Dates:
1-10 February 2010
Biome & Climate:
Urban Ecosystems
Population: 14.1 million (metropolitan area)
Average January temperatures
Average July temperatures
35°C (95°F).
Annual rainfall
In an urban ecosystem like New Delhi, India, studying the relationships between plants, animals and humans is vital to the understanding of sociocultural and biophsycial patterns and processes, which are so common in populated cities around the world. According to a report by the United Nations University, at the turn of the century, about half of the world's population (roughly three billion people) live in urban areas, and in the next twenty-five years, almost two billion more people will move to cities. We are living in an increasingly urbanized world, and "the key urban environmental challenges... [are]: water pollution; air pollution; solid waste management; and inappropriate land use" (UNU Report). Not only this, but cities like New Delhi "are going through socio-economic and cultural transition, and as such, are facing the environmental challenges of low, middle, and high-income societies simultaneously." In a highly populated community, resources are valuable and important to each individual, thus it is important for each individual in the community live sustainably if the ecosystem is going to be successful.
Accommodations:
Hotel Ajanta - (www.hotelajanta.com)
Hotel Kamal - (hotelkamal@hotmail.com)
Hotel Pearl Palace - (pearlpalaceindia@yahoo.com)
Hotel Tiger Den - (http://www.royalorienttrain.com/rajasthan/sariska-hotels/hotel-tiger-den-sariska.html)
Woodstock School - (http://www.woodstockschool.in/)
Sites:
The vulnerability of urban-ecosystems worldwide
The effect of climate change on Food Prices