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Second
International Conference on Plants and
Environmental Pollution (ICPEP-2) -A Report
By: Anil K
Gauniyal and J K Johri* NBRI, Lucknow
This
Conference Report has been taken from
“Journal
of Scientific & Industrial Research”
Vol. 61,
September 2002, pp 734-742
The second
International Conference on Plants and Environmental Pollution (ICPEP-2) was
organized at the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow (India)
from
February 4-9, 2002.
The conference was jointly organized by NBRI and International Society of
Environmental Botanists (ISEB), besides co-sponsored by many national and
international organizations. In all, over three hundred delegates, including 50
delegates from 21 foreign countries, attended the conference. The conference
was organized to provide an international forum for discussion and
deliberations among scientists, researchers and NGO's,
interested in promoting and conducting research, education and mass awareness
on environment, highlighting the role of plants in environmental protection,
pollution indication, bioremediation, biodiversity conservation and sustainable
development.
The
inaugural session was held in the afternoon of February 4, 2002. Dr K J Ahmad,
the Organizing Secretary of the conference and Secretary, International Society
of Environmental Scientists (ISEB) presented the welcome address. The
world-renowned agricultural scientists and the father of green revolution in
India, Prof MS Swaminathan, F R S, was the Chief Guest of the inaugural
session.
Prof.
Swaminathan delivered a highly illuminating lecture on "Biodiversity : An
effective safety net against environmental pollution". He said that
unsustainable lifestyle leading to unsustainable consumption of natural
resources, commercial greed, population growing in a manner that it exceeds the
supporting capacity, of the ecosystem and the continuing damage to the
ecological foundations, essential for sustainable agriculture, have all
resulted in humankind reaching the crossroad in relation to its future. In
these adverse conditions, it is the biodiversity that has the power to rescue
the humankind by providing suitable bioindicators to monitor their ecosystem,
bioremediators to clean up their spoiled locations, value added products
through bioprospecting and sustainable food, nutrition, and health care
security through the traditional but time proven agrobiodiversity and medicinal
plants preserved by tribal communities. He described in detail the various
steps required before initiating the biological monitoring programme. He
suggested simple, reliable and inexpensive methods of biomonitoring should be
popularized in all schools and colleges. Commenting about the bioremediation,
Dr Swaminathan said that the use of naturally occurring microorganisms in the
soil and water to actively degrade! remove the toxic or unwanted compounds and
transferring them into harmless substances would be very effective. About
bioprospecting, he said that advancement in the field of biotechnology and
phytochemistry, have demonstrated the need for novel genetic materials and
biomolecules for varied usages for crop improvement, health and nutritional
implements, etc. Many new organisms, which are yet to be identified may open a
new avenue for the economic development of the local community, based an
biopartnerships, he said. Discussing on biosecurity, Prof. Swaminathan informed
that MSSRP is involved in the revitalization of conservation traditions of
tribal and rural families with an aim to improve their livelihood security by
linking their traditional wisdom with the frontier technologies. On
bioterrorism, he mentioned that the use of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungi
and thereby evident products like hormones in the warfare as destructive
material is highly condemnable. The recent use of Anthrax as a tool of
terrorism is a grim reminder that the ability to produce designer microorganism
can be abused. It is evident that unless the technological push is matched by
an ethical pull the products of our brain may become a curse rather than a
blessing. He also spoke on the threat of invasive alien weeds like,
Chromolaena, Lantana, and Mikania which had infest extensive tracts
of agricultural and forest land, displacing native flora and animals, and even
human communities. Parthenium, yet another weed, a major threat to human
health, now dominates vegetation in town and city wastelands, he mentioned. To
manage the invasive alien species, he described a seven point action plan which
include awareness, research, action to local level, action at state level,
action at national level, action at regional level and action at global level.
Dr P
Pushpangadan, Director, NBRI, and President of ISEB in his welcome address
introduced the Chief Guest and paid glowing tributes to the scholarship and
scientific pre-eminence of Prof. M S Swaminathan for his outstanding
contributions in the field of plant science in general and agricultural
sciences in particular. He further said that since the world is developing fast
to meet the basic needs, it has created an imbalance in the nature. This
imbalance along with regular weeding out the plants resulted to huge loss to
our plant biodiversity which function as the back bone of the environment. Prof
William Manning, Department of Microbiology, University
of Massachusetts,
USA; Prof S V Kurupa, Department of Pathology, University of Minnesota, USA and
Prof J N B. Bell, Imperial College of Science, UK, also spoke on this occasion
as Guests of Honour for the inaugural function.
In all ten
sessions were held, some concurrently, to, deliberate upon the entire gamut of
the vast subject under consideration. The scientific programme of the
conference included sessions on :(i) Climate Change; (ii) Environmental
Pollution and Biodiversity; (iii) Environmental Biotechnology, Bioremediation
and Bioindicators; (iv) Plant Response to Environmental Pollution; (v)
Environmental Impact Assessment; (vi) Environmental Education, Mass Awareness,
Legislation and Economic Impact; (vii) Improvement, Protection and Utilization
of Plants in Relation to Environment. Besides, a workshop and two satellite
sessions were also held on the following important topics.: (1). Workshop on
Bioinformatics - Plant species diversity, Databases of Botanical collections on
Web (Herbnet) and its role in conservation of diversity; (2) Farmer's Right,
Environment and Legal Responsibilities; and (3) Neem for Sustenance of Land,
Food and Environment. Poster Sessions were also held daily and in all 130
posters were displayed during various sessions.
The first
session started from February 5, 2002, in which presentations were made by the
participants on the subject `Climate Change'. Dr D A Grantz of Department of
Botany and Plant Science and Air Pollution Research Centre, University of
California, USA delivered the lead lecture of this session on "Ozone alters
assimilate allocation and sugar translocation in cotton and melon". He said,
that ozone depletion was a matter of concern, as it resulted in ultra-violet
radiation which negatively affects both plants and animals. He explained plant
behaviour when exposed to ozone. Since photosynthesis and carbohydrate
allocation are the most important metabolisms of the plant system, irrespective
of the host and these directly or indirectly affect its later generations, he
said.
Another lead
lecture on "Global Climate Change and Agriculture" was delivered by Prof. S V
Krupa, Professor, Department of Pathology, University of Minnesota,
USA.
Prof Krupa said that air pollution responsible for the global climate change
was posing a grave threat to agriculture crops. He elaborated the different
effects of the various gases on plants. He further added that pollution has no
boundaries and 23 per cent of the total crop production of world is under ozone
pollution and the situation is going to be worse in the near future. He gave
information about how doubling the amount of CO will affect the production
level of wheat, rice, and other crops. The adverse effect of green house gases
and ozone hole caused as a result of our use of CFC compounds will have a great
impact on climate change and agriculture crop production. He further said that
any accelerated change in the climate was likely to disrupt some of the current
cropping system and to create a green belt, as a complementary measure for
pollution abatement was a short term cure. He, therefore, recommended
systematic scientific efforts to ascertain the impact of impending global
climate changes on agricultural crops across the world.
Dr Elina
Oksanen of Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, University of
Kuopio, Finland, presented an invited lecture based on the findings of her
research on responses of two clones of Betula pendula to different ozone
profiles. According to her, there is a large variation in prevailing ozone
concentrations over Europe, highly depending on climatic condition.
Prof. C K
Varshney, School of Environmental Sciences,
JNU,
New Delhi, India, presented a lead lecture on `Environmental indicators -
Yardstick for sustainable development'. He pointed out that environmental
indicators would play an important role in national economy. He mentioned that
sustainable development should be free of environmental degradation and a
balance between the demands of economic development and the need for protection
of the environment should be attempted. To convince the administrators and
planners, environmental indicators should provide the representative picture of
environmental conditions. These should be simple, easy to interpret and be
national in scope.
Dr
Madhoolika Agarwal, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,
India, presented an account of Air pollution and Periurban agriculture. She
presented field studies conducted on important plants, such as
Vigna
radiata, Beta vulgaris, Triticum aestivum,
and
Brassica
compestris.
Her
presentation revealed the magnitude of plant response evaluated in terms of
biomass accumulation and indicated a mixed influence of gaseous pollutants,
such as sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, and ozone that affects crop yield
negatively. Dr Maria Sanz, of Spain gave
her invited lecture on ozone effects in Mediterranean region. She described the
vertical and horizontal distribution of ozone and correlated it with its
effects on plants.
Dr Riikka
Niemi, Department of Environmental Science, University of Kuopio, Finland,
presented a paper entitled
"Sphangum
Mosses Sensitive to Small UV-B Increases - An Outdoor Microcosm Experiment".
The
Sphagnum
moss may suffer even from a rise in UV-B, other peat land species and the
carbon dynamics may be affected as well, she explained.
The first
satellite session on "Farmer's Rights, Environment and Legal Responsibilities"
was held after the lunch which was chaired by Prof Ms Josanidia Santana Lima of
AV Sete de Setembro, Barra, Salvador-Ba, Brazil and was assisted by Dr Vijay
Lakshmi Goel, NBRI, Lucknow. The lead lecture was presented by Dr P
Pushpangadan. He stressed the importance of Biodiversity, IPR, Patent, CBD, PBR
and explained how CBD and WTO Regime came into force. He said that some of the
developing countries have realized their potential of bio-resources issues and
have now awakened to these issues and challenges posed by the GATT and TRIPs
guidelines, as stipulated by WTO. He explained, how the developing countries
are seeking intellectual property registration systems that would identify and
document the sources, the genetic material and also extend IPR to traditional
knowledge systems, particularly those of the indigenous communities, in line
with the Article VIII(J) and Article X(C ) of CBD. India has the proud
distinction of being the first in a benefit sharing model that implemented in
letter and spirit, Article VIII (J) of CBD, Dr Pushpangadan informed. He talked
about biodiversity act of India and important clauses relating to IPR and
nature of benefit sharing. Dr Pushpangadan stated that global plant
conservation initiatives are very essential since Asia has great biodiversity
and high level of endemism. Almost more than 45,000 species of plants of which
17,500 are flowering in nature are available in India. Inventory of these
plants has already been made by Botanical Survey of India. However the efforts
are on to conserve them. The old estimate states that more than 15,000 sacred
groves existed in India at the beginning of the 20th century.
However the current estimate shows it to 3,000 in number which means that
12,000 have already disappeared. Presently there are more than 187 botanical
gardens in India - 130 small and 40 medium, out of these only 12 are continuing
their job of conservation. He further added that five of such big gardens are
busy in multi-disciplinary research, working for the cause of conservation of
plant resources. Speaking in the same session, Dr H M Behl, Scientist, NBRI,
Lucknow, India introduced the audience to the "Protection of Plant Varieties
and Farmer's Right Bill, 1999". He highlighted the necessity for enforcing the
Farmer's Right as the farmers are the cultivators, breeders, conservators, and
enhancers of genetic resources. Their knowledge, innovations and practices have
to be protected. He emphasized the main points of the bill, viz. protection, of
traditional knowledge, benefit sharing, participation of farmers in decision
making, right to sell, save and exchange seeds, restrictions to GMOs-destructive
terminator technology. Mr Nirvikar Gupta, HJS, Institute of Judiciary Training
and Research, spoke on the legal aspects of IPR. He emphasized the different
articles of CBD and legal aspects, TRIPs and IPR.
In the
second session on "Environmental Pollution and Biodiversity", Dr M P de Silva,
Department of Botany, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka delivered a lead
lecture concerning effects of some environmental factors on the distribution
pattern of algae on the southern coast of Sri Lanka.
Dr Giuseppe
C Bertoli, Museo de Historia Natural La Satlle, Fundacion La Salle. Aptdo,
Caracas, Venezuela, focused his lecture on "Diversity Reduction and Dam
Construction in the Orinoco River Delta, Venezuela" wherein he found that clam
construction has effected changes in the hydrological and sedimentological
regimes of its channel and surrounding wetlands. The differences found in the
floral composition of the meadows are the result of the hydrodynamic
differences between the channel morphology, bank slope, current-velocity, and
hydrology regime, he informed.
Dr
Purushottam Shrestha of Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Kathamandu
gave his invited lecture on the findings of a case study on the environmental
pollution and biodiversity of lake Phewa Tal of Nepal, wherein he highlighted
issues, such as biomanipulation of aquatic macrophyte species, eco-zoning of
the lake shore line and monitoring of drainage discharge for sustainable
biodiversity management of lake ecosystem. He also suggested management
strategy for water quality preservation, biodiversity conservation and
ecosystem management of this lake. Dr Anil Kunmar Goel, NBRI, Lucknow described
in detail about the conservation of plant diversity in India.
The
presentations of the first session of the third day of the conference dwelt on
"Environmental Biotechnology, Bioremediation and Bioindication" was chaired by
Dr Roger M Cox, Canadian Forest Service, Atlantic Forestry Centre, New
Brunswick, Canada. Dr Maria Sanz of Spain was the Rapporteur.
The lead
lecture of this session was delivered by Dr William J Manning of University of
Massachusetts,
USA
on "Detector Bioindicator Plant Responses give Biological Significance to
Ambient Ozone Monitoring Data". Dr. Manning explained that detector
bioindicators are plant species that naturally grow in an area and respond to
ambient ozone only when conditions are appropriate for ozone uptake and plant
injury. He also added that for individual locations, it was possible to develop
simple models that use monitored ozone concentrations and environmental
variables for making short term predictions of ozone injury on detector
bioindicators. He further said that Ethlenediurea (EDU) was known to suppress
acute and chronic ozone injury. He concluded his talk with the remark that in
any event, prediction of ozone injury in nature plants must be verified by
ground proofing to have biological significance.
Dr Osvaldo A
Fernandez of CERZOS and Departmento de Agronomia, Universidad Nacional del Sur
8000 Bahia Blanca, Argentina, with several examples elucidated that aquatic
vegetation is an indicator of sustained ability of fresh water systems and any
positive or negative growth in the population represents the environmental
pollution. Dr Rashmi Sanghi, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
explained the need of cost-effective alternative technologies or sorbents for
treatment of metal and dye-contaminated waste streams. She informed that
adsorption process offers most economical and effective treatment method for
the removal of colour and treatment of textile effluents.
Dr Moire
Wadleigh of Department of Earth Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland,
St John's, Canada described the use of stable isotopes to determine the
anthropogenic sulphur signal in two genera of epiphytic lichens, namely
Alectoria
and
Cladonia.
The spatial distribution of sulphur isotopic compositions of all samples
suggested contributions from sea spray, local point sources and long-range
transported sulphur.
Prof. Ms
Josanidia Santana Lima of AV Sete de Setembro, Barra, Salvador-Ba, Brazil
presented her deliberation in the post lunch session chaired by Prof DA Grantz
(USA) and supported by Dr UN Rai, NBRI, Lucknow and Dr Rikka Neimi of Finland.
Ms Lima stressed upon biomonitoring and remediation of contaminated soils. Her
lecture was based on the study on, "Biomonitoring of Air Pollution Effects Near
a Copper Smelter in Brazil Using Mango Trees and Soil Microbiological
Parameters". She stated that the plant's respiration rate increases following
pollution and this development can be used as an indicator in the restoration
process. The other lectures that continued for the day were 14 in number of
which seven were from the foreign countries and rest from India.
The day was
also marked by concurrent satellite session on "Neem for Sustenance of Land
Food and Environment" under the guidance of Dr H M Behl, Coordinator, National
Neem Network of India. In the opening remark, Dr P Pushpangadan, Director, NBRI
stated that Neem - An Ancient Plant, is known to purify the air and was
traditionally used as an disinfectant. It has around 228 uses in the fields of
health care, agriculture, and pesticides. Neem cultivation is now done
scientifically and national gene bank of neem has been created at NBRI, lie
informed. The researchers discussed various aspects relating to cultivation,
utilization, and processing of neem and production of value added products from
the same.
Two sessions
were held on the fourth-day centering around on the important topics of
"Environmental Biotechnology, Bioremediation and Bioindication" and "Plant
Response to Environmental Pollution". The session on "Environmental
Biotechnology, Bioremediation and Bioindication" was chaired by Prof. Masahiro
Inouhe, Department of Biology and Earth Science, Faculty of Science, Ehime
University, Ehime, Japan, assisted by Dr Ms Carole ER Pitcairn, Centre for
Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK and Dr J S Lima AV Sete de
Setembrq, Barra, Salvador-Ba, Brazil.
The first
lead lecture was delivered by Prof. J N B Bell, Imperial College of Science,
Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire, UK on "Biomonitoring of Air Pollution with
Plants". In his lecture through case studies conducted by him and his team in
the UK, he presented a detailed information of how the higher and lower plants
like lichens could be used as biomonitors ranging from local to national scale.
Such bio-tech methods of biomonitoring are both cost effective and highly
appropriate for the developing countries, lie suggested. Prof. Andreas Klumpp
from Institut Fur Landschafts-und Pflanzen Okologie, Universitat Hohenheim,
Stutgart, Germany presented the third lead lecture on "Biomonitoring of air
pollution effects near a copper smelter in Brazil using mango trees and soil
microbiological parameters". At the polluted sites, a strong accumulation of
sulphur, arsenic and copper in mango leaves as well as in superficial soil was
detected by him. He suggested for a routine biomonitoring pragramme in the area
of industrial complex of Latin America, Camacari (NEBrazil), including
chemical, biochemical and morphological parameters. Dr Rakesh Tuli of NBRI,
Lucknow
in his lecture on "Designer Plants for a Sustainable Environment" said that
advances in biotechnology could be utilized to provide future technologies for
environmental clean up and sustainable development. He also dwelt in detail
about the advanced research work being carried out at NBRI in the development
of transgenic plants using BT-technology.
The post-tea
session was chaired by Dr P Pushpangadan, Director, N B R I, Lucknow, India and
Prof. C K Varshney, Professor, J N U, New Delhi. They were supported by Dr L D
Emberson (UK) and Dr R D Tripathi (India). It featured six lectures.
Prof. Roger
M Cox of National Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Atlantic Forestry
Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada gave his lecture on "The Use of
Passive Samplers to Determine Canopy Exposure to 03 NO2
and SO2". He described the recent advances in the development of
relatively inexpensive passive sampling devices for monitoring gaseous
pollutants and advantage of using these devices, as they are relatively
inexpensive, require no electrical power and provide a cost-effective means to
provide dense enough sampling to determine exposure, especially to complex
terrain. He also discussed the configuration and case studies using passive
samplers to determine forest-exposure to gaseous air pollutants.
Dr S M
Mathur, College of Technology and Engineering, Udaipur, India discussed about
"Water Hyacinth
(Eichhornia
crassipes)
-Problems
and Remedy". He was of the view that water hyacinth's invasion and its rapid
spread have a significant influence on availability of water, food security,
human health and national economics. Dr U N Rai of N B R I described the
biotechnological applications for bioremediation of fly ash using blue green
algae and tolerant Rhizobium strains which helped the vegetation to grow. Dr R
D Tripathi, N B R 1, Lucknow
presented his paper on "Role of Phytochelatins in Phytoremediation of Toxic
Metal Ions from the polluted environment". He said that phytochelatins with
ability to accumulate high levels of heavy metals could be used as suitable
species for phytoremediation of metal from polluted environment. Dr D J Godin
of Lucknow Christian College, Lucknow, India in his lecture stressed the
importance and applied use of algae as bio-indicators combined with standard
physico-chemical parameters to assess Gomti river water quality. Lecture of Dr
Ram Jee Srivastava, Forest Research Institute, U P, Kanpur, India centered
around the need of development of green belt for bioremediation of urban
pollution. He implied the need for screening of pollution tolerant plant
species suitable for the establishment of green belt around industrial sector
for creating aesthetic environment.
In the fifth
day session four on "Plant Response to Environmental Pollution" was chaired by
Prof. J N B Bell and Dr Irina V Lyanguzova of Komarov Botanical Institute,
St-Petersburg,
Russia was the Rapporteur. In all, 12 lectures were delivered in this session.
The first invited lecture of this session was delivered by Dr G A D Perera of
University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. She delivered a talk on the outcome of her
study on the effect of edaphic conditions on the invasion of Prosopis
juhflora and
Opuntia
dillenii,
at Bundala
National Park of Sri Lanka.
Dr LI de
Bauer from Instituto de recursos Naturales, Montecillo, Edo Mexico, Mexico
thereafter, presented her lecture on "Air Pollution as a Component of
Environmental Deterioration and Its Effects on Vegetation in Central Mexico".
She said that about two per cent of the total green house gases of the world
were emitted from Mexico
itself. She gave information about the natural and anthropogenic
characteristics of Mexico Valley. The research work carried out by her in the
Mexico Valley would be useful to illustrate the problems involved in India as
both these countries lie between the same parallels on the world atlas. Dr Ms
Elizabeth Olivares, Centro de Ecologia, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones
Cientificas, Caracas,
Venezuela presented her lecture on "Evaluation of lead impact in foliar organic
compounds of
Tithonia
diversifolia
growing in
natural conditions. Dr S K Datta of N B R 1, Lucknow in his lecture on
"Parameters for Detecting Effect of Pollutants on Plants" focused on the
possible genotoxic effects of different environmental pollutants, like
radiation, industrial effluents, pesticides, fumigants and their effects on
human beings in terms of gene mutations and morphological, physiological,
anatomical and chromosomal aberrations. Dr Mujeebur Rahaman Khan, Institute of
Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India in his lecture
informed that coal smoke exposure influenced the development and severity of
root-knot nematode disease caused by
Meloidogyne
incognita
in plants.
Dr S B
Agarwal, Allahabad Agricultural Institute, Allahabad, India delivered a lecture
on "Effect of Vehicular Emissions on Air Quality and Plants Performance Along a
National Highway in India". His studies were based at various places along
national highways of India between Varanasi and Naubatpur sections for
monitoring the air pollutants, such as NO2, SO2, 03,
SPM, and Pb at five different locations. Plants growing in high pollution zone
showed lower concentration of ascorbic acid in leaves and lower photosynthetic
rate. He concluded that air quality along the highways has potential negative
impact on plant performance in the area.
Dr Tushar K
Das of Department of Botany, Behhampur University, Behrampur, India in his
lecture presented the results of his investigation on the effects of industrial
effluents from three major industrial units of southern Orissa on germination
behaviour of two cultivated varieties (BAM 6 and T90) of rice and observed that
Chlor-Alkali Industry Effluents drastically reduced seed germination in both
the varieties, specially under the influence of higher concentrations of the
effluents. He concluded that this was clue to the presence of mercury and
various chlorinated compounds in them and revealed that with the increase in
the concentration of the effluents there was gradual decrease in seed
germination.
In a almost
similar lecture Dr Ms Irina V Lyanguzova V Lyanguzova of Komarov Botanical
Institute, St-Petersburg, Russia spoke on "Reproductive Ability of Flower
Plants Under Industrial Pollution". She investigated different areas situated
at various distances from Ni-Cu smelter complex and the most significant change
observed was gradual decrease in the number of vegetative dwarf shrubs while
approaching the pollution source. For some species it resulted in the
increasing of coenopopulations generativity. She concluded that the difference
in the seed productivity of flower plants were significant in some years, as
were the seed productivity and seed crop of the some coenopopulations.
Dr K R Arya
of Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India spoke on "Ethnobotanical
Heritage and Cultural Diversity of Bhotias Tribes in Uttranchal and Its
Conservation". Large-scale illegal felling of trees, deforestation due to
poverty and industrialization, tourist traffic, land slides, etc. are playing
havoc with the vegetational wealth of the region and endangering the
ethnomedicinal folklore of these regions. There is, therefore, and urgent need
to conserve the etnobotanical knowledge in the folklore and daily life of the
tribe. Another speaker of this session Dr Mohamed A Soliman spoke on the impact
of chlorine gas pollutant of a soap factory on the cultivated crops.
The
post-lunch session on "Improvement, Protection and Utilization of Plants in
Relation to Environment" was chaired by Prof. Andreas Klumpp (Germany) and
assisted by Dr Ms Melor Ismail, University
of Malaya,
Malaysia and Dr Nandita Singh, NBRI, Lucknow,
India. It featured twelve lectures.
Dr Subodh
Sharma of Aquatic Ecology Centre, Kathmandu University, Kathmandu, Nepal
delivered a lecture on "Present Status of River Bagamati in Kathamandu, Nepal".
He highlighted the rapid deterioration of water quality in the river due to
unsustainable use of water resources for human use, resulting from the
comparison between available physico-chemical and biological data obtained
during 1986 and 2001. Dr Asha Khandelwal of Birbal Shahni Institute of
Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India gave a lecture on "Qualitative and Quantitative
Assessment of Aerobiopollutants". She stated that the air-borne pollen grains
and fungal spores are the causal organisms for many respiratory diseases. She
described the results of her study carried out in Chowk area of Lucknow city
(India). In all, she described 31 types of pollen grains, 34 types fungal
colonies and 35 types of fungal spores. She studied various pollen grains,
fungal colonies and fungal spores, and found that while pollens showed the
highest dominance, the fungal colonies were found with the maximum intensity in
the months of January, May, September, and December.
Dr 0 N
Tiwari of Council of Science and Technology, Lucknow,
India delivered a talk on "Effects of green mannuring and application of
biofertilizers on ricewheat cropping system in integrated nutrient management".
He focused on the increasing trend in total N and organic C content in the case
of BGA biofertilizer application. He said that there had been an increasing
response to the application of biofertlizers as compared to their respective
control. Dr R S Raghuvansi of G P Pant University of agriculture and
Technology, Pantnagar, Uttranchal, India presented her paper on "Uncommon Plant
Foods of Uttranchal Hills: A Boon to Human Health". She elucidated the
nutritive value of 15 food plants grown in Uttranchal hills. She also informed
that these plants posses therapeutic properties.
The lecture
of Dr Dhan Prakash of NBRI was related to nutraceuticals, wherein he said that
nutraceuticals were likely to play a significant role as preventive, protective
and health promotive food supplements and would be preferred prescriptions of
tomorrow even for diseases associated with increasing environmental pollution.
Dr V P Kapoor also from NBRI discussed "Current Trend in Natural Food Colours
and Its Scope". Dr A S Sodan, Department of Botanical Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev
University, Amritsar, Punjab, India delivered a lecture on "Studies on the
Development of a Computer Software for Inventorization and Identification of
the flora of Punjab plains (Family Asteraceae)". He described the role of
computers in invetorization and identification of species. A manual
identification key has been prepared using ASTKEY software. FORTAN has been
used as the programming language, he informed. Dr A K Sharma in his lecture,
stressed the need on conservation of some trees through excised root culture
method. He stressed the need of in vitro method of germplasm
preservation of heterozygous trees through long-term regenerative excised root
culture.
The lectures
centering around the theme on "Environmental Education, Mass Awareness,
Legislation and Economic Importance" encompassed following papers.
Dr Sudershan
Kumar of N B R 1, Lucknow
presented his paper on 'Biodiversity Information Management : Reference
Management Software (RMS) Based on Client Server Architecture". He described
about the softwares and databases developed and future planning related to
biodiversity and policy making worldwide. The papers of Dr A N Sharga and Dr R
K Roy both of NBRI Lucknow were concerned with eco-education. Dr Roy presented
his paper on "Environmental Education in Botanic
Garden: Challenge and Opportunities in the New Millennium" He said that
environmental pollution was a global problem and a growing concern so there was
need to create mass awareness by educating common people about the devastating
consequences of environmental pollution. He stressed that a consolidated
approach supported with technical personnel would certainly be able to meet the
environmental challenges in the new millennium by utilizing the resources and
opportunities available in the botanic garden. Dr A N Sharga presented his
paper on "Biodiversity Conservation and Eco-education for Mitigating
Pollution". He said that loss of biodiversity poses one of the greatest
challenges to the world community and the conservation of the biodiversity by
bringing awareness through eco-education is imperative for sustainable
utilization of plant wealth resources. He also described the efforts made by
NBRI in this direction.
The paper by
Dr Abha Singh of College of Family Resource Management College of Home Science,
NDUAT, Faizabad, India on "Environmental Concerns Related to Farm Women" was
significant. `Ignorance on the part of the farm women also reflected hazardous
effect on the health of children and other family members', she says. Therefore
the awareness of the farm women towards the use of hazardous chemicals is
required and also a initiative to campaign to improve the traditional chulas
used by rural women, she concluded.
Dr H M Behl
of NBRI, Lucknow lectured on 'Biofuels : A Paradigm Shift'. He informed that
use of biofuels in the developing country like India
would be pivotal for its economy as a large chunk of its economy goes for oil
imports. He advocated the research on biofuels as these are environmental
friendly raw material source for manufacturing vegetable oils and other
industrial chemicals.
Concluding Session
On the
concluding day one lead lecture and four invited lectures were delivered. Dr P
V Sane, Emeritus Scientist (C S I R), N B R I, Lucknow, India Chaired the
scientific session and was assisted by Dr A K Goel. Dr Hem Chand, Medical
Superintendent of SGPGIMS, Lucknow
lectured on "Hospital waste: An Environmental Threat and Effective Management".
He said that approximately from 8 lakhs beds from Indian hospitals about 12
lakhs kg hospital waste was generated. However, in fact, 15 per cent of
hospital waste is hazardous and not the complete, he explained but when mixed
with non-hazardous waste, the 100 per cent wastes become hazardous, he warned.
He dwelt in detail the rationale of hospital waste management, health hazards
and risk associated with poor hospital management, and approach for hospital
management.
Dr Lisa
Dianne Emberson of Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, York,
UK delivered a lecture on "Establishing an Air Pollution Network to Assess
Impacts to Vegetation in Asia". She said that the predicted increase in
emissions of primary pollutants in Asia may have severe consequences for the
health and productivity of forest trees and agricultural crops. She described
different methods for assessing air pollutant impacts to vegetation and
recommended establishment of a network of air pollution scientists from
countries across Asia for the synthesis of information of air pollution.
Dr Padam B
Rastogi of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Regional Office. Lucknow, India
delivered a lecture on "Environment-friendly Technologies vis-avis
Environmental Conservation". According to him, rapid industrialization and
exploitation of natural resources to achieve the quick economic development has
increased the pollution load alarmingly. Dr Arun Arya from M S University of
Baroda, Vadodara, India presented the results of their studies on fungal
biopollutants and said that fungi were not only biopollutants but played a key
role in biodeterioration causing damage to books, charts, botanical objects and
herbarium specimens. He also recommended the use of biofungicides, viz.
Lantana
camara
and
Ailanthus exelsa in place of conventional fumigants as a safe and
ecofriendly alternative.
Dr A K Gupta
of School of Environmental Sciences,
Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow explained the importance of
environmental impact assessment (EIA) for assessing the quality of environment
and the need for the comprehensive EIA for setting up various type of
Industries. He also presented his work on the EIA carried out in Kymore valley
region in Madhya Pradesh, located in proximity of cement and lime kilns
factories. Studies revealed severe deterioration of air quality at all the
experimental sites, especially during the winter season.
Finally the
plenary-cum-valedictory session was held on February 9, 2002,
in which the recommendations of this International conference were finalized
and passed on unanimously for ameliorating the global environment. The Chairman
of the Plenary Session Dr P V Sane, the first and the former President of ISEB
and former Director, NBRI thanked the participants for their good and fruitful
interaction they shared during the conference. The recommendations and future
actions would echo our experiences in one voice, he said. Dr Sane expressed his
gratification at the high standard of scientific papers presented and the
discussions that followed subsequently. He suggested for the possibility of
developing of the network of the society in different countries for addressing
the environmental problems worldwide. The others who spoke on this occasion
were: Prof. J N B Bell of the UK, Prof
Roger M Cox of Canada, Prof S V Krupa of the U S A and Dr H M Behl of India. Dr
Bell said that he was happy to note that numerous papers were related with the
environmental problems of the developing countries. Addressing the
participants, Dr Krupa of the USA
on this occasion said that to fn.uctify the recommendations, our approach
should be to convey the message to the general masses, government and industry
in most effective manner. Awards were also given to the first and second
winners of the poster presentations. Three of the distinguished foreign
delegates. namely, Prof. S V K Krupa, Prof. JNB Bell and Prof. Roger M Cox also
addressed the gathering and gave their comments and impressions about the
conference. Earlier, Dr K J Ahmad, the Organizing Secretary and Secretary, ISEB
welcomed the delegates and guests to the Plenary-cum-Valedictory session and
conducted its proceedings. He also presented the recommendation emerged out of
this five-day conference. |
