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		<title>Mongabay India</title>
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		<link>https://india.mongabay.com/list/eastern-ghats/</link>
		<description>India&#039;s environmental science and conservation news</description>
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					<title>Graze or blaze: Study looks at ways to manage grass dominance in savannahs</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/12/graze-or-blaze-study-looks-at-ways-to-manage-mesic-savannah-ecosystem/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/12/graze-or-blaze-study-looks-at-ways-to-manage-mesic-savannah-ecosystem/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Dec 2023 13:24:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Arathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Arathimenon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grass]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grassland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invasives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[land management]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2023/12/08121413/Landscape_pic-e1702018132780-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=25609</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Ghats and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, and Grasslands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A study from the Eastern Ghats highlights the dominance of native Cymbopogon grass (lemongrass) in a mesic savannah ecosystem and probes the causes and control measures to take it back to the desired or historical state to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. Discussions around plant invasions and dominance are often in the context of foreign [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A study from the Eastern Ghats highlights the dominance of native Cymbopogon grass (lemongrass) in a mesic savannah ecosystem and probes the causes and control measures to take it back to the desired or historical state to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. Discussions around plant invasions and dominance are often in the context of foreign or exotic species. The study, however, illustrates that it is not uncommon for native grasses like Cymbopogon to dominate a landscape. The grass is unpalatable, its dominance gives little scope for other, palatable grasses to grow and support livestock and herbivory. Cymbopogon is a C4 grass or a warm season grass that needs plenty of sunlight and is heat and fire tolerant. The grass contains oil and the dominance of such inflammable grass can result in more frequent, large fires that do not favour the biodiversity and the ecosystem. The study, by scientists from India and Germany, explored better land management strategies to bring the grass under control. Unique ecosystems affected by land use change Open natural ecosystems such as savannahs are unique ecosystems that harbour distinct biodiversity but are neglected as they are often viewed as degraded forests or seasonally dry tropical forests. Savannah ecosystems have existed in India for over a million years, as indicated by fossil and molecular evidence from the diverse and endemic C4 grasses, predating any human modification of the landscape, notes the paper. They are highly vulnerable to various anthropogenic pressures due to lack of protection. A shepherd with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2023/12/graze-or-blaze-study-looks-at-ways-to-manage-mesic-savannah-ecosystem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/12/graze-or-blaze-study-looks-at-ways-to-manage-mesic-savannah-ecosystem/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Indian grasslands hold a treasure trove of endemic plants</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/03/indian-grasslands-hold-a-treasure-trove-of-endemic-plants/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/03/indian-grasslands-hold-a-treasure-trove-of-endemic-plants/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Mar 2022 11:32:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sahana Ghosh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2022/03/06095306/Tephrosia-calophylla-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=17357</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections, Eco Hope, and Nature-based Solutions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Ghats, India, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Ghats, Grasslands, Plants, and Western Ghats]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indian savannahs, often tagged as ‘degraded forests’ in the afforestation framework, are likely to throw up “tons of new plant species,” say Indian scientists in a new study. Scouring through taxonomic records from the 1780s to September 2020, the scientists found that the Indian peninsular savannahs, or grassland ecosystems, contain 206 endemic plant species, of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indian savannahs, often tagged as ‘degraded forests’ in the afforestation framework, are likely to throw up “tons of new plant species,” say Indian scientists in a new study. Scouring through taxonomic records from the 1780s to September 2020, the scientists found that the Indian peninsular savannahs, or grassland ecosystems, contain 206 endemic plant species, of which 43% were described in the last two decades (post-2000). Before the rapid increase in discoveries post-2000, the 1830s, 1880s and 1980s show three smaller discovery peaks. “There were 68 species described in the 2010-2020 decade alone, and if you look at our data, the trend is an exponential rise in the discoveries, which means several more species remain unknown to science, scientists and conservation biologists,” said the study’s corresponding author Ashish N. Nerlekar at the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&amp;M University, College Station, Texas, USA. The authors, while expecting an increase, were surprised by the exponential rise in species discovery over the years. They emphasised the need to invest in training more botanists, prioritising hotspots for biodiversity surveys and managing savannahs to support endemic species diversity. The records analysed in the study spanned grasslands in Rajkot in Gujarat to Pune and Nannaj in Maharashtra and Mahakuta in Karnataka to the Eastern Ghats and the Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh. Some of the most prominent endemic species that the grasslands harbour are Crotalaria shrirangiana (Fabaceae), Tephrosia calophylla (Fabaceae) Brachystelma penchalakonense (Apocynaceae) and Brachystelma gondwanense (Apocynaceae). “The goals of the Convention on Biological&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2022/03/indian-grasslands-hold-a-treasure-trove-of-endemic-plants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/03/indian-grasslands-hold-a-treasure-trove-of-endemic-plants/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Frog discovered in the Eastern Ghats also found in the Western Ghats, more than 1000 km away</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/frog-discovered-in-the-eastern-ghats-also-found-in-the-western-ghats-more-than-1000-km-away/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/frog-discovered-in-the-eastern-ghats-also-found-in-the-western-ghats-more-than-1000-km-away/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Oct 2020 13:57:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aathira Perinchery]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/10/19150149/2-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=11882</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Ghats, Karnataka, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, and Frogs]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Over the last decade alone, more than 100 frog species new to science have been discovered in India. One of them is the Kalinga cricket frog (Minervarya kalinga), a plain-looking brown amphibian that scientists discovered two years ago. What was special was that they had spotted it in the northern tracts of the Eastern Ghats, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Over the last decade alone, more than 100 frog species new to science have been discovered in India. One of them is the Kalinga cricket frog (Minervarya kalinga), a plain-looking brown amphibian that scientists discovered two years ago. What was special was that they had spotted it in the northern tracts of the Eastern Ghats, a hill range that has not seen as many frog discoveries as its western counterpart has. Now the frog has popped up in the Western Ghats too, in Karnataka&#8217;s Uttara Kannada district. That&#8217;s more than 1,000 kilometres away from its eastern range. This proves that the Kalinga cricket frog may indeed be distributed across a larger area than what earlier, possibly incomplete surveys show. Since these frogs are also slightly larger than their eastern relatives, this could signify a new and morphologically distinct &#8216;population&#8217; of frogs, postulate the scientists who made the discovery. The cricket frogs of Asia Size, colour and shape: looks, in general, are one of the many means to identify a frog. Especially so in the case of Asia&#8217;s cricket frogs. Cricket frogs (genus Fejervarya/ Minervarya) are found across large parts of Asia, including India. They were initially confused for pond frogs and placed in the genus Rana. A genus is a unit of classification containing organisms that share not only some common traits but also a common ancestor; it can contain several species. In 1915, a naturalist found that some of these frogs in east India, Bangladesh and adjoining Asian countries,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/frog-discovered-in-the-eastern-ghats-also-found-in-the-western-ghats-more-than-1000-km-away/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/frog-discovered-in-the-eastern-ghats-also-found-in-the-western-ghats-more-than-1000-km-away/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Can a new elephant reserve address human-elephant interaction in Chhattisgarh?</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/10/can-a-new-elephant-reserve-address-human-elephant-interaction-in-chhattisgarh/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/10/can-a-new-elephant-reserve-address-human-elephant-interaction-in-chhattisgarh/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2019 14:53:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Asha Verma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2019/10/23102459/Banner-5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=7306</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment and Elections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chhattisgarh and Eastern Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Elephants, Forests, Human Wildlife Conflict, and Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[FOIN-2019]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At midnight on September 14, 2019, Bir Sai, the sarpanch (village head) of the Thirriama village, falling under the Kendai forest range in Korba district of Chhattisgarh woke up to the sound of an animal raiding his maize fields. He ventured out to scare the animal away, which he thought to be a wild boar. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At midnight on September 14, 2019, Bir Sai, the sarpanch (village head) of the Thirriama village, falling under the Kendai forest range in Korba district of Chhattisgarh woke up to the sound of an animal raiding his maize fields. He ventured out to scare the animal away, which he thought to be a wild boar. Instead, he was taken by surprise by the sight of a wild elephant, who attacked Bir Sai and one of his family members. Bir Sai survived the incident and is now in the district hospital of Korba being treated for serious injuries on his chest and spine.  His family told Mongabay-India that till five-six years ago there was no elephant in the jungle. But now it is common to find elephants of different age groups in the same forests. The people of the Thirriama village said that the forest department with the help of forest guards used to share the information regarding the movements of elephant groups around the villages but in the case of a single elephant, it’s difficult to track its exact movement.  Maize Crop of Bir Sai raided by wild elephants in Thirri-ama village of Korba district. Photo by Asha Verma. Human-elephant interaction has been a growing cause of concern in the northern and central regions of Chhattisgarh. With elephant habitats diverted for mining and agriculture, the elephants are increasingly showing up in human-dominated areas. According to the data on human-elephant interaction, every year, on average, 65 people and 14 elephants succumbed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2019/10/can-a-new-elephant-reserve-address-human-elephant-interaction-in-chhattisgarh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/10/can-a-new-elephant-reserve-address-human-elephant-interaction-in-chhattisgarh/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>New frog species from unexplored Jharkhand and Bihar brings cheer</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/09/new-frog-species-from-unexplored-jharkhand-and-bihar-brings-cheer/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/09/new-frog-species-from-unexplored-jharkhand-and-bihar-brings-cheer/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2019 11:34:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[GBSNP Varma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2019/09/10124523/Magadha-Burrowing-Frog2_c-Vishal-Kumar-Prasad-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=6719</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[India's Iconic Landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bihar, Eastern Ghats, and Jharkhand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Endemic species, Frogs, and New species]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new species of small burrowing frog has been discovered from the Chota Nagpur plateau in Jharkhand. Scientists have named it ‘Magadha Burrowing Frog,’ (Sphaerotheca magadha) after the ancient kingdom of Magadha in the southern Bihar. Biologists have described the species using an integrated taxonomic approach that combines molecular analysis, morphology, phylogeny and biogeographic significance of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new species of small burrowing frog has been discovered from the Chota Nagpur plateau in Jharkhand. Scientists have named it ‘Magadha Burrowing Frog,’ (Sphaerotheca magadha) after the ancient kingdom of Magadha in the southern Bihar. Biologists have described the species using an integrated taxonomic approach that combines molecular analysis, morphology, phylogeny and biogeographic significance of the region. Since the species comes from farm fields, there is a need for more explorations of agro-ecosystems, and not just forests. This is the first frog discovery from Jharkhand and Bihar in the history of zoological findings, as per literature reviews including a comprehensive online database. A serendipitous discovery In June 2015, Vishal Kumar Prasad, the lead author and a researcher with Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, was at his home town in Joungi-Nawadih village of Koderma district of Jharkhand. Rains had lashed the place for sometime in the night, and he wanted to take a walk. As he started walking along a road near an agricultural field,  he heard a sound like peee.. peee..peee.. “I had not heard that kind of call,” he said. Curious, he traced the call with a small torch he was carrying. The light funnelled into darkness and he saw the vocal sac of a tiny frog. “I was filled with excitement and curiosity as this tiny frog looked very different from other burrowing frogs (of Sphaerotheca genus),&#8221; said Prasad. &#8220;After checking more individuals in followings nights surveys, I had a gut feeling that it’s definitely a new species.”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2019/09/new-frog-species-from-unexplored-jharkhand-and-bihar-brings-cheer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>[Commentary] Scale of the issue: The Indian pangolin is losing ground in the northern Eastern Ghats</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/02/commentary-scale-of-the-issue-the-indian-pangolin-is-losing-ground-in-the-northern-eastern-ghats/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/02/commentary-scale-of-the-issue-the-indian-pangolin-is-losing-ground-in-the-northern-eastern-ghats/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Feb 2019 12:09:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Krishna PavanRohit SubhedarVikram Aditya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2018/02/28101337/credit-to-WCCB1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=4050</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andhra Pradesh and Eastern Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Hunting, Poaching, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The day was cloudy, mist covered our faces for the most part. The early morning rain had caused the birds to go into temporary hiding, but they were quick to show up after the sun came out. The sun made it quite humid but the views of the gently rolling hills of the Eastern Ghats [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The day was cloudy, mist covered our faces for the most part. The early morning rain had caused the birds to go into temporary hiding, but they were quick to show up after the sun came out. The sun made it quite humid but the views of the gently rolling hills of the Eastern Ghats forests covered in mist, with sunlight beaming through the clouds made our work a little less stressful. The forests of the northern Eastern Ghats hill region of Andhra Pradesh are drained by a network of streams that meander across the landscape to finally meet the mighty Godavari river. We were trekking our way through the forest crossing one such stream several times as it refused to let go of the forest. It was not long until we stumbled upon something interesting, or rather, troubling. We found quills of the Indian porcupine lying on the forest floor.The number of quills were few, around 10 to 15 if we were getting it right but it was enough to create some suspicion. As we walked ahead we found more quills on the trail, with the number of quills increasing each time. We finally reached the spot where the animal was killed. The place had some blood stains and a pile of porcupine quills. This nocturnal rodent is quite commonly hunted in this region for its meat. It is not strange in these forests to find more people than wildlife. And more often than not, they are carrying a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2019/02/commentary-scale-of-the-issue-the-indian-pangolin-is-losing-ground-in-the-northern-eastern-ghats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Mapping forest loss in the northern Eastern Ghats</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/12/mapping-forest-loss-in-the-northern-eastern-ghats/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/12/mapping-forest-loss-in-the-northern-eastern-ghats/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Dec 2018 10:39:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Neha Jain]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2018/12/26100732/Podu-in-the-northen-Eastern-Ghats-e1545800789931-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=3556</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[India's Iconic Landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Forests, Non-Timber Forest Produce, People, Protected Areas, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The forests of the northern Eastern Ghats have been experiencing rapid degradation over the past two and a half decades, with degradation levels higher around the villages inside Papikonda National Park—the largest protected area in the region—compared with those located in the surrounding unprotected buffer forests, reports a new study by researchers at Bengaluru’s Ashoka [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The forests of the northern Eastern Ghats have been experiencing rapid degradation over the past two and a half decades, with degradation levels higher around the villages inside Papikonda National Park—the largest protected area in the region—compared with those located in the surrounding unprotected buffer forests, reports a new study by researchers at Bengaluru’s Ashoka Trust For Research in Ecology and The Environment (ATREE). It also reveals that local communities in the forests have a solid grasp of both the extent and the causes of forest degradation around their villages. While a landscape level satellite-based analysis showed that forest degradation was greater outside the park, looking at forest degradation at a finer scale on the village level revealed that the impact around villages inside the park was infact higher. Focusing only at landscape level can mask nuanced changes taking place inside the protected areas, the researchers point out. The Eastern Ghats, a 1600-km stretch of rich, biodiverse forests on discontinuous hills lying parallel to the Bay of Bengal have largely remained neglected from conservation efforts compared with other regions in India. In fact, only 3.53 percent of their total area is protected. Home to various indigenous tribes as well as several rare and endemic species, they are facing threats from large infrastructural projects such as dams. Using satellite imagery, the team quantified the changes in vegetation density from 1991 to 2014 at the landscape level in Papikonda National Park (PNP), which occupies an area of 1012 square kilometers, along with five&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2018/12/mapping-forest-loss-in-the-northern-eastern-ghats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>[Commentary] Hot and dry: What plants do when pushed to their very limits</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/10/commentary-hot-and-dry-what-plants-do-when-pushed-to-their-very-limits/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/10/commentary-hot-and-dry-what-plants-do-when-pushed-to-their-very-limits/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Oct 2018 12:24:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2018/10/16165341/ForestLeaf-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=2816</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chhattisgarh, Eastern Ghats, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Drought, Fires, and Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[About 10 percent of the world’s land surface experienced drought in 2005. The number is set to skyrocket over the twenty-first century to about 40 percent, as the globe warms by 3-4 degrees Celsius. Apart from the extent of drought, the frequency is also set to increase, especially in drier areas. A recent study has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[About 10 percent of the world’s land surface experienced drought in 2005. The number is set to skyrocket over the twenty-first century to about 40 percent, as the globe warms by 3-4 degrees Celsius. Apart from the extent of drought, the frequency is also set to increase, especially in drier areas. A recent study has used climate models to show that by 2060-2080, most tropical regions within the 30 degree latitude of the equator may experience extreme temperatures for between 25 and 150 days per year; currently, such temperatures occur very rarely, just once a year. With drought and heat posing individual threats, there is also the looming threat of frequent ‘double whammies’ of drought and heat: concurrent drought and heatwaves, across India and the globe. India experienced an increased number, and more frequent, concurrent drought and heatwave events between the 1981-2010 duration as compared to 1951-1980. How will forest areas react to such extreme climates? When the land dries up Drought is a naturally occurring phenomenon in which rainfall is significantly below ‘normal’ recorded levels, which have been established through long-term observations. Drought has been an important driver that shapes ecosystems over millenia — the very composition of a forest is determined by its evolutionary history. Dry areas and those with uncertain rainfall support plant species which are adapted to such conditions. A dry river bed in India. Photo by Aringraphy / Pixabay. When experiencing drought like conditions, plants sense reduced soil moisture and immediately reduce their net primary&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2018/10/commentary-hot-and-dry-what-plants-do-when-pushed-to-their-very-limits/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/10/commentary-hot-and-dry-what-plants-do-when-pushed-to-their-very-limits/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>When drought and extreme heat strike forests at the same time</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/10/when-drought-and-extreme-heat-strike-forests-at-the-same-time/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/10/when-drought-and-extreme-heat-strike-forests-at-the-same-time/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Oct 2018 11:14:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2018/10/16174249/Mudumalai_forest_after_fire-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=2822</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Eastern Ghats, Himalayas, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Tripura, Uttarakhand, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Drought, Fires, Forest Fires, and Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The frequency of extreme weather events is going up around the world, and droughts and heatwaves are no exception. When the globe warms by 3-4 degrees &#8211; a possibility during this century under a ‘business as usual’ scenario &#8211; about 40 percent of the world’s land surface is predicted to experience drought. The tropics are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The frequency of extreme weather events is going up around the world, and droughts and heatwaves are no exception. When the globe warms by 3-4 degrees &#8211; a possibility during this century under a ‘business as usual’ scenario &#8211; about 40 percent of the world’s land surface is predicted to experience drought. The tropics are all set to experience high temperatures as the new normal. With drought and heat posing individual threats, there is also the looming threat of frequent ‘double whammies’ of drought and heat: concurrent drought and heatwaves, across India and the globe. A recent study has found that the area under concurrent drought and heatwaves is more in recent years (1981-2000) compared to an earlier time period (1951-1980) in India. Moreover, there is an increase in frequency of concurrent heatwaves and drought. “We divided 60 years of data into two halves taking 1951-1980 as a base period. At each grid, we computed the differences in number of concurrent droughts and heatwaves for the period 1981 to 2010 with respect to the base period. These results indicate that simultaneous occurrence of droughts and heatwaves have increased,” said Shailza Sharma, an author of the study. The study found that concurrence of extreme drought and longer, more severe heatwaves is increasing in Gujarat, Central India and Peninsular India. Grasslands at Nannaj Wildlife Sancturary, Maharashtra. Photo by Raju Kasambe / Wikimedia Commons. The response of vegetation to a combination of drought and stress is complex, ranging from short-lived local mortality events&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2018/10/when-drought-and-extreme-heat-strike-forests-at-the-same-time/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/10/when-drought-and-extreme-heat-strike-forests-at-the-same-time/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Switching to LPG for habitat recovery and wildlife conservation</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/09/switching-to-lpg-for-habitat-recovery-and-wildlife-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/09/switching-to-lpg-for-habitat-recovery-and-wildlife-conservation/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2018 13:13:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rishika Pardikar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2018/09/25135035/LPGHeader-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=2562</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Ghats, Karnataka, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Forests, Habitat Loss, Protected Areas, Tigers, Western Ghats, Wildlife, and Wildlife Sanctuary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With an aim to reduce the pressure of firewood extraction in forest habitats, conservationists are encouraging forest-dwelling communities in the Cauvery and Malai Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuaries in Karnataka to switch to Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). One of the reasons for habitat degradation along the edges of these forests is the demand for firewood by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With an aim to reduce the pressure of firewood extraction in forest habitats, conservationists are encouraging forest-dwelling communities in the Cauvery and Malai Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuaries in Karnataka to switch to Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). One of the reasons for habitat degradation along the edges of these forests is the demand for firewood by the rural communities who inhabit the region. Additionally, the usage of firewood is harmful too since biomass smoke has been found to contain toxic gases. A seemingly simple solution is to enable such rural communities to switch to LPG and this is exactly the task which Sanjay Gubbi, a wildlife scientist and conservationist with the Nature Conservation Foundation and his team undertook. Going beyond government initiatives that provide subsidised LPG, Gubbi’s initiative, in addition to providing financial aid, adopted a handheld method to help households understand the harmful impacts of burning firewood, thereby ensuring that the switch to LPG sustained long after the first gas cylinder turned empty. The Government of India initiative, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched in 2016 wherein families living below the poverty line were provided with LPG connections at subsidised rates and payment in monthly installments on purchases of cooking stove and the first refill. One of the criticisms of the scheme, however, was that “Ujjwala beneficiaries are not coming for a refill at the same frequency as general LPG consumers,” noted a report by The Wire. And the reason attributed for the same is the fact that maintaining&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2018/09/switching-to-lpg-for-habitat-recovery-and-wildlife-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/09/switching-to-lpg-for-habitat-recovery-and-wildlife-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Killer skin fungus mapped in all frog hotspots in India</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/07/killer-skin-fungus-mapped-in-all-frog-hotspots-in-india/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/07/killer-skin-fungus-mapped-in-all-frog-hotspots-in-india/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jul 2018 11:55:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sahana Ghosh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[endangered]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Himalayas]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2018/07/24105608/Sylvirana-temporalis-a-Western-Ghats-endemic-Sachin-Anand-e1533109349573.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=1861</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Ghats, Himalayas, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Endangered species, and New species]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Something wicked this way comes for amphibians in India? The chytrid fungus, which has spelt doom for amphibian populations across the globe, has been detected in frogs across all major biodiversity hotspots in India, including the Himalayas where it was found to be more pervasive, a study has reported. The killer skin fungus Bd, short [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Something wicked this way comes for amphibians in India? The chytrid fungus, which has spelt doom for amphibian populations across the globe, has been detected in frogs across all major biodiversity hotspots in India, including the Himalayas where it was found to be more pervasive, a study has reported. The killer skin fungus Bd, short for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has driven more than 200 amphibian species to extinction or near-extinction across the world. Bd is a notifiable disease as per World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and every country has to report on the status of this aquatic disease. Spread around the globe primarily through the pet trade, the pathogen is notorious for causing massive die-offs such as those in El Cope in Panama in 2004 where “dead frogs littered the forest floor.” The fungus invades amphibians&#8217; skin, which the animals use to breathe and take up water. Bd’s origin has been traced to the Korean Peninsula, where it likely evolved in the beginning of the 20th century. A countrywide survey Indian scientists have documented for the first time the status of the disease in India. Through genetic analyses they have shown that Bd is found in frog populations across India &#8211; in the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Himalayas, hills of the northeast and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Using samples collected over a period of six years, representing around 25 percent of India’s total frog species, they found that Bd fungus is present at low levels across the hotspots, but showing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2018/07/killer-skin-fungus-mapped-in-all-frog-hotspots-in-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reports say forest cover decreasing, contrary to government claims</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/05/reports-say-forest-cover-decreasing-contrary-to-government-claims/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/05/reports-say-forest-cover-decreasing-contrary-to-government-claims/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2018 09:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[T. V. Padma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[protected areas]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2018/05/14215649/Forests-Afforestation-initiatives-in-the-adjoining-waste-land-areas-of-forest-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=1113</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Ghats and Sikkim]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Forests, People, Reforestation, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[­Natural forests across India are slowly disappearing, with some serious decline in core forest area and large protected forests, says recent research. These finding are contrary to the government’s claims of increasing forest cover. The scientific reports are based on a mix of satellite data, ground vegetation observations and historical maps. According to their findings, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[­Natural forests across India are slowly disappearing, with some serious decline in core forest area and large protected forests, says recent research. These finding are contrary to the government’s claims of increasing forest cover. The scientific reports are based on a mix of satellite data, ground vegetation observations and historical maps. According to their findings, the Eastern Ghats have lost 15.83% of its forest area over a span of almost 100 years, tropical montane forests continue to disappear in the Sikkim Himalayas, particularly at the lower heights and there is a noticeable decline across all forest types in India. This is at odds with the latest Forest Survey of India report that assesses India’s forest cover. The FSI estimates India’s forest cover at 7,08,273 square kilometres in 2017, compared to 7,01,673 square km in 2015. This apparent rise in forest cover has been debated, with some experts pointing out that the government estimates include plantations cover which are different from natural forests. At least three scientific reports over the past seven months – one in Applied Geography and two in Ecological Indicators – add weight to the critics’ arguments. The three studies “very rigorously and unambiguously establish that there is significant reduction in green cover in many natural forest and habitat types of India,” said Vishwesha Guttal, assistant professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. “Of course, many have long suspected this is the case but these studies put any such doubts to rest,” Guttal told&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2018/05/reports-say-forest-cover-decreasing-contrary-to-government-claims/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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