Along a dusty road between Hulikal and Kudur in Karnataka, banyan trees rise like sentinels. Their thick roots grasp the earth, their canopies stretch wide, casting deep shade over the red soil. Travellers who pass beneath them find little reason to wonder how they came to be, or who first pressed a sapling into the ground more than seventy years ago. Yet that green corridor — nearly four hundred trees strong — was the life’s work of a woman who owned almost nothing and asked for even less.

She was born around 1911, in a village so small it barely warranted a name on a map. There was no school; she worked as a labourer in a quarry. She married young, to a man who stammered and shared her steady resilience. They were childless, a fact that in rural Karnataka brought more than sorrow — it brought shame. One day, she later recalled, the couple decided to plant trees instead, “and tend to them like we would our children.” So they did. In the dry season, they carried pails of water for miles to nurture their banyans. They fenced them from grazing cattle, shaded them from heat. In time, their “children” took root.

Her name was Saalumarada Thimmakka — the epithet “Saalumarada,” meaning “row of trees,” bestowed by neighbours once her work transformed the landscape. Long after her husband died, she continued to walk the roadside she had greened, touching the trunks as one might pat the shoulders of grown sons. She lived alone in a hut that filled slowly with plaques and garlands from officials who came to honour her, though her phone was sometimes disconnected for want of a bill payment. “People come and give me certificates,” she once said, “but no money.”

Fame found her late. A local journalist wrote her story in 1996, catching the attention of India’s new prime minister, who brought her to Delhi to receive the National Citizen’s Award. Others followed: the Padma Shri in 2019, an honorary doctorate, the BBC’s list of 100 Women. When she blessed the president of India at the awards ceremony, he bowed his head and later wrote that he had been “deeply touched.” She had, by then, planted more than 8,000 trees.

She dreamed of building a hospital in her husband’s memory, though bureaucrats demurred. She died in Bengaluru on November 14th, at about 114. The banyans remain — roots and branches entwined with the grief and grace of the woman who mothered them into being.

Banner image: Saalumarada Thimakka. Image by Arun4speed via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0).

The latest update to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Synthesis Report from the UN Climate Change secretariat shows that the global greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions curve is beginning to bend downward, but not quickly enough. Much faster action will be needed to meet the Paris Agreement goals, it says.

Issued on November 10 by Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, the update summarises new and revised national pledges submitted since the 2025 NDC Synthesis Report in October. In total, 113 Parties have communicated NDCs between January 2024 and November 9 2025, including 22 new submissions and one revision, together covering about 69% of 2019 global GHG emissions.

According to the analysis, total global GHG emissions including land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) are projected at 48.9 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2035, about 12% below 2019 levels. Without LULUCF, emissions are estimated at 49.4 gigatonnes, or roughly 7% lower.

For the 113 Parties with new NDCs, emissions in 2035 are expected to average 32.1 Gt CO2 eq. Full implementation of conditional targets could reduce this to 31.4 gigatonnes (-14 %), while implementing unconditional targets alone would mean GHG emissions reach 32.7 gigatonnes (-10%). These figures reflect the average and range implied by conditional and unconditional commitments.

The update marks a major change from pre-Paris trajectories. Before 2015, global emissions for 2035 were projected to rise by 20-48%. Current estimates instead suggest a 12% decline, illustrated in the report’s comparison of pre- and post-Paris trends. The baseline projections draw on IPCC Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) 4-6, 3-7 and 5-8.5 — scenarios with limited or no climate policies.

Global totals also include illustrative projections for sectors not covered by NDCs, such as international aviation and shipping, with LULUCF data harmonised to IPCC-assessed scenarios.

Countries contributing to the latest submissions include China, the European Union and its member states, Indonesia, South Africa, Türkiye, and several developing and small-island nations. Their pledges span major emitting sectors and align with long-term net-zero strategies.

The updated synthesis fulfils Article 4 requirements for five-yearly NDC communication and responds to COP21 and CMA 3 decisions for annual updates. The findings will guide deliberations at COP30 in Belém, where countries will assess collective progress and seek stronger global climate ambition.

Banner image: Opening of the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) in the Brazilian Amazon. Image by UN Climate Change – Kiara Worth (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

India reaffirmed its commitment to equity, climate justice and multilateralism at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, delivering statements on behalf of the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) and Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) groups.

The Indian delegation underscored that the principles of equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), along with the full and effective implementation of the Convention, its Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, remain the foundation of the global climate regime. The CBDR-RC principle recognises that richer nations must take the lead, given their historical emissions and greater capacity.

The statement from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, issued on November 11, said India expressed “full and unwavering support for multilateralism and international cooperation on climate change, particularly in the current geopolitical context.” 

Marking ten years of the Paris Agreement, India emphasised that climate finance continues to be the key barrier to higher ambition. It called for a clear and universally agreed definition of climate finance, stronger and scaled-up public finance for adaptation. India also urged for the implementation of Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, reaffirming the legal obligation of developed countries to provide finance to developing nations.

The statement noted that adaptation finance must increase nearly fifteenfold to meet current needs and noted significant gaps in doubling adaptation finance by 2025. Adaptation, India said, is an urgent priority for billions of vulnerable people in developing countries who have contributed the least to global warming but are among the most affected.

India urged a strong outcome on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) and supported the continuation of the UAE–Belém Work Programme and the launch of the Baku Adaptation Roadmap “to ensure that no one is left behind.”

It also underlined the need for reliable, affordable and equitable access to climate technologies, stating that “intellectual property and market barriers must not hinder technology transfer to developing nations.”

On just transitions, India called for action-oriented institutional arrangements to ensure that transitions are rooted in equity and justice and help narrow the development gap between the Global North and South.

Speaking for BASIC and LMDC, India also recalled the historical and ongoing responsibility of developed nations, stating that they must reach net-zero earlier to preserve equitable carbon space, invest in negative emissions technologies, and fulfil their obligations on finance, technology transfer and capacity-building to developing countries.

India cautioned that unilateral climate-related trade measures risk becoming “instruments of protectionism” that undermine multilateral cooperation. Article 3.5 of the UN Climate Convention states that climate policies should not be used as hidden trade barriers or instruments of protectionism.

Banner image: Around the venue at COP30. Image © UN Climate Change – Kiara Worth/(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

New evidence suggests the Western Ghats are a suitable landscape to support the co-existence of humans and dholes, but that the stability of this relationship depends on the extent of agriculture, tourism, and infrastructure development in the region.

A study by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the National Centre for Biological Sciences sought to understand how dholes, also known as Asiatic wild dogs, share space with humans in the tea dominated agroforests of the Western Ghats. Dholes are listed as endangered species by the IUCN, and have lost 60% of their habitat range in India over the last century. However, they continue to be found in the Western Ghats, as well as the forests of Central and Northeast India.

Dholes were chosen as the subject of the study because despite being top predators, “funding and management efforts are often limited almost exclusively to protected areas (PAs), and remain heavily biased toward certain charismatic species,” the study said. Understanding how large carnivores like dholes interact with human-dominated landscapes “is vital for both human safety and carnivore conservation.”

Only about 1,000-2,000 adult dhole individuals remain in India, having been impacted by habitat fragmentation and deforestation. Dholes are social and known to travel in packs of two to 24 individuals, but prefer to live away from human habitations. Previous research has shown that demographic and geographic isolation have played a role in sustaining dhole populations in India.

The WCS study found that in the Valparai district of the Western Ghats, in Tamil Nadu, even though dholes could be found in areas where livestock was present, they preferred to prey on wild ungulates. Valparai has large swathes of agroforests sustaining coffee, tea, cardamom, and other crop plantations that are interspersed with forest patches.

By analysing scat samples from latrine sites visited between April and May 2023, the research revealed sambar deer to be the most consumed biomass by dholes, followed by wild gaur. Through satellite imagery, camera trap surveys, and ground-based surveys, the study also found that dhole packs appeared to “favor areas with higher direct visibility, which likely helps them guard the pack from human-induced disturbances.”

“We also found that space use was relatively higher in flatter areas away from human settlements,” says the study, adding, “Higher probabilities of use in flatter terrain may be attributed to their (coursing) hunting strategy. However, future land-use changes in Valparai driven by proliferating tourism and the subsequent infrastructure development, or the intensification of agriculture could negatively impact this stability.”

Banner image: Representative image of a dhole. Image by Vinoth Chandar via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur has warned that India’s forests and farmlands are facing a surge in what they call “ecological droughts”, long-term moisture stress that damages entire ecosystems.

Their paper looks at how ecological droughts are increasing in India with the changing summer monsoon and human interventions. Published in Communications Earth & Environment, the paper is authored by Rahul Kashyap, Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath, and Vikas Kumar Patel from IIT Kharagpur’s CORAL laboratory.

“This study investigates the complex non-linear interactions among the atmosphere, land, and ocean systems in relation to ecological droughts in India during the Indian Summer Monsoon,” said corresponding author Kuttippurath. “It reveals a rise in ecological droughts across sensitive regions such as the Himalaya, Northeast India, eastern Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), Central India, and southern semi-arid India. These regions also show increasing meteorological, land evaporative, and atmospheric aridity.” The paper adds that these are “regions with ample moisture and optimum warmth to support vegetation, yet they are subjected to ecological droughts now.”

“Ecological droughts are increasing in the ecologically fragile pristine forests and croplands that decline vegetation health in India,” write the authors in the paper. Using machine-learning and remote sensing data from 2000–2019, they found that meteorological aridity contributed about 23% and ocean warming contributed about 18% in driving ecological droughts.

“Our analysis identifies meteorological aridity and ocean warming as the main drivers of ecological droughts, with ocean warming indirectly influencing droughts through changes in moisture and thermal conditions,” Kuttippurath told Mongabay-India. “The westward shift of the monsoon system has intensified droughts in eastern and southern India, in addition to anthropogenic pressures.”

According to the paper, “the rising ecological droughts in India are driving browning of pristine forests and intensive croplands during the moisture rich monsoon season,” leading to weakened forest carbon sinks and reduced crop yields.

“These changes endanger agriculture, forests, and socio-economic stability by altering ecohydrological balance and land–atmosphere feedbacks that also affect regional climate,” Kuttippurath said. “The study underscores the need for improved monitoring of carbon–water cycles, sustainable land management, and adaptive policies to ensure environmental sustainability and food security under climate change.”

The authors conclude, “It is high time to integrate ecological droughts in the climate policies and give due respect in various climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.”

Banner image: Monsoon in a village in Odisha. Image by Santosh.mbahrm via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

A new study by Nagaland University has raised concerns over the health of Manipur’s Loktak lake, one of India’s most important freshwater ecosystems and the only floating national park in the world. The research confirms that land use changes in the catchment are directly deteriorating the water quality of rivers feeding the lake, threatening its biodiversity and the livelihoods of thousands who depend on it.

The study, led by Eliza Khwairakpam from the university’s Department of Environmental Science, analysed nine major rivers that drain into the lake. It found that agricultural runoff, expanding settlements and shifting (jhum) cultivation are the major factors influencing water pollution. The Nambul and Khuga rivers were identified as the most polluted, while the Iril and Thoubal rivers showed comparatively better water quality because of higher forest cover in their catchments.

The Nambul river recorded the poorest water quality, with dissolved oxygen levels as low as 0.02 milligrams per litre, which is far below the permissible dissolved oxygen limit of 4 milligrams per litre recommended for aquaculture by the Central Pollution Control Board. It also had a high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) going up to 25 mg/L in the dry and 20 mg/L in the wet season, which indicates that a water body is highly polluted with organic matter. The study attributes this to heavy agricultural activity and settlement areas that together cover nearly 60 percent of the river’s catchment. Runoff carrying pesticides, fertilisers and domestic waste, including plastics from Imphal city, contributes heavily to this pollution.

In contrast, the Khuga river, though surrounded by 34 percent dense forest, also showed low water quality due to extensive jhum cultivation, which occupies about 42 percent of its catchment. The study observed that the traditional jhum cycle has reduced from around ten years to just one or two years, leading to soil erosion, nutrient loss and increased acidity in river water.

According to study author Khwairakpam, “Our study confirms that land use decisions across villages and forest landscapes upstream are directly impacting water quality downstream. This makes community-based land management and stricter control of agricultural runoff and waste discharge crucial for restoring Loktak lake.”

She further added, “Land management is not just an environmental concern but a livelihood protection strategy for the people of Manipur. Catchment-wide land regulation, sustainable agriculture practices and controlled jhum cycles will be vital for protecting India’s only floating national park and the endangered Sangai deer habitat within the lake.”

Loktak Lake covers about 287 square kilometres and supports hydropower, fisheries, transport and tourism. It is home to 132 species of plants and 428 species of animals, including the endangered Sangai deer found only in the Keibul Lamjao National Park within the lake. Despite its ecological importance, the lake has been listed under the Montreux Record, which identifies wetlands undergoing significant ecological changes.

Read more: Manipur’s native fishes in troubled waters

Banner image: Inland water navigation in the Loktak lake. Image by Haoreima via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).