National Institute of Ecology

Conferences

The National Institute of Ecology (NIE) organises conferences, seminars, symposia and workshops on a diversity of subjects in collaboration with various national and internationmal, Governmental and Non-Governmental  organizations. Information on the Forthcoming Conferences is posted here. For information on previous conferences, go to Activities page.

Announcements about Conferences/Symposia organised by other organisations can be found in the Newsletter.  

FORTHCOMING CONFERENCE

New Delhi, 14-18 January 2002

Venue
Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI Campus), New Delhi

Organised by: National Institute of Ecology

in association with

* Society for Ecological Restoration (USA) - Indian Chapter
* International Society for Tropical Ecology
* Indian Society for Agricultural Sciences

and Other Organisations

IMPORTANT

The  Conference has again been
POSTPONED

We deeply regret that
in view of the developments of the past two months following the tragic event of terrorist attacks in the USA,
the Organising Committee has decided to postpone the conference.
The sudden developments have raised security concerns around the world, and
the economic situation has also deteriorated.
New dates will be announced in spring next year (2002).

We thank all those who had expressed interest in attending the Conference and/or had submitted Abstracts of their presentation. All are being informed individually.

Background

Degradation of natural resources has been a global problem. Accelerated conversion of forests with rapid industrialization and urbanization, intensive agriculture, over-exploitation, overgrazing, mining and other human activities have resulted in the degradation of both the land and water resources. In India, more than half of its geographical area faces problems of land degradation of one or the other kind. Intensive agriculture has rendered large areas severely degraded and unproductive due to waterlogging, secondary salinity, wind and water erosion, etc. Forest resources stand greatly depleted; mountain and hill slopes stand barren and subject to increased erosion and landslides. All aquatic resources (rivers, lakes, wetlands, coastal areas, as well as groundwater) are shrinking in their extent and the water quality is highly degraded. Degradation of natural resource is a key threat to socio-economic development (especially in the developing countries like India) and to global environment (e.g., climate change and loss of biodiversity).

EcoRestoration (or ecological restoration) which means redevelopment (rehabilitation) of degraded ecosystems, is a key component of a broader subject of Suatainable Development. Ecorestoration and sustainable development are closely interlinked with the interplay of ecology, sociology, economics and culture. Ecorestoration requires that the redevelopment process accompanies parallel progress in environmental, social and economic sectors, both in short-term and long-term, and across a range of spatial scales. Such a wide goal could be achieved only with innovative approaches to designing and implementing appropriate policies and restoration technologies. In this context, linking up ecological processes with social processes becomes significant to ensure community participation in eco-restoration linked sustainable livelihood/development of local communities.

Though considerable information exists on the causes and consequences of degradation, the existing knowledge is inadequate to resolve the complexities of interlinkages between economic, social and environmental factors and processes. Many efforts have been made to check the degradation of natural resources but have not yielded the desired sustainability. Limitations of sectoral policies and institutional mechanisms in dealing with the complexity of the ecorestoration are only now being increasingly realised. It is well established that the problem of natural resource degradation can only be tackled when the totality of the soil-water-plant-animal-man interactions in the system are synergised through appropriate policies.
   
Objectives

The main objectives of the Conference are:

1. To review the existing knowledge on ecological, socio-economic and environmental dimensions of degradation of land and water resources, especially in the developing countries;
2. To document ecorestoration approaches with case studies in different countries
3. To review the impacts of government policies on ecorestoration of degraded environments;
4. To provide a sound scientific basis for developing appropriate policy framework for ecorestoration in developing countries
5. To identify areas of interdisciplinary research relevant to ecorestoration of land and water resources.

Topics to be Covered

Following is a list of major topics to be discussed at the Conference. The emphasis shall be laid on the ecological, socio-economic and policy dimensions:

1. Land and Water Resources: Degradation and Restoration
    a Spatio-temporal trends: descriptive accounts and mathematical models
    b.Driving factors and socio-economic-environmental consequences
    c. Consequences of degradation for biota
    d. Global Issues such as Biodiversity and Climate Change
2. Sustainable agriculture and Agroforestry
3. Sustainable production forestry and Joint forest management
4. Restoration of mined habitats
5. Restoration related to multipurpose river valley projects
6. Hydrological balance in mountain ecosystems
7. Restoration of Lakes
8. Restoration of Rivers
9. Restoration of Wetlands
10. Mangroves and other coastal ecosystems
11. Ground water resources
12. Watershed as a landscape unit for restoration
13. EcoRestoration : multidisciplinarity and scalar considerations
14. Combining environment, economic and social imperatives of development:
15. Combining local, national, regional and global development goals and priorities


Comprehensive Case Studies on ecorestoration will be of particular interest. Theoretical contributions are unlikely to be considered. However, participation without contribution will be welcome

International Steering Committee

Co-Chairmen
Dr D.N. Tiwari, Member, Planning Commission, Govt of india, New Delhi
Prof. O.P. Dwivedi, University of Guelph, Guelph, ont., Canada
Mr A.M. Gokhale, Additional secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, New Delhi

Members
Prof. J.S. Singh, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 5, india
Dr Panjab Singh, Director, IARI, New Delhi, India
Dr P.S. Pathak, Director, Indian Grassland & Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, India
Mr N.R. Desai, SER-India Chapter, Pune, India

CALL FOR PAPERS & SUBMISSION OF ASBSTRACTS

Researchers from all countries are invited to contribute papers for presentation at the Conference. Contributions should be original in nature and should not have been published or presented at another conference earlier, or be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

The Abstracts (an Extended Summary) of papers to be presented at the Conference must be submitted before 31 October 2001.
It should not exceed 400 words. It should be informative and should reflect the contents of the contribution.
Statements reflecting common knowledge should not be made.

The authors should declare that the paper offered for the Conference is not under publication in any journal, has not been submitted for consideration, and includes new observations or new interpretations of previously published results.

The Abstracts must be prepared strictly according to the following format:

A.B. Author, C.D. Author, and B.C. Author

Authors' Institutional address in full

TITLE OF THE CONTRIBUTED PAPER (all capital letters)
The text of the abstract....................... (To be double spaced)
..............................................................................
.................................................................................


The abstracts should preferably be submitted by EMAIL only at the address     nieindia@hotmail.com
It may be sent by post (Two hard copies) only if email facility is not available.
It should be prepared using Word Perfect 5.1 or 6.0 (for Windows) or MS-Word 6.0. Higher versions should not be used.

Acceptance of Abstracts
The Abstracts will be evaluated by the Scientific Committee. They will be judged for their brevity, clarity of expresssion and the scientific content.

Acceptance of the Abstract shall be communicated by email  to the corresponding author after 15 November 2001.
This will indicate whether the contribution is accepted for ORAL or POSTER Presentation.

Formal Invitation Letters
A formal letter of invitation will be sent to the contributors whose abstracts have been accepted for presentation. However, such invitations are meant only to raise funds and to obtain visa for travel to India. The invitation is in no way a commitment on the part of the organisers to provide any financial support.

Registration Fee:

                                            Until 15 December 2001      After 15 December 2001

Indian Participants:                     Rs 3000                              Rs 3500

Individuals joining the NIE after 1 December 2001 will NOT be entitled to the reduced Registration Fee.

ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation will be arranged in different hotels in the city. The prices vary from US$ 50 to US$ 200 per night
for single/double bed. efforts will be made to find cheaper comfortable accommodation.
DETAILS will be posted in the Second Circular.

If you wish to receive further information by email or post,
please send an email  to  nieindia@hotmail.com
with your complete Postal Address and
E-mail ID as early as possible.

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Last Updated July 25, 2001