LimGis2001 - Winter School
Essentials in Limnology and Geographic Information System
December 5 - 13, 2001

LimGis2001 – Winter school on ‘Essentials in Limnology and Geographic Information System (GIS)’ was organized by the Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and Karnataka Environment Research Foundation, Bangalore and Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada from 5th through 13th December 2001. The school was held at CES Seminar hall at IISc. Attendance of Winter school included research scholars and faculty  (Mysore, Bangalore, Mangalore, Kuvempu, Karnataka and Gulbarga Universities, Christ College, Bangalore and Irinjalakuda), Postgraduate engineering Students (UVCE, Bangalore NIE, Mysore, MCC, Bangalore, Christ College, Bangalore and Irinjalakuda) and school kids (Poornaprajna Education Society, MES Education Society, Little Lilly Education Society, K.K. English high school, Udaya High school) and working professionals in the government and non-governmental organizations. Course faculty include. Hosmani (Mysore University), Giridhar (NIE, Mysore), G.V. Gopal (RIE, Mysore), Kulkarni (RIE, Mysore), Col. Vijaykanth (EHF, Bangalore), Vishwanath (Bangalore), Rajasekara Murthy (Environment Canada),and Ramachandra, T.V., Ahalya, N., Rajinikanth R., Anil Kumar Bhagath, Pankaj Kumar Mohanta, Mandy Payne, Pallav Julka, Hrishikesh Mahadev (Energy and Wetlands Research Group, CES, IISc).

A primary goal of this course is to use the aquatic ecosystems to assist in the teaching of core physical, chemical, biological, and mathematical principles, as well as modern computer technology, while also improving students' general understanding of water - the most fundamental substance necessary for sustaining life on our planet. The Lake Ecology section was intended to provide a general background by introducing the basic concepts necessary to understand how lake ecosystems function.

The course introduced the fundamentals of aquatic ecology (with an emphasis on lakes) from an ecosystem-level approach and essentials in GIS. General limnological principles as well as physical, chemical and biological parameters of lakes were discussed. Biological investigations include an introduction to the ecology and taxonomy of the algae, zooplankton, macro invertebrates, macrophytes, and fishes. Field studies included Sankey lake survey in which participants gained experience in field sampling, laboratory analysis of samples, statistical analysis and interpretation of data for several types of lakes. Apart from these, integrated watershed management with emphasis on restoration of lakes and wetlands was discussed. The school also stimulated interest among many of the attendees from schools and colleges in the field of limnology and GIS which was evident on concluding day by the participants presentations.

The winter school LimGis 2001 concluded on 13th December 2002, evening with the following recommendations towards sustainable management of aquatic habitats:

• Include environmental courses in educational curricula especially at high school and college levels.
• Enforcement of existing laws related to aquatic environment to maintain it as a community resource. Develop a legal framework that supports local rights to manage resources.
• Increase funding to NGO’s and institutions to develop environmentally sound technologies. Channel government funds directly to decentralized local institutions.
• Create councils for the management of wetlands, by drawing members from areas like engineering, life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, health and sanitation and economics along with local community representatives to overcome the conflicts of management goals.    
• Create awareness through community education and institutions.
• Enforcement of rainwater harvesting methods atleast in governmental organization and recharging of ground water facility should be encouraged.
• Organise seminars, workshops, field trips and eco-clubs aimed towards capacity building.
• Encourage biological approach to mitigate pollution problems, in preference to chemical and mechanical methods.
• Increase and modernize the infrastructure facility for the collection and treatment of wastes.
• Scientific survey for the identification of solid waste dumping sites.
• Periodic monitoring of natural resources should be conducted so that precautionary measures can be adopted before any environmental problem becomes serious.
• Build information centre (database with regard to the ecosystem status, conservation aspects, management issues, etc.) for students and general public to encourage their participation in up-keeping the environmental health.
• Licensing of industries should be linked to environmental quality certification.
• Adopt an integrated watershed approach incorporating  soil and water conservation, afforestation and ensuring people’s participation in aquatic ecosystem management. Strengthen decentralised local institutions (panachayaths) to enable people’s participation.
• Promote  decision-making forums or “adalats”, where the general public and persons from various organizations concerned with environmental health or regulatory bodies meet periodically and discuss the problems regarding environment and its sustainability.