eChapters

Introduction

In the last two decades global climate change has perceptible and marked impact on the monsoon pattern in India. Delayed and inadequate monsoon has become a recurrent feature and the country is in the grip of drought-flood cycles. Right from the beginning of large scale irrigation that brought green revolution and food self sufficiency to the country, there is a strong feeling that full potential of rivers of the country is not tapped (Table 1).

Introduction
Human activity on the environment is the root cause of many environmental issues. The standard of the environment we live in must be each of our own concerns. The quality of our surroundings can be enhanced or degraded by our individual actions. As a result, people must feel obligated to preserve the environment by leading ethical and ecologically conscious lives.
Conservation
best possible use of human, environmental, and cultural resources in national development programs. The Latin terms “servare” (keep watch) and “con” (together) denote this.
Conservation Goals
1. Preservation of the environment’s quality.
2. Assure a steady supply of valuable material. Role of Individuals in Conserving Resources
The Diversity of Life
1. Gain an appreciation for all living things.
2. Make regular efforts to plant trees.
3. Cut back on the amount of wood and paper goods you use, recycle paper goods, and purchase recycled goods.

Introduction
A natural disaster refers to a significant and harmful occurrence caused by the Earth’s natural processes. Examples of natural disasters include floods, storms, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other geologic phenomena. A natural calamity can result in fatalities or destruction of property, and usually leads to economic harm, the extent of which is determined by the afflicted population’sability to bounce back and the availability of infrastructure.
Categories of Natural Disasters/ Catastrophes
Floods
A flood is the result of water overflowing and covering land. According to the EU Floods Directive, a flood is defined as the temporary  inundation of territory that istypically not submerged in water. Flooding can occur when the amount of water in ariver or lake exceeds its  capacity, causing the water to overflow and breach its normal borders. The size of a lake or other body of water may alter due to seasonal variations in precipitation and snow melt. However, it is not considered a substantial flood unlessthe water submerges land that is utilized by humans, such as villages, cities, populated areas, highways, and farms.

Introduction
The rapid advancement of information technology in recent years has led to an explosion in the awareness of environmental concerns and issues pertaining to human health. UNEP created UNEP net, the green global Internet, as well as the satellite communication system.
Information technology is necessary for environmental management.
The general population, especially in developing nations, and decision- and policymakers still have limited or no access to this information in a readily comprehensible format. Politicians and the general public have not yet been able to personally experience the effects of ozone layer depletion, climate change, or biodiversity loss. These are all new challenges, and scientists strongly advise taking more immediate action than legislators are able to. Thus, it is more crucial than ever to close the knowledge gap between scientists and decision-makers in order to formulate environmental policy.
UNEP created the Global Resource Information Database in 1985 in an effort to close this information gap and give the world’s population access to current, trustworthy environmental data. Telecommunications and geographic information technology were used as strategic tools to do this, with the former being used for information exchange and analysis and the latter for information distribution.

In his classic book ‘The Ascent of Man’, Bronowski has written, “When I was a young man, we all thought that mastery came from man’s domination of his physical environment. Now we have learned that real mastery comes from understanding and moulding the living environment.” Our Biosphere, the living environment that supports us all, has problems and we humans are mainly responsible. We do not live ‘gently’ on the earth. The seven billion of us require air, water, food, energy, housing and amenities and we have developed the earth to provide them and have also created problems. That the problems exist are serious is the bad news. That we are recognizing them and that man has shown ability to organize and grow in ascending order from time to time is the good news.

Reducing the input costs in farming, especially agrochemicals and improving the yields of farm products in environmentally sustainable way, is one of the most important challenges. World over, the understanding of alternative eco-friendly inputs and intelligent integration of such products with the farming practices are the areas which need to be emphasized, understood and demonstrated. Our experience of working with farmers in different regions has convinced us that they all are looking for alternative, eco-friendly and cost effective inputs and the only way to convince them is practical demonstrations. 
Eco safe farming is a global challenge and needs combined efforts of NGO_s and farmers bodies, private and public sector industries and scientists in the institutions and universities. There are many challenges and many success stories and some typical once are listed here.

Indian Government has several developmental programmes to promote agriculture and rural sector. It includes Drought Prone Area Program, Antodaya Programme, Integrated Rural Development Programme, Hill Area Development Programme, Desert Development Programme, Intensive Jawahar Rojgar Yojna and Employment Assurance Scheme, Indira AwaasYojna, Integrated Waste Land Development Programme, National Food Security Mission, National Horticulture Mission, etc. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has the main focus to provide guaranteed employment for 100 days in a year to every rural household. Since 2014, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has been a major initiative by the Government of India.

Normally we associate our agriculture and food supply with farms and villages. The new trends of greener cities and urban and peri urban horticulture (UPH) are emerging very fast. Towns and cities in the world’s developing countries are growing at great speed. Ten years ago, an estimated 40 percent of the developing world’s population or 2 billion people lived in urban areas. Since then, their numbers have expanded twice as fast as total population growth, to more than 2.5 billion. By 2025, more than half the developing world’s population of 3.5 billion will be urban. Again most of the world’s fastest growing cities are in Asia and Africa with young population.

Since many decades environmentalists have warned of perils of chemicalised sports grounds, golf courses and cricket fields. They warn that our health is inextricably linked to the widespread use of toxic chemicals and also complain about the non-availability of safe alternatives.
Eco-sustainable sports fields must use the methods : 
    ·    That do not pollute
    ·    That are environment-friendly and effective
    ·    That economize on the use of water and energy

3.1 Introduction

There is now latest national thinking going on to conserve the known sources of energy such as firewood, cow dung, agricultural waste, kerosene, oil etc. i.e. by limiting their conventional uses and to propagate the use of non conventional energy especially in the rural area. The large scale indiscriminate use of non commercial fuels fully in the rural areas are not only providing to be inefficient but also inadequate to cope with the growing rural energy demand caused by growing population and growing consciousness among rural people for a better way of life. Planned input of energy are, therefore urgently require to protect the environment and to cope with raising rural energy demand. In order to assess the widening gap between the supply and demand of commercial energy and indiscriminate use of non commercial fuels in rural areas, there is a need for various types of statistical or quantified information to be collected and analyzed in an objective manner and presented suitability so as to serve as a sound basis for taking policy decision to make an optimum utilization of commercial energy in a balanced manner. This will require conducting of survey in areas to be covered.

The statistical data may be collected by complete enumeration or by a sample survey. The earlier method is very cumbersome, time consuming, cost ineffective and requires an intensive development of manpower, if domains of study is quite large. Complete enumeration and sample surveys presuppose the existence of a certain minimum of facilities such as funds, professional personnel for planning the survey methodology and supervision of field operations, sufficiently qualified enumerators, sampling frames, machine tabulation equipment, transport and communication facilities etc. These facilities or combinations there of do not always exist to the extent needed for a complete enumeration survey. As such, sample survey is preferred to complete enumeration for ethic type of studies giving due importance to sampling error.

In the integrated energy planning, there is an objective to find out the present consumption pattern of energy for different end uses, shortages being experienced and people’s reaction to using alternate sources of energy is also enumerated.

The survey methods determine – incident, distribution and the interrelation among sociological variable and psychological variable. The sociological variable s consists of age, education, income and attitude, behavior, motivation, belief and knowledge about the problem.

The Late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is described as a great patriot, visionary leader and the 11th President of India ( 2002 – 2007 ). The country would have celebrated his 84th birth day on 15th October 2015. To many like me, he was the most ideal role model that the youth of India needed, in recent time. He emerged as a complete human-being who touched the lives of people.

My first meeting with him was when he visited IPCL in eighties - as the DRDO Chief to discuss about Carbon Fiber and Composites. I was heading GSFC’s R&D Centre and other facilities like engineering plastic Nylon – 6 and their Composites and hence was invited to join the discussions. That interaction left a strong impression in my mind. Later when I became Vice Chancellor of Gujarat Agricultural University, I had many more opportunities to meet him and was often surprised at his deep rooted interest and knowledge in every sphere of Science & Technology. Subsequently, to my delight, I received an invitation from his office on the eve of 26th January evening - at home with the President and later was given more time for a one-to-one meeting the next day. Walking across the corridors of the Rashtrapathi Bhavan, the atmosphere looked rather formal and uneasy for me, but, as I was ushered into his room, I saw Dr. Kalam wearing his favourite blue shirt and smiling. He moved forward and greeted me with the same friendliness and warmth. As we started talking about Agriculture scenario, the work I was planning and the future prospects, I marveled at his understanding and insight and left the room truly inspired. 

These three requirements are required to be followed in sequence for getting maximum benefits. However, integrated rural energy concept is a new area of work and not much experience is available in this field as compared to other rural development activities. It is difficult to give any guidelines for planning. One can only recommend approaches and not solutions to planning.

The rural area in developing countries are almost always rich in one or another sources of energy, which could be used separately or in combination with other sources in decentralized small scale units, or even on a household scale. Thus, the problem is one of good planning, management and a strong educational and promotions campaign, rather than the non availability of resources or the lack of technology. Further, after planning, prefect development of device and their effective operation is required.

The purpose of the Integrated Rural Energy Planning project should be clearly defined. It may design either for research and development or demonstration for Popularisation of system, education and training, promotion, health or combination of these.

It is usually better to start with a small size to gain experience and build up confidence before undertaking the large scale project. As defined earlier, one of primary requirement of Integrated Rural Energy Planning is to develop energy demand pattern, energy supply system and optimally match demand with supply.

The term biodiversity is used by Walter and Roses in 1985. Biodiversity means the existence of a large number of different kinds of animals and plants which make a balanced environment. According to “Convocation on biological diversity (1992)”-Biodiversity is present in terrestrial, ocean and aquatic ecosystem. This diversity present in between same species, different species and in different ecosystem.

7.1 Summary

Climate change is a complex global phenomenon that poses significant challenges for agriculture including uncertainty about future weather patterns, soil conditions, and other environmental factors. Farmers are facing the difficult task of interpreting and responding to these changes in order to maintain their livelihoods and ensure food security for growing populations. In this context, mental modelling has emerged as a useful approach for understanding how farmers interpret and respond to climate change. Mental models are cognitive representations of how individuals understand and make decisions about complex systems, and can be used to identify key drivers of behaviour and decision-making.

The present study has explored the social, ecological, and economic factors that influence farmers’ mental models on perception of climate change, level of uncertainty and trend of agricultural change in the selected study area. It argues that farmers’ mental models are shaped by a range of factors, including their own experiences and observations, social networks and interactions, access to information and resources, and broader economic and political contexts. The present study has also highlighted the role of uncertainty in shaping farmers’ mental models and decision-making. Uncertainty about the future impacts of climate change can create significant challenges for farmers, as they must make decisions based on incomplete information and uncertain predictions.

Abiotic Environment

The physical or abiotic environment includes all those physical and non-living chemical aspects, which exert an influence on living organisms. The abiotic components are soil, water, air and energy from various sources. These provide both habitation and raw material for the synthesis of organic food.

6.1 Biodiversity

Biodiversity means biological diversity. It measures the variety of the earth’s animal, plant and microbial species; of genetic difference within species and of the ecosystems that support the species in its widest. Biodiversity is virtually synonymous with “life on earth”, this word was coined in 1985. Biodiversity is the degree of variety in nature and not nature itself.

To a layman, wasteland is a piece of land, which is lying uninhabited or uncultivated. These lands are also commonly perceived to produce much less than their potential. Depleted of the green cover and productivity, such lands are often in a critical condition. Broadly, wastelands may be defined as land where the production of biomass is less than its optimum ‘productivity. Wasteland also refers to lands, which are economically unproductive, ecologically unstable and subject to environmental deterioration.

In November 1992 a document entitled Warning to Humanity was released, signed by 1500 scientists from around the world, including 99 Nobel laureates, and the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The document stated that “human beings and the natural world are on a collision course,” which “may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know.”

Introduction

We are blessed with solar energy in abundance at no cost. The solar radiation incident on the surface of the earth can be conveniently utilized for the benefit of human society. Solar energy can be used as thermal energy for water heating, cooking, drying, distillation, space heating, cooling and power generation or it can be converted to electricity through photovoltaic cells, commonly known as solar cells. One of the popular devices that harness the solar energy is solar hot water system (SHWS). Flat plate collectors are used for low temperature applications (below 100^oC) while concentrators are preferred for higher temperatures. The most efficient application of flat plate collector is for getting hot water. Hot water in winter is an essential requirement for domestic uses such as bathing, cleaning of utensils and washing of clothes. In rural areas hot water is also required for softening of animal feed. Generally it is obtained by using firewood and cow dung cake in rural areas or using kerosene, liquid petroleum gas, coal or electricity in urban areas. Therefore, the use of solar water heaters will conserve lot of commercial and non-commercial fuels which are being wasted in merely getting hot water. A solar water heating system (SWHS) is made of several important elements: one or more solar collectors, a pump, a heat exchanger, a storage tank (or multiple tanks) and a back-up storage tank. The Solar heating system can be classified as passive or active. For water heating purposes, the general practice is to use flat plate solar energy collectors (FPC). The evacuated tube collectors (ETC) and evacuated tube heat pipe collectors (ETHP) are more efficient, though, the initial cost is comparatively higher. There are three type of water heaters extensively studied by various workers viz. natural circulation, collector-cum-storage and forced circulation in all over the world.

Introduction

A solar collector, the special energy exchanger, converts solar irradiation energy either to the thermal energy of the working fluid in solar thermal applications, or to the electric energy directly in Photovoltaic (PV) applications. For solar thermal applications, solar irradiation is absorbed by a solar collector as heat which is then transferred to its working fluid (air, water or oil). The heat carried by the working fluid can be used to either provide domestic hot water/heating, or to charge a thermal energy storage tank from which the heat can be drawn for use later (at night or cloudy days). Solar collectors are usually classified into two categories according to concentration ratios: non-concentrating collectors and concentrating collectors. A non-concentrating collector has the same intercepting area as its absorbing area, whilst a sun-tracking concentrating solar collector usually has concave reflecting surfaces to intercept and focus the solar irradiation to a much smaller receiving area, resulting in an increased heat flux so that the thermodynamic cycle can achieve higher Carnot efficiency when working under higher temperatures.