‘DESIGNS’ to conserve and restore Thar desert
Friday, May 20, 2022
  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Sports
  • Business
  • More
    • RSS in News
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
SUBSCRIBE
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Sports
  • Business
  • More
    • RSS in News
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Culture
  • Defence
  • RSS in News
  • Subscribe
Home Bharat

‘DESIGNS’ to conserve and restore Thar desert

WEB DESK by WEB DESK
Sep 11, 2021, 08:31 am IST
in Bharat, Sci & Tech
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterTelegramEmail
High maximum temperature with large diurnal variations, scanty rainfall, extreme aridity, and intense UV radiations characterizes the Thar.

 

New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Technology-Jodhpur has launched a new initiative to conserve and restore the Thar desert, its minerals and medicines, and its flora and fauna by carrying out ecosystem phenomics through a transdisciplinary framework of medical, engineering, environmental, and life sciences.

Called Thar Desert Ecosystem Sciences Guided by Nature and Selection (Thar DESIGNS), the initiative has been launched under the aegis of the Jodhpur City Knowledge and Innovation Cluster.

The Thar is characterized by high maximum temperature with large diurnal variations, scanty rainfall, extreme aridity, and intense UV radiations. This has been one of the largest natural laboratories for evolving systems that ensure the adaptation and survival of its constituent species, their interdependencies, and the conservation of the entire ecosystem.

The impact of any loss of natural deserts will be immense as these habitats are rich in flora and fauna and minerals and medicines that nurture and maintain different life forms on earth. Often considered as wastelands, deserts are crucial for the stabilization of climate.

Any shift in climate or anthropogenic activity can lead to maladaptations for organisms that live at the ebb of physiological extremes, loss of diversity through extirpations, and ultimately an ecosystem collapse. This threatens the lives and livelihood of the native inhabitants.

To address this, the Jodhpur City Knowledge and Innovation Cluster (JCKIC) has brought together organizations that are engaged in activities ranging from engineering, space research, medicine, agriculture, zoology, and forestry, which have carried out focused efforts in tackling diverse aspects of the Thar desert. This collaboration includes projects that address the complex and networked issues of the desert in an integrative framework.

Prof. Mitali Mukerji, Head of the Department of Bioscience and Bioengineering at IIT-Jodhpur, said, “`Thar DESIGNS’ aims to disseminate knowledge and encourage participation through a citizen science approach and inculcate design thinking across the entire collaborative network.”

Under the initiative, the researchers will use IOT enabled devices and big data analytics framework to crowdsource observations from the local ecosystem to the regional level keeping the cultural context and traditional medicine knowledge in perspective. Researchers would also integrate computer vision, machine learning, and domain knowledge to infer links between environment, phenotype, and genotype at geo-spatiotemporal scales and identify early actionable intervention strategies. The knowledge generation will result in providing a ‘Desert Ecosystem Knowledge Grid’ that could foster the cycle of engineering- research-development-commercialization.

This data grid will, among other things, help find solutions for the management of diseases common and endemic to desert regions and the generation of novel bioprospecting opportunities and innovative bio-inspired engineering designs. It could also help evolve unique strategies for ecological conservation and restoration that ensure sustained livelihood for its inhabitants.

Thar DESIGNS is likely to propel the growth of new industry and capacity building for next-generation tech-savvy social and eco-entrepreneurs. An AI-assisted recommendation engine for the sustenance of desert ecosystems based on the interacting principles of desert ecology, evolutionary biology, and culture would also be of enormous utility for policymakers and diverse stakeholders.

Courtesy: India Science Wire

ShareTweetSendShareSend
Previous News

9/11 – 20 years: Power of the catastrophic event, Will US revisit Kabul?

Next News

New nano-composite to beat antimicrobial resistance

Related News

VHP Writes to UP Law Commission Opposing Some Sections of Draft Bill on Population Control

VHP applauds historical HC directive for investigation by both CBI and NIA in Kaliachak proselytizing case 

China’s illegal rosewood trade with Mali under probe

China’s illegal rosewood trade with Mali under probe

Navjot Singh Sidhu moves SC seeking more time to surrender, cites medical conditions

Fix goals for next 25 years, work to fulfil aspirations of people: PM Modi to party workers

Fix goals for next 25 years, work to fulfil aspirations of people: PM Modi to party workers

CBI files fresh corruption case against RJD supremo Lalu Yadav

CBI files fresh corruption case against RJD supremo Lalu Yadav

PM’s Nepal visit and ‘Buddhist symbolism’ has deeper geostrategic intent

People have high expectations from BJP, says PM Modi

Comments

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Organiser. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.

Latest News

VHP Writes to UP Law Commission Opposing Some Sections of Draft Bill on Population Control

VHP applauds historical HC directive for investigation by both CBI and NIA in Kaliachak proselytizing case 

China’s illegal rosewood trade with Mali under probe

China’s illegal rosewood trade with Mali under probe

Navjot Singh Sidhu moves SC seeking more time to surrender, cites medical conditions

Fix goals for next 25 years, work to fulfil aspirations of people: PM Modi to party workers

Fix goals for next 25 years, work to fulfil aspirations of people: PM Modi to party workers

CBI files fresh corruption case against RJD supremo Lalu Yadav

CBI files fresh corruption case against RJD supremo Lalu Yadav

PM’s Nepal visit and ‘Buddhist symbolism’ has deeper geostrategic intent

People have high expectations from BJP, says PM Modi

Biden announces another USD 100 million military assistance to Ukraine

Biden announces another USD 100 million military assistance to Ukraine

PM Modi to address BJP national office bearers meet in Jaipur on Friday

PM Modi to address BJP national office bearers meet in Jaipur on Friday

BJP president J P Nadda to interact with 14 Heads of Foreign Missions on today (May 16)

Congress party is neither national nor Indian nor democratic: JP Nadda

Nikhat Zareen strikes gold in Women’s World Boxing C’ships

PM Modi lauds Nikhat Zareen for ‘fantastic’ gold at World Boxing C’ships

  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Business
  • RSS in News
  • Special Report
  • Sci & Tech
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Books
  • Interviews
  • Travel
  • Health
  • Obituary
  • Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Circulation
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies