As the birds returned to their roosts on a warm evening, a motley group of young people gather for a meeting in the Thekinkkad Maidan in Thrissur city of central…
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) celebrated 25 years of coming into force this year. "Celebrating 25 years of action for biodiversity" was the theme for the International Day of…
“There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.” - Anton Chekhov A leading taxonomist from one of India’s…
The memorial in the middle of the farm reads: ‘Chetan Dadarao Khobragade. Birth: 8/8/1995. Death: 13/5/2018’. It wasn’t an age to die. It wasn’t a way to die. Death probably…
I will never forget the two chaotic nights I spent with the wildlife biologist Rauf Ali in the jungles of Mundanthurai, a hilly tract in southernmost Tamil Nadu. In spite…
Despite international conventions emphasising the importance of gender in achieving conservation objectives, research suggests that the recognition is superficial and particularly, in the case of the Third World development discourse,…
The Nipah virus (NiV) infection has claimed 14 lives, from Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala in the month of May. Siblings Mohammed Sadik (26) and Mohammed Salih (28), died on May…
The coasts are in turmoil again. It is neither storms nor monsoonal winds that are affecting the coast at present. The turbulence is because the Ministry of Environment, Forest and…
When Kashmiris talk about the significance of forests, they instantly refer to one of the most popular sayings of the 15th Century Kashmiri saint and poet, Sheikh ul Alam: “Ann…
Ashish Kothari, activist from Kalpavriksh in Pune, has co-edited with K.J. Joy a large and impressive tome called Alternative Futures: India Unshackled (Authors Upfront, 2017). They boldly attempt to predict…
The Rushikulya beach on the eastern coast of India is seeing a lot of traffic, some of which is unusually two-way. Millions of baby turtles are emerging from their sandy…
We set out before dawn to escape the cruel summer heat of the Tirunelveli plains. By sunrise we had already gained altitude and entered the dense deciduous forests of the…
Keezhattur village in Kannur district of Kerala has become the focal point of an environmental controversy. While the Kerala Government wants to acquire land passing through paddy fields for constructing…
A recent series of aerial surveys of Bengaluru, using the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology, could possibly be a pioneer project to assess the potential for rooftop solar photovoltaic…
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted that the country is likely to experience ‘normal’ rainfall in the 2018 southwest monsoon season. The forecast spells good news for the country’s…
India’s on-shore wind energy sector is often touted as a success story. Now, the Indian government is looking to tap the enormous offshore wind energy potential. The latest move however,…
In 1987, Asad Rahmani, ornithologist and the former director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), wrote in the journal Oryx that the greatest threat to the great Indian bustard…
The national government has initiated the process of revamping the National Forest Policy. The policy that is in place currently was announced 30 years ago and is known as the…
Leopards in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in the heart of Mumbai could be doing a public health service. A new study from the Ecological Society of America states that…
Smallest among wild pigs, the shy and secretive pygmy hogs (Porcula salvania) are found nowhere else in India except in Assam and number only a few hundred. To ensure their…