'Earth Science research will gain more importance'

Earth Science research will become more and more important in the days to come as the humanity confronts daunting challenges in finding natural resources to sustain the burgeoning population, NITI Ayog member V K Saraswat said. Delivering CSIR-NGRI Foundation Day Lecture at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) here, he said, "Earth Science will become increasingly

prominent as humanity confronts daunting challenges in finding natural resources to sustain Earth's burgeoning population, in mitigation of natural hazards that impact life and infrastructures, and, more in general, in achieving sustainable environmental stewardship."

Management of natural resources should be accompanied by the forecast and management of natural hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, floods, sea level rise, eruptions, drought, etc., he said. 

"The end result of science is to deliver predictive models with quantifiable uncertainties which can be useful for public decision making," he said. 

He also spoke about gas hydrates, shale gas, carbon sequestration, blue economy of the oceans, which he said should be prioritised for earth science research. 

"Energy sector depends on understanding processes and monitoring in the subsurface, including the extraction of coal, oil, gas and shale gas and geothermal fluids, as well as carbon capture and storage and nuclear waste storage," he said. 

Saraswat commended the CSIR-NGRI scientists for research on groundwater, energy, minerals and seismic hazards. "Country needs their (NGRI) efforts much more in identification of scarce minerals, rare earths, uranium and also for faster prediction of all the natural disasters," he said.