundaries, introducing self-contained communities as policy component, integrating and enforcing land-use and transport planning, empowering lower-tier authorities and adopting regulatory and non-regulatory instruments for plan implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land-use regression (LUR) has been used to model local spatial variability of particulate matter in cities of high-income countries. Performance of LUR models is unknown in less urbanized areas of low-/middle-income countries (LMICs) experiencing complex sources of ambient air pollution and which typically have limited land use data. To address these concerns, we developed LUR models using satellite imagery (e.g., vegetation, urbanicity) and manually-collected data from a comprehensive built-environment survey (e.g., roads, industries, non-residential places) for a peri-urban area outside Hyderabad, India. As part of the CHAI (Cardiovascular Health effects of Air pollution in Telangana, India) project, concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and black carbon were measured over two seasons at 23 sites. Annual mean (sd) was 34.1 (3.2) μg/m 3 for PM 2.5 and 2.7 (0.5) μg/m 3 for black carbon. The LUR model for annual black carbon explained 78% of total variance and included both local-scale (energy supply places) and regional-scale (roads) predictors. Explained variance was 58% for annual PM 2.5 and the included predictors were only regional (urbanicity, vegetation). During leave-one-out cross-validation and cross-holdout validation, only the black carbon model showed consistent performance. The LUR model for black carbon explained a substantial proportion of the spatial variability that could not be captured by simpler interpolation technique (ordinary kriging). This is the first study to develop a LUR model for ambient concentrations of PM 2.5 and black carbon in a non-urban area of LMICs, supporting the applicability of the LUR approach in such settings. Our results provide insights on the added value of manually-collected built-environment data to improve the performance of LUR models in settings with limited data availability. For both pollutants, LUR models predicted substantial within-village variability, an important feature for future epidemiological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a techno-economic analysis of 16 decentralized wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) based on various technologies was performed in northern India. Six elements including treatment performance, land use, capital investment, operation and maintenance, cost of treatment, and electricity consumption are discussed in this study. The technologies assessed are extended aeration (EA), moving bed bioreactor (MBBR), sequential bioreactor (SBR), rotating biological contactor (RBC), on-site package (aerobic and/or anaerobic), and membrane bioreactor (MBR). The results indicate that the treatment efficiencies of all cluster-type WWTPs differed significantly from on-site anaerobic package (AnP) types. On the other hand, the treatment efficiencies of on-site aerobic package (AP) systems were reasonably comparable to those of cluster-type plants. The land use for on-site package treatment systems was estimated between 0.125 and 0.8 m² per population equivalent (pe) and higher than for cluster-type WWTPs, which require between 0.039 and 0.159 m²/pe. The data collected from this study show that package plant treatment costs are high compared with those of cluster types, ranging from US$0.0676 to 0.1045 (±10%) and from US$0.0353 to 0.1891/m³ (±15-20%), respectively. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) was undertaken for all the WWTPs and among the considered environmental benefits nitrogen removal contributed to the most. Moreover, the operation of WWTPs was found to be economically viable even without the sale of treated water, except for one AnP plant. For all plants evaluated, specific power consumption (SPC) was found to vary between 0 and 1 kW/m³. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and applies a novel interdisciplinary framework to study peri-urban land use dynamics in India, which is theoretically embedded in the concepts of land use transition, land change science and neoliberlisation of nature. The framework is operationalised by a mixed methods approach cutting across scale and time to provide a comprehensive understanding of land use transitions. The paper proves the applicability of land use transition theory in India by establishing that the core state Delhi is in the "urbanised/industrialised" stage of land use transition, whereas the peripheral states are in a transition from "frontier" to "agricultural" stage of land use transition. The paper also provides evidence for different political economy-derived logics of nature's neoliberalisation. Field visits as well as expert and household interviews uncover a nexus between the state, civil society and economy in exploitation and degradation of natural resources for their vested interests. The use of local and global open access data in the framework makes it transferable to similar regions of the Global South facing data constrains. • Interdisciplinary framework is applied to India's land use transition analysis. • Theoretical approach is embedded in land change science and political economy. • Mixed methods approach cutting across scale and time is applied. • Stages of land use transition trajectory are detected for peri-urban areas in India. • Urban expansion is faster than population growth and depleted arable land and water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use pattern of a location is a key factor to determine the quality of water in that area. A case study was performed to understand the influence of land use on the quality of surface water. Water quality indices of surface water from different locations within study area were compared with the land use pattern of that location. Multi-criteria decision-making methods, like weighted sum method, weighted product method and grey relational analysis, were used to determine the priority values (PV) of the different water quality parameters on the basis of important criteria like hazard potential, cost of mitigation, utilization potential and popularity among the researchers. Water quality indices of the samples were calculated from those PV by weighted average method. The indices were then compared with respective land use pattern to assess the relation between land use pattern and water quality. The results suggest that dense settlement, moderate to low vegetation and dense cultivation is good for surface water, whereas low settlement, dense vegetation and moderate cultivation is bad for surface water. These findings may be useful for managers and policy makers to manage land use for maintaining the optimum quality of surface water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As states concentrate their developmental capacities in space, the sub-national scale has emerged as a focal point of policy-making in India. The rescaled spatiality of the state is being inscribed on land. Land is the primary resource available to sub-national states to attract private investment in post-reform contexts. Yet, the promulgation of innovative policies is only the start of the space-state relationship. This paper follows rescaled state policy through to its reception and appropriation by business, community and family networks that operate in the real estate industry, which is a major land user. Dynamic multi-dimensional spatial relations involving scales and networks do not engage with a staid, centralised, formal state. Instead, real estate firms work with a state that is itself networked, and that straddles formality and informality, as well as shadows. India’s land economy is animated in this teeming space of state, scale and networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetland ecosystems play a key role in maintaining water quality. Twelve swamps of Nilgiris district were selected based on altitude and land use to study the physicochemical properties of swamp soil, water and the adjoining stream water which fed the swamps. The Scirpus spp. was the dominant species in all swamps followed by Cyperus spp. and Kyllinga spp. Soils were strongly acidic, free from salinity, rich in organic carbon (1.5 - 2.8 %), low to medium in available nitrogen (224 - 476 kg ha-1), high in available phosphorous (39 - 67 kg ha-1) and low in available potassium (11 - 197 kg ha-1). Both the swamp and adjoining stream water quality was determined as being of adequate quality for drinking and irrigation as evidenced from the hydrochemical parameters. Agriculture and habitation land uses contribute higher nutrient load to the stream as well as swamp water as compared to the tea plantation, mixed forest and shola forest. Swamp water was more than three times higher in nutrient load than the streams which fed them because of temporal stagnation of water in the swamps which favors slow accumulation of nutrients. The effect of land use to govern the swamp water quality outperformed the altitude effect. A blend of policy, social and institutional mechanisms is needed for their conservation and making management priorities for ecological protection of Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the on-the-ground realities of upstream-downstream negotiations and transactions over ecosystem services. We explore the engagement, negotiation, implementation, and postimplementation phases of a "reciprocal water access" (RWA) agreement between village communities and municipal water users at Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India. We aim to highlight how external actors drove the payments for ecosystem services agenda through a series of facilitation and research engagements, which were pivotal to the RWA's adoption, and how the agreement fared once external agents withdrew. In the postimplementation period, the RWA agreement continues to be upheld by upstream communities amidst evolving, competing land-use changes and claims. The introduction of cash payments for environmental services for forest-water relationships has given rise to multifaceted difficulties for the upstream hamlets, which has impeded the functionality of their forest management committee. Upstream communities' formal rights and abilities to control and manage their resources are dynamic and need strengthening and assurance; these developments result in fluctuating transaction and opportunity costs not originally envisaged by the RWA agreement. The paper demonstrates the importance of an explicit understanding of the local politics of negotiation and implementation to determine the effectiveness of compensationbased mechanisms for the supply of ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large-scale transfer of land from rural communities to private corporations has become a defining feature of India's development trajectory. These land transfers have given rise to a multitude of new "land wars" as dispossessed groups have struggled to retain their land. Yet while much has been written about the political economy of development that underpins this new form of dispossession, the ways in which those threatened with dispossession have sought to mobilize have to a lesser extent been subject to close ethnographic scrutiny. This article argues that an "everyday politics" perspective can enhance our understanding of India's new land wars, using a case from Singur as the starting point. The agenda is twofold. I show how everyday life domains and sociopolitical relations pertaining to caste, class, gender, and party political loyalty were crucial to the making of the Singur movement and its politics. Second, by analyzing the movement in processual terms, I show how struggles over land can be home to a multitude of political meanings and aspirations as participants seek to use new political forums to resculpt everyday sociopolitical relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the changes of land use/land cover (Lu/Lc) or the surface type in last decades over India. Recent surface-type fractions show few major regional changes over India. There is a decrease in vegetation fraction, increase in urban and bare soil fractions over India. The Unified Model coupled with Joint UK Land Environment Simulator land surface model was used to investigate the recent Lu/Lc impact on weather prediction. Preliminary results show improvement in weather prediction by the incorporation of the recent Lu/Lc data. This highlights the need to incorporate more realistic Lu/Lc in the dynamical models for better weather prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Studying the impact of land use and climate variation over the Indian subcontinent. • Deforestation and urbanization result in reduced ET and increased sensible heat flux. • Overall, climate variations show a larger effect on the energy and water cycles over India. Aim of this work is the assessment of the individual and combined impacts of land use land cover change (LULCC) and inter-decadal climate variations (CV) on the water and energy cycles over India, given extensive land use land cover change over the last decades. In this study, we quantify the contributions of LULC and CV on changes in the water and energy cycles over the Indian subcontinent through a scenario-based approach, with Community Land Model version 4.5 (CLM4.5) model runs from 1981 to 2010. The approach involves four simulation scenarios: (i) the first scenario considers no LULCC or CV (LULC is fixed and the atmospheric forcings for 1981–1990 are repeated in the decades afterwards); (ii) the second scenario considers only the impact of CV; (iii) the third scenario considers only the effect of LULCC by updating the LULC every 10 years; and (iv) the fourth scenario considers the combined impact of LULCC and CV. LULCC causes an overall decrease in the evapotranspiration (ET) and soil moisture (SM) by 0.3 % and 0.1 % respectively (comparing 1991–2010 with 1981–1990), while the net radiation changes < 1 %. On the other hand, CV caused an increase in the ET, SM and net radiation by + 5.4 %, +1.5 % and + 1.0 % respectively, in spite of decrease of precipitation of 6.6 %. The combined effect of LULCC and CV leads to an increase in the overall ET by 3.8 %. Among the LULC transitions, deforestation and urbanization are found to be the major causes for hydrological changes over the decades, but their impact is much smaller, since CV has a greater impact on the hydrological cycles over India than LULC. The in-depth understanding of the distinct contributions of LULCC and CV on the water and energy cycles in tropical and subtropical regions can be used for framing future water resources planning and management policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global land use change has resulted in the loss and fragmentation of habitats and amplified the pace of species extinction. With carnivores being disproportionately at risk of range contraction, restoration is an important strategy to counter the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation. While protection of public lands has been the cornerstone of conservation, private lands can play an important supplementary role. India harbors 23 % of the global carnivore species, threatened by a rapidly growing economy and high human densities. Using a social-ecological systems approach, we prioritized private agricultural lands for agroforestry in the buffer area of Pench Tiger Reserve. We applied systematic conservation planning tools and combined data on (1) habitat use of four carnivores (tiger, leopard, dhole, and sloth bear), (2) landowner willingness to modify land use through enrolment in an incentive-based program, and (3) monetary cost of program implementation, to identify priority areas for agroforestry based on their relative cost-effectiveness. Our integrated approach generated a configuration of priority areas that was markedly different than if we selected areas using ecological data only. Over an 8-year period, restoration of ~4900, ~8300 and ~12,000 acres through agroforestry was estimated to have a cumulative cost of USD 56 million, USD 95 million, and USD 140 million, respectively. Partnering with and incentivizing private landowners can expand the effective size of small and fragmented protected areas. Our approach can be applied to other shared landscapes, dominated by private ownership, to identify areas that deliver a compromise between ecological suitability, social acceptability, and economic viability. • Restoration can counter the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation. • We used a social-ecological systems approach to prioritize private agricultural lands. • We combined species distribution models, farmer willingness and economic data. • An integrated approach balanced trade-offs and yielded a more cost-effective solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Home garden' (HG) is a complex sustainable land use system combining annual and perennial crops, trees, shrubs, livestock and fishery. The flow of goods and services provides not only food and nutrition security and employment, but also other co-benefits. Though HGs have attracted international attention since 1950s, it has not been widely researched especially in the context of rural India. This paper presents the results based on a field study carried out in 100 HGs in Paschim Medinipur District in the West Bengal, located in eastern part of India. A structured questionnaire was used to identify different aspects related to HG characteristics, their role in household consumption, problem areas and the different socio-economic characteristics of the HG owners. The results suggest that home gardeners with a higher level of education and who are using modern inputs are able to derive more benefits from the HGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marx’s views on pre-capitalist non-western societies evolved during his intellectual development and are generally grouped under the (problematic) term “Asiatic Mode of Production.” This article examines the connections between the Asiatic Mode of Production from Marxist economics, post-independence Indian land laws, the violation of those laws after independence and in the period of liberalization, and the continuing popularity of the Naxalite/Maoist insurgency. The contemporary round of globalization seeks to finish what colonization started by forcibly removing Adavasi and Scheduled Tribes in a process similar to primitive accumulation. Understanding this dynamic explains the Naxalites’ continuing appeal in contemporary India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the impact of India’s land-allocation and registration program in West Bengal, a program that targets poor populations and promotes the inclusion of women’s names on land titles. Although we are unable to detect statistically significant program effects on current household food security, we find that the program has positive impacts on a range of outcomes that are expected to lay the foundation for future food security including improved security of tenure, agricultural investments, and women’s involvement in food and agricultural decisions. Findings provide lessons in designing and implementing innovative and integrated approaches to reduce hunger and undernutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, human population has increased six-fold from 200 million to 1200 million that coupled with economic growth has resulted in significant land use and land cover (LULC) changes during 1880-2010. However, large discrepancies in the existing LULC datasets have hindered our efforts to better understand interactions among human activities, climate systems, and ecosystem in India. In this study, we incorporated high-resolution remote sensing datasets from Resourcesat-1 and historical archives at district (N = 590) and state (N = 30) levels to generate LULC datasets at 5 arc minute resolution during 1880-2010 in India. Results have shown that a significant loss of forests (from 89 million ha to 63 million ha) has occurred during the study period. Interestingly, the deforestation rate was relatively greater under the British rule (1880-1950s) and early decades after independence, and then decreased after the 1980s due to government policies to protect the forests. In contrast to forests, cropland area has increased from 92 million ha to 140.1 million ha during 1880-2010. Greater cropland expansion has occurred during the 1950-1980s that coincided with the period of farm mechanization, electrification, and introduction of high yielding crop varieties as a result of government policies to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. The rate of urbanization was slower during 1880-1940 but significantly increased after the 1950s probably due to rapid increase in population and economic growth in India. Our study provides the most reliable estimations of historical LULC at regional scale in India. This is the first attempt to incorporate newly developed high-resolution remote sensing datasets and inventory archives to reconstruct the time series of LULC records for such a long period in India. The spatial and temporal information on LULC derived from this study could be used by ecosystem, hydrological, and climate modeling as well as by policy makers for assessing the impacts of LULC on regional climate, water resources, and biogeochemical cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Discusses the production structure changes in Mumbai city. [•] Presents a study of an area to show divergence between planned and actual land use. [•] The first deviation is an extensive conversion of industrial to commercial land use. [•] The second deviation is in the form of the prevalence of slum settlements. [•] These deviations suggest that development plan is rigid and is not inclusive. [•] Advocates re-thinking of urban planning, especially in planning process and instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study is to locate and decipher the groundwater quality, types, and hydrogeochemical reactions, which are responsible for elevated concentration of fluoride in the Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh, India. Groundwater samples, quality data and other ancillary information were collected for 26 villages in the Chhindwara District, M.P. India during May 2006. The saturation index was computed for the selected samples in the region, which suggest that generally most of the minerals are saturated with respect to water. The concentration of fluoride in the region varies from 0.6 to 4.74 mg/l, which is much higher as per the national and international water quality standards. The study also reveals that the fluoride bearing rock formations are the main source of the higher concentration of fluoride in groundwater along with the conjuncture of land use change. Moreover, the area is a hard rock terrain and consists of fractured granites and amygdaloidal and highly jointed compact basalt acting as good aquifer, which is probably enriching the high content of fluoride in groundwater. High concentration of fluoride is found in deeper level of groundwater and it is possible due to rock-water interaction, which requires further detailed investigation. The highly alkaline conditions indicate fluorite dissolution, which works as a major process for higher concentration of fluoride in the study area. The results of this study will ultimately help in the identification of risk areas and taking measures to mitigate negative impacts related to fluoride pollution and toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]