TO DATE, MOST development theory and practice have focused on either “urban” or “rural” issues with little consideration of the interrelations between the two. By contrast, several empirical studies show that the linkages between urban centres and the countryside, including movement of people, goods, capital and other social transactions, play an important role in processes of rural and urban c...

Urban agriculture (UA) has a long tradition in many countries worldwide, is actively engaging about 800 million people, and is now increasingly considered by urban planning and land-use personnel. Urban cropland, in particular, covers more than 67 Mha or more than 5% of the total global cropland area. Urban agriculture practices have many benefits and, in particular, may contribute to food secu...

Energy recovery from Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) generated in New Delhi is studied. The two options available viz., recovery of Biogas and energy due to the firing of MSW as fuel are reviewed. Continuous recovery of energy from the city’s MSW through Biogas needs a lot of planning with respect to the design, construction, operation and maintenance of landfills. The yield of Biogas with respect...

The rivers of the Front Range are dammed and diverted to provide water to the surrounding regions, and they are constricted by roads and railroads, stocked with fish, polluted by mining wastes and urban runoff. Yet many of the people who visit the Front Range for short periods perceive the landscape to be a nearly pristine wilderness because they are unaware of the historical impacts of human a...

Overpopulation is no doubt worldwide concern as it brings different problems to urbanization process as well as environment. Waste is number one side product of overpopulation. Waste generation is ever increasing in both urban and suburban area and has led to many environmental issues. Many of the waste generated have potential to be transformed into value added products. By recycling, reusing ...

Trace metals are intrinsic, natural constituents of our environment. Apart from the natural sources, several anthropogenic ones also contribute to metal concentrations in the environment. Some of the anthropogenic sources of the metals in the environment are: mining, smelting, production and use of the compounds and materials containing the metals, burning of fossil fuels, waste dumping and lea...

Anaerobic digestion is an old biological wastewater treatment process, having first been studied more than a century ago. It is a multistep process in which organic matter is degraded into a gas mixture of methane and carbon dioxide by microorganisms. It thus reduces the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of the influent and produces valuable energy (methane). The biological scheme involves several m...

Earthworms have been successfully used in the vermistabilization of urban, industrial and agricultural wastes in order to produce organic fertilizers and obtain protein for animal feed. Although many species could be used for these ends, given their nutritional requirements and reproductive biology, only Perionyx excavatus and Lampito mauritii are widely used. The most effective use of earthwor...

Bhutan lacks the solid waste data which are essential parameters for planning and scheduling of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems. The first ever large-scale research survey on solid waste generation and characterization in the urban areas of Bhutan was conducted between November 2007 and January 2008 using the method of waste sampling at source. The MSW generation rates in the ur...