05/03/2026
Another pioneering study showing why land acquisition has become essential to rejuvenate watershed morphometry and restore river-centric delivery of ecosystem services.
Let's join the 1st National Conference on MissionY: Land Acquisition for Rivers, 22-23 March 2026, Penman Hall, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad, Jharkhand.
Registration Link: htps://forms.gle/UxBiC9wZvg47vBBc6
E-mail: [email protected]
Our recently published paper in Discover Water (Springer),
“Disappearing streams and morphometric degradation in small watersheds of the Ganga River basin,” documents a silent but serious crisis: the rapid loss of streams in small watersheds due to land-use change and landscape homogenization.
By combining field-based stream inventory, morphometric analysis, and a River Red List Categories and Criteria (RRLCC) framework, this work shows that several small watersheds have already crossed into "Endangered" and "Critically endangered" categories. These smaller units, often overlooked, are in fact the building blocks of river resilience.
Why this matters:
- Small watershed health is critical to the resilience of the entire large river basins like Ganga, Mahanadi, Narmada, Cauvery etc.
- Quantifying stream loss helps inform restoration, conservation, and management strategies at local, regional and global scales.
- Applying novel frameworks like RRLCC aligns with global conservation paradigms in the hydrological context.
The upcoming Mission Y Conference will be especially important in bringing this issue to the forefront that highlights watershed degradation, disappearance of streams, and the urgent need of practical pathways for conservation and restoration of the small watersheds.
The conference will be a space to connect science, governance, and community action, to collectively rethink how we value and protect the smallest yet most vulnerable component of our river ecosystems.
Read our latest research here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43832-025-00333-8
Registration Link for MissionY conference: https://forms.gle/UxBiC9wZvg47vBBc6
Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, RD & GR Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India CENTRAL GROUND WATER BORAD,Ministry of Water Resources NTPC Limited NHPC Limited NMDC Limited Bharat Coking Coal Limited Coal India Limited Department of Science and Technology, Government of India