Journal Articles
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://idr.nitk.ac.in/handle/123456789/19884
Browse
12 results
Search Results
Item Sustainable treatment of paint industry wastewater: Current techniques and challenges(Academic Press, 2021) Nair K, S.; Manu, B.; Azhoni, A.Paint manufacturing industries produce wastewater containing high chemical oxygen demand and turbidity, besides organic matter, suspended solids, and heavy metals that cause enormous environmental damages. Safely treating this wastewater before being disposed to the natural water sources is essential for attaining the UN SDGs, particularly Goal 14: Life under water. Besides being efficient, wastewater treatment techniques must be sustainable – environmentally, economically, and ethically. While a few papers have reviewed specific treatment methods for certain pollutants, such as heavy metals, oils, and azo dyes from industrial wastewater, a comprehensive review of various treatment methods for all the pollutants of a particular industrial wastewater – paint industry – is lacking. This paper reviews the current treatment methods used for treating paint industry wastewater including the physicochemical, biological, and chemical treatment techniques. The physicochemical techniques produce large amount of sludge making it difficult for disposal while biological treatment techniques are difficult to maintain because of the uncertainties in the chemical compositions of the paint wastewater. Advanced oxidation processes are emerging as preferred methods among the chemical methods for reducing the toxicity of the various components of the paint wastewater with reduced sludge quantity. The review of various emerging techniques of paint industry wastewater treatments in this paper points to the need for paying greater attention to combining the oxidation and biological processes as they are emerging as sustainable methods for effective reduction of toxicity in paint wastewater while also reducing the sludge management challenges. © 2021 Elsevier LtdItem The land–river interface: a conceptual framework of environmental process interactions to support sustainable development(Springer, 2022) Grabowski, R.C.; Vercruysse, K.; Holman, I.; Azhoni, A.; Bala, B.; Shankar, V.; Beale, J.; Mukate, S.; Poddar, A.; Peng, J.; Meersmans, J.Rivers and their surrounding lands are focal points of human development in the landscape. However, activities associated with development can greatly affect river processes, causing significant and often unintended environmental and human impacts. Despite the profound and varied environmental impacts that development-related alterations cause through hydrological, geomorphic, and ecological processes, they are not widely acknowledged outside of river management and affect resource availability and hazard exposure to people. In this paper, we propose a novel, interdisciplinary conceptual framework of river–land process interactions to support sustainable management and development. We introduce the term ‘land–river interface’ (LRI) to describe areas of the landscape in which river processes affect land, vegetation, and/or fauna, including humans, directly or indirectly. The multiple links between LRI processes and factors at the river basin, valley, and river channel (i.e. reach) scale are synthesized and a conceptual zonation of the LRI based on the process is proposed to serve as a framework to understand the impacts of human activity. Three examples of development-related activities (urbanization, dams and aggregate mining) illustrate how alteration to the form and functioning of river basins, valleys, and channels cause a range of impacts to be propagated throughout the landscape, often spatially or temporally distant from the activity. The diversity and severity of these impacts on the environment and people underscore the need to incorporate river processes, as represented in the LRI concept, into broader environmental management to better anticipate and mitigate negative impacts and maximize positive outcomes to deliver the benefits of sustainable development across society. © 2022, The Author(s).Item Placed-based interpretation of the sustainable development goals for the land-river interface(Springer, 2022) Vercruysse, K.; Grabowski, R.C.; Holman, I.; Azhoni, A.; Bala, B.; Meersmans, J.; Peng, J.; Shankar, V.; Mukate, S.; Poddar, A.; Wang, X.; Zhang, Z.The land–river interface (LRI) is important for sustainable development. The environmental processes that define the LRI support the natural capital and ecosystem services that are linked directly to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, existing approaches to scale up or down SDG targets and link them to natural capital are insufficient for the two-way human–environment interactions that exist in the LRI. Therefore, this study proposes a place-based approach to interpret the SDG framework to support sustainable land/water management, by (i) identifying key priorities for sustainable development through a normative content analysis of the SDG targets, and (ii) illustrating these priorities and associated challenges within the LRI, based on a literature review and case-studies on human–environment interactions. The content analysis identifies three overarching sustainable development priorities: (i) ensuring improved access to resources and services provided by the LRI, (ii) strengthening the resilience of the LRI to deal with social and natural shocks, and (iii) increasing resource efficiency. The review of the current state of LRIs across the world confirms that these are indeed priority areas for sustainable development. Yet, the challenges of attaining the sustainable development priorities in the LRI are also illustrated with three examples of development-related processes. Urbanisation, dam construction, and aggregate mining occur within specific zones of the LRI (land, land–river, river, respectively), but their impacts can compromise sustainable development across the entire LRI and beyond. The existence of these unintended impacts highlights the need to consider the geomorphic, hydrological, and ecological processes within the LRI and how they interact with human activity. Identifying the place-based priorities and challenges for sustainable development will help achieve the SDGs without compromising the functions and services of the LRI. © 2022, The Author(s).Item GIS based coastal vulnerability assessment and adaptation barriers to coastal regulations in Dakshina Kannada district, India(Elsevier B.V., 2022) Rehman, S.; Jahangir, S.; Azhoni, A.Coastal areas represent fragile and complex ecosystems. Changes in climate, increasing urbanization and industrialization are creating immense pressure on the coastal environment. Coastal erosion, sea level rise, changing morphology of the coastal areas and extreme weather events are some of the threats that coastal regions are experiencing globally. While various studies have assessed the vulnerability of coastal regions quantitatively and spatially, there is a need to supplement these findings with qualitative insights based on human experiences. Thus, the present study carried out a coastal vulnerability assessment along the coastline of Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, India using Shannon's Entropy by including eight parameters i.e., slope, elevation, geomorphology, bathymetry, sea level rise, mean tidal range, mean significant wave height and shoreline change. The study also explored the experiences and perceptions of stakeholders regarding adaptation barriers to climate change vulnerabilities for understanding the ground complexities. Coastal vulnerability index (CVI) revealed that nearly 39.7 km of the coastline is vulnerable including areas along Sasihtlu beach, Munda, New Mangalore Port Batapady beach, Uchilla, Kotekar, Ullal beach, Netravati River Area and Mukka beach. Rainfall induced coastal erosion, lack of coordination among the various stakeholders, policy makers and practitioners regarding a common framework for climate change adaptation strategies were identified adaptation barriers. The findings of CVI and adaptation barriers may be used by practitioners and policy makers for framing the adaptation measures for mitigating the implications of the coastal region. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.Item Identifying evolving priorities in national river governance from Parliamentary Questions(IWA Publishing, 2022) Azhoni, A.; Holman, I.; Grabowski, R.C.Rivers and their surrounding land provide resources and services that result in trade-offs requiring legislative and institutional interventions, for which the perspectives of law-policymakers and their societal values and political expediencies play a major role in decision-making. This study critically evaluates the evolving land–river governance in large democratically elected governments with complex developmental priorities and how law-policymakers’ recognition of emerging issues of river management influences common pool environmental resources governance. We selected an emerging economy – India – and analysed Parliamentary Questions (PQs) between 1999 and 2020 using a mixed method approach. Conflicting priorities over economic development, pollution management, socio-cultural values and inter-state–centre issues shape the evolving priorities of land–river governance. A declining focus on large-scale dams coupled with increasing attention on inter-basin water transfers, river conservation and pollution abatement, demonstrates an evolution away from the earlier narrow view of rivers for irrigation and hydropower. Our analysis demonstrates how the priorities of law-policymakers and political expedience play a critical role in river governance and thereby provide important insights into common pool environmental resources governance for sustainable development while also identifying important knowledge gaps and suggesting scopes for interdisciplinary studies. © 2022 The Authors.Item Analyzing landslide susceptibility, health vulnerability and risk using multi-criteria decision-making analysis in Arunachal Pradesh, India(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Rehman, S.; Azhoni, A.Landslides being a widespread disaster are associated with susceptibility, vulnerability and risk. The physical factors inducing landslides are relatively well-known. However, how landslide susceptibility will be exacerbated by climate change, impede the attainment of the sustainable development goals and increase health vulnerability is relatively less explored. We present an integrated assessment of landslide susceptibility, health vulnerability and overall risk to understand these interconnected dimensions using Arunachal Pradesh, India, as a case study, which is susceptible to landslides due to its topography and climate conditions. Landslide susceptibility was examined using twenty landslide conditioning parameters through the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). The susceptibility map was validated using the area under the ROC curve (AUC). National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4) data were used to analyze the health vulnerability, while the overall risk was computed through the integration of susceptibility and vulnerability. Landslide susceptibility analysis indicated that nearly 22% area of the state is characterized by moderate susceptibility followed by high (17%) and very high susceptibility (13%). High elevation, slope, rainfall, SPI, drainage density and complex geology were identified as the causative factors of landslides. In the case of health vulnerability, East Kameng and Lohit districts were found to be very highly vulnerable, while Papum Pare, Changlang and Tirap districts experience high health vulnerability due to high degree of exposure and sensitivity. Overall risk analysis revealed over 16.8% area of the state is under moderate risk followed by high (9.8%) and very high (4.2%) risk. Linking this analysis with the climate change projections and SDG goals attainment revealed that Papum Pare, Upper Subansiri, Tirap and West Kameng require priority for lessening susceptibility, vulnerability and risk for achieving sustainable development. A strong correlation (99%) between HVI and risk further demonstrates the need for lessening health vulnerability and risk in the study area. Furthermore, our study contributes additional insights into landslide susceptibility by considering heal vulnerability and risk which may help in planning sustainable development strategies in a changing climate. © 2022, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences & Polish Academy of Sciences.Item Livelihood vulnerability assessment and climate change perception analysis in Arunachal Pradesh, India(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Rehman, S.; Azhoni, A.; Chabbi, P.H.Climate change induced frequent disasters pose severe threats to agro-based rural livelihoods. Perceptions of risks play a critical role in planning and averting disasters. Lack of analytical documentation concerning how vulnerable communities perceive climate risks is a barrier to addressing and averting disasters and maladaptation. Applying a mixed approach, this study examines the perception of households concerning climate change and analyses the impacts of climate change on livelihood in Arunachal Pradesh, the largest northeastern state of India, with severe climate related challenges. Conceptual livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) framework of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is adopted to analyse the climate change induced vulnerability on livelihood. A total 450 households from 18 villages located in the districts of Arunachal Pradesh were surveyed during October, 2021 for retrieving the ground complexities in the region. Decrease in yields, frequent landslides and floods, livestock losses and unpredictable weather condition were perceived by the sampled households. The LVI analysis indicated that households are vulnerable in Arzoo, Perum, Pekong and Amliang villages requiring priority for lessening livelihood vulnerability and increasing coping capacity of the communities. Correlation analysis indicated that climate variability, natural disaster, health, food and social components attributed to livelihood vulnerability in the study area. Alternate livelihood, enhancing preparedness to disasters, inclusion of women in workforce, sustainable livelihood practices and government assistance are some of the suggestions made to enhance the adaptation of local communities in a sustainable way. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.Item Multihazard Assessment of the Sutlej-Beas River Basin Using Bivariate Statistical Frequency Ratio (FR) Model and Management Barriers of Land-River Interface(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Rehman, S.; Azhoni, A.Climate change coupled with increased anthropogenic activities intensifies the potency and frequency of extreme weather events. While multihazard assessments of these extreme weather events enhance the estimation of hazard susceptibility, it must be coupled with identifying institutional barriers of managing the land-river interface. Thus, this study has carried out a multihazard susceptibility assessment based on landslide and flood susceptibility in the Sutlej-Beas River basin and prepared flood and landslide susceptibility maps using eleven causative parameters through a bivariate statistical frequency ratio (FR) model. This statistical evaluation of hazard susceptibility from multiple factors is supplemented by identifying the key barriers of managing the land-river interface, producing a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges of mitigating extreme weather-related hazards in a river basin. Nearly 51% of the study area was identified as susceptible to landslide while 43% was under flood and 48% area was observed under multihazard susceptibility. Landslides, floods, and multihazard followed a similar pattern of spatial distribution where elevation, population, drainage density, stream power index (SPI), and rainfall were identified as the contributing parameters. Changing attitudes of people toward rivers, lack of coordination among different stakeholders, and deficit funds were identified as prominent barriers in the case of land-river management. Susceptibility maps generated in this study will help in identifying the areas under hazard susceptibility while the identified institutional barriers may guide towards contextual sustainable planning of the basin and attainment of sustainable development goals. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Item Network analysis of water-related ecosystem services in search of solutions for sustainable catchment management: A case study in Sutlej-Beas River systems, India(Elsevier B.V., 2023) Yu, S.; Peng, J.; Xia, P.; Wang, Q.; Grabowski, R.C.; Azhoni, A.; Bala, B.; Shankar, V.; Meersmans, J.Hydrological processes and ecosystem interactions are instrumental in sustaining local populations by providing various water-related ecosystem services (ES). Numerous studies gave priority to the theories and methods of building networks that emphasized different stakeholders. However, little study has examined the complex relationships among water-related ES themselves and how relevant human activities affect ES networks. To narrow this gap, in this study we quantified four critical water-related ES (flood mitigation, hydropower production, soil retention, and water conservation), set up six ES network types based on the synergy relationship, and further explored the effect of human activities on these networks. The results showed that among six ES network categories, networks with four fully linked ES occupied a large percentage of 23.20% while the network with one central ES linking two others accounted for the lowest percentage (9.28%). Compared with other ES, soil retention tended to be less centralized within the networks. In addition, land use intensity was found to greatly influence the ES networks compared with other indicators, especially for less complex networks. Our results highlighted the importance of network analysis in searching solutions for sustainable catchment management. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.Item Impact of recent floods on river morphology of Upper Krishna River: a decadal analysis using remote sensing approach(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2024) Choudhary, P.; Azhoni, A.; Devatha, C.P.Alluvial rivers are dynamic landscapes on the earth’s surface that evolve with time. While many studies have examined the immediate effects of floods on river channels, there is a lack of research that investigates the longer-term evolution of river morphology following such events. The present study was carried out on the Upper Krishna River which flows between the southern part of Maharashtra and the northern part of Karnataka states in India for 375 Km. The morphological parameters were analyzed for three decades (1991–2021) and the year 2019 with the highest flood level was also considered for change analysis. The assessment was done for change in active channel area, mean width, bank line migration, sinuosity index, and erosion-accretion. The land use classification was also analyzed for the study period to understand the exposure to future floods. The spatial data was retrieved from different satellite missions and analyzed with the help of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS). The river was divided into seven segments (R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, and R7) and bank lines were digitised manually to minimise possible errors. The results show that during the study period, the river channel has been modified in terms of active channel area expansion in the R1, R5, R6, and R7, and erosion was found the dominating process while the left bank was more erosive than the right bank of the river. The built-up area was seen going through a major expansion than any other land use class. The discharge and sediment data confirm the flood years (1994, 2005, 2006, and 2019) which accelerated the morphological activity in the river segment. The results of the study provide new insights related to short-term morphological changes in the Upper Krishna River and can be used by policymakers and managers to carry out future development plans and river training work at affected sites. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024.