Creating functional urban green spaces is necessary for ecological, economic and social sustainability of urban systems. Full range of benefits of urban green spaces, however, can only be realized with the developing or enriching the vegetation with native pool of species. Yet, this reality has seldom been achieved.

By 2030, according to the projections of the United Nations (UN) Population Division, each of the major regions of the developing world will hold more urban than rural dwellers; by 2050 fully two-thirds of their inhabitants are likely to live in urban areas.

Land-use options that increase resilience and reduce vulnerability of contemporary societies are fundamental to livelihoods improvement and adaptation to climate change.

Studies have shown that adverse respiratory health effects seen in the people exposed to cement dust, exemplified in increased frequency of respiratory symptoms and decreased ventilatory function, observed among cement workers could not be explained by age, BMI and smoking, thus are likely to be caused by exposure to cement dust.

In this new review paper RPCB focuses on community-based management systems and provides justification for instituting local monitoring and enforcement systems for sustainable governance of India's forests.

A large number of variables may potentially determine the success or failure of sustainable governance of forests, yet the success in finding the necessary condition has remained elusive. Recently, the Nobel Prize for 2009 in Economic Sciences has been awarded to Elinor Ostrom who made major contributions to our understanding of the governance of forests and common pool resources.

Climate change is the greatest challenge before the global society, impacting the ecology, economy and society in several ways. Changes related to the climate of Rajasthan are over and above the natural climate variability prevailing in this area. Studies have shown that Rajasthan falls within the areas of greatest climate sensitivity, maximum vulnerability and lowest adaptive capacity.

This latest review by RSPCB focuses on governance of urban green spaces for development of Jaipur as a world-class city. It reviews status of urban forestry across the world & presents strategies for creating multifunctional landscapes to enhance urban resilience and human well-being.

Rajasthan presents evidence for the existence of one of the most advanced works of ancient mining and accompanied deforestation globally. Mining continues to be an important economic activity in Rajasthan. However, economic benefits of mineral extraction also accompany environmental, economic and social costs.

Extreme climate events such as aridity, drought, flood, cyclone and stormy rainfall are expected to leave an impact on human society. They are also expected to generate widespread response to adapt and mitigate the sufferings associated with these extremes.

Original Source

Pages