This week’s environment and conservation news stories rolled into one.
To receive a weekly email with a roundup of our stories, please sign-up for our newsletter.
Editor’s pick 2019: Elections, climate change and extreme weather events
The struggle of the common citizen to bring their environmental issues into the electoral process ran parallel to the much talked about national elections in 2019.
The complex life of Banni
Apart from climatic factors like rainfall, but anthropogenic factors such as fire and herbivory have also moulded the Banni grasslands as it stands today.
Natural history, religion interweave to help human-leopard coexistence
A combination of their own observations of leopard behaviour and religious mythology helped Hamirpur residents view leopards as an intrinsic part of their landscape.
‘E’ for elections. ‘E’ for environment: where envt featured in the 2019 elections
Mongabay-India has been tracking the elections, publishing over 100 stories and videos in 2019 which explored links between environmental issues and the election discourse.
Nature’s fury 2019: A year of extremes for India
India was hit by record extreme events in 2019 that impacted human and animal lives, displaced millions and caused unprecedented damage to property.
Dark times await Odisha’s Talabira as forests razed for mining
While villagers and local environmentalists claim that more than 40,000 trees have been cut, the local officials claim the number of trees cut is 17,000.
Will the latest amendment to U.P.’s tree act help the state’s green cover?
In a latest amendment to its tree protection act, the UP govt directs plantation of 10 saplings for every tree cut or monetary compensation to the forest department.
Preparing health systems to deal with disasters
Odisha needs to up its ante in health systems readiness in disasters as climate change contributes to an increase in extreme weather events, said experts and affected citizens.
Recovery patterns of corals in Palk Bay after the 2016 bleaching event
Corals from the genus Acropora were most susceptible to bleaching and death. After bleaching, corals from the genus Acropora shifted to hosting a dominant symbiont of algae that is more resistant to heat stress.
Can Kolkata clean its air by 2030?
Current policies are not sufficient to substantially improve air quality in Kolkata and suburbs by 2030, a modelling study has said.