Introduction

We live at a critical time of environmental change and deterioration which makes it important for everyone of us to realize and understand the environment in which we live, and to take whatever action we can to safeguard it. Various activities of the fast growing human population are mainly responsible for the environmental deterioration. Recently, the human population growth rate has increased dramatically. The world population which was only 2 billion in 1930 reached 6.6 billion by the end of June, 2007, and would probably double by 2050. Natural resources are getting depleted and degraded owing to agricultural and industrial utilization, with one-third of the world's natural resources consumed within the last twenty five years.

The M.Sc. programme in Environmental Science is designed to provide this understanding to young science graduates, who would have to take up the responsibility of conservation and management of environment in years to come, so that future generations would have a relatively safe environment to live in. The programme has a multidisciplinary approach and would draw expertise in different relevant disciplines to provide a good knowledge of important environmental issues.