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		<title>Mongabay India</title>
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		<link>https://india.mongabay.com/list/plantations/</link>
		<description>India&#039;s environmental science and conservation news</description>
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					<title>Kerala’s Onam festival marred by a weaker monsoon and subsequent crop loss</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/keralas-onam-festival-marred-by-a-weaker-monsoon-and-subsequent-crop-loss/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/keralas-onam-festival-marred-by-a-weaker-monsoon-and-subsequent-crop-loss/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 17:12:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[K. Rajendran]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Divya Kilikar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rainfall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traditional farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traditional Knowledge]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/25152633/Photo-2Onam-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Kerala]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather Events, Food, Impacts of Climate Change, and Plantations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On August 16 this year, the first day of the ten-day harvest festival of Onam in Kerala, P. Vijayalakshmi made her way to a restaurant in Thiruvananthapuram. For the first time in her life, the 72-year-old has purchased a ready-to-eat “packet Onam sadhya” or Onam feast rather than preparing it herself. “Every Onam, I would [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On August 16 this year, the first day of the ten-day harvest festival of Onam in Kerala, P. Vijayalakshmi made her way to a restaurant in Thiruvananthapuram. For the first time in her life, the 72-year-old has purchased a ready-to-eat “packet Onam sadhya” or Onam feast rather than preparing it herself. “Every Onam, I would make at least twenty dishes for the Onasadhya with vegetables I grew on my own land. But this time, the crops perished in the torrential rain, leaving me to fall behind the popular trend [of packet feasts],” Vijayalakshmi says. Onam celebrates the prosperity that traditionally arrives with the end of the southwest monsoon in Kerala, when the annual paddy is harvested, along with a diversity of tubers and local vegetables. The start of the festival is generally marked by the predictable frenzy of temporary stalls being erected selling a diversity of agricultural products that feature in the Onam feast. Instead, this time, hotels and restaurants were selling packet feasts for ₹250-1000. The traditional Onam feast, featuring several dishes prepared from the diversity of crops generally harvested during this time. Image by Shrutinair86 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). What the rise of a “packet feast” indicates Vinu A. Muthukuzhi points to the remnants of his plantain farm that has been impacted by strong winds and torrential rainfall on August 2. The farmer who lives in Kalliyoor gram panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram district, asks, “How do I celebrate Onam? Half my plantains were destroyed, costing me a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/keralas-onam-festival-marred-by-a-weaker-monsoon-and-subsequent-crop-loss/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Audit exposes fundamental flaws in Green India Mission&#8217;s execution</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/audit-exposes-fundamental-flaws-in-green-india-missions-execution/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/audit-exposes-fundamental-flaws-in-green-india-missions-execution/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 19:47:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/24190647/AP26208520244982-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40378</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon emissions, Carbon Offset, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystem services, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Habitat Loss, Plantations, Reforestation, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An audit report of the Green India Mission, one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, found that funds were consistently underutilised and that progress under the mission “remains negligible.” The Green India Mission aims to enhance forest cover, improve the quality of forest cover and ecosystem services, and scale [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An audit report of the Green India Mission, one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, found that funds were consistently underutilised and that progress under the mission “remains negligible.” The Green India Mission aims to enhance forest cover, improve the quality of forest cover and ecosystem services, and scale carbon sequestration in India. In 2011, the mission aimed to fulfil these goals in 10 million hectares (mha) of land over a period of 10 years. In 2014, the Mission included afforestation on 2.8 mha of land by 2018 as a goal. But the mission’s performance has been set back by “fundamental weaknesses in planning and design as well as deficiencies in execution and monitoring,” says an audit report by the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG), submitted to Parliament on August 12. According to the audit, out of the targeted 2.8 million hectares, afforestation interventions were made in approximately 0.15 million hectares, which is just about 5% of the goal area. Pooja Choksi, an ecologist and founder of Ficus Research Consulting said the CAG&#8217;s report was a timely &#8220;wake up call.&#8221; &#8220;It is an indication that we need to do things radically differently if we want to achieve our land use and forestry related targets, especially in a ecologically and socially meaningful way that ensures the longevity of these plantation efforts,&#8221; she said. Apart from poor implementation, the CAG found that activities carried out eroded the mission’s core objectives of restoring ecosystems at a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/audit-exposes-fundamental-flaws-in-green-india-missions-execution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>India’s afforestation needs a species lens [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-afforestation-needs-a-species-lens-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-afforestation-needs-a-species-lens-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 15:47:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pradeep Mishra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[afforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[native plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restoration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rewilding]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/21130241/IMG_2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39497</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Madhya Pradesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Forestry, Forests, Plantations, Plants, Reforestation, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[During my tenure as Divisional Forest Officer in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, I walked through a seven-year-old mixed plantation. According to the plantation journal maintained by the range office, 14 species had been planted at the start. On the ground, teak dominated — a few others persisted in scattered numbers, and some had disappeared entirely. Their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[During my tenure as Divisional Forest Officer in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, I walked through a seven-year-old mixed plantation. According to the plantation journal maintained by the range office, 14 species had been planted at the start. On the ground, teak dominated — a few others persisted in scattered numbers, and some had disappeared entirely. Their decline was not recorded anywhere. It had been quietly absorbed into an aggregate survival statistic that still read as success. Plantation drives in India are often measured by the number of saplings planted and their survival rates, which portray an image of progress. But do these numbers reflect genuine ecological restoration or just denser tree cover? Indore district provides insight into this issue. Working Plan data from Indore Forest Division showed stable plantation targets, yet several native species fell to less than 1% of the tree population, a trend not captured in plantation reports or remote-sensing maps. This decline did not stem from felling operations or from a single visible event. Instead, it developed quietly, due to selective extraction, poor regeneration, grazing pressure, and climate stress. The greater issue is a management focus on numbers rather than on which species survive. Recognising this, the intervention emphasising Rare, Endangered and Threatened (RET) species raises a crucial question: Should forestry success be measured by total tree cover, or by the sustained presence of native biodiversity? The monsoon landscape at Shankargarh Hills in Dewas district, Madhya Pradesh, where community-led restoration is reviving native biodiversity. Image by Samarjeet Jadav.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-afforestation-needs-a-species-lens-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cities need tailored restoration, not mass tree planting</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/cities-need-tailored-restoration-not-mass-tree-planting/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/cities-need-tailored-restoration-not-mass-tree-planting/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 15:07:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Arathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/17093622/DJI_0476-Restored-grazing-commons-of-Bagepalli-scaled-e1784263951510-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39376</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Hype and Nature-based Solutions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Karnataka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cities and Towns, Ecology, Forests, Plantations, Plants, Reforestation, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Thousands of Bengaluru residents came together late last month in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for planting the largest number of tree saplings in a single day. Nearly 1.5 million saplings were planted across 240 acres in the drive organised by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), with funding from multiple corporate social [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Thousands of Bengaluru residents came together late last month in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for planting the largest number of tree saplings in a single day. Nearly 1.5 million saplings were planted across 240 acres in the drive organised by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), with funding from multiple corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and support from environmental organisations. A growing number of ecologists, however, say the enthusiasm for mass tree planting in cities has outpaced the science behind it. This tree plantation drive, billed as one of the country&#8217;s largest urban greening exercises, was designed using the Japanese Miyawaki method of dense native tree planting, a method that is popular but also has been criticised for overstating its effectiveness. “The idea is to make Bengaluru greener. There is global warming, so we want to start this movement with the city,” BDA chairman N.A. Haris told Mongabay-India before the event. He said the plantations, spread across lakes, nala buffer zones and public spaces, are intended to reduce the urban heat island effect and build the city&#8217;s climate resilience. Authorities say every sapling will be geo-tagged and monitored for survival. But mass tree plantation is hardly a quick fix to urban green loss. “What exactly are we trying to achieve? Is it setting a record or greening the city? If it&#8217;s ecology, then what environmental problem are we trying to solve?” asks Rajkamal Goswami, a scientist at ATREE who studies forests and biodiversity dynamics. For Goswami, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/cities-need-tailored-restoration-not-mass-tree-planting/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>A machine learning-powered chatbot to guide tree plantation in the Himalayas</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-machine-learning-powered-chatbot-to-guide-tree-plantation-in-the-himalayas/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-machine-learning-powered-chatbot-to-guide-tree-plantation-in-the-himalayas/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2026 13:26:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nikhil Sreekandan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AI for Good]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/15222318/Rajiv-Gandhi-Van-Samvardhan-Yojana_Mahila-Mandal-e1784134737669-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39318</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himachal Pradesh and Himalayas]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Forests, Himalayas, Plantations, Plants, Reforestation, Technology, Technology and Conservation, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2022, Pushpendra Rana and his colleagues projected using a machine learning model that Himachal Pradesh would spend $100 million (approximately ₹95 crores) between 2020 and 2030 on planting trees that were unlikely to survive. They published the findings in the journal World Development. But Rana, a serving Indian Forest Officer, didn’t just stop at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2022, Pushpendra Rana and his colleagues projected using a machine learning model that Himachal Pradesh would spend $100 million (approximately ₹95 crores) between 2020 and 2030 on planting trees that were unlikely to survive. They published the findings in the journal World Development. But Rana, a serving Indian Forest Officer, didn’t just stop at drawing attention to the wasteful tree-planting practices in his state. Over the next four years, he focused on developing a restoration decision-support tool to aid in more successful tree planting in the country. Rana partnered with RootIQ Labs Pvt. Ltd., a New Delhi-based artificial intelligence company, to develop WhereToPlant Bot, a chatbot that can predict the survival probability of saplings in a given location based on different climatic and environmental parameters. This chatbot can be accessed by anyone with a Telegram account. Once they share their location pin, it uses machine-learning models to quickly respond with a survival probability score and a star rating for any and all plants for the particular planting site, ranging from ‘no chance’ to ‘high chance’. The chatbot is currently exclusive to Himachal Pradesh, where it has been functional for over a year. The state forest department, mahila mandals (women collectives), yuvak mandals (youth groups) and self-help groups have taken its guidance to plant saplings, Rana told Mongabay-India. More than 200 women&#8217;s groups and 50 youth clubs used the tool in the field. DFOs and restoration practitioners as part of the Rajiv Gandhi Van Samvardhan Yojana (US$10.14 million community-driven plantation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-machine-learning-powered-chatbot-to-guide-tree-plantation-in-the-himalayas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>When trees replace grasslands, specialist birds lose their habitat</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/when-trees-replace-grasslands-specialist-birds-lose-their-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/when-trees-replace-grasslands-specialist-birds-lose-their-habitat/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2026 17:45:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[afforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extreme rainfall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heavy rainfall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rainfall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[savanna]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[savannahs]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/02170908/PaddyfieldPipit_SiddhantMhetre_Anthus_Rufulus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38913</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Extreme Weather Events, Grasslands, Impacts of Climate Change, Plantations, and Plants]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[India’s fast disappearing grasslands have long been targeted for afforestation — a practice that encourages tree planting on “degraded” parcels of land. With their vast and open landscapes, savannahs and grasslands are often considered barren land in need of more dense tree cover. But how does converting grassy, arid land to something woody and canopied [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[India’s fast disappearing grasslands have long been targeted for afforestation — a practice that encourages tree planting on “degraded” parcels of land. With their vast and open landscapes, savannahs and grasslands are often considered barren land in need of more dense tree cover. But how does converting grassy, arid land to something woody and canopied transform an ecosystem, and the life within it? New research from Maharashtra studies how old-growth savannahs, when planted with trees, changes bird populations and distributions. Grasslands and savannahs are estimated to cover 15-20% of India’s land mass, and yet remain under-researched. The lack of recognition of grassland ecosystems has meant their role in regulating microclimates and hosting endemic biodiversity has largely gone unnoticed. “There are very few studies on dry savannahs in general, and even fewer on the impacts of afforestation on them,” said Abi T. Vanak, Director of the Centre for Policy Design at ATREE and a scholar of India&#8217;s grasslands. The study from Maharashtra compared bird species and abundance across undisturbed savannahs and well-established plantations, creating new evidence for how the impacts of afforestation go beyond just changes to tree cover. It found that afforestation rendered the area uninhabitable for grassland specialist species like the Indian courser — a long-legged bird which scans the grass to forage — and the tawny pipit, which nests on the ground — among a host of others. Instead, bird populations were maintained by an influx of other species better adapted to woody and forested habitats. The shift&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/when-trees-replace-grasslands-specialist-birds-lose-their-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Delhi witnesses a travesty of ecological restoration [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/delhi-witnesses-a-travesty-of-ecological-restoration-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/delhi-witnesses-a-travesty-of-ecological-restoration-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jul 2026 16:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ankila HiremathVikram Iyer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Arathimenon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restoration]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/01141654/2_EarthMovers-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38879</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Delhi and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Ecology, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Plantations, Plants, and Reforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Delhi’s Central Ridge, a mosaic of forest and open savannah with patches dominated by species such as dhok (Terminalia pendula), is a landscape that would be a rare gem anywhere. The location of this remnant of the ancient Aravallis — spanning a little over 850 hectares in the heart of a sprawling urban metropolis — [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Delhi’s Central Ridge, a mosaic of forest and open savannah with patches dominated by species such as dhok (Terminalia pendula), is a landscape that would be a rare gem anywhere. The location of this remnant of the ancient Aravallis — spanning a little over 850 hectares in the heart of a sprawling urban metropolis — makes it even more special. Yet, for over a century, it has remained misunderstood and misconstrued. In the early 20th century, the planners of New Delhi sought to create a forested backdrop for the Government House (now Rashtrapati Bhavan). Successive waves of tree planting were carried out, but very few of the introduced trees survived because they were poorly suited to local conditions. The exception was the South American tree Neltuma juliflora (formerly Prosopis juliflora). Better known as vilayati keekar, it is now a widespread invasive alien tree across arid and semi-arid regions of India. Since its introduction to the Central Ridge, it has come to dominate the landscape, along with other invasive species such as gaajar ghaas (Parthenium hysterophorus), lantana (Lantana camara), and subabool (Leucaena leucocephala), which arrived more recently. Delhi&#8217;s Central Ridge in the dry season. Invasive plant species dominate the 850 hectares in the heart of the capital city. Image by Pradip Krishen. What are invasive alien species? Invasive alien species must meet two criteria. First, they must be non-native to a region. Typically, these are species intentionally introduced by people, though some introductions occur inadvertently. In India, many non-native plants originated&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/delhi-witnesses-a-travesty-of-ecological-restoration-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Valuing the diversity that feeds us [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/valuing-the-diversity-that-feeds-us-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/valuing-the-diversity-that-feeds-us-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jun 2026 16:18:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[genetically modified crop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seed conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seeds]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/06/12144943/AP22143499795663-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38616</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Food, Organic Farming, Plantations, and Plants]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There was a native mango tree in the front yard of our home that my father bought for the family in the mid-1970s. He had retired from government service and had returned to Thrissur. It was a big, sprawling tree which bore copious fruits every year. When the mangoes were small, tender and clustered in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There was a native mango tree in the front yard of our home that my father bought for the family in the mid-1970s. He had retired from government service and had returned to Thrissur. It was a big, sprawling tree which bore copious fruits every year. When the mangoes were small, tender and clustered in bunches, my mother had them plucked for pickle. As they ripened, she turned the fibrous fruits with tough skins into a sweet curry, which we poured on to our rice and ate at lunch.  We had to cut the mango tree in the early years of our stay in that house. We realised soon enough that though the tree was in our compound, it was perceived more as a local public property. Youngsters threw stones to make the mangoes drop, to pick the fruits. Their aim missed most of the time and the casualty was a broken roof tile in our home. And we could not afford replacing roof tiles ever so often.  I do not know if the mango tree was of the Chandrakaran variety that researcher Femi Benny wrote about. Needless to say, the stories about native varieties disappearing and giving way to market-friendlier varieties are talked about very often. Almost all old families in Kerala will recite names in Malayalam that described the fruit appropriately. For instance, one native mango variety was called Tholikayappan, which means bitter mango skin.  The story that many elderly would mention is that many of these varieties&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/valuing-the-diversity-that-feeds-us-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rethinking forest restoration beyond tree cover [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/rethinking-forest-restoration-beyond-tree-cover-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/rethinking-forest-restoration-beyond-tree-cover-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 12:19:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dhanapal GovindarajuluJohan Oldekop]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[afforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dryland conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[habitat degradation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restoration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tree plantation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/06/08095349/AP21185326184454-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38560</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Ecology, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Global Forest Watch, Habitat Loss, Plantations, Plants, Reforestation, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since its launch in 2011, the Bonn Challenge has mobilised commitments to restore more than 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2030, including India’s pledge to restore 26 million hectares. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) as a process that seeks to regain ecological integrity [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since its launch in 2011, the Bonn Challenge has mobilised commitments to restore more than 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2030, including India’s pledge to restore 26 million hectares. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) as a process that seeks to regain ecological integrity while enhancing human well-being. In practice, this means that ecosystem restoration should improve biodiversity, wildlife habitats and corridors, watersheds, and other ecosystem services. It should also strengthen local livelihoods, particularly through the provision of non-timber forest products and support for pastoral communities. Yet in practice, restoration is often narrowly equated with tree planting. This is partly because plantations can sequester large amounts of carbon, making them attractive for climate mitigation targets. India, for example, has committed under the Paris Agreement to create an additional carbon sink of 3.5 to 4 billion tonnes through afforestation and the expansion of tree cover. Many tropical countries use globally available forest-cover products to monitor and report restoration progress. However, these global products come with limitations because they are generated using different satellite imagery, training data, classification algorithms, and forest definitions. For example, the Global Forest Watch dataset, derived primarily from Landsat imagery, can produce substantially different estimates of forest extent and change compared with GlobeLand30, which is generated using Landsat and China’s HJ-1 satellite imagery. A recent global study comparing ten global forest datasets found that these maps agreed on only 26% of the globally mapped forest area. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/rethinking-forest-restoration-beyond-tree-cover-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why India&#8217;s tree-planting programmes are falling short</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/why-indias-tree-planting-programmes-are-falling-short/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/why-indias-tree-planting-programmes-are-falling-short/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jun 2026 15:06:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aisiri Amin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[agroforestry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tree plantation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/06/02181943/AP24202402198176-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38482</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology, Forestry, Forests, Plantations, Plants, Reforestation, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For many countries, including India, increasing tree cover has become a core part of climate mitigation plans to improve biodiversity and ecosystems. ​From tree planting drives and festivals such as the annual Van Mahotsav, where India pledges to plant millions of tree saplings, to tree plantation programmes such as the Green India Mission (GIM), National [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For many countries, including India, increasing tree cover has become a core part of climate mitigation plans to improve biodiversity and ecosystems. ​From tree planting drives and festivals such as the annual Van Mahotsav, where India pledges to plant millions of tree saplings, to tree plantation programmes such as the Green India Mission (GIM), National Afforestation Programme (NAP), and Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF), afforestation is high on the priority list of solutions. However, a question that often arises is: how effective are these initiatives? A new study, published in the journal Environmental Research Communications, attempts to answer this question by examining eight major government policies and programmes and their impact on tree cover, focusing on trees outside forests (ToF). Many of these programmes operate with state funding, which means citizens’ tax money supports various initiatives. Therefore, it’s important to understand how this funding is actually being used, says Pooja Choksi, researcher and founder of Ficus Research Consulting, and co-author of the study. Moreover, India has one of the largest land and forestry-based Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) — a country&#8217;s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “This creates enormous pressure: achieving these targets requires significant behavioural and land-use changes from citizens, because only limited land is government-owned, and primarily forests,” she explains. This also leads to a critical question. “How will we realistically meet these NDCs using current (tree planting) programmes, especially when new programmes are introduced every few years?&#8221; Choksi asks. A plant nursery nurtured by the Forest Department in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/why-indias-tree-planting-programmes-are-falling-short/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>The search for climate resilient coffee in a warming world</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-search-for-climate-resilient-coffee-in-a-warming-world/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-search-for-climate-resilient-coffee-in-a-warming-world/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2026 10:25:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Meena Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate resilience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate resilience agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coffee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farm produce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/05/20232612/DSCF6417-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38279</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Food, Plantations, Plants, Sustainability, and Western Ghats]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Blending coffee and music comes naturally to Carnatic musician and coffee roaster Akshay Vaidyanathan. In 2019, he founded Kapikottai, a coffee brand he describes as a fun entrepreneurial experiment. A year later, he launched a new specialty coffee roast using Excelsa coffee beans, a less popular species of coffee.  While he introduced it as a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Blending coffee and music comes naturally to Carnatic musician and coffee roaster Akshay Vaidyanathan. In 2019, he founded Kapikottai, a coffee brand he describes as a fun entrepreneurial experiment. A year later, he launched a new specialty coffee roast using Excelsa coffee beans, a less popular species of coffee.  While he introduced it as a small, experimental batch, Vaidyanathan says, “It’s been an institution since then, and sells out fast. A lot of people don’t realise it is another species. They feel it’s just good coffee.”   That distinction may soon matter more than ever.  Both Arabica and Robusta, the two species that dominate global coffee production, face mounting stress from rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns. Temperatures above 30°C reduce yields, affect bean quality and increase plant stress, particularly for Arabica coffee, which is more heat-sensitive than Robusta. India grows both varieties, though primarily Robusta, largely across the Western Ghats. With changing climate conditions, researchers and farmers are turning to alternative and lesser-known coffee species. Among them is Excelsa. An overlooked species gains new relevance Excelsa (C. dewevrei), native to parts of Tropical and West Africa as well as Southeast Asia, has long existed on the margins of India’s coffee landscape. The trees, often planted as boundary markers or for shade, can be found in South and Northeast India. However, they were never widely commercialised for coffee production.    As erratic weather patterns threaten coffee production, researchers and farmers are turning to more climate resilient coffee species like Excelsa (Coffea dewevrei).&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-search-for-climate-resilient-coffee-in-a-warming-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>The flame of the forest is fading; can it return?</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-flame-of-the-forest-is-fading-can-it-return/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-flame-of-the-forest-is-fading-can-it-return/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Apr 2026 15:14:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashwini Kumar Shukla]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flowers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihoods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palamu Tiger Reserve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traditional farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traditional Knowledge]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/04/24111039/IMG_0269-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=37862</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Jharkhand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Plantations, Plants, Trees, Tribes, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“If the flower of the palash is fully bloomed, that means it will be a good summer, and it will rain well that year,” says Sarita Devi, sitting under a tree in front of her home. “And if it does not bloom on time, the rains will not be good either.” Sarita, 40, is a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“If the flower of the palash is fully bloomed, that means it will be a good summer, and it will rain well that year,” says Sarita Devi, sitting under a tree in front of her home. “And if it does not bloom on time, the rains will not be good either.” Sarita, 40, is a resident of Kundri village in Palamu district, Jharkhand. She belongs to the Dalit community. For generations, people here have predicted the weather through the palash tree. Their livelihoods also depend on it. The palash tree is used to grow lac, a natural resin produced by the insect Kerria lacca (rangeeni), which farmers harvest and sell in the market. On the palash tree, lac is produced twice a year: once in the rainy season (harvested in October–November) and once in the summer (harvested in June–July). For years, Sarita worked at the Kundri lac farm, widely described by officials as Asia&#8217;s largest lac plantation. Every October, she tied lac-bearing twigs to palash branches. Over the next few months, the resin slowly builds up on the branches and is later harvested and processed. “We used to do all the lac work,” she says. “Putting it on the trees, taking it off, peeling it, collecting it. It gave us very good employment.” In a good season, she, her husband Satnarayan Bhuiyan, 45, and their son Deepak Bhuiyan, 18, would earn between ₹50,000 and ₹60,000. Sarita is a resident of Kundri village in Palamu district who once depended on lac&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-flame-of-the-forest-is-fading-can-it-return/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>A generation strives to revive traditional healing</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-generation-strives-to-revive-traditional-healing/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-generation-strives-to-revive-traditional-healing/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Apr 2026 13:26:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leesha K. Nair]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Arathimenon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[food systems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medicinal plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traditional Knowledge]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/04/15105331/IMG_9850-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=37703</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Knowledge]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Food, Health impacts, Indigenous Peoples, Islands, Plantations, Plants, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“It is not the way it used to be,” says Saw John Aung Thong as he crosses rows of tall areca nut trees towards a clearing where his plant nursery once stood. This patch of land, now sparse, once held dozens of medicinal saplings in neat rows, awaiting planting. For the 54-year-old, the empty space [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“It is not the way it used to be,” says Saw John Aung Thong as he crosses rows of tall areca nut trees towards a clearing where his plant nursery once stood. This patch of land, now sparse, once held dozens of medicinal saplings in neat rows, awaiting planting. For the 54-year-old, the empty space represents more than a failed gardening experiment. It represents a stalled attempt to revive an old knowledge system that had sustained his community for generations. Set deep within Middle Andaman in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is Webi village, where John runs a homestay named Koh Hee. Webi was also the first settlement for his community, the Karens, when they were brought to the islands from Burma (now Myanmar) by the British in 1925 as foresters and labourers in the timber industry. The Karens are a settler group brought to the archipelago by the British administration in the early 20th century to meet labour demands. Nearly a century later, while many communities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have blended culturally, the Karens have largely retained their distinct traditions, language, and rituals. But in recent years, their medicinal knowledge is quietly slipping out of practice. Flowers in the home garden of a Karen community member. The Karens are a settler group brought to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by the British in the early 20th century to meet labour demands. Image by Leesha K. Nair. “My main motivation to bring back these gardens was my&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-generation-strives-to-revive-traditional-healing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>From diversity to monotony, ecological communities are homogenising</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/from-diversity-to-monotony-ecological-communities-are-homogenising/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/from-diversity-to-monotony-ecological-communities-are-homogenising/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 11:58:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Guha DharmarajanTrisha Putturaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Renuka Kulkarni]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[habitat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invasive plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invasive species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[monoculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zoonoses]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/04/09103503/Green_Moray_Eel_Gymnothorax_funebris_Cozumel-scaled-e1775712264999-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=37644</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecosystem services, Environment, Health impacts, Oceans, Plantations, and Plants]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Imagine walking through different ecosystems across the world, only to find that species inhabiting them look strikingly similar. This is the reality of biotic homogenisation, a process where diverse biological communities become increasingly similar as unique endemic species, highly sensitive to environmental changes, are replaced by common generalist species, which are insensitive to such perturbations. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Imagine walking through different ecosystems across the world, only to find that species inhabiting them look strikingly similar. This is the reality of biotic homogenisation, a process where diverse biological communities become increasingly similar as unique endemic species, highly sensitive to environmental changes, are replaced by common generalist species, which are insensitive to such perturbations. Natural drivers It is important to recognise that biotic homogenisation can be a natural process. The drivers can be placed into two broad categories, disturbance and connectivity. Disturbance refers to changes over time in environmental conditions that can drive homogenisation by favouring species that thrive under altered conditions, such as hurricanes, floods, and volcanic eruptions. However, when the environment is constantly disturbed, specialist species that thrive under a narrow set of environmental conditions find it tough to keep up, leaving only generalists that can survive under a broad set of environmental conditions. Climate change can cause ecological disturbances at a global scale. Earth’s climate has naturally fluctuated over geological timescales, and fossil records show that there were past instances of biotic homogenisation, particularly following mass extinction events. For example, the Palaeozoic mass extinction, which wiped out nearly 90% of species, resulted in a global biota dominated by a few generalist species. Changes in landscape connectivity, such as land bridges and river networks, influence species compositions by facilitating species movement and increasing species overlap in previously distinct regions. Natural mechanisms can also facilitate global connectivity, ocean currents, for example, can facilitate long-distance movement of marine species&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/from-diversity-to-monotony-ecological-communities-are-homogenising/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Farmers revive tung plantations amid market hopes and ecological concerns</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/03/farmers-revive-tung-plantations-amid-market-hopes-and-ecological-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/03/farmers-revive-tung-plantations-amid-market-hopes-and-ecological-concerns/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Mar 2026 11:55:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Barasha Das]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fruits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[monoculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[oil seed]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/03/05104703/5.-Tung-seeds-being-segregated-at-Saitual-District-Tung-Growers-Association-PC-Robert-Lalnuntluanga-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=37147</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mizoram]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Environmental Economics, Himalayas, Mountains, Plantations, Plants, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2023, farmers in Mizoram’s Saitual district came together to form the Saitual District Tung Grower Association to streamline the cultivation and post-harvest marketing of a tree-borne oilseed from the tung tree, which has significant industrial applications and commercial potential. What began as a small collective has since expanded rapidly. Today, more than 600 farmers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2023, farmers in Mizoram’s Saitual district came together to form the Saitual District Tung Grower Association to streamline the cultivation and post-harvest marketing of a tree-borne oilseed from the tung tree, which has significant industrial applications and commercial potential. What began as a small collective has since expanded rapidly. Today, more than 600 farmers across the district have joined the association, hoping to build a viable economic future around a crop that remains largely unfamiliar to most of India. Farmers are now converting several hectares of land to cultivate the tung tree, primarily Vernicia fordii and Vernicia montana, two closely related species whose seeds yield tung oil, a non-edible but highly valuable drying oil. However, experts caution the risks of expanding monoculture plantations on the fragile slopes in the mountain state. Tung oil and its industrial applications Tung oil is primarily extracted from V. fordii, with oil from V. montana occasionally blended in limited proportions. Under favourable conditions, tung trees begin yielding fruit from the third year, though most assessments place the first reliable harvest at around the fifth year. The trees typically remain productive for 24 years, reaching peak yields between 10 and 12 years of age. Tung oil yields generally range from 300 to 450 kilograms per hectare, with the seed containing about 30-40% oil. The oil has been historically used in products from caulk to insulating compounds. Renowned for its capacity to harden into a tough, water-resistant film upon exposure to air, it is widely used&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/03/farmers-revive-tung-plantations-amid-market-hopes-and-ecological-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Study finds counterintuitive rise in elephant deaths after organised monitoring</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/03/study-finds-counterintuitive-rise-in-elephant-deaths-after-organised-monitoring/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/03/study-finds-counterintuitive-rise-in-elephant-deaths-after-organised-monitoring/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Mar 2026 14:26:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manish Chandra Mishra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crop loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human elephant conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tea estates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tea gardens]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/03/03222211/A_herd_of_wild_elephants_in_a_Tea_Garden-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=37132</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Assam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Elephants, Forests, Human Rights, Human Wildlife Conflict, Plantations, Villages, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study analysing two decades of organised crop-guarding efforts to deter elephants from entering farms has found a counterintuitive outcome: villages with active monitoring recorded two to three times more elephant deaths. The elephant monitoring squads were set up in 2004 in Assam’s Sonitpur district where human-elephant conflict had led to high fatalities on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study analysing two decades of organised crop-guarding efforts to deter elephants from entering farms has found a counterintuitive outcome: villages with active monitoring recorded two to three times more elephant deaths. The elephant monitoring squads were set up in 2004 in Assam’s Sonitpur district where human-elephant conflict had led to high fatalities on both sides. The aim behind setting up the squads was to keep elephants away from human habitation to reduce conflict and hence reduce deaths. The study set out to find whether this intervention was indeed effective in decreasing deaths, but found increased elephant mortality instead. The study findings however, need to be viewed with caution. While they show an association between an increased number of Antidepredation Squads (ADSs) and increased elephant deaths, they are not a direct proof of causation, notes WWF-India which helped set up these squads in Sonitpur. The data shows that there are more elephant deaths in areas where ADSs have been deployed. The reason for increased deaths, says study author Nitin Sekar, could be that ADSs result in more regular, organised, and effective driving of elephants than occurs in communities without ADSs.&#8221;It seems plausible that ADSs result in more regular, organised, and effective driving of elephants than occurs in communities without ADSs, and that elephants being chased in this way are less attentive to their surroundings (especially since drives often happen in the dark) and are more likely to run into an electric wire or fall into a trench,&#8221; Sekar said.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/03/study-finds-counterintuitive-rise-in-elephant-deaths-after-organised-monitoring/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>What traditional Marathi literature reveals about savannahs</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/02/what-traditional-marathi-literature-reveals-about-savannahs/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/02/what-traditional-marathi-literature-reveals-about-savannahs/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Feb 2026 14:12:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sharmila Vaidyanathan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Renuka Kulkarni]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[environmental history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grass]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marathi literature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[native plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[savanna]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[savannahs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traditional Knowledge]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/02/03140621/%E0%A4%97%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B3_%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%A3%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%B2_%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A3%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%A0%E0%A4%BE_%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%B3%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%97_%E0%A4%A7%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B3%E0%A5%87_Small_water_pond_in_grasslandLaling_Dhule-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=36724</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Ecology, Endemic species, Forests, Grasslands, Indigenous Peoples, Plantations, Plants, Trees, and Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It might have been just another coffee session between two researchers catching up on their work, but when Ashish Nerlekar noticed the mention of savannah specialist trees in Digvijay Patil&#8217;s historical references, the duo realised they were onto something new. “Digvijay’s research focuses on people’s perceptions of natural environments, and he was showing me some [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It might have been just another coffee session between two researchers catching up on their work, but when Ashish Nerlekar noticed the mention of savannah specialist trees in Digvijay Patil&#8217;s historical references, the duo realised they were onto something new. “Digvijay’s research focuses on people’s perceptions of natural environments, and he was showing me some of his references from the western Maharashtra region, when I noticed savannah-specialist or indicator trees in them. That led us to systematically study traditional literature to understand the ecological history of savannahs,” says Nerlekar, Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Michigan State University, USA. Patil is a PhD student in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at the Indian Institute of Science Education Research, Pune. Over the next two years, they scoured through narrative poems, religious texts, myths, field notes, biographical and hagiographical accounts in the Marathi language, published between the 13th and 20th centuries C.E. They found several savannah-specific landscape descriptions and mentions of flora and fauna in oral and literary references. These findings refute the popular claim that tropical savannahs are a result of anthropogenic deforestation. The study, published in People and Nature has garnered wide attention and raised significant interest in unearthing the history of India&#8217;s savannahs. &#8220;While previous scientific research establishes the antiquity of Asian savannahs, and researchers have long been telling the general public and policymakers that these ecosystems are ancient, the misconception continues to prevail,” Nerlekar explains. Apart from providing an appropriate window into an ecosystem’s past, traditional literature also enables spreading&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/02/what-traditional-marathi-literature-reveals-about-savannahs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Government opens up forest plantation to private sector, critics question its conservation value</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/government-opens-up-forest-plantation-to-private-sector-critics-question-its-conservation-value/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/government-opens-up-forest-plantation-to-private-sector-critics-question-its-conservation-value/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jan 2026 17:33:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restoration]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/01/28165013/18963522564_1e12625071_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=36652</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Forest Rights Act, Forests, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Plantations, Plants, Reforestation, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In early January, the Union Environment Ministry issued a letter to all states and union territories informing them that private entities could lease forest land and carry out plantations for commercial benefit without paying any penalties, marking a shift in how India’s forests have been traditionally managed. Forestry activities, including plantations, have typically been carried [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In early January, the Union Environment Ministry issued a letter to all states and union territories informing them that private entities could lease forest land and carry out plantations for commercial benefit without paying any penalties, marking a shift in how India’s forests have been traditionally managed. Forestry activities, including plantations, have typically been carried out by the forest department, since forests are considered to be publicly owned. But the letter makes the application of India’s primary forest conservation law more flexible, by allowing non-government entities to lease forest land — with permission — for the purposes of restoration or silviculture, and reclassifying it as “forestry activity.” “This step would lead to partnerships between government and non-government entities to undertake afforestation on degraded forest lands and therefore will help increase India’s green cover,” an FAQ document regarding the provision, provided to Mongabay-India by a Ministry spokesperson in response to a series of questions, says. However, forest restoration experts have raised concerns about the conservation objectives of this change, as well as its implications for forest-dwelling communities who depend on forest resources. The amendment was brought in to “sustainably harness” forest resources with the possibility of profit-sharing, but also to “harmonise” existing laws with the newly launched Green Credit programme – a controversial scheme that allows private entities to generate credits from tree planting to meet legal compliances. “Planting trees is not the same as ecological restoration. Commercial tree plantation in natural ecosystems can actually be ecologically harmful. The documents in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/government-opens-up-forest-plantation-to-private-sector-critics-question-its-conservation-value/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>India’s coconut belt battles whitefly crisis</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/indias-coconut-belt-battles-whitefly-crisis/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/indias-coconut-belt-battles-whitefly-crisis/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jan 2026 16:23:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Prasanth Shanmugasundaram]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coconut]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coconut trees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crop loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farm produce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farmers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pest control]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/01/19112402/Coconut-under-cultivation-near-Pollachi-in-Tamil-Nadus-Coimbatore-district-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=36509</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Ecology, Environment, Food, Plantations, and Plants]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Across India, farmers battling climate change, erratic rainfall, rising input costs, labour shortages and unstable markets now face another persistent threat: the rugose spiralling whitefly (RSW). An invasive sap-sucking insect, RSW (Aleurodicus rugioperculatus) attacks coconut, banana, palm and other crops, coating leaves with sticky honeydew that causes black sooty mold. This blocks photosynthesis, weakens plants [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Across India, farmers battling climate change, erratic rainfall, rising input costs, labour shortages and unstable markets now face another persistent threat: the rugose spiralling whitefly (RSW). An invasive sap-sucking insect, RSW (Aleurodicus rugioperculatus) attacks coconut, banana, palm and other crops, coating leaves with sticky honeydew that causes black sooty mold. This blocks photosynthesis, weakens plants and sharply reduces yields. Since when RSW was first identified in Florida, U.S., where it was once a major concern, the pest has been brought under control and deregulated in the country &#8211; which means it is considered to no longer pose a significant risk, so shipments won&#8217;t be checked for it at ports. In India, however, RSW continues to spread unchecked, driving severe yield losses and rising debt. India’s coconut economy Coconut is central to South India’s economy. In 2023–24, coconut was cultivated across nearly two million hectares in four southern states alone. Kerala led with 7.65 lakh hectares (0.77 million ha), followed by Karnataka with 5.64 lakh ha (0.56 million ha), Tamil Nadu with 4.93 lakh ha (0.49 million ha) and Andhra Pradesh with 1.07 lakh ha (0.11 million ha). Together, these states account for over 80% of India’s total coconut-growing area, according to Coconut Development Board data. As extreme rainfall, drought cycles and heatwaves made paddy, sugarcane and banana risky, coconut became a drought-resilient refuge. India expanded coconut cultivation by 19% since 2000 and production by 69%. However, since 2016, the output has fallen over 10% and productivity has reduced by 14%&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/indias-coconut-belt-battles-whitefly-crisis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Mangrove restoration needs more than planting; it needs monitoring and data</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/mangrove-restoration-needs-more-than-planting-it-needs-monitoring-and-data/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/mangrove-restoration-needs-more-than-planting-it-needs-monitoring-and-data/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jan 2026 10:30:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Barasha Das]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fisheries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restoration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sundarbans]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/01/14235503/AP23104582960456-scaled-e1768415608186-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=36473</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coast, Coastal erosion, Ecology, Ecosystem services, Environment, Fish, Mangroves, Plantations, Plants, Reforestation, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mangroves serve as a bridge between land, freshwater, and the sea; they sustain rich and diverse ecosystems, and are crucial for shoreline protection and carbon storage. The Mangrove Alliance&#8217;s 2024 report states that India’s mangroves are home to 5,746 species, with 84% being animals, spanning 21 major taxonomic groups. Across the country, several community-based mangrove [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mangroves serve as a bridge between land, freshwater, and the sea; they sustain rich and diverse ecosystems, and are crucial for shoreline protection and carbon storage. The Mangrove Alliance&#8217;s 2024 report states that India’s mangroves are home to 5,746 species, with 84% being animals, spanning 21 major taxonomic groups. Across the country, several community-based mangrove restoration projects have been initiated over the past few years. According to the Forest Survey of India, the country’s mangrove cover expanded by more than 336 square kilometres between 2011 and 2021. In contrast, during nearly the same period (2010-2020), the global mangrove area has been declining at an average annual rate of 0.07%. However, studies show that on the ground, many restoration efforts rely on large-scale plantation drives, often planting a single fast-growing mangrove species such as Rhizophora, Sonneratia, or Avicennia. These activities, carried out under popular models like Ecological Mangrove Rehabilitation (EMR) and Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Rehabilitation (CBEMR), focus more on silviculture than on true ecological restoration. Experts caution that large-scale plantations alone are unlikely to deliver meaningful ecological outcomes. “Success should not be measured in how many hectares are being planted, but rather in survival rates, long-term establishment, and the recovery of ecosystem functions. What truly counts is the return of critical services such as coastal protection, carbon sequestration, the restoration of native biodiversity, and livelihood support like fisheries,” says K. Kathiresan, a scientist who has spent decades of his career studying mangroves. Plantation-heavy approaches, he cautions, could risk eroding the natural&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/01/mangrove-restoration-needs-more-than-planting-it-needs-monitoring-and-data/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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