It was October 2013. Armed with special permission, researcher Dinal Samarasinghe was peering at preserved animal specimens at Kolkata's Zoological Survey of India. While the ZSI is a repository of…
Scientists have mapped how infrastructure projects in India, particularly linear infrastructures such as roads, railway lines, power transmission lines, canals and pipelines, affect forest fragmentation. Such infrastructure has led to a…
In Hinta, a village in the west Indian state of Rajasthan, Manju Soni, troops through lush wheat fields and adjoining homesteads adorned with animal motifs, stopping at wells where she…
Bhojdari, in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, is a village in the rain-shadow region of the Western Ghats; it is in the upper catchment and has no river, dam or canal…
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. [Video] How does the new…
Following in the footsteps of the coal ministry, which secured exemption from public hearings for capacity expansion of coal mines by up to 40 percent, the union ministry of mines…
There is space all around us. This space transforms into a place when we attach some significance and meaning to it. A ‘place’ for the commoner or forest dweller is…
Continuing its push for ensuring a smoother path for industries in securing environment clearances, the Indian government's environment ministry is in the process of changing the environment impact assessment (EIA)…
The Ganges shark, Glyphis gangeticus, is listed as a critically endangered species on the IUCN red list. The species is so rare, that after a single sighting in 2006, the…
The Pichavaram mangroves in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, that had helped lessen the devastating impacts of the 2004 Asian tsunami in the region, capture and hold a…
The Finn’s weaver (Ploceus megarhynchus) is listed as vulnerable in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. However, the bird is at the risk of extinction, alerts the…
Imagine if the river Dibang in Arunachal Pradesh, currently at the centre of controversy because of the 3,097-megawatt (MW) Etalin hydroelectric project proposed to be built across it, had the…
The proposed conversion of the railways’ Akola-Khandwa metre-gauge line to broad-gauge line through the Melghat tiger reserve (MTR) in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region has drawn concern. Apart from impacting the tiger…
Four years ago, when Minoti Naik of the coastal district of Bhadrak in Odisha, decided to send her 17-year-old son to the “city” for work, it was in hope that…
Shifting cultivation continues to be a predominant agricultural practice in many parts of India, despite state discouragement and multipronged efforts to wean indigenous communities away from it. Their land, due…
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. The return of the mega…
India’s average temperature has already increased by around 0.7 degree Celsius during the 1901–2018 period due to greenhouse gas emissions and by the end of 2100 it is expected to…
Protecting natural forests and wildlife has been a way of life for indigenous communities inside Similipal Biosphere in Odisha. Their efforts have been recognised a few years ago under the…
Conservation of nature, natural resources and wildlife is a mission. To accomplish this mission, good information, data and people’s support are needed. Indian media, both print and digital, is playing…
A recent study has made startling revelations about the rising global temperature. Using global gridded datasets for human population coupled with social and environmental variables, the study has plotted the…