Sources used and acknowledgements
Last updated: 10 October 2026
This page identifies the scientific reports, traditional texts and visual sources that inform the Trust’s website. Numerical summaries identify their publication and data years. Traditional perspectives and exploratory research propositions are distinguished from established scientific evidence.
Global indicators
- United Nations DESA — The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026
139 targets with trend data; 15% on track and 21% with moderate progress. PDF page 6 (printed page 4).
- Planetary Boundaries Science (PBScience) — Planetary Health Check 2026
Seven of nine boundaries transgressed. PDF page 9 (printed page 7), Executive Summary.
- United Nations DESA — SDG Report 2026, Goal 12
Global DMC: 115.1 billion tonnes in 2022, 25% above 2015. PDF page 34 (printed page 32). Publication year 2026; data year 2022. This is consumption, rather than extraction.
Environment, health and activities
- WHO — Ambient (outdoor) air pollution (2024)
- WHO — Guidance on environmental noise
- WHO — Drinking-water (2023)
- WHO — Household air pollution
- US EPA — Sources and solutions: nutrient pollution
- US EPA — Guide to reducing heat islands
- USGS — Groundwater decline and depletion
- IPCC — AR6 Working Group I, Summary for Policymakers (2021)
- Eyring et al. (2016) — CMIP6 experimental design and organisation
Traditional sources
தொன்மையான சித்தர்களின் இயற்கையோடு இணைந்த முத்திரைகள் (Ancient Siddhar’s Nature Aligned Mudra) — one of the references informing our explanations of Panchabootham, Panchikaranam, body, mind and gunas.
- Thirumular — Thirumantiram, verse 447; Project Madurai electronic text
A theological account referring to the creation of the five great elements. Our environmental discussion is a separate interpretation.
- Thirumantiram, verses 724–725; Project Madurai electronic text
Context for care of the body and spiritual practice. Match verse numbering to the edition used for any quotation.
Graphics and image acknowledgements
Planetary-boundaries visuals: Planetary Boundaries Science (PBScience), 2026. Planetary Health Check images and figures are used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). Layout and annotations have been adapted in the website’s explanatory graphics.
Data and explanatory graphics: Sources for the global indicators are listed above. The Panchabootham artwork, Panchikaranam table and PESM illustrations communicate the Trust’s interpretation of traditional perspectives and its exploratory research questions.
Trust and project imagery: The Trust logo, trustee portraits, temple photographs and community-support photographs introduce the Trust and its activities. Architectural concept renderings illustrate proposed designs and do not depict completed construction.
Acknowledgement does not imply that the source authors or organisations endorse the Trust or the PESM research proposition. Third-party material remains subject to its own licences.
Further reading
- Planetary Health Check — reports and downloads
- UN SDG Global Database
- WHO — Climate change and health
- UNEP / International Resource Panel — Global Resources Outlook 2024
Background reading on global resource demand, material extraction and future scenarios.
Corrections
Send source corrections or rights enquiries to admin@agastheeswarartrust.org.
For partners and researchers
Global evidence explains why action matters. The UN SDG Report 2026 finds 15% of 139 assessed targets on track and 21% making moderate progress. Planetary Health Check 2026 reports seven of nine boundaries transgressed. WWF’s Living Planet Report 2024 reports a 73% average decline in monitored vertebrate population sizes during 1970–2020, not a count of all animals lost. Global Footprint Network estimates demand equivalent to 1.73 Earths in 2026, with Earth Overshoot Day on 30 July. This ecological-footprint measure is not a measure of every mineral, fossil fuel or freshwater stock.
India’s 2025 groundwater assessment classifies 730 of 6,762 assessment units as over-exploited. Local conditions differ, including within states. Source: CGWB, assessment year 2025.
Tamil Nadu’s 2024 assessment records extraction at 74.26% of annual extractable groundwater resources, with 392 of 1,202 firkas classified as over-exploited. This percentage is not simply rainfall recharge. We plan fieldwork here and will examine local conditions before choosing interventions.