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		<title>Mongabay India</title>
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		<description>India&#039;s environmental science and conservation news</description>
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					<title>[Commentary] Thirty years after the Rio Summit the green report card is not fully in the red</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/05/commentary-thirty-years-after-the-rio-summit-the-green-report-card-is-not-fully-in-the-red/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/05/commentary-thirty-years-after-the-rio-summit-the-green-report-card-is-not-fully-in-the-red/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 May 2022 15:53:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global warming]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2022/05/06152348/Painted_Stork_in_flight-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Clean Energy, Climate Connections, and Environomy]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Cities and Towns, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation, Coast, Community based conservation, COVID-19, Environmental Economics, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Floods, Forest Rights Act, Forests, Global Warming, Impacts of Climate Change, Migration, Mining, Pollution, Renewable Energy, Villages, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This summer it will be thirty years since the Rio Earth Summit. Unlike the earlier decadal anniversaries, this year the United Nations is not celebrating an event to mark the occasion. The world is preoccupied with a pandemic that is gradually showing hesitant signs of waning, and the Ukraine War that could mark changes in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[This summer it will be thirty years since the Rio Earth Summit. Unlike the earlier decadal anniversaries, this year the United Nations is not celebrating an event to mark the occasion. The world is preoccupied with a pandemic that is gradually showing hesitant signs of waning, and the Ukraine War that could mark changes in the world order.  India and China were considered developing countries when the Rio Summit, or the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, was organised in 1992. They were not included in the list of countries that needed to have greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in the Climate Change Convention. Today the world watches keenly at the emission reduction targets announced by the leaders of these two countries. At the end of the Rio+10 Summit of 2002, the Johannesburg Declaration talked about the rich and the poor countries, and “global disparities.” This, when combined with globalisation where “the benefits and costs are unevenly distributed,” could pose “a major threat to global prosperity, security and stability.”  In another 10 years, by the time the Rio+20 Summit was organised in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, the world order had changed. The economic crisis of 2008 had thrown a spanner in the growth story of the developed countries. Starting with the sub-prime lending crisis in the U.S., where a reverse swing in the land and housing prices had exposed the banking system that had lent money without adequate collateral, the economic crisis had destroyed the networked economies of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2022/05/commentary-thirty-years-after-the-rio-summit-the-green-report-card-is-not-fully-in-the-red/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Himalayan medicinal plants under threat due to climate change</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/04/himalayan-medicinal-plants-under-threat-due-to-climate-change/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/04/himalayan-medicinal-plants-under-threat-due-to-climate-change/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Apr 2022 12:06:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[T. V. Padma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[habitat loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medicinal plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plants]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2022/04/19101848/Rubus-ellipticus-min-scaled-e1650343767368-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=17929</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections and Nature-based Solutions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas and Sikkim]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, COVID-19, Environment, Forests, Health impacts, People, Plants, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Medicinal plants in the Himalayas are under threat due to climate change, which calls for reviewing current conservation strategies, including protected parks in the mountain ranges, new research shows. The findings from two new research papers come even as the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report warns of the impact of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Medicinal plants in the Himalayas are under threat due to climate change, which calls for reviewing current conservation strategies, including protected parks in the mountain ranges, new research shows. The findings from two new research papers come even as the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report warns of the impact of climate change on natural and human systems. A study in Sikkim from Bhim Rao Ambedkar college, Delhi University, analysed the potential habitat distribution of 163 medicinal plant species in both the current and future climates scenarios in 2050 and 2070. It used the ‘maximum species distribution modelling’ technique that combines observations of species occurrences, with environmental information, to project future distribution of species. The analysis of Sikkim, part of the Eastern Himalayas biodiversity hotspot, reports that the majority of the medicinal plant species are found in the tropical and subtropical regions in the Sikkim Himalayas, at 300 metres to 2000 metres heights. Most of these are likely to shift upwards and northwards in future climate scenarios. Current species-rich areas are likely to shift by 200 m and 400 m in 2050 and 2070, respectively, the study published in Ecological Informatics reports. More alarmingly, some 13-16% of medicinal plant species in the region are likely to lose their habitats by 2050 and 2070. The results highlight that species that are restricted to specific areas and have a narrow height distribution “are the most vulnerable species and likely to go extinct due to climate change in the Himalayas,” the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2022/04/himalayan-medicinal-plants-under-threat-due-to-climate-change/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>COVID-19 and the changing nature of waste</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/01/covid-19-and-the-changing-nature-of-waste/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/01/covid-19-and-the-changing-nature-of-waste/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jan 2022 11:55:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anusha Krishnan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plastic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pollution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[waste]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/10/28181057/A-discarded-mask-found-along-the-Mumbai-coastline.-Photo-courtesy-Prasant-Barik-Aahwahan-Foundation-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=16890</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[COVID-19, Oceans, Plastic, Waste management, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the COVID-19 pandemic brought sweeping changes to lifestyles, it also altered an important but seldom thought-of aspect of human existence – trash. The pandemic has drastically changed the types and amounts of waste that are being generated in the last two years and will likely continue to do so for the next few years. For [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[As the COVID-19 pandemic brought sweeping changes to lifestyles, it also altered an important but seldom thought-of aspect of human existence – trash. The pandemic has drastically changed the types and amounts of waste that are being generated in the last two years and will likely continue to do so for the next few years. For instance, a report in The Science of the Total Environment in November 2021 points out that the waste produced during the mass vaccination drives to curb COVID-19 transmission could have huge environmental effects. India, which initiated one of the world’s largest vaccination drives in January 2021 with 3,000 vaccination centers across the country has generated massive amounts of biowaste from discarded vials. In addition, every step of the vaccination process – starting with the bulk production and usage of surgical masks, gloves, syringes, and disinfectants, to the production and storage of vaccines – are contributing to  global greenhouse gas emissions. Improper disposal of the waste such as masks is also creating toxic plastic wastes. In India, as elsewhere globally, COVID-19 created surges in the demand and use of single-use plastic products – most notably, in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and food and delivery businesses. As a result, the waste produced from these industries has skyrocketed. While the amounts of plastic waste generated by altered consumer patterns during the pandemic are as yet unknown, India’s reported biomedical waste generation increased by 17% over a year (2020–2021). Globally, it is estimated that 4.4 to 15.1 million tons of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2022/01/covid-19-and-the-changing-nature-of-waste/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Editor&#8217;s review 2021: Energy transitions, biodiversity-climate change links</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/12/editors-review-2021-energy-transitions-biodiversity-climate-change-links/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/12/editors-review-2021-energy-transitions-biodiversity-climate-change-links/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2021 12:54:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[energy transition]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/09/21102717/1631015067274-01-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=16666</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cities and Towns, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Conservation, COVID-19, Environment, Environmental Politics, Forests, People, Protected Areas, Renewable Energy, Rivers, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The year 2021 was one of swinging national sentiment in India. The year started with a misplaced optimism that India had overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, even while many other countries were suffering the impact of the second wave. This turned to despair by the middle of the year, when the second wave of the pandemic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[The year 2021 was one of swinging national sentiment in India. The year started with a misplaced optimism that India had overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, even while many other countries were suffering the impact of the second wave. This turned to despair by the middle of the year, when the second wave of the pandemic hit the country hard, with accounted and unaccounted deaths mounting at homes, hospitals and in many places in between. After the second wave subsided, there was optimism again in a recovering economy in the later months. As the year closes, there is anxiety again with the Omicron variant threatening a third wave. The hope, however, is that this much-mutated variant may not cause as severe morbidity or mortality like the previous onslaughts, though it may spread widely. In 2021, the national government continued with the focus on core sector and infrastructure growth that it had initiated at the end of the COVID-19 first wave in mid-2020. There was much interest to develop infrastructure for tourism in the ecologically-sensitive island groups. In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the eco-sensitive zones were almost totally obliterated, which in turn could affect the unique biodiversity of the archipelago. The Lakshadweep Islands on the west face similar threats, raising the hackles of experts who have studied the unique biodiversity of the coral atolls over decades. In fact, new species continue to be discovered from these islands. Irrespective of political colour, state governments too followed similar paths during the year. In&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/12/editors-review-2021-energy-transitions-biodiversity-climate-change-links/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Human disturbance alters parasite communities, increases infectious disease: study</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/human-disturbance-alters-parasite-communities-increases-infectious-disease-study/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/human-disturbance-alters-parasite-communities-increases-infectious-disease-study/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Oct 2021 12:43:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Divya Khatter]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Birds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zoonoses]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/10/18155857/shola-e1634625399944-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=15913</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas and Environment And Health]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, COVID-19, Habitat Loss, Health impacts, and Pandemics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Human disturbance affects the disease dynamics of a place through its effect on the prevalence of host and parasite species in the geography, a study finds. The study published in Ecology Letters attributes this to persistence of parasite communities which tend to inhabit multiple host species, thereby increasing the risk of emergence of infectious diseases. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Human disturbance affects the disease dynamics of a place through its effect on the prevalence of host and parasite species in the geography, a study finds. The study published in Ecology Letters attributes this to persistence of parasite communities which tend to inhabit multiple host species, thereby increasing the risk of emergence of infectious diseases. Anthropocene, the current geological period, is marked by dominant human influence on the environment with climate change, pollution, deforestation, habitat destruction, over-exploitation of resources and ecological degradation ruling the planet. With COVID-19 setting a recent and profound example of the scale of the impact of an infectious disease, direct health-associated impacts have topped the list. An IPBES expert guest article published in 2020 states that pandemics are triggered by activities such as rampant deforestation, uncontrolled expansion of agriculture, intensive farming, infrastructure development etc. that bring increasing numbers of people into direct contact with animals carrying disease-causing pathogens. Biodiversity loss is accelerating at both global and local scales with about one million species threatened with extinction, according to the 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service, backed by United Nations. Extinctions, however, are not random. Some species are extremely vulnerable to extinction while others are not. In free-living species, or species that are not dependent on other organisms for survival, specialists are more sensitive to environmental perturbations than generalists. Specialists are organisms thriving on narrow diversity of resources or habitats, while those that acclimatise to a broad diversity of resources are referred as generalists.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/human-disturbance-alters-parasite-communities-increases-infectious-disease-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>[Commentary] Bridge the North-South divide for a more just UN Biodiversity Framework</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/commentary-bridge-the-north-south-divide-for-a-more-just-un-biodiversity-framework/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/commentary-bridge-the-north-south-divide-for-a-more-just-un-biodiversity-framework/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2021 13:13:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Subhankar Banerjee]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Nandithachandraprakash]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/10/04144531/Indian-rhino-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=15761</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Conservation, COVID-19, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forests, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In September, the leaders of nation states from around the world gathered in New York City to attend the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. COVID-19, climate and biodiversity were among the topics they discussed. On September 21, in his sobering yet passionate address to the assembly, UN Secretary-General António Guterres focused attention on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[In September, the leaders of nation states from around the world gathered in New York City to attend the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. COVID-19, climate and biodiversity were among the topics they discussed. On September 21, in his sobering yet passionate address to the assembly, UN Secretary-General António Guterres focused attention on all three crises. Since the turn of this century, I have been involved in biodiversity conservation in several places in North America and India, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the U.S.-Canada borderlands; the desert in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands; and the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans in the India-Bangladesh borderlands. Such biodiversity conservation efforts also take into account environmental justice and rights of Indigenous peoples, a form of collective engagement I call, ‘multispecies justice’. Drawing from these experiences, I offer my humble assessments in this moment of entangled crises and great cultural and political divides for all to consider. I was born and lived the first 22 years of my life in the global South, in India. And the past 31 years, I have lived in the global North, in the United States. I consider myself a bridge between North and the South. And even though I do not have a degree in civil engineering, I like to say that professionally, I’m always “building bridges” across and among varieties of differences — places and peoples, human and nonhuman kin, academic disciplinary silos and archipelagoes, and academia and the communities in which we live and work. In his&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/commentary-bridge-the-north-south-divide-for-a-more-just-un-biodiversity-framework/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>[Commentary] Domino effect of COVID-19 lockdown on transhumant pastoralists in Rajasthan</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/06/commentary-domino-effect-of-covid-19-lockdown-on-transhumant-pastoralists-in-rajasthan/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/06/commentary-domino-effect-of-covid-19-lockdown-on-transhumant-pastoralists-in-rajasthan/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2021 12:01:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tatsama Motilal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/06/10125209/1280px-20191213_Pasterz_ze_stadem_koz_i_owiec_pod_Bikanerem_1115_8379-e1623310167584-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=14445</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Rajasthan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, COVID-19, and Grazing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Almost four lakh (400,000) people depend on pastoralism as a mainstay of livelihood in Rajasthan. Despite being a much-touted, resilient mechanism for coping with uncertainties and unforeseen circumstances, mobile pastoralists have seemingly not survived the shocks posed by this pandemic. While most rural livelihoods have gradually started adapting to the changing times, pastoralists are still [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Almost four lakh (400,000) people depend on pastoralism as a mainstay of livelihood in Rajasthan. Despite being a much-touted, resilient mechanism for coping with uncertainties and unforeseen circumstances, mobile pastoralists have seemingly not survived the shocks posed by this pandemic. While most rural livelihoods have gradually started adapting to the changing times, pastoralists are still struggling; their vulnerabilities increasingly highlighted during the state-wide lockdown this year. Transhumant pastoralists of the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, undergo annual, long-range migration from the drier parts of western Rajasthan to the greener pockets of Punjab and Haryana during the dry, summer months. Migration usually starts by March-end with the onset of spring and ends in July with the onset of monsoon. With necessary resources quickly declining along these routes, long-range migration in Rajasthan has taken a new form in the past decade. Pastoralists with large herds of 250-300 animals or more have shifted from travelling on foot to transporting the animals by trucks. The herds are sent to the pastures lying along the state border. Areas lying alongside the Indira Gandhi Canal are preferred as there is more vegetation and food for the animals. Pastoralists heavily rely on the residues from agricultural fields that are fed by waters from the Indira Gandhi Canal. Migrating herds passing through deserted roads amidst the COVID-19 lockdown. Due to strict restrictions and the rising fear of the virus, food and shelter charity from the households along the pastoralists’ route has decreased significantly. Photo by Desert Resource Centre. Too little&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/06/commentary-domino-effect-of-covid-19-lockdown-on-transhumant-pastoralists-in-rajasthan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Dragon fruit farming takes wing in north Bengal</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/06/dragon-fruit-farming-takes-wing-in-north-bengal/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/06/dragon-fruit-farming-takes-wing-in-north-bengal/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jun 2021 12:53:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gurvinder Singh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[people]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/06/06202138/Prabha-Tirkey-Chacko-in-her-field2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=14271</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas and West Bengal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture and COVID-19]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Abha Toppo resides in Hatighisa village in Darjeeling district of North Bengal, around 20 kilometres from Siliguri city, the gateway to northeast India. Her village is a few metres away from the Naxalbari block that had garnered global attention for the armed peasants’ revolt of 1967. The 45-year-old had worked as a tea plucker in a tea [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Abha Toppo resides in Hatighisa village in Darjeeling district of North Bengal, around 20 kilometres from Siliguri city, the gateway to northeast India. Her village is a few metres away from the Naxalbari block that had garnered global attention for the armed peasants’ revolt of 1967. The 45-year-old had worked as a tea plucker in a tea garden for over two decades soon after her marriage in 1995.  She earned Rs. 170 per day (approximately Rs. 5000 a month) as wages from the tea garden. But now her income often crosses Rs. 100,000 or more per month thanks to the dragon fruit or strawberry pear – a pink fruit with green scales on the outside and white flesh with black seeds within. It all began in 2013 when Toppo attended an agriculture workshop at the University of North Bengal. “The scientists coached us about the importance of dragon fruit and higher returns. I bought just four saplings apprehending whether it could be of any use and planted them on my land,” she said. “But to my surprise, the flowers blossomed and the fruit came out in the next 18 months. It was delicious. I got around 5 kg of fruit which I sold at around Rs. 400 per kg. It was a handsome profit as compared to my tea garden wages,&#8221; Toppo told Mongabay-India. Now, Toppo has over 123 plants of dragon fruit and she sells the fruit and stem cuttings that are used as saplings for the fruit. According to regional&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/06/dragon-fruit-farming-takes-wing-in-north-bengal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/06/dragon-fruit-farming-takes-wing-in-north-bengal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cyclone Tauktae exposes vulnerabilities along India&#8217;s west coast</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/cyclone-tauktae-exposes-vulnerabilities-along-indias-west-coast/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/cyclone-tauktae-exposes-vulnerabilities-along-indias-west-coast/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2021 13:08:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Supriya Vohra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change impact]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate resilience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fishery]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/05/25181432/Local-MLA-visits-damaged-site-at-Madh-Island_Photo_Kiran-Kohli-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=14251</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Flood and drought]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, and Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Climate Change, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Fishing, Impacts of Climate Change, Oceans, People, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“There were about 25 boats parked in one place. The tide was so high and the wind so powerful that they crashed into one another and broke. And when I say broke, I mean they were splintered, shattered into pieces. Nothing left,” said Kiran Koli, a fisher based in Madh Island, northern Mumbai, describing the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“There were about 25 boats parked in one place. The tide was so high and the wind so powerful that they crashed into one another and broke. And when I say broke, I mean they were splintered, shattered into pieces. Nothing left,” said Kiran Koli, a fisher based in Madh Island, northern Mumbai, describing the impact of Cyclone Tauktae that wheeled through the western coastline last week. As the country reels through a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic with the official death toll at over three lakh (300,000), 2021’s first pre-monsoon cyclone barrelled its way across the west coast over four days last week. Starting from the morning of May 14, when a depression began to form in the Arabian Sea near Lakshadweep, it travelled north, causing heavy rainfall, gusts of up to 230 kmph, and huge storm surges of nearly three metres impacting the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat as it intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm till it made landfall on the evening of May 17 between Porbandar and Mahuva in Gujarat.  KS Hosalikar, Head and Scientist-G, Surface Instrument Division, Climate Research and Services division at India Meteorological Department (IMD) Pune, and has over ten years of operational experience at IMD Mumbai says the cyclone is notable for being the “longest travelling cyclone” on the west coast. “We were generating a three-hourly bulletin. On the 16th it remained a very severe cyclonic storm for a long time, barely about 200km&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/cyclone-tauktae-exposes-vulnerabilities-along-indias-west-coast/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/cyclone-tauktae-exposes-vulnerabilities-along-indias-west-coast/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>[Interview] Bittu Sahgal: “Young people want to protect the environment, but don’t have their hands on the wheel”</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/interview-bittu-sahgal-young-people-want-to-protect-the-environment-but-dont-have-their-hands-on-the-wheel/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/interview-bittu-sahgal-young-people-want-to-protect-the-environment-but-dont-have-their-hands-on-the-wheel/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2021 10:08:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/05/21091803/bittu-sahgal-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=14202</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Community based conservation, COVID-19, Deforestation, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forests, Habitat Fragmentation, Habitat Loss, Human Wildlife Conflict, Indigenous Peoples, People, Positive Environmental, Protected Areas, Rivers, Tigers, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Institutionalised conservation efforts in India started with the enactment of the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972 and the launch of the Project Tiger &#8211; to conserve the apex predator and its habitat &#8211; in 1973. The then prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, had already laid the foundation for these by hosting in Delhi the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Institutionalised conservation efforts in India started with the enactment of the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972 and the launch of the Project Tiger &#8211; to conserve the apex predator and its habitat &#8211; in 1973. The then prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, had already laid the foundation for these by hosting in Delhi the general assembly of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1969 and participating in the United Nations Conference on the Environment at Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972.  As a young man in the 1970s, Bittu Sahgal, was attracted to conservation from its leaders such as Kailash Sankhala and Salim Ali. He started participating in the Project Tiger activities. Nudged by forester and conservationist Fateh Singh Rathore to do something more enduring, Sahgal started the Sanctuary Asia magazine, which continues to be published even today. In addition to his schooling by the greats in the conservation field, Sahgal’s exposure to environmentalists and development activists such as Sunderlal Bahuguna, Baba Amte and Shivaram Karanth anchored his social concerns. Thus after years of championing the conservation cause, he talks about the need for conservationists and human rights activists must come together and “stop this bickering.” To put words into action, Sahgal established the Sanctuary Nature Foundation, and has initiated projects such as ‘Kids for Tigers’ and ‘Mud on Boots’ to initiate the younger generation into conservation. Mongabay:  I have with me pioneering environment journalist, editor, activist, conservationist, Mr. Bittu Sahgal. You have been publishing Sanctuary Asia since&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/interview-bittu-sahgal-young-people-want-to-protect-the-environment-but-dont-have-their-hands-on-the-wheel/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/interview-bittu-sahgal-young-people-want-to-protect-the-environment-but-dont-have-their-hands-on-the-wheel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>30 years of liberalisation: Existing poor energy access may dive down further with Covid-19</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/04/covid-19-will-make-modern-energy-far-from-poor-in-india/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/04/covid-19-will-make-modern-energy-far-from-poor-in-india/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2021 13:27:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Access to clean energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clean Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Energy Poverty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pandemic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PMUY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saubhagya]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/04/27110849/6768393401_62fc96076b_o-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=14002</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Clean Energy and Environomy]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[COVID-19, Energy, People, Renewable Energy, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It was the year 1991 when India decided to open its economy. Hakki Bai, a five-year-old girl then, used to go to nearby forests with her mother to pick woods for fuel. Her mother would use it as firewood to prepare food for her and her father. 30-years later, Hakki Bai, now a mother, goes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It was the year 1991 when India decided to open its economy. Hakki Bai, a five-year-old girl then, used to go to nearby forests with her mother to pick woods for fuel. Her mother would use it as firewood to prepare food for her and her father. 30-years later, Hakki Bai, now a mother, goes to a nearby forest area in search of firewood to cook meals for her and her 15-year-old son. They stay in Kota Gunjapur, a village of Panna district that is known for diamond mining. On what has changed between then and now, she smiled and said: “I don’t know if my parents had any dream for me or not but I have one for my child. I want my son Brij  to study and live a dignified life.”  However, this dream has suffered a setback due to the pandemic. Brij was studying in the ninth standard at a nearby school, which has been closed since the countrywide lockdown was imposed in March 2020 to restrict the spread of the virus. “Neither he goes to school nor he studies at home,” Hakki Bai, whose village is around 20-kilometres from Panna town in Madhya Pradesh, told Mongabay-India. “Ever since his school got closed, he has been spending his days playing one game or the other with his friends and during the night, he cannot study because it is pitch dark. The village has no electricity. I am desperately waiting for either his school to open or my&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/04/covid-19-will-make-modern-energy-far-from-poor-in-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/04/covid-19-will-make-modern-energy-far-from-poor-in-india/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>[Commentary] Antelopes in my backyard</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/01/commentary-antelopes-in-my-backyard/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/01/commentary-antelopes-in-my-backyard/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jan 2021 11:33:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/01/12181216/Photo-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=12897</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, and COVID-19]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[We had walked only a few hundred meters from our house when a four-horned antelope broke cover from a tiny bush and darted toward the distant thicket of trees. Its golden fur stood out as it flew across the green wheat fields. The deep green colour of the wheat crop on the left side of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[We had walked only a few hundred meters from our house when a four-horned antelope broke cover from a tiny bush and darted toward the distant thicket of trees. Its golden fur stood out as it flew across the green wheat fields. The deep green colour of the wheat crop on the left side of the path was a stark contrast to the exposed black of the fallow field on the other side. The air still felt warm and sparse from the afternoon sun. In a few days, the wheat will mature and the gold of the goat-sized antelope will melt in the gold of the dry wheat stems.  The sudden appearance of the golden antelope startled Tara, our five-year-old daughter. She asked me if that was a unicorn that magically appeared out of nowhere. It took my wife and I a long time to convince Tara that the animal was an antelope. When I told her that this particular species has four horns, she found it easier to believe in a one-horned unicorn; “even rhinoceros and narwhals have horns like a unicorn, there are no animals with four horns!” she added.  It was just then that we crossed paths with a large bull nilgai. Its bluish coat was taut, and the muscles on its back were flexed. At first, Tara was convinced that this was Badal, her grandfather’s horse. The nilgai ran away at the first sound we made. I was hoping that Tara would have noticed the two&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/01/commentary-antelopes-in-my-backyard/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/01/commentary-antelopes-in-my-backyard/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>India’s SOP to deal with feral and stray dogs in tiger reserves lacks the bite</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/01/indias-sop-to-deal-with-feral-and-stray-dogs-in-tiger-reserves-lacks-the-bite/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/01/indias-sop-to-deal-with-feral-and-stray-dogs-in-tiger-reserves-lacks-the-bite/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jan 2021 13:20:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mayank AggarwalSahana Ghosh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/01/07141337/Banner-dogs-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=12813</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gujarat]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, COVID-19, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in December 2020 released a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document to tackle feral and stray dogs in tiger reserves (TRs) across the country. It spells out detailed measures and procedures to be followed for handling the dog populations in those areas to avoid injuries and the spread of diseases [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in December 2020 released a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document to tackle feral and stray dogs in tiger reserves (TRs) across the country. It spells out detailed measures and procedures to be followed for handling the dog populations in those areas to avoid injuries and the spread of diseases in tigers and other wild animals. However, experts with wildlife and dogs called the SOP inadequate and said it lacks the depth to properly deal with the issue. According to the Status of Tigers Co-predators and Prey in India 2018 report that was unveiled by the Indian government in 2020, feral dogs were detected in camera traps in most of India’s 50 tiger reserves; the report describes dogs as a threat to both ungulates (which they hunt) and to carnivores since they carry infectious diseases like rabies, parvovirus, and distemper. Dogs were reported to attack nearly 80 species of wildlife and most of the attacks were on mammals, largely ungulates like cattle and small carnivores in India, according to a 2018 study. The SOP could have had more teeth if India, where free-ranging dogs are human subsidised, had a robust wildlife disease surveillance system and assessment of risks of disease in wildlife linked to free-ranging dogs. India is considered home to the world’s fourth-biggest dog population but their populations, from human-dominated landscapes to protected areas, remain unestimated scientifically. The NTCA document treats stray and feral dogs equivalent to street dogs as classified in the Animal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/01/indias-sop-to-deal-with-feral-and-stray-dogs-in-tiger-reserves-lacks-the-bite/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/01/indias-sop-to-deal-with-feral-and-stray-dogs-in-tiger-reserves-lacks-the-bite/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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					<title>Conservation is the buzzword in Tamenglong district in Manipur</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/11/conservation-is-the-buzzword-in-tamenglong-district-in-manipur/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/11/conservation-is-the-buzzword-in-tamenglong-district-in-manipur/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Nov 2020 14:15:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nabarun Guha]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Northeast India]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/11/20205429/Awareness-programme-by-Rainforest-Club-of-Tamenglong-on-Amur-Falcons-Photo-Credit-Rainforest-Club-of-Tamenglong-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=12251</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Manipur]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community based conservation, Conservation, and COVID-19]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In February this year, an attempt to kill a critically endangered Chinese pangolin in Tamenglong district of Manipur in northeast India, left the animal injured. The injured pangolin was rescued from the area through combined efforts of the forest department and Rainforest Club of Tamenglong, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to wildlife conservation. Its wounds were treated [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In February this year, an attempt to kill a critically endangered Chinese pangolin in Tamenglong district of Manipur in northeast India, left the animal injured. The injured pangolin was rescued from the area through combined efforts of the forest department and Rainforest Club of Tamenglong, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to wildlife conservation. Its wounds were treated and dressed at the Tamenglong Animals Home run by the Tamenglong based couple Daniel Macwan and Galina Newme. When it recovered from its injury (due to a rope tied around it), the pangolin was released at the Azuram Village Community Reserve Forest, which has come up on a patch of land donated by villagers. The trade of pangolins is illegal but they are one of the most widely trafficked animals. Manipur and other states in northeast India have become a hub for pangolin trafficking from other parts of India to China via Myanmar. Not very long ago, the incident might have ended differently. The district is notorious for widespread hunting of wild animals and birds and the open selling of both dead and live animals. In the last few years, a distinct change in the attitude of the people of Tamenglong towards wildlife has been noticed with conservation becoming the new buzzword in the district. The open market selling animals has stopped; but sporadic hunting for bushmeat still goes on in the district, although it has certainly gone down. The district hosts migrating Amur falcons in the winter and its sanctuary to the falcons has&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/11/conservation-is-the-buzzword-in-tamenglong-district-in-manipur/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/11/conservation-is-the-buzzword-in-tamenglong-district-in-manipur/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>As India plans clean energy transition, questions remain about impact</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/as-india-plans-clean-energy-transition-questions-remain-about-impact/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/as-india-plans-clean-energy-transition-questions-remain-about-impact/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2020 14:38:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/10/30075500/Banner-MJT-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=12036</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Clean Energy, COVID-19, Environment, Environmental Politics, Mining, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[India is aiming big with a target of about 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power by 2030. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasises that the country’s energy sector will be growth-centric, industry-friendly and environment conscious, some analysts say that the continued thrust on coal-based power and ignorance of communities as well as the environment impacted [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[India is aiming big with a target of about 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power by 2030. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasises that the country’s energy sector will be growth-centric, industry-friendly and environment conscious, some analysts say that the continued thrust on coal-based power and ignorance of communities as well as the environment impacted by renewable projects coal raises questions on the clean energy transition goal. The prime minister while speaking at the inaugural address at the 4th India Energy Forum on October 26 stressed that India is projected to nearly double its energy consumption over the long term. He elaborated that in spite of various challenges like fall in energy demand by almost one third, prevailing price instability, impacted investment decisions, projected contraction in global energy demand over the next few years, India was projected to emerge as a leading energy consumer. Modi highlighted that India&#8217;s energy plan aims to ensure energy justice while adhering to global commitments to sustainable growth and noted that India would continue its efforts to fight climate change. However, experts feel the announcements of the central government often fails to match with measures being taken by the government.  Sreedhar Ramamurthi, an earth scientist of the Environics Trust, which is involved in research and development on environmental issues, said that even as the central government is pushing for increasing coal production and talking about 450 gigawatts of renewable power within next 10 years, “the reality is that the demand of power is nowhere close&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/as-india-plans-clean-energy-transition-questions-remain-about-impact/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/as-india-plans-clean-energy-transition-questions-remain-about-impact/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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					<title>After early success, Kerala stumbles in containing the COVID-19 pandemic</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/after-early-success-kerala-stumbles-in-containing-the-covid-19-pandemic/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/after-early-success-kerala-stumbles-in-containing-the-covid-19-pandemic/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Oct 2020 13:25:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[K.A. Shaji]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/10/23113057/Banner-K-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=11957</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Kerala]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[COVID-19, Environment, and Health impacts]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[After effectively handling COVID-19 for about five months since the pandemic was first reported in India and winning praise from the international community, Kerala&#8217;s pandemic curve is now defying all predictions. The state, which successfully handled India&#8217;s first cases of the pandemic, is now on the list of top ten states with maximum caseloads, generating concern [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[After effectively handling COVID-19 for about five months since the pandemic was first reported in India and winning praise from the international community, Kerala&#8217;s pandemic curve is now defying all predictions. The state, which successfully handled India&#8217;s first cases of the pandemic, is now on the list of top ten states with maximum caseloads, generating concern among health experts and political leadership. The cumulative caseload as of October 22 evening was 369,323 &#8211; and the death toll crossed the 1,000-mark, at 1,255. While Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, in his recent online address accused Kerala of paying the price of gross negligence during the Onam festival season in September by unlocking restrictions and promoting inter-state travel for trade and tourism, Kerala&#8217;s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government maintains that the stringent measures it had evolved since February this year to control the pandemic have achieved significant results, mainly in keeping the mortality rate below the national average. According to Harsh Vardhan, Kerala had reported hardly 499 cases and two deaths in the period between January 30 and May 3 this year. Now the daily new cases have doubled, he said. According to him, the Kerala situation is a good lesson for other state governments, which turn negligent about public health during festival seasons. Echoing similar sentiments, a section of health experts are also urging the state government to step up action in the face of the worsening situation by evolving new strategies and involving more professionals in the policy formation process. The Kerala&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/after-early-success-kerala-stumbles-in-containing-the-covid-19-pandemic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/after-early-success-kerala-stumbles-in-containing-the-covid-19-pandemic/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Beekeeping empowers women, brings in honey and lush kitchen gardens</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/beekeeping-empowers-women-brings-in-honey-and-lush-kitchen-gardens/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/beekeeping-empowers-women-brings-in-honey-and-lush-kitchen-gardens/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2020 14:06:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Pelliccia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/10/09135504/UMTM-beekeeper-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=10931</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Eco Hope and Environment and Her]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gujarat and Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, COVID-19, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Parulben Pawar has to walk through the forest of Dharampur, in Gujarat, to reach her bee boxes. A path of four kilometers crossing a forest of teak (Tectona grandis), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), and palash trees (Butea monosperma) until her apiary. Usually, she follows this routine every ten days to take care of the bees. On [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Parulben Pawar has to walk through the forest of Dharampur, in Gujarat, to reach her bee boxes. A path of four kilometers crossing a forest of teak (Tectona grandis), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), and palash trees (Butea monosperma) until her apiary. Usually, she follows this routine every ten days to take care of the bees. On March 25, 2020, when the COVID-19 associated national lockdown began, she had to leave work halfway, as other beekeepers did. Parulben, 30 years old and mother of two, lives in Dang district, close to Purna Wildlife Sanctuary. The lockdown began during the harvesting season when she was extracting honey with her neighbors. Parulben is an experienced beekeeper working also as a master trainer in her community to support new beekeepers. She wasn’t able to complete the harvesting the honey characterised by a mix of flavors of mango, cashew, and wildflower of the forest, that she would sell in local markets. Several honeybee farmers across the country faced similar issues with the lockdown. But Parulben and her peers are back now &#8212; tending to their precious bees and offering support to other women. Thanks to the bees, the women said, they were able to access fresh produce from their kitchen gardens pollinated by the industrious insects. Parulben, as well as more than nine hundred women beekeepers, are part of the Under The Mango Tree (UTMT) network, a social enterprise working with bees to generate income and ecology enhancement. Most of these women were honey hunters; they&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/beekeeping-empowers-women-brings-in-honey-and-lush-kitchen-gardens/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/10/beekeeping-empowers-women-brings-in-honey-and-lush-kitchen-gardens/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Closer watch on vulnerable tribal groups in the Andamans in the face of COVID-19</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/09/closer-watch-on-vulnerable-tribal-groups-in-the-andamans-in-the-face-of-covid-19/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/09/closer-watch-on-vulnerable-tribal-groups-in-the-andamans-in-the-face-of-covid-19/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2020 12:51:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sanjib Kumar Roy]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/09/18094049/Banner-AN-e1600412411974-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=11427</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[India's Iconic Landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[COVID-19, Environment, Forests, Health impacts, and Indigenous Peoples]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month, when 11 of the 56 surviving members of the Great Andamanese tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands tested positive for coronavirus, it sent the officials of the union territory into a tizzy. Though all the 11 members have recovered, the officials are keeping a close watch on not only them and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month, when 11 of the 56 surviving members of the Great Andamanese tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands tested positive for coronavirus, it sent the officials of the union territory into a tizzy. Though all the 11 members have recovered, the officials are keeping a close watch on not only them and the remaining members of their community but also on other tribal groups in the islands. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are home to multiple Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) and the Great Andamanese tribe is one among them. These PVTGs are accorded the highest protection by local administration but despite that, a few weeks, ago 11 members of this tribal group were tested positive for COVID-19. The government of India has categorised 75 tribal groups across the country as PVTG and among them, five are in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Apart from the Great Andamanese tribe, the other four are the Jarawas, Sentinelese, Onge and Shompen. The members of the Great Andamanese tribe who had tested positive for COVID-19 infection were shifted to isolation wards at Port Blair’s G.B. Pant Hospital. Doctors attending to them informed them that they were asymptomatic. “All of them were fit and fine and they were completely asymptomatic. All have been discharged now,” Avijit Roy, who is the Nodal Officer for COVID-19 management in Andaman and Nicobar Islands told Mongabay-India. The government officials claim that detailed precautionary measures were taken by the Andaman administration which helped early detection of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/09/closer-watch-on-vulnerable-tribal-groups-in-the-andamans-in-the-face-of-covid-19/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/09/closer-watch-on-vulnerable-tribal-groups-in-the-andamans-in-the-face-of-covid-19/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Mumbai’s COVID waste peaks, second waste treatment plant not in sight</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/09/mumbais-covid-waste-peaks-second-waste-treatment-plant-not-in-sight/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/09/mumbais-covid-waste-peaks-second-waste-treatment-plant-not-in-sight/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Sep 2020 14:39:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tanvi Deshpande]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/08/01000329/biomedical-waste-mumbai-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=11177</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[COVID-19, Health impacts, and Waste management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As Mumbai copes with COVID-19, a related outcome of the pandemic is the mounting waste.  Mumbai city generated three times the daily average COVID-19 waste in July as compared to April and 42 times compared to that of 12 days of the pandemic in March. By July, the city was generating almost the same amount [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As Mumbai copes with COVID-19, a related outcome of the pandemic is the mounting waste.  Mumbai city generated three times the daily average COVID-19 waste in July as compared to April and 42 times compared to that of 12 days of the pandemic in March. By July, the city was generating almost the same amount of COVID-19 waste as regular biomedical waste in pre-pandemic times. Even before the pandemic, Mumbai’s solid waste was in a state of emergency with the Bombay High Court having constituted a committee after BMC failed to shut down Deonar garbage dumping ground for years. For the city’s biomedical waste (BMW) needs, a common biomedical waste treatment facility (CBMWTF) is located at Deonar in Central Mumbai. The plant’s incinerator has a capacity of 24,000 kg per day that was underutilised so far. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, Mumbai generated 10,000 kg-17,000 kg of biomedical waste every day that was sent here. Even as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) considers expanding the existing waste treatment facility at Deonar, local residents continue to oppose the existing one that leaves them gasping. COVID-19 waste includes masks, gloves, Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) used by COVID-19 patients apart from syringes, blood-soaked tissues, swabs, medicines. As of August 31, over five months after the initial cases were detected, the total number of people detected positive for COVID-19 in Mumbai was 145,000, including 7,655 dead and 110,000 recovered and discharged, as reported by the BMC. According to data from the BMC’s Solid&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/09/mumbais-covid-waste-peaks-second-waste-treatment-plant-not-in-sight/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://india-mongabay-com.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/09/deonar.mp4" length="1683760" type="video/mp4" />
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						<item>
					<title>Reverse migration cheers up agricultural sector in villages</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/08/reverse-migration-cheers-up-agricultural-sector-in-villages/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/08/reverse-migration-cheers-up-agricultural-sector-in-villages/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2020 10:34:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shweta Thakur Nanda]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/08/28140816/Workers-in-a-paddy-field-Aurangabad-Bihar-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=11152</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Eco Hope]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture and COVID-19]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wearing a soiled kurta-pyjama, Ajay Kumar was tending to his green fields in a rural village in Uttar Pradesh. The uncertainty of the past few months is gradually making way for hope and happiness. The lands are now green, and with a good monsoon forecast, Kumar was hopeful of a bumper harvest. “When I had [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wearing a soiled kurta-pyjama, Ajay Kumar was tending to his green fields in a rural village in Uttar Pradesh. The uncertainty of the past few months is gradually making way for hope and happiness. The lands are now green, and with a good monsoon forecast, Kumar was hopeful of a bumper harvest. “When I had returned to my village in April, we had no hope and were staring at a bleak future. So, turning to our ancestral fields seemed the only way forward for us. Two months on, we have made good progress and with good monsoon, I am looking forward to a bumper crop and good income,” Kumar said in Hindi. Before returning to his village in Hamirpur district, Kumar was employed at a gated apartment society in Noida. He was planning to buy a small house in the outskirts and lead a life of “independence”. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Kumar lost his job and all his plans crumbled. Unsure about the immediate future in the city, he vacated his rented accommodation, and returned to his village, along with his nephews, who too had lost their jobs. Kumar is now well-settled in his home again and has finished sowing pulses and oil seeds in his ancestral lands. Like Kumar, mason Chandragopal Ahirwar is now dedicating all his time to farming in his village Khareha of Chhatarpur district in Madhya Pradesh. “When nothing else works, you turn to the lap of Mother Earth and she always provides,” said&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/08/reverse-migration-cheers-up-agricultural-sector-in-villages/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/08/reverse-migration-cheers-up-agricultural-sector-in-villages/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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