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		<title>Mongabay India</title>
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		<link>https://india.mongabay.com/by/darryl-dmonte/</link>
		<description>India&#039;s environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:35:32 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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					<title>How a village in Bastar is stopping forest fires</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/video/2026/09/how-a-village-in-bastar-is-stopping-forest-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/video/2026/09/how-a-village-in-bastar-is-stopping-forest-fires/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 18:15:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Prakhar DobhalSwara Garge]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kartik Chandramouli]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Chhattisgarh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Community Forest Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest fire]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/10123046/fireline-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections and Eco Hope]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chhattisgarh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change Adaptation, Forest Fires, and Forest Rights Act]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every summer, the forests around Tiriya village in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, face the threat of fire. But before flames can spread, the residents are already on the move. Members of Tiriya’s gram sabha patrol the forest on bicycles, looking for fresh smoke or flames. They work in shifts, maintain firelines and coordinate with the Forest Department [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every summer, the forests around Tiriya village in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, face the threat of fire. But before flames can spread, the residents are already on the move. Members of Tiriya’s gram sabha patrol the forest on bicycles, looking for fresh smoke or flames. They work in shifts, maintain firelines and coordinate with the Forest Department when fires are detected. The patrols are part of a larger change in how the community manages its forests. After receiving Community Forest Resource rights in 2022-23, Tiriya’s gram sabha took responsibility for more than 3,000 hectares of forest. Villagers say this changed how they viewed and managed the forest. “Now, the villagers have reduced burning and monitor planned fires closely,” says Loknath Nag, who is part of the village’s Community Forest Resource Management Committee. For the Dhurwa community, mahua and sal are important to food, livelihoods and traditions, while forest produce such as mushrooms depends on the leaf litter that fires can destroy. The community’s efforts appear to be paying off. Recorded fires in Tiriya fell from 19 to three between 2022 and 2025, with one recorded by May 2026, according to the gram sabha and forest department. Watch Before The Fire to see how Tiriya’s community-led forest patrols work and what it takes to keep a fire from becoming a forest fire. &nbsp; This film was produced under Mongabay-India and ALT EFF’s Video Reporting Opportunity programme.This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/video/2026/09/how-a-village-in-bastar-is-stopping-forest-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/video/2026/09/how-a-village-in-bastar-is-stopping-forest-fires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Krishna AchutaRao, climate scientist who pioneered attribution research in India, dies at 62</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/krishna-achutarao-climate-scientist-who-pioneered-attribution-research-in-india-dies-at-62/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/krishna-achutarao-climate-scientist-who-pioneered-attribution-research-in-india-dies-at-62/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 16:21:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Climate disaster]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/10155254/krishna-achutarao-collage-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=40852</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Science, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Obituary, and People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Krishna AchutaRao, the renowned climate scientist and a professor at IIT Delhi’s Centre for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS), died on September 4, aged 62. AchutaRao’s research helped strengthen the science of climate attribution, distinguishing climate change related events from ordinary ones. His sustained focus on the influence of anthropogenic forces over climate systems has helped put [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Krishna AchutaRao, the renowned climate scientist and a professor at IIT Delhi’s Centre for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS), died on September 4, aged 62. AchutaRao’s research helped strengthen the science of climate attribution, distinguishing climate change related events from ordinary ones. His sustained focus on the influence of anthropogenic forces over climate systems has helped put their regional impacts into focus. AchutaRao has been associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 2001, rising to become a contributing author to the seminal reports in its fifth and sixth editions. He also helped set up IIT’s Centre of Excellence for Climate Change Adaptation, which developed an expertise in climate risk assessments and adaptation planning for heat extremes, monsoon variability, and other hazards affecting vulnerable communities in India. But apart from his scientific contributions, AchutaRao was also an advocate of raising awareness about climate change. He engaged with the media often to explain the importance of limiting global heating, and spoke of how its uneven impacts on the developing world could affect people, institutions, and countries. “This is a very critical time in our history, because we are a developing country poised to take off. Most of our development is yet to happen, in spite of what you might see,” he said in an interview to an IIT student in 2020. “So in that development, how are we going to make sure we don’t make the same high emission mistakes the rest of the developed world has made? There is a role&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/krishna-achutarao-climate-scientist-who-pioneered-attribution-research-in-india-dies-at-62/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Nepal’s flood disaster puts its hydropower-first strategy, exports to the test</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-disaster-puts-its-hydropower-first-strategy-exports-to-the-test/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-disaster-puts-its-hydropower-first-strategy-exports-to-the-test/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 15:00:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rudra Pangeni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flash flood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nepal]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/10141820/nepal-flood-2026-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40837</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Himalayas, and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Dams, Environment, Extreme Weather Events, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, Global Warming, Himalayas, Hydroelectric power, Impacts of Climate Change, Mountains, Natural Resources, Renewable Energy, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nepal’s long-held policy of harnessing hydroelectricity and using it for economic growth has met new challenges: potential catastrophic floods in the snow-fed rivers amid rising global temperatures. The August 26 floods that originated on the Nepal-China border, and that knocked out around 10% of installed power from the national grid, has prompted a debate on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nepal’s long-held policy of harnessing hydroelectricity and using it for economic growth has met new challenges: potential catastrophic floods in the snow-fed rivers amid rising global temperatures. The August 26 floods that originated on the Nepal-China border, and that knocked out around 10% of installed power from the national grid, has prompted a debate on whether Nepal should rethink its overall hydropower strategy or just adopt better-engineered plants. Amid this, the flood could jeopardise the country’s clean energy targets and push it to adopt more solar power. Immediate impacts The recent flash flood crippled a combined installed generation capacity of 281 megawatts, including a solar power plant, and damaged four other under-construction projects, totaling a capacity of 700 MW. One of the oldest hydroelectric plants, the 14.1-MW Devighat Hydroelectric Plant, commissioned 42 years ago, was wiped out. Further downstream, the flood badly damaged a 25-MW solar power plant, according to data compiled by Mongabay from official sources. Similarly, with a hub of a transmission line washed away on the Trishuli river’s banks, another 150 MW of power from different power plants is cut off from the national grid system. Transmission lines, including a substation on the Trishuli riverbank, were also destroyed. While officials are assessing the damage, estimates put losses at hundreds of billions of Nepali rupees, according to media reports. They say they can’t yet provide timelines for when the affected projects will resume generation. Around 983 engineers and workers are feared trapped inside the tunnels or power houses&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-disaster-puts-its-hydropower-first-strategy-exports-to-the-test/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Your exotic pet could be putting your health at risk</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/your-exotic-pet-could-be-putting-your-health-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/your-exotic-pet-could-be-putting-your-health-at-risk/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 12:56:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Arathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exotic species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zoonoses]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zoonotic disease]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/10105159/AP18210287107497-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40817</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environmental Crime, Health impacts, Law Enforcement, Pandemics, Pet Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Protection Act, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is Part 1 of a series on exotic pet trade. The series looks at the health impacts, legal challenges and the ecological consequences of keeping exotic wild animals as pets. Mumbai-based veterinarian Dr. Rina Dev was hospitalised for four days recently with a lung infection. “I hope it’s not something from the parrots I [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is Part 1 of a series on exotic pet trade. The series looks at the health impacts, legal challenges and the ecological consequences of keeping exotic wild animals as pets. Mumbai-based veterinarian Dr. Rina Dev was hospitalised for four days recently with a lung infection. “I hope it’s not something from the parrots I was treating,” she told Mongabay-India after being discharged from the hospital. Dr. Dev is an avian and exotic animal veterinarian who works closely with the forest department to treat imported and seized exotic animals involved in the wildlife trade. Her concerns are valid. Avian chlamydiosis, or psittacosis, is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia psittaci and is a common infection among people who handle birds, earning it the nickname “bird handler’s disease”. A 2024 case from India describes a man contracting the infection after exposure to his pet parrot. In 1994, customs officers in Belgium contracted chlamydiosis after being exposed to infected parakeets. Multiple such documented cases link wildlife trade to human infection. A comprehensive review of psittacosis by the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute in 2021 describes avian chlamydiosis as a “neglected disease” with “critical zoonotic potential”. Pet trade link to zoonosis Zoonoses, or zoonotic diseases, entered the ordinary Indian’s wellness lexicon when the COVID-19 pandemic exposed how pathogens can jump from animals to humans, causing serious medical consequences and, in some cases, a pandemic that can literally bring the world to a standstill. The wildlife pet trade, especially the trade in exotic animals imported or&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/your-exotic-pet-could-be-putting-your-health-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/your-exotic-pet-could-be-putting-your-health-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Red-naped ibises carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria, study finds</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/red-naped-ibises-carry-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/red-naped-ibises-carry-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-study-finds/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 15:47:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sneha Mahale]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[birding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban birds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban lakes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[waterbirds]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/09132118/The-red-naped-ibis-Vijay-Kumar-Koli-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40801</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Rajasthan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Cities and Towns, Conservation, Ecology, Environment, Marshlands, Research, Waste management, Water Pollution, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Antibiotic resistance is not confined to people alone. Wildlife can also encounter and carry resistant bacteria, with birds picking them up from contaminated water, food, waste and other human-associated environments. As they move between habitats, they may spread these bacteria through their faeces, making them useful candidates in tracking the movement of antibiotic resistance in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Antibiotic resistance is not confined to people alone. Wildlife can also encounter and carry resistant bacteria, with birds picking them up from contaminated water, food, waste and other human-associated environments. As they move between habitats, they may spread these bacteria through their faeces, making them useful candidates in tracking the movement of antibiotic resistance in the environment. A new study of red-naped ibises in Udaipur, Rajasthan, has now found diverse bacteria in their faeces, including multidrug-resistant strains. The red-naped ibis is a common, resident, non-migratory wading bird that occurs across a range of habitats in and around Udaipur. It is also an opportunistic omnivore, consuming insects, amphibians, reptiles, small fish, livestock carcasses and occasionally plant material. The ibises have also been observed foraging at garbage disposal sites and on carrion. “It was not simply a matter of choosing a common and easily observable bird,” elaborates Vijay Kumar Koli, an assistant professor and in-charge head of the Wildlife Research Laboratory at Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, and a co-author of the study. “Its year-round presence, broad habitat use, feeding behaviour and frequent contact with human-influenced environments make it a useful species for investigating how environmental bacteria and antibiotic resistance may circulate at the wildlife-human-environment interface.” Nesting trees of the red-naped ibis in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The bird is a common non-migratory wader that is found across the city. Image by Kanishka Mehta. Sampling the ibises The researchers collected 45 faecal samples between July 2022 and June 2023, with 15 samples collected during each&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/red-naped-ibises-carry-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>The cliff-climbing goat</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/the-cliff-climbing-goat/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/the-cliff-climbing-goat/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 15:14:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Team Mongabay-India]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/09102418/tahr-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=40589</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Species File]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Species File: Exploring India&#8217;s biodiversity, one species at a time. A 2026 survey counted 1,364 Nilgiri tahr in Tamil Nadu, nearly 5% more than the last year. Southern India&#8217;s only mountain ungulate, the Nilgiri tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius), is Tamil Nadu&#8217;s state animal. Endemic to the Nilgiris, it is locally known as varayaadu, or cliff goat. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Species File: Exploring India&#8217;s biodiversity, one species at a time. A 2026 survey counted 1,364 Nilgiri tahr in Tamil Nadu, nearly 5% more than the last year. Southern India&#8217;s only mountain ungulate, the Nilgiri tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius), is Tamil Nadu&#8217;s state animal. Endemic to the Nilgiris, it is locally known as varayaadu, or cliff goat. A stout animal with curved horns and strong hooves with rubber-like soles, it scales sheer vertical cliffs with ease — a skill that helps it evade predators and access nooks which larger herbivores cannot. Tahrs graze on grass and shrubs, spreading seeds and fertilising the soil with their excreta as they go. The Nilgiri tahr lives in the high-altitude grasslands and rocky cliffs in the southern Western Ghats. Eravikulam National Park in Kerala holds the largest population. In Tamil Nadu, the two largest contiguous habitats are in Grass Hills National Park in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve and Mukurthi National Park in the Nilgiris. It is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List and in  India, it has the highest legal protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, offering it the strongest protection against hunting, poaching, and trading. But its range has shrunk to a fraction of what it once was, largely due to agricultural plantations, hydroelectric and infrastructure projects, and invasive plants that have eaten into its grassland habitat. Studies show that a warming climate could render much of the Nilgiri tahr&#8217;s remaining habitat unsuitable in the coming years. Isolated populations face&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/the-cliff-climbing-goat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Snow leopards and their survival in changing times [Book Review]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/snow-leopards-and-their-survival-in-changing-times-book-review/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/snow-leopards-and-their-survival-in-changing-times-book-review/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 16:06:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Usha Rai]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Renuka Kulkarni]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[book review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[snow leopard]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/08142945/DSC_0942-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40779</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Ecology, Endangered species, Environment, Himalayas, In-situ conservation, Mammals, Mountains, Wildlife, and Wildlife Sanctuary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If you want to know all about snow leopards, their range, food, love life, fight for survival in the fast changing high mountain landscape, impact of climate change and the struggle of scientists to get accurate figures on their population and spread, Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi’s The Ghost of the Mountains is a must read. It is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If you want to know all about snow leopards, their range, food, love life, fight for survival in the fast changing high mountain landscape, impact of climate change and the struggle of scientists to get accurate figures on their population and spread, Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi’s The Ghost of the Mountains is a must read. It is a fascinating, extremely well written book that blends research with graphic description of the landscape and allows us to witness a creature few have been privileged to see. “A flagship species of Himalayan conservation, snow leopards are key to preserving an austere, delicate ecosystem,” the book says. It has taken Suryawanshi 20 years to study the ‘ghost of the mountains,’ distributed in mountainous terrain of 12 countries that straddle the Himalayas and Central Asia. Despite the fast changing pace of development, the story of the snow leopard is one of hope. Snow leopards “are shy and their silvery-brown and white coats, marked with dark rosettes, work like magic cloaks offering good camouflage that enable them to disappear like smoke. They have furry tails, the longest of any cats, which they wrap around their bodies like mufflers on cold nights. The tails also work like the balancing pole of a tight rope walker as they manoeuvre around exposed cliffs. Their thick, wide paws, lined with fur, act like snow shoes and their unusually large nostrils help them warm the cold air they breathe and their small rounded ears minimise heat loss”. The author, who travelled across&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/snow-leopards-and-their-survival-in-changing-times-book-review/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Why is disaster risk increasing in the Himalayas? [Explainer]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-disaster-risk-increasing-in-the-himalayas-explainer/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-disaster-risk-increasing-in-the-himalayas-explainer/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 13:49:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Max Martin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hindu Kush Himalaya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[natural disaster]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/08111108/AP26250291785391-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40769</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Climate Change, Climate Science, Environment, Extreme Weather Events, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, Himalayas, Human Rights, Impacts of Climate Change, and Mountains]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a warming world, rising temperatures in high mountain regions are driving glacier retreat and melting, contributing to an increase in the number and area of glacial lakes. As glaciers retreat, they can create new lakes or expand old ones, sometimes contained by natural dams made of ice or moraines — ridges of rock, sediment [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a warming world, rising temperatures in high mountain regions are driving glacier retreat and melting, contributing to an increase in the number and area of glacial lakes. As glaciers retreat, they can create new lakes or expand old ones, sometimes contained by natural dams made of ice or moraines — ridges of rock, sediment and debris left behind by glaciers. If these dams fail, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) can release huge volumes of water and debris, severely flooding downstream communities and infrastructure. In some cases, GLOFs involve rockfalls or the collapse of entire mountain slopes with cascading impacts. Or there can be avalanches — massive, rapid downhill flows of rocks, ice and snow. Scientists have improved glacier and lake monitoring in the Himalayan region, but large gaps remain in data collection, sharing and processing. This affects real-time early warning for river systems that run across international borders. In the aftermath of the recent Nepal flood disaster, this explainer looks at the relevance of these issues. What caused the August 2026 disaster in Nepal? Initial reports suggested that a massive mountain slope failure involving glacier ice in Nepal’s Langtang National Park, close to the Chinese border. The mass of debris and flood waters travelled nearly 100 kilometres, gathering more water and rock as it gushed downhill, swelling and overflowing streams and rivers. In Nepal, scientists at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and their partners investigated whether the event was a high-altitude ice-rock avalanche. Rock-snow-ice avalanches —&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-disaster-risk-increasing-in-the-himalayas-explainer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>The tiger reserve with abundant prey but no resident tigers</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/the-tiger-reserve-with-abundant-prey-but-no-resident-tigers/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/the-tiger-reserve-with-abundant-prey-but-no-resident-tigers/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 11:23:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nivedhika Krishnan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/07063530/Tara_in_Tadoba_Tiger_Reserve_AJTJ_P1090339-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40721</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Telangana]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Human Rights, Human Wildlife Conflict, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mammals, National Parks, Protected Areas, Tigers, Villages, Wildlife, Wildlife Protection Act, and Wildlife Sanctuary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deep in northern Telangana, Kawal Tiger Reserve covers a thick forest of teak and bamboo near the Godavari river. Geographically, it sits in an ideal location, connecting major tiger landscapes. It links Tadoba-Andhari in Maharashtra to the west and Indravati in Chhattisgarh to the east. Kawal supports large populations of spotted deer, sambar, nilgai, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deep in northern Telangana, Kawal Tiger Reserve covers a thick forest of teak and bamboo near the Godavari river. Geographically, it sits in an ideal location, connecting major tiger landscapes. It links Tadoba-Andhari in Maharashtra to the west and Indravati in Chhattisgarh to the east. Kawal supports large populations of spotted deer, sambar, nilgai, and wild pigs, alongside leopards and wild dogs. On paper, the tiger reserve checks the boxes of sufficient prey and habitat. But the reserve has no resident tigers. A 12-year study conducted between 2010 and 2022 confirmed that no tigers live permanently in Kawal. Using systematically placed line transects to monitor prey numbers, researchers found that spotted deer populations grew over the decade, while sambar, nilgai, and chousingha populations remained stable. Despite this rich prey base, researchers recorded only 15 transient tigers entering Kawal from Maharashtra since 2015. Crucially, only two of these visiting tigers were female. While neighbouring corridors outside the reserve have breeding tigers with cubs, Kawal itself remains empty. According to lead researcher Imran Siddiqui, this absence comes down to a fundamental difference in how male and female tigers disperse, &#8220;Tigers disperse very differently based on sex. Male tigers are bolder risk-takers — they grow faster, leave their mothers earlier, and travel long distances through unfamiliar, human-dominated landscapes to claim territory. Female tigers are conservative — they stay close to their birthplace and require quiet, undisturbed habitat to raise cubs. Crossing busy highways, railways, and mines poses a massive perceived threat to females.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/the-tiger-reserve-with-abundant-prey-but-no-resident-tigers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Bauxite mining transforms living hills into emptiness [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/bauxite-mining-transforms-living-hills-into-emptiness-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/bauxite-mining-transforms-living-hills-into-emptiness-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Sep 2026 15:27:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Minati DashPatrik Oskarsson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/07095452/site-of-workship-of-baphlibudhi-matriarch-in-a-cave-in-Baphlimali-hills-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40743</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andhra Pradesh, Eastern Ghats, and Odisha]]>
						</locations>
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[‘‘In the mine lease area there is no natural water source cited … (In) the tree enumeration report, it is evident that we have hardly 2933 trees only.” An official from Vedanta (a multinational mining and metals company) said this when questioned about the potential environmental impacts of mining in the Sijimali Hills for a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[‘‘In the mine lease area there is no natural water source cited … (In) the tree enumeration report, it is evident that we have hardly 2933 trees only.” An official from Vedanta (a multinational mining and metals company) said this when questioned about the potential environmental impacts of mining in the Sijimali Hills for a documentary. The implication of the statement is that the mining project poses no ecological threat to the region since the region itself lacks forests and water sources. Such an approach to bauxite mining raises concerns of a possible repeat of long-standing conflicts over hilltop (bauxite) mining witnessed in Eastern India since the 1980s. In the neighbouring Baphlimali hills, where bauxite mining operations have been ongoing since 2013, communities recalled that officials of the mining company, UAIL (Utkal Alumina International Limited), described the area as a &#8216;terra nullius&#8217; [space without humans] — &#8220;only rugged terrain with small valleys where some ragi [millets] and grass grew.&#8221; Approaches to bauxite mining that ignore both the unique ecologies of the region and its people run through the contentious history of bauxite hill mining along the Eastern Ghats in places like Gandhamardhan, Niyamgiri, Araku and Jerrela. Even the 2013 landmark decision to protect Niyamgiri Hills from Vedanta’s bauxite mining doesn’t offer protection for other bauxite-bearing hills. Such definitions allow the project to be presented as risk-free, with the potential to even improve environmental outcomes. However, such an articulation rests on a series of omissions and blind spots that compel the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/bauxite-mining-transforms-living-hills-into-emptiness-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Community-based warning saves lives during Nepal floods</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/community-based-warning-saves-lives-during-nepal-floods/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/community-based-warning-saves-lives-during-nepal-floods/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Sep 2026 11:25:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flash flood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flooding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[glacier]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nepal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[warning]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/06225929/AP26242077468157-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40708</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections and Flood and drought]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Climate Change, Environment, Extreme Weather Events, Floods, Glaciers, Global Warming, Himalayas, Impacts of Climate Change, and Mountains]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At 9:10 a.m. on August 26, head teacher Rajendra Dawadi received frantic phone calls about a flood heading downstream toward Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School. He ordered his roughly 900 students to run for higher ground. Ten minutes later, the flood hit the evacuated school. When flood waters receded, the whole compound was buried under debris, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At 9:10 a.m. on August 26, head teacher Rajendra Dawadi received frantic phone calls about a flood heading downstream toward Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School. He ordered his roughly 900 students to run for higher ground. Ten minutes later, the flood hit the evacuated school. When flood waters receded, the whole compound was buried under debris, with only a fragment of the school’s roofline left showing. There were two “systems” that warned people about the impending danger that day: one built by the state relying on sensors and SMS messages, the other relying on community-based ties. Only the second worked reliably, and in the case of Dawadi and many other survivors, it even arrived first. But not everyone was as lucky. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), as of September 3, a total of 1,252 people have died, with 4,216 more missing and roughly 1.6 million people affected across five districts in Nepal. Headteacher Rajendra Dawadi of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School, talks to relatives on his mobile phone in Trishuli Valley in Nepal. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) Communication researcher Bhuwan K.C. observed that while one-half of the corridor (upstream) had no information at all, the other had information, but that information couldn’t convey urgency and scale. In areas nearest to the border, on both the Nepal and China sides, everything happened in just seven minutes. The sensors were knocked out immediately. But farther down, in Trishuli Bazaar, Betrawati and toward Muglin and Devghat, people received an&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/community-based-warning-saves-lives-during-nepal-floods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Little is known about this flycatcher that migrates across the country every year</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/little-is-known-about-this-flycatcher-that-migrates-across-the-country-every-year/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/little-is-known-about-this-flycatcher-that-migrates-across-the-country-every-year/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Sep 2026 11:19:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hirra Azmat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[birding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Birds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[endemic species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[migratory birds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[research]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/07085505/Kashmir-flycatcher-faizan-1-scaled-e1788751537804-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40727</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Jammu and Kashmir]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Ecosystem services, Migration, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every spring, as new leaves emerge on Parrotia, walnut and other trees across the temperate forests of Kashmir, a small traveller returns from thousands of kilometres away. Barely larger than a sparrow, the Kashmir flycatcher (Ficedula subrubra) undertakes a long journey from the hills of southern India and Sri Lanka to breed in the mountains [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every spring, as new leaves emerge on Parrotia, walnut and other trees across the temperate forests of Kashmir, a small traveller returns from thousands of kilometres away. Barely larger than a sparrow, the Kashmir flycatcher (Ficedula subrubra) undertakes a long journey from the hills of southern India and Sri Lanka to breed in the mountains of the western Himalaya. But its migration route, stopover locations and winter ecology are still a mystery to scientists. The males of the species are easily recognised by their rich orange throat and breast that contrast with a dark head and upperparts, while females are more subdued in colour. The migratory songbird typically arrives in Kashmir during late April and early May, when the forests become rich in insect prey. “They are closely associated with mature, temperate broad-leaved forests of the western Himalaya,” shares Khursheed Ahmad, a professor and senior scientist at the Division of Wildlife Sciences, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Kashmir. Ahmad is supervising an ongoing research project on the Kashmir flycatcher in North-Western Himalayas. During the breeding season, the flycatcher prefers relatively undisturbed forests dominated by horse chestnut, black locust, Parrotia (Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana), walnut, elm and other broadleaf species, often with a well-developed understorey and dense canopy. The flycatcher is also found on forest edges and in clearings and streamside woodlands where insect abundance is high. Endemic to the Indian subcontinent, its restricted breeding range, small population and ongoing habitat loss make the species vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/little-is-known-about-this-flycatcher-that-migrates-across-the-country-every-year/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>The grass is greener only on paper</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/the-grass-is-greener-only-on-paper/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/the-grass-is-greener-only-on-paper/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Sep 2026 13:52:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shivam Bhardwaj]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cattle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fodder crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green fodder]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihoods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livestock]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/04094108/ramashankar-dodamafi--768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40691</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Uttar Pradesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Climate Change, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather Events, Food, Villages, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It has been over three months since 65-year-old livestock farmer Faujdar Singh Yadav, has been missing. Yadav&#8217;s family, that lives in Doda Mafi village in Chitrakoot district of Bundelkhand, owns 14 cattle. &#8220;During the summer, there was not enough fodder at home, so he used to take the cattle into the forest to graze. In [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It has been over three months since 65-year-old livestock farmer Faujdar Singh Yadav, has been missing. Yadav&#8217;s family, that lives in Doda Mafi village in Chitrakoot district of Bundelkhand, owns 14 cattle. &#8220;During the summer, there was not enough fodder at home, so he used to take the cattle into the forest to graze. In the third week of April, he went out to graze the cattle. In search of fodder, the cattle went deeper into the forest and disappeared from his sight. While searching for the cattle, he probably got lost too,&#8221; narrates Yadav&#8217;s son Rama Shankar. &#8220;The cattle returned home by late evening, but my father hasn&#8217;t returned to this day. An FIR was registered, but there is still no information about my father.&#8221; Yadav’s story reflects a wider crisis in Bundelkhand, where recurring drought and fodder shortages are forcing livestock farmers to venture farther in search of food, sometimes putting both people and cattle at risk. Bundelkhand is a historically drought-prone region where droughts have become more frequent in recent decades. Recent studies find that the region now faces severe drought every 5-7 years which adversely affects the rural economy that depends on crop production and livestock rearing. The cattle economy bears the earliest and sharpest impact. In the peak summer of the 2016 drought, reports said thousands of cattle died from fodder and water shortages across the region. Many farmers still live with the aftermath of that crisis. In another part of Bundelkhand, near Pachara Panchayat&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/the-grass-is-greener-only-on-paper/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Study links female legislators to faster forest-cover growth</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/study-links-female-legislators-to-faster-forest-cover-growth/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/study-links-female-legislators-to-faster-forest-cover-growth/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Sep 2026 10:25:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Arathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[women]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/04091503/AP20048475683707-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=40688</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas and Environment and Her]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change Mitigation, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, and Nature-based Climate Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The gender of elected representatives can influence forest-cover growth, indicates a study that examines the causal impact of female elected representatives on forest conservation in India. The study concludes that electing a female MLA increased annual forest-cover growth by about six percentage points in constituencies reserved for historically marginalised communities such as Scheduled Castes and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The gender of elected representatives can influence forest-cover growth, indicates a study that examines the causal impact of female elected representatives on forest conservation in India. The study concludes that electing a female MLA increased annual forest-cover growth by about six percentage points in constituencies reserved for historically marginalised communities such as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The study titled Female legislators and forest conservation in India was published in the Journal of Economic Behavior &amp; Organization early this year. The authors adopted a regression discontinuity design (RDD) strategy, in which they compared forest-cover growth in constituencies where a female politician won with those where a male politician won in “close” mixed-gender electoral races. “Closely contested state assembly elections reveal a clear pattern: where women narrowly win against male candidates, forest cover grows faster in subsequent years,” write the authors in a related article published in The Policy Edge. “In extremely close mixed-gender elections, the outcome is often shaped by small, contingent factors rather than systematic differences between constituencies. Comparing such razor-thin contests allows a credible estimate of the effect of legislator gender,” the article elaborates. The researchers combined forest-cover data from 2000–2014, state assembly election data, information on the gender of the winning candidate, and details on whether the constituency was reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) or Scheduled Tribes (STs) to identify a pattern and arrive at this conclusion. The researchers explore several possible explanations for the outcome through existing literature. They suggest that, in many cases where women&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/study-links-female-legislators-to-faster-forest-cover-growth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Crop-residue burning, a major contributor to black carbon pollution: Study</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/crop-residue-burning-a-major-contributor-to-black-carbon-pollution-study/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/crop-residue-burning-a-major-contributor-to-black-carbon-pollution-study/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2026 17:11:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nikhil Sreekandan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Arathimenon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crop residue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stubble burning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sustainable agriculture]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/03162644/AP21322310236130-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40673</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Carbon emissions, Cities and Towns, Clean Energy, Coal, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Green Energy, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health impacts, Industry, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Stubble burning, or crop-residue burning, has been known to contribute to the seasonal smog across northern India, especially in the Indo-Gangetic Plain region. Despite directions issued by the National Green Tribunal in 2015 to prevent agricultural residue burning, biomass burning remains a seasonal activity in states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Rajasthan, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Stubble burning, or crop-residue burning, has been known to contribute to the seasonal smog across northern India, especially in the Indo-Gangetic Plain region. Despite directions issued by the National Green Tribunal in 2015 to prevent agricultural residue burning, biomass burning remains a seasonal activity in states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Rajasthan, contributing to the region’s air pollution. A new study by researchers from IIT, New Delhi, has quantified the impact of crop-residue burning on particulate air pollution, particularly black carbon, commonly known as soot, that is produced when carbon-containing fuels are not burned completely. The study found that emissions from crop-residue burning in rural Punjab deteriorate air quality across the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) and in downwind metropolitan cities such as Delhi, due to the transport of pollutants by prevailing winds. Results from real-time measurements at an agricultural-field site in Kheral village in rural Punjab showed that crop-residue burning contributed, on average, 48% to the total black carbon during the post-monsoon period, and periodically exceeded 90% during active burning hours. The study was conducted during October and November, the peak season for crop-residue burning in North India after rice harvest. A dominant source of black carbon “For the study, we mainly focused on black carbon levels and their dependence on stubble burning,” said Ajit Kumar, a Ph.D. researcher at IIT Delhi and one of the paper’s authors. Black carbon is a short-lived, carbon-rich component of PM2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometres), Kumar said. A mobile monitoring&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/crop-residue-burning-a-major-contributor-to-black-carbon-pollution-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>El Niño brings drought declaration into sharper focus</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/el-nino-brings-drought-declaration-into-sharper-focus/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/el-nino-brings-drought-declaration-into-sharper-focus/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2026 15:43:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[El Niño]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[natural disaster]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/03104144/AP649388761550-scaled-e1788412383893-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40639</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather Events, Food, Global Warming, Impacts of Climate Change, Villages, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Despite government assurances of adequate preparations, the looming El Niño has cast an uncertain shadow over crop productivity in India. So far, there has been a rainfall deficit of 14% over the country since the beginning of the monsoon season, according to the Crop Weather Watch Group under the Department of Agriculture. The El Niño [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Despite government assurances of adequate preparations, the looming El Niño has cast an uncertain shadow over crop productivity in India. So far, there has been a rainfall deficit of 14% over the country since the beginning of the monsoon season, according to the Crop Weather Watch Group under the Department of Agriculture. The El Niño is expected to gain strength over the second half of the monsoon season (August-September), the India Meteorological Department confirmed. The latest kharif crop sown area report shows a reduction of 13 lakh (1.3 million) hectares in the sown area of paddy, the dominant kharif crop, compared to last year. In anticipation of the El Niño’s impacts, the Indian Council on Agricultural Research (ICAR) put out an advisory instructing district-level farming research centres – Krishi Vigyan Kendras — to act opportunistically, distributing climate resilient seeds, disseminating advisories, and providing resources on fodder conservation. Even so, drought conditions have led to vocal demands for relief from several parts of the country, including Gujarat and Karnataka, putting the spotlight on the gaps between drought preparedness, detection and declaration. According to the India Drought Monitor, a tool developed by researchers from the Water and Climate Lab at IIT Gandhinagar, nearly 40% of the country is facing abnormal, moderate, or severe levels of dryness as of August 24, based on select hydrometeorological indicators alone. How droughts are declared India’s drought declaration process is dictated by the 2016 Manual for Drought Management, drafted by the Department of Agriculture under the Union&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/el-nino-brings-drought-declaration-into-sharper-focus/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Reduced exposure to nature is linked to immune system diseases [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/reduced-exposure-to-nature-is-linked-to-immune-system-diseases-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/reduced-exposure-to-nature-is-linked-to-immune-system-diseases-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2026 15:13:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ayisha FarseenaIrfan Shakeer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urbanisation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/03143959/Golpata_Forest_Taki_3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40655</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cities and Towns, Ecosystem services, Environment, Forests, Health impacts, Human Rights, and People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Homo sapiens appeared roughly 300,000 years ago. As outlined in naturalist Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species, this long transition occurred through continuous evolutionary pressures, shaped by interactions with surrounding microbial communities and natural environments. As species struggled and evolved within their ecosystems over time, natural selection shaped not only their physical traits [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Homo sapiens appeared roughly 300,000 years ago. As outlined in naturalist Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species, this long transition occurred through continuous evolutionary pressures, shaped by interactions with surrounding microbial communities and natural environments. As species struggled and evolved within their ecosystems over time, natural selection shaped not only their physical traits but also their internal immune system. This evolutionary process equipped organisms with a sensitive and a complex system to combat pathogens and foreign agents encountered in their natural environments. Ultimately, it is fair to say that human existence is the direct product of nature shaping our biology. The long-standing relationship among humans, microbes, and their shared environment was double-edged, yet they complemented each other. However, driven by rapid urbanisation and shifting lifestyles, human populations are slowly becoming disconnected with nature. Extensive scientific research and data collection have demonstrated the adverse effects of this ecological disconnect on the human immune system, particularly among recent generations of children, in the form of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). Multiple factors impact inflammatory diseases Over the past two decades, the rising incidence (new patients) of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) has drawn increasing attention from global researchers and policymakers. These are heterogeneous groups of inflammatory pathologies of multifactorial etiology (conditions caused by multiple factors) and involve either simultaneously or sequentially more organs. Some of the common examples are Crohn&#8217;s disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and asthma. Unlike diseases caused by infectious&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/reduced-exposure-to-nature-is-linked-to-immune-system-diseases-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>How Maldharis find freshwater using ancient knowledge in arid Banni</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/video/2026/09/how-maldharis-find-freshwater-using-ancient-knowledge-in-arid-banni/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/video/2026/09/how-maldharis-find-freshwater-using-ancient-knowledge-in-arid-banni/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 18:05:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marhaba Hilali]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kartik Chandramouli]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[extreme heat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freshwater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[indigenous knowledge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nature-based climate solutions]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/02162949/signal-2026-09-02-15-44-19-145_005-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?post_type=videos&#038;p=40631</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Knowledge and Nature-based Solutions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gujarat and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For Nabudo Halepotra, life in Banni means knowing how to live with extremes. In this arid landscape of Kachchh,​ Gujarat, summer temperatures can touch 50°C, while much of the groundwater is too saline to drink. Yet Nabudo and other Maldhari pastoralists know where to look for freshwater. Beneath the dry beds of seasonal ponds known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For Nabudo Halepotra, life in Banni means knowing how to live with extremes. In this arid landscape of Kachchh,​ Gujarat, summer temperatures can touch 50°C, while much of the groundwater is too saline to drink. Yet Nabudo and other Maldhari pastoralists know where to look for freshwater. Beneath the dry beds of seasonal ponds known as jheels, they dig shallow wells called virdas, drawing on generations of knowledge to find freshwater in one of India’s hottest and most saline landscapes. But these wells are much more than water harvesting structures. They are dug collectively, maintained across generations and woven into pastoral life. A Maldhari woman from Berdo, where piped water supply is unreliable, says, “If there is no virda, our existence will be threatened. Our cattle will perish.” But how long can this system last? Unpredictable rainfall, rising temperatures, the spread of the invasive Prosopis juliflora, and the decline of traditional practices are putting pressure on a system built on intimate knowledge of the land. Despite these challenges, some communities continue to use and maintain virdas through long summers and piped-water supply disruptions. &nbsp; This film was produced under Mongabay-India and ALT EFF’s Video Reporting Opportunity programme.This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/video/2026/09/how-maldharis-find-freshwater-using-ancient-knowledge-in-arid-banni/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>The largest land mammal in the country</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/the-largest-land-mammal-in-the-country/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/the-largest-land-mammal-in-the-country/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 15:52:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Team Mongabay-India]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Divya Kilikar]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/02124057/elephant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=40622</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Species File]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystem services, Elephants, Environment, Forests, Human Wildlife Conflict, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Species File: Exploring India&#8217;s biodiversity, one species at a time. A recent report from Arunachal Pradesh noted the surprising presence of an animal at the high altitude of 3,266 metres — the Indian elephant. This is possibly the highest confirmed presence of Asian elephants anywhere in the world. The Indian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus), a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Species File: Exploring India&#8217;s biodiversity, one species at a time. A recent report from Arunachal Pradesh noted the surprising presence of an animal at the high altitude of 3,266 metres — the Indian elephant. This is possibly the highest confirmed presence of Asian elephants anywhere in the world. The Indian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus), a subspecies of the Asian elephant, is the largest land mammal in the country. Compared to their African cousins, Asian elephants are smaller, with smaller ears and rounded backs, and typically only the males have prominent tusks. Highly intelligent and social, elephants live in matriarchal herds where the oldest females often lead the way. They communicate through rumbles, roars, chirps and infrasonic calls that can travel for kilometres. The Indian elephants typically live in tropical and subtropical forests, grasslands and scrublands. They need large, contiguous landscapes to roam, feed and breed. They disperse seeds, dig for water and clear vegetation, making them crucial ecosystem engineers. Roughly 50,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild in 13 countries, including Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and parts of Southeast Asia, with India holding almost half, at an estimated 22,446, of the subspecies. They occupy fragmented forests across the northeastern, northern, central and southern regions of the country, with the Western Ghats holding the largest populations. The IUCN Red List classifies the Asian elephant as endangered due to declining populations. In India, it receives the highest legal protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and is listed in Appendix&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/the-largest-land-mammal-in-the-country/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Kharif sowing deficit narrows, but El Niño remains a risk</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/kharif-sowing-deficit-narrows-but-el-nino-remains-a-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/kharif-sowing-deficit-narrows-but-el-nino-remains-a-risk/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 15:03:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[El Niño]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/02123259/IMG_20260724_082122378_HDR-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=40624</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environomy]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Given the sowing data and the possibility of persistent El Niño conditions, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), in its monthly economic review released on August 31, said particular attention may be required for pulses, oilseeds, rice and other rainfall-sensitive crops in the months ahead. As per the review, kharif sowing stood at 105.67 million [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Given the sowing data and the possibility of persistent El Niño conditions, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), in its monthly economic review released on August 31, said particular attention may be required for pulses, oilseeds, rice and other rainfall-sensitive crops in the months ahead. As per the review, kharif sowing stood at 105.67 million hectares as on August 21, around 1.5% below the corresponding period of last year. The decline was concentrated particularly in paddy, maize and soybean, while pulses acreage was marginally higher than a year earlier. The gap in sowing has narrowed since August 7, when kharif sowing stood at 96.79 million hectares, 1.8% below the corresponding period of last year. Paddy acreage then stood at 34.48 million hectares, compared with 36.07 million hectares a year earlier. Although the deficit had narrowed from the much larger shortfall observed earlier in the season, India Meteorological Department&#8217;s assessment indicates that the all-India cumulative rainfall deficit remained at 13% as of August 19. Persistent regional deficits remain relevant for crop prospects and rural incomes, the review added. Although the report said the relationship between El Niño and agricultural outcomes is not one-to-one, it identified the evolution of El Niño as an important emerging risk. The latest INCOIS Special El Niño Outlook Bulletin confirms that El Niño conditions had developed over the central Pacific by July 2026 and assigns an 80-98% probability that El Niño will remain the dominant ENSO phase from August 2026 through March 2027. The persistence of El&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/kharif-sowing-deficit-narrows-but-el-nino-remains-a-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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