TRINET NEWSLETTER
July 2010 Newsletter
From this, the 61st issue of the TRINet newsletter, you will see a new look in the format that reaches you by email as well as in the content, made considering that we have crossed five years. The focus of the newsletter, nevertheless, remains coastal, environmental and community issues. We would appreciate your opinions, ideas, and suggestions on the form and content of the newsletter to info.trinet@gmail.com.
The lead story is on Nine of the Most Dangerous Oil Disasters in History followed by News Headlines from the Indian coast, and this time, we handpicked two interesting debates on TED and a link to watch Mike Pandey's film on whale sharks, on Youtube. There's a book review and TRINet DeBunk, a new feature that answers questions on the predicted solar storm of 2013, if we can make DNA as we wish and if mankind suddenly appeared on this planet.
July08 TRINet Newsletter
With this issue we begin the fourth year of the TRINet newsletter (the first issue was dated July 2005).
It seems rather important that this year's Biodiversity Day focused on Biodiversity and Agriculture and this is also the focus of this newsletter. An abstract of a paper that is to be presented at an international conference on agriculture rehab in Nagapattinam immediately after the tsunami is also included in this newsletter.
The draft CMZ notification has been making waves in varied circles and has caught the attention of the state governments and industry. It is interesting to note that almost everyone is clear that management is not an option we should consider at this point in time.
The newsletter contains some useful reads and also a brief about two volumes of very useful and interesting information from the government of TN on tsunami rehab. The coastal news snippets and news items on tsunami rehab (not many now) also feature in the newsletter.
July09 TRINet Newsletter
Last year, Bedroc, Nagapattinam was commissioned to study disaster resilience of communities and changes that have happened in these areas especially post tsunami. These findings have been presented using a framework created by John Twigg based on the Hyogo Framework of Action (HFA), the global blueprint for DRR. The findings of the Bedroc study were interesting and they are the focus of the July TRINet newsletter. The Newsletter also contains an update on sea safety issues and news you can use. In addition, the useful reads section looks into a text book on Disaster Management - an important addition to the bookshelf, as well as the Global assessment report on DRR which incidentally points out how high in the global scale India stands with respect to facing risks from various natural disasters. All this only reinforces the motto "Be Prepared".
June TRINet Newsletter
World Biodiversity Day is observed every year on 22nd May. This year’s theme was “Invasive Alien Species”. As pointed out by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “An unwanted by-product of globalization, non-native species, is harming ecosystem services, livelihoods and economies throughout the world”. Climate change has an important role to play in the distribution of alien species which become invaders and pests. This is the focus of the June 2009 TRINet Newsletter.
The newsletter also contains additional reading on this subject, Useful Reads (recent reports) and news you can use.
June07 TRINet Newsletter
The newsletter also carries a note on the function where 451 houses were given away to beneficiaries as part of the SIFFS housing project. This issue of the newsletter also carries useful reads, notes on meetings and the usual rehab snippets to give an idea of the progress in tsunami rehab in India.
June08 TRINet Newsletter
June 5th is observed as World Environment Day and hence the Newsletter for this month begins by looking at the importance of switching to solar and other renewable energy technologies especially in these days of rising oil prices.
The MoEF, India has put up a draft notification on replacing the CRZ 1991 with the CMZ 2008. A brief look at the significance of this notification that will only serve to open up the coast resulting in unsustainable development is the next article. Incidentlly, time is running out for sending objections and suggestions - they are due by this month end to the MoEF.
The Sea Safety Project of SIFFS was inaugurated in January this year, almost six months down the line - the progress made by the team is outlined.
The newsletter also includes the usual features of Useful Reads and updates from the media on coastal matters and tsunami rehab in India.
March 07 TRINet Newsletter
March 8th has been observed as International Women’s Day, the global day connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential. Appropriately, TRINet’s Newsletter for March looks at women, post-tsunami. The useful reads section has information on gender and disaster including an online sourcebook.
A note on the updates from the TN government as well as the rehab snippets feature as usual to give an idea of the progress of rehab especially with reference to housing & infrastructure and livelihoods.
March TRINet Newsletter
This year has been declared the Year of Climate Change. Accordingly, the plan is to carry climate change related thematic issues in the trinet newsletter.
This month's newsletter focuses on Climate Change and Fisheries. This sector is not only affected by climate change but also by overfishing, habitat destruction and other practices. The topic is so important that it is to be discussed in the coming COFI session of the FAO.
The newsletter also carries useful reads of relevance to CC and fisheries as well as news from the media including those on cc and fisheries, coastal issues and tsunami rehab.
March TRINet Newsletter
In recent times, coming together of people from different disciplines to work together has become increasingly common as the realization strikes that they are after all addressing a common problem and sustainable solutions can happen only when work is carried out in partnership mode. The International Conference on Humanitarian Technological Challenges of the 21st Century organized under the auspices of the IEEE at Trivandrum recently brought together engineers, especially from the electronics and associated disciplines and people who work with communities. An overview of the conference proceedings is included in the March 2010 issue of the TRINet Newsletter.
There are many books on CZM these days – this particular one focusing on communities and CZM with experiences from the rebuilding after the 2004 tsunami was released recently at Chennai – a short report of the function and an overview of the book are included for your kind perusal.
The Useful Reads section and News You Can Use is carried as usual in the newsletter.
March08 TRINet Newsletter
Microscopic analysis of sand and sediments is not something most of us know much about and hence it was interesting to learn some fundamentals about this field and the analyses done by practitioners in the post-tsunami scenario that have brought out some interesting findings. This field is also promising in our quest for indicators that could serve as early warning alerts for pollution, climate change and so on. This is the focus of the March 2008 TRINet Newsletter. The newsletter also contains information on the recently released report "In Dead Water" about the status of fishing worldwide as well as the usual quota of news snippets on tsunami rehabilitation and coastal issues.