This booklet attempts to present: key issues in privatisation and commercialisation of water; global experiences of the promises and practices of privatisation, an overview of privatisation projects in the country, a broad picture of the commercialisation of the water sector under the reforms program, impacts of privatisation and commercialisation and emerging resistance, key players including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank and the roles played by them, and possible options to privatisation.

This report highlights the environmental degradation at Daurala town in Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh, as a result of heavy metals contamination within agricultural soils. The report focused n the resulting serious adverse impacts on the health and well being of the local residents due to the leaching of these heavy metals into their drinking water resources. Inappropriate discharge of contaminated industrial wastes from local prominent industry DCM Shriram Industries Limited was highlighted as a primary source of metals contaminants.

The study highlights the importance of strengthening institutions for environment management in sustaining and accelerating India's strong growth performance.

This study evaluates the presence and extent of toxic pollutants within surface and groundwater resources of the Hindon river catchment. The devastating impacts of this contamination of water resources of the health of those living within the catchment is highlighted.

Economic valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services is possibly the most powerful tool for halting the loss of biodiversity while maintaining incomes and livelihoods. Yet rarely have such approaches been applied to tropical forest "hotspots", which house the vast majority of the planet's plant and animal species. This groundbreaking work is the most comprehensive and detailed examination of the economics of environmental valuation and biodiversity conservation to date.

The global debate over who should take action to address climate change is extremely precarious, as diametrically opposed perceptions of climate justice threaten the prospects for any long-term agreement. Poor nations fear limits on their efforts to grow economically and meet the needs of their own people, while powerful industrial nations, including the United States, refuse to curtail their own excesses unless developing countries make similar sacrifices.

This book concentrates on transactions involving forward carbon credits, in other words transactions where the parties to a contract agree to buy or sell carbon credits to be generated and delivered in the future. As a result, it does not deal either with transactions involving carbon credits already issued for immediate delivery on the spot market or with derivatives in the form of option contracts or future contracts through the developing exchange markets.

Rising energy prices, geopolitics and concerns over the impacts of green house gas emissions on climate change are increasing the demand for biofuel production. This paper explores the land and water implications of increased biofuel production globally and with special focus on these two important countries, using the WATERSIM model. It concludes that, although of minor concern at global level, local and regional impacts could be substantial.

This study considers some aspects of the recent droughts in the Mekong region and tries to discover what could be the reasons behind them and how best they could be mitigated. The study has yielded valuable information about how communities perceive drought and climate change, and how local governments and NGOs could manage climatic disasters, particularly drought. It concludes that the drought impacts are in a real sense a reflection of developmental problems, and it provides policy options that could be implemented by communities, governments, and NGOs.

The impact of climate change on the world of today and the future is undeniable. Stipulated emission reduction targets for developed countries are still too modest under the Kyoto Protocol and the US, the world's largest polluter remains outside the agreement. The scientific community warns that a global coordinated response with participation of the major emitters and rapidly growing economies of China and India is the only way forward to avoid the worse predicted effects of global warming. This paper reviews the debates and attempts to trace the path to the future.