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		<title>Mongabay India</title>
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		<link>https://india.mongabay.com/list/agriculture/</link>
		<description>India&#039;s environmental science and conservation news</description>
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					<title>When farm ponds fail to hold water</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/when-farm-ponds-fail-to-hold-water/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/when-farm-ponds-fail-to-hold-water/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 13:50:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shivam Bhardwaj]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farmers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[irrigation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rainfall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water crisis]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/26122217/keshav-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Uttar Pradesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Drought, Extreme Weather Events, Food, Groundwater, Impacts of Climate Change, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Very low rain this year; only one rain in this season till now,” said 35-year-old farmer Vipin Kumar Yadav from Manipur village in Mahua block of Uttar Pradesh&#8217;s Banda district, this July, as the agriculture-dependent region waited for rains. Pointing to the farm pond, or khet talab, dug on his land, Yadav said the difference [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[“Very low rain this year; only one rain in this season till now,” said 35-year-old farmer Vipin Kumar Yadav from Manipur village in Mahua block of Uttar Pradesh&#8217;s Banda district, this July, as the agriculture-dependent region waited for rains. Pointing to the farm pond, or khet talab, dug on his land, Yadav said the difference from last year was stark. “Look at this, how little water is in my pond this time. Last year around this time, the entire pond was full. I used that water in October-November to irrigate my wheat crop. This year the water is low; the 10-foot-deep pond couldn&#8217;t even fill up to five feet. I am worried: how will the wheat and mustard crops get water this year?” The concern is significant in a region where much of agriculture remains dependent on rainfall. By August 1, rainfall in Banda was 26% below normal for the monsoon season. The pond was dug in Yadav&#8217;s field in May 2024. Last year, he used the stored water to irrigate four acres of wheat twice, more than doubling his wheat yield from about 3.5-4.5 quintals per acre to 9-10 quintals per acre. This year, however, the pond has received much less water. The concern over rainfall comes as forecasts point to a strengthening El Niño. On July 30, the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences said in a press release that El Niño had intensified from weak conditions in June to moderate levels in July and could strengthen further to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/when-farm-ponds-fail-to-hold-water/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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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" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40443</guid>

											<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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/keralas-onam-festival-marred-by-a-weaker-monsoon-and-subsequent-crop-loss/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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					<title>Study from India&#8217;s first wolf sanctuary reveals when livestock are most at risk</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/study-from-indias-first-wolf-sanctuary-reveals-when-livestock-are-most-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/study-from-indias-first-wolf-sanctuary-reveals-when-livestock-are-most-at-risk/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 14:33:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sneha Mahale]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[attacks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grey wolf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livestock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wolf]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/25005651/7-Forest-Department-Camera-Trap-scaled-e1787599639679-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40425</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Jharkhand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animal Behaviour, Biodiversity, Conservation, Human Wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Protected Areas, Villages, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[India&#8217;s first wolf sanctuary is an important breeding and denning landscape for the Indian grey wolf. But for the tribal communities living around Mahuadanr Wolf Sanctuary (MWS) in Jharkhand, sharing space with wolves often comes at a cost. A new study has now identified when, where and why wolves are most likely to attack livestock, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[India&#8217;s first wolf sanctuary is an important breeding and denning landscape for the Indian grey wolf. But for the tribal communities living around Mahuadanr Wolf Sanctuary (MWS) in Jharkhand, sharing space with wolves often comes at a cost. A new study has now identified when, where and why wolves are most likely to attack livestock, providing insights that could help reduce conflict while also supporting conservation. Although Mahuadanr is India’s first designated wolf sanctuary, little scientific research has been conducted there because of limited access to the sanctuary and made sustained fieldwork difficult, says Shahzada Iqbal, member of the Jharkhand State Board for Wildlife, PhD scholar at the Department of Wildlife Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, and co-author of the study. “It is unique because it is both a protected area for wolves and a lived-in landscape where tribal communities have shared space with the animals for generations. Livestock depredation is a reality here, yet wolves continue to persist,” Iqbal shares. That makes it an ideal landscape for understanding not only the ecological drivers of conflict but also the human dimensions that determine whether coexistence is possible, he says. Tribal communities and wolves around India’s first wolf sanctuary in Jharkhand share space, often at the cost of livestock. A new study has now identified when, where and why wolves are most likely to attack. Image by Shahzada Iqbal. Studying conflict in a shared landscape Established in 1976, MWS spans more than 63 square kilometres within the southern division of Palamau Tiger&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/study-from-indias-first-wolf-sanctuary-reveals-when-livestock-are-most-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/study-from-indias-first-wolf-sanctuary-reveals-when-livestock-are-most-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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					<title>Better demand could save indigenous fruits from being forgotten</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/better-demand-could-save-indigenous-fruits-from-being-forgotten/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/better-demand-could-save-indigenous-fruits-from-being-forgotten/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 13:22:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Azera Parveen Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Arathimenon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fruits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[indigenous]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[indigenous knowledge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traditional farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traditional Knowledge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urbanisation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/21103128/kaafal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40347</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Nature-based Solutions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Assam and Meghalaya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Environment, Environmental Economics, Food, Forests, and Indigenous Peoples]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[During my summer break in my hometown in northeast India’s Assam this year, I found myself craving a favourite summertime fruit from my childhood: Leteku, or Burmese grape. A quick run to the local fruit market offered fruits of different kinds, including imported kiwis and avocados, but not the one I was looking for. I [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[During my summer break in my hometown in northeast India’s Assam this year, I found myself craving a favourite summertime fruit from my childhood: Leteku, or Burmese grape. A quick run to the local fruit market offered fruits of different kinds, including imported kiwis and avocados, but not the one I was looking for. I finally found it at a weekly haat, a makeshift market where locals from nearby villages gather to sell their produce. “The availability of indigenous, local fruits has definitely decreased over time,” says Dharindra Nath Hazarika, head of the horticulture department at B.N. College of Agriculture under Assam Agriculture University. “There is a lack of research and documentation on this subject, so we don’t know the exact magnitude of the decline.” This loss is not restricted to just one region. In the neighbouring state of Meghalaya, for instance, local communities say they are observing that local fruits that once grew abundantly in people’s homesteads are now less commonly seen. Pius Ranee, executive director of North East Society for Agroecology Support (NESFAS), agrees. “Many traditional fruits, vegetables, and edible plants once commonly found in homesteads and villages are becoming less common. Older generations often recall a greater diversity of food plants around homes, fields and forests than what is seen today. While systematic data are limited, observations from communities across Meghalaya suggest that many indigenous and semi-wild food species are disappearing from everyday diets and local landscapes,” he shares. Poniol is another fruit found most notably in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/better-demand-could-save-indigenous-fruits-from-being-forgotten/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Harvesting rice and crabs on one field offers farmers a climate-resilient alternative</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/harvesting-rice-and-crabs-on-one-field-offers-farmers-a-climate-resilient-alternative/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/harvesting-rice-and-crabs-on-one-field-offers-farmers-a-climate-resilient-alternative/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2026 16:59:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Azera Parveen Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crabs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nature-based solutions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[women in agriculture]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/18120034/Women-farmers-releasing-crabs-in-the-paddy-field-in-Borborua-block-in-Dibrugarh-district-of-Assam-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40238</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas, Eco Hope, and Environment and Her]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Assam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Ecology, Food, and Organic Farming]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The harsh summer sun was beating down their backs, yet farmers in Assam’s Borborua block in Dibrugarh district went about their paddy cultivation. Waddling through paddy fields submerged in the rainwater of the past few weeks, they hummed songs and chatted as they planted Betguti (Oryza sativa), an indigenous variety of rice that holds the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The harsh summer sun was beating down their backs, yet farmers in Assam’s Borborua block in Dibrugarh district went about their paddy cultivation. Waddling through paddy fields submerged in the rainwater of the past few weeks, they hummed songs and chatted as they planted Betguti (Oryza sativa), an indigenous variety of rice that holds the promise of withstanding the increasingly unpredictable weather — erratic rainfall and long dry spells. Once the planting is done, they will release freshwater crabs in the field. Alongside the rice, the crabs will grow too, sustaining each other and offering the women a way to sustain their families amid rising concerns of climatic change and land degradation . This women-led integrated rice-crab farming method is emerging as a climate-resilient alternative to traditional paddy cultivation in Assam. Climatic changes challenge traditional ways Traditionally, paddy-fish farming has been practiced in pockets of Assam, particularly areas that are vulnerable to floods. In this type of farming, fish spawns are either introduced in the flooded fields where the indigenous Bau-dhaan rice variety is grown, or enter the fields during monsoon from adjacent water bodies and grow along with paddy. “This integrated farming practice in which fish is grown as a ‘second crop’, however, has become challenging because of the long dry spells that Assam has been witnessing,” said Samir Bordoloi, a farmer and advocate of natural farming techniques. “Now, we have heavy spells of rain, and then long dry spells,” he said. “Rearing fish during these dry spells is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/harvesting-rice-and-crabs-on-one-field-offers-farmers-a-climate-resilient-alternative/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Increasing numbers of the Indian peafowl worry farmers [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/increasing-numbers-of-the-indian-peafowl-worry-farmers-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/increasing-numbers-of-the-indian-peafowl-worry-farmers-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Aug 2026 13:45:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aditya Pradhan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/17101028/Photo-2_%40Mingma-Tamang-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40170</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas and West Bengal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, and Birds]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Once hailed as a symbol of Indian pride and grace, the Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) is now stirring heated debates in the quiet Himalayan foothills. Revered as the national bird of India and a prominent figure in Hindu mythology, this vibrant bird has long enjoyed admiration and legal protection. But in recent years, its soaring [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Once hailed as a symbol of Indian pride and grace, the Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) is now stirring heated debates in the quiet Himalayan foothills. Revered as the national bird of India and a prominent figure in Hindu mythology, this vibrant bird has long enjoyed admiration and legal protection. But in recent years, its soaring numbers and expanding range have turned it from a cultural icon into a controversial presence — especially in fragile ecosystems like the Eastern Himalaya. “Indian peafowl has become a nuisance in recent years,” said a local youth from Ambiok Busty, a village in the Himalayan foothills of Kalimpong district, West Bengal, during a bird guide training session. His frustration echoed a growing sentiment among many in the region. Legally, the Indian peafowl sits at the top tier of wildlife protection in India, listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. This designation — on par with tigers and elephants — makes it almost untouchable. Any attempt to manage its population, be it through relocation, sterilisation, or even research monitoring, involves layers of bureaucratic checks. But the peafowl’s population isn’t on the decline. In fact, it is thriving. A glaring policy gap In many Indian states, peacock conservation is still being celebrated — with “Peacock Parks&#8221; being funded and promoted as ecotourism attractions. These efforts, while well-meaning, rarely consider the actual ground reality in regions like the eastern Himalaya, where peafowls are increasingly seen as pests rather than assets. A peacock rests on the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/increasing-numbers-of-the-indian-peafowl-worry-farmers-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Free-ranging dogs, changing livelihoods reshape an agro-pastoral landscape</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/free-ranging-dogs-changing-livelihoods-reshape-an-agro-pastoral-landscape/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/free-ranging-dogs-changing-livelihoods-reshape-an-agro-pastoral-landscape/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2026 12:17:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Phalguni Ranjan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[feral dogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free ranging dogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihoods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stray dogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urbanisation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/13102613/Image-3-garbage-dump-in-Kaza-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40090</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himachal Pradesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cities and Towns, Conservation, Ecology, Encroachment, Environment, Grazing, Human Wildlife Conflict, Villages, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Free-ranging dogs are a growing threat to livestock in Himachal Pradesh’s Upper Spiti, with many herders now considering them a greater risk than traditional predators such as snow leopards and wolves, a new study finds. Communities in this region have long depended on a closely linked agro-pastoral system, where sheep, goats, cattle, yaks, and horses [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Free-ranging dogs are a growing threat to livestock in Himachal Pradesh’s Upper Spiti, with many herders now considering them a greater risk than traditional predators such as snow leopards and wolves, a new study finds. Communities in this region have long depended on a closely linked agro-pastoral system, where sheep, goats, cattle, yaks, and horses support livelihoods, while their manure nourishes farming in the cold desert landscape. However, over the past few decades, rapid socio-economic changes including tourism, market integration, government development schemes, and changing agricultural practices have transformed this traditional system, and subsequently, the landscape itself. More recently, the unexpected and growing rise of free-ranging domestic dogs is increasingly disrupting this delicate balance. The study examines how these interconnected changes have altered livestock populations, exploring what these shifts mean for agriculture, livelihoods, and the future of Spiti. It builds on an existing body of work that has documented socio-economic transitions in the region, notably, the role of changing human activities and the emerging influence exerted by dogs. Declining livestock numbers As part of the study, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews across 27 villages in eight panchayats in Upper Spiti in 2014-15, examining changes in livestock ownership, manure use, herding challenges, livestock losses, and future preferences. Around 72% of respondents reported a decline in livestock between 2003 and 2013, while only 10% reported an increase. Several villages had stopped rearing sheep and goats altogether, and in others, the number of households keeping them had fallen by 50-75%. Spiti’s traditional agro-pastoral system&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/free-ranging-dogs-changing-livelihoods-reshape-an-agro-pastoral-landscape/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/free-ranging-dogs-changing-livelihoods-reshape-an-agro-pastoral-landscape/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>After decades of drought-proofing, farms still depend on rain</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/after-decades-of-drought-proofing-farms-still-depend-on-rain/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/after-decades-of-drought-proofing-farms-still-depend-on-rain/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2026 13:55:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashwini Kumar Shukla]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[agricultural drought]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[El Niño]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[irrigation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/06123710/IMG_2166-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39920</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Jharkhand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Dams, Drought, Extreme Weather Events, and Monsoons]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“This is all barren land now, but here we used to farm,” says Koushal Kishore Vishvakarma, a resident of Darudih village in Palamu district, Jharkhand, pointing to a long stretch of dry land spreading across the region. “It’s covered in grass because of the fresh monsoon rain, but it’s nothing more than grazing land now,” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“This is all barren land now, but here we used to farm,” says Koushal Kishore Vishvakarma, a resident of Darudih village in Palamu district, Jharkhand, pointing to a long stretch of dry land spreading across the region. “It’s covered in grass because of the fresh monsoon rain, but it’s nothing more than grazing land now,” adds the 52-year-old farmer. Twenty years ago, this was not the case in his village or the villages around it. “Can you see that river there?” he says, standing at least a kilometre and a half away from a small perennial tributary. “From there, water used to come all the way here.” Lift irrigation, once a lifeline His village is one of many where a lift irrigation system once watered upland fields that gravity alone could not reach. These systems use pumps to draw water from rivers or reservoirs and carry it uphill. “Ten surrounding villages benefited from it. Even in summer, people used to grow crops and vegetables,” he recalls. On his own 10 acres, he says, one year of farming used to produce enough food for two years, with more than 50 quintals left over to sell every year. The system ran for just five years. Then a pipe was damaged, villagers say, and it was never repaired. An abandoned lift irrigation system in Palamu that once irrigated nearby fields, now remains dry. Image by Ashwini Kumar Shukla. “Now we grow crops only in the rainy season, and only in the lowland paddy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/after-decades-of-drought-proofing-farms-still-depend-on-rain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>A fertile landscape at the crossroads of ecology and development [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-fertile-landscape-at-the-crossroads-of-ecology-and-development-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-fertile-landscape-at-the-crossroads-of-ecology-and-development-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Aug 2026 15:47:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[C.P. Rajendran]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fisheries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invasive plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[solution]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/08/03125249/4670487709_c95df8f47d_4k-scaled-e1785742237892-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39805</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Kerala]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change Mitigation, Fish, Fishing, Floods, Lakes, Monsoons, Pollution, Sea Level Rise, Waste management, Water, Water Pollution, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Kuttanad region of Kerala, often celebrated as the &#8220;rice bowl&#8221; of the state, is a landscape of profound beauty and immense ecological significance. Yet, its existence is a delicate balancing act, a testament to both the generative power of nature and the often-destructive ambition of human intervention. This intricate wetland system, a mosaic of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Kuttanad region of Kerala, often celebrated as the &#8220;rice bowl&#8221; of the state, is a landscape of profound beauty and immense ecological significance. Yet, its existence is a delicate balancing act, a testament to both the generative power of nature and the often-destructive ambition of human intervention. This intricate wetland system, a mosaic of lush green paddy fields, labyrinthine canals, and the vast expanse of Vembanad lake, is a geographical marvel that is simultaneously a victim of its own fertility and the relentless pressures of modernisation. Kuttanad is world-renowned for its below-sea-level paddy cultivation and unique brackish-water ecosystem. Alongside this remarkable agricultural practice, the region&#8217;s brackish-water ecosystem supports a thriving inland fisheries sector, with the Vembanad estuary serving as a critical nursery for numerous fish and prawn species. Together, these intertwined livelihoods — agriculture and fisheries — form the economic and cultural backbone of Kuttanad. So distinctive and globally significant is this integrated farming system that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has recognised it as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS), placing Kuttanad alongside other iconic agricultural landscapes like the terraced rice fields of the Philippines and the saffron fields of Kashmir. Geologically speaking, Kuttanad is a young and dynamic landscape. In the distant past, this region formed part of the shallow coastal shelf of the Arabian Sea. Over millennia, the powerful rivers originating in the Western Ghats, chiefly the Pampa, Achankovil, and Manimala, carried massive loads of silt and alluvium from the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-fertile-landscape-at-the-crossroads-of-ecology-and-development-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Volcanoes, El Niño and colonial policies fuelled two deadly famines in India</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/volcanoes-el-nino-and-colonial-policies-fuelled-two-deadly-famines-in-india/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/volcanoes-el-nino-and-colonial-policies-fuelled-two-deadly-famines-in-india/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2026 13:56:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karthik Vinod]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[colonisation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[famine]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/30132302/Bellary_ZillaGreat_Famine_of_1876%E2%80%9378-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39721</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Climate Science, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather Events, Food, Health impacts, Human Rights, Monsoons, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Two volcanic eruptions — one in Japan, and the other in Nicaragua — spewed sulfur aerosols into the atmosphere in the 1830s. This in turn accelerated cooling and a monsoon failure that triggered droughts across British-administered Agra and Madras, according to a new study. But while the volcanic eruptions triggered drought, it was decades of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two volcanic eruptions — one in Japan, and the other in Nicaragua — spewed sulfur aerosols into the atmosphere in the 1830s. This in turn accelerated cooling and a monsoon failure that triggered droughts across British-administered Agra and Madras, according to a new study. But while the volcanic eruptions triggered drought, it was decades of colonial over-taxation and environmental degradation that further turned the monsoon failure into famines which saw mass deaths. Between 1832 and 1838, India witnessed poor monsoon. This period saw weather patterns shift globally. El Niño, a periodic climatic phenomenon in the southern hemisphere, which struck in 1833, was one of them. It affected monsoon circulation thereby bringing an extended spell of dry weather all over India. Droughts broke out in the British-administered Agra and Madras, affecting cultivation of rice, legumes and other seasonal crops. Colonial policies led to economic mismanagement, feeding a famine that left over 900,000 people dead. The study, that establishes the link between these volcanic eruptions and the resulting famines, was published in the Journal of Historical Geography in December. It finds that the cooling effects of two distant volcanic eruptions — one near Japan in 1831, one in Nicaragua in 1835 — contributed to the severe monsoon failures in India. Because the peak cooling from the 1831 eruption happened to coincide with the El Niño&#8217;s onset, the two effects made the resulting drought worse than either would likely have caused on its own. The new study adds to a “growing body of work&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/volcanoes-el-nino-and-colonial-policies-fuelled-two-deadly-famines-in-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>India’s ethanol push moves from the pump to the field, raising water and food questions</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-ethanol-push-moves-from-the-pump-to-the-field-raising-water-and-food-questions/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-ethanol-push-moves-from-the-pump-to-the-field-raising-water-and-food-questions/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2026 16:31:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manish Chandra Mishra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shailesh Shrivastava]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ethanol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ethanol blending]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/28144133/signal-2026-07-28-12-24-18-195_003-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39684</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biofuels, Environment, Food, Fossil Fuels, Green Energy, Human Rights, Industry, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the third part in a series comparing India and Brazil’s ethanol transitions. This part examines how India&#8217;s ethanol model increasingly moving beyond sugarcane and molasses-based production to grains, raising questions about pressures on livestock feed and the food processing industry. The second part examined the challenges of procurement, storage, transport and quality control. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the third part in a series comparing India and Brazil’s ethanol transitions. This part examines how India&#8217;s ethanol model increasingly moving beyond sugarcane and molasses-based production to grains, raising questions about pressures on livestock feed and the food processing industry. The second part examined the challenges of procurement, storage, transport and quality control. In December 2025, tractors and crowds of farmers gathered near an under-construction grain-based ethanol plant in Rathi Khera village in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district. They feared the project would strain local water resources, pollute groundwater and damage farmland. The company said the plant would use zero-liquid-discharge technology and pollution-control systems. The protest later escalated into clashes with police, and construction was halted. The Hanumangarh agitation was one of several protests against ethanol and distillery projects reported across India, including in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Telangana, where communities have raised concerns about water use, pollution and impacts on farmland. These disputes are emerging as India’s ethanol industry undergoes a major shift from sugarcane-based to grain-based production. In the latest tender by state oil companies, grain-based distilleries supplied more than 70% of the ethanol procured, according to Athar Shahab, managing director of Zuari Industries Limited, an Indian conglomerate with businesses spanning agribusiness, sugar and biofuels, real-estate and engineering services. A decade ago, sugarcane molasses dominated India’s ethanol supply. That balance has now shifted. India now derives roughly 65-70% of its ethanol from grains, mainly maize and rice from Food Corporation of India warehouses, while sugarcane-based feedstocks contribute around&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-ethanol-push-moves-from-the-pump-to-the-field-raising-water-and-food-questions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Low rainfall delays paddy farming signalling El Niño-induced drought</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/signs-of-el-nino-induced-drought-as-paddy-farming-delays/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/signs-of-el-nino-induced-drought-as-paddy-farming-delays/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2026 13:30:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vishal Kumar Jain]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shailesh Shrivastava]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paddy]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/27104503/144-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39614</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Jharkhand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather Events, Food, Human Rights, Monsoons, Villages, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Barun Kumar Yadav from Jharkhand works in Bhilai city in the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh as a carpenter. At the end of June he went to his village Pathalgada in Chatra district for the sowing season. This is when farmers sow paddy in Jharkhand. Rainfall is extremely crucial for this season. Yadav waited for weeks, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Barun Kumar Yadav from Jharkhand works in Bhilai city in the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh as a carpenter. At the end of June he went to his village Pathalgada in Chatra district for the sowing season. This is when farmers sow paddy in Jharkhand. Rainfall is extremely crucial for this season. Yadav waited for weeks, but it did not rain sufficiently. Now, the 40-year-old has returned to Bhilai without sowing paddy. Basant Dangi, also from the same village in Jharkhand, managed to set up a paddy nursery using water from a community well. But with insufficient rain, the land has dried and cracks have appeared in his field. “If it doesn’t rain in a day or two, the nursery seedlings will start to wither. The wider the cracks become, the more irrigation will be required. Paddy transplantation can only take place once it rains,” he says. Similarly, in Andreas Topno&#8217;s field in the nearby village of Meral, paddy seedlings are ready to be transplanted from the nursery to the field, but the lack of rainfall has changed his plans too. Shankar Dangi, a farmer from Chautha village, waited for the rains and then decided not to sow paddy this year. “It is better to sow maize than to keep waiting for the rain. However, the maize yield will also be low because there has been a delay of 10 days (for the start of monsoon),” he says. In Jharkhand, where kharif sowing season is linked to the monsoon, sowing was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/signs-of-el-nino-induced-drought-as-paddy-farming-delays/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rethinking irrigation through farm ponds [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/rethinking-irrigation-through-farm-ponds-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/rethinking-irrigation-through-farm-ponds-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2026 11:06:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Partik KumarParul]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farmers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[irrigation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihoods]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/27094551/1_Jamal-scaled-e1785125772499-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39605</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Haryana]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Ecology, Ecosystem services, Food, Groundwater, Natural Resources, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the sandy fields of Jamal, a village in the Sirsa district of Haryana, water for irrigation does not arrive through a single source. It is mixed, stored, lifted, diluted, timed, subsidised and improvised. Jamal’s landscape first appears dry and exposed: mustard and wheat fields stretch across a semi-arid plain, field channels cutting through farms, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the sandy fields of Jamal, a village in the Sirsa district of Haryana, water for irrigation does not arrive through a single source. It is mixed, stored, lifted, diluted, timed, subsidised and improvised. Jamal’s landscape first appears dry and exposed: mustard and wheat fields stretch across a semi-arid plain, field channels cutting through farms, sand dunes levelled into cultivable plots, and very few functioning tubewells in the conventional sense. But the most striking feature is the diggi — a pond, often lined and built within the farmland. Mixing canal water and groundwater Canal water has clear agronomic value for a farmer: it is usually fresh, low-cost, and is drawn from Himalayan river flows and monsoon-fed storage. But it has limits. It moves through schedules, rotations, field channels, upstream–downstream hierarchies, tail-end losses and sometimes informal diversion. For farmers, this means canal water is valuable, but rarely fully controllable. It is not “on-demand” irrigation; it is scheduled irrigation. The Green Revolution made these limits sharper. High-yielding crops require water at the right time and in the right amount. This created space for what scholars describe as “atomistic irrigation” which means private wells and pumps that give farmers control, flexibility and timely access. Groundwater offers command. But at times, the groundwater’s quality becomes its biggest limitation. In regions with high groundwater salinity, the water is undesirable for irrigation. Jamal, on the Haryana–Rajasthan border, sits precisely in that type of region. It lies near the tail end of Haryana’s canal system, where canal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/rethinking-irrigation-through-farm-ponds-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rising sugarcane yields coexist with climate, water risks in semi-arid India</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/rising-sugarcane-yields-coexist-with-climate-water-risks-in-semi-arid-india/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/rising-sugarcane-yields-coexist-with-climate-water-risks-in-semi-arid-india/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2026 13:24:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sneha Mahale]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/23122529/AP20014192009835-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39553</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Drought, and Food]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sugarcane cultivation across parts of India’s Deccan Plateau is becoming more productive. But, it is also becoming more vulnerable to climate variability, a new long-term study finds. Sugarcane has long shaped India’s rural economy. It powers sugar mills, supports ethanol and bioenergy production, and sustains millions of farmers. But the crop is also at the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sugarcane cultivation across parts of India’s Deccan Plateau is becoming more productive. But, it is also becoming more vulnerable to climate variability, a new long-term study finds. Sugarcane has long shaped India’s rural economy. It powers sugar mills, supports ethanol and bioenergy production, and sustains millions of farmers. But the crop is also at the centre of mounting concerns over water use, particularly in semi-arid regions facing recurrent droughts and groundwater stress. The study analysed 22 years of sugarcane production trends across five districts in Maharashtra and Karnataka to understand how cultivation, yields and production patterns have changed under varying climatic conditions. “We noticed that sugarcane cultivation in Maharashtra and Karnataka was increasingly being affected by climatic variability, even though it remains one of the most important economic activities across the Deccan Plateau,” says Krishna Kumar from the Department of Applied Science and Humanities at MIT-ADT University, Pune, and one of the study’s researchers. Tracking sugarcane trends across climate zones Sugarcane production trends in India have been studied extensively at national and state levels, but long-term district-level analyses incorporating weather variability remain limited. “The main concern was to pin down how climate variability impacts agricultural production in water-limited sugarcane systems,” adds Kumar. “This kind of insight matters a lot for creating climate resilient agricultural policies and planning better infrastructure.” For the study, researchers analysed sugarcane production trends between 1999 and 2021 in Ahmednagar, Solapur and Nashik in Maharashtra, and Bellary and Dharwad in Karnataka. The five districts span distinct agro-climatic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/rising-sugarcane-yields-coexist-with-climate-water-risks-in-semi-arid-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Why is Conocarpus being banned across states? [Explainer]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-is-conocarpus-being-banned-across-states-explainer/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-is-conocarpus-being-banned-across-states-explainer/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 17:06:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nikhil Sreekandan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Renuka Kulkarni]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invasive plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban trees]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/18120118/51866377640_3033476cd1_o-e1784357092548-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39442</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas and Environment Explained]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cities and Towns, Ecology, Environment, Health impacts, Plants, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In March, the Karnataka High Court directed the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to consider the issues highlighted in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking the removal of all Conocarpus trees planted across the city. The high court advisory on Conocarpus, a genus of trees introduced to India from the Gulf, where it has been [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In March, the Karnataka High Court directed the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to consider the issues highlighted in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking the removal of all Conocarpus trees planted across the city. The high court advisory on Conocarpus, a genus of trees introduced to India from the Gulf, where it has been extensively used in urban landscaping, comes on the heels of prohibitory orders enforced by the state governments of Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. In August, 2025, based on a report by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), the Government of India issued a national advisory to all states and union territories to stop the plantation of Conocarpus erectus (buttonwood) and Conocarpus lancifolius (damask) with immediate effect, flagging ecological and public health concerns. The report compared the Conocarpus species with invasive plants such as Lantana camara and Parthenium hysteroporus. How did Conocarpus take over urban India? There are two species of Conocarpus trees found in India, Conocarpus erectus and Conocarpus lancifolius. Of these, Plants of the World Online (POWO), a global digital database of the world’s flora, only recognises the introduction of Conocarpus erectus to the country. However,  Achyut Banerjee, a plant invasion biologist and assistant professor at Azim Premji University, Bhopal, says both species, including Conocarpus lancifolius, followed a similar route into the country. “They were brought from their native range to Gulf countries for urban landscaping, and then introduced to India from there,” he said. Over the past decade, Conocarpus has mushroomed in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-is-conocarpus-being-banned-across-states-explainer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>The neem patent case and India&#8217;s next battle over traditional knowledge [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-neem-patent-case-and-indias-next-battle-over-traditional-knowledge-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-neem-patent-case-and-indias-next-battle-over-traditional-knowledge-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2026 14:36:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Deepanjana SahaG. RavikanthSarvesh J.P.]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traditional farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traditional grains]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traditional Knowledge]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/14101205/AP26003660066972-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39258</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Community based conservation, Ecology, Technology, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 1994, a U.S. company and the United States Department of Agriculture secured a European patent for a method of using neem extracts to control fungi. The neem tree, however, was not a discovery. Across the Indian subcontinent, it had long been used in traditional medicine, agriculture, and furniture making, with its pesticidal properties documented [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 1994, a U.S. company and the United States Department of Agriculture secured a European patent for a method of using neem extracts to control fungi. The neem tree, however, was not a discovery. Across the Indian subcontinent, it had long been used in traditional medicine, agriculture, and furniture making, with its pesticidal properties documented in Sanskrit texts and embedded in everyday agricultural practice. After a six-year legal challenge led by an Indian organisation named the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology, supported by international allies, the patent was revoked in 2000. Five years after that, the decision was upheld on appeal, with the board ruling that the method lacked novelty and an inventive step, given its long-documented use in India. Now, three decades later, the neem case looks less like an aberration than a template. The frontier has moved from isolated plant compounds to the systems-level ecological knowledge that smallholder and Adivasi communities have developed over generations. The next dispute may involve a soil microbiome product, an agroecological decision-support tool, or a machine-learning model trained on data from traditional preparations. India&#8217;s current legal architecture is not designed to respond to it. Why is this knowledge different? Most public discussion of biopiracy still focuses on the misappropriation of specific biological resources: a plant compound, a seed variety, or a fermentation culture. The legal response has focused correspondingly on access and benefit-sharing rules, prior art databases, and geographical indication protections. These instruments work, imperfectly, for that kind of theft. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-neem-patent-case-and-indias-next-battle-over-traditional-knowledge-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Watershed management improves livelihoods in drought-prone village</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/effective-watershed-management-improves-livelihoods-in-drought-prone-village/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/effective-watershed-management-improves-livelihoods-in-drought-prone-village/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 15:02:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vinaya Kurtkoti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihoods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[watershed]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/09143228/A-cement-naala-baandh-in-Kiraksal-constructed-around-2017-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39140</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Community based conservation, Drought, Extreme Weather Events, Groundwater, Villages, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Amol Katkar was a college student in 2002 when Kiraksal experienced a terrible drought. “I remember children roaming from village to village on foot or on their cycles in search of drinking water. Cattle camps were set up and farmers were compelled to leave their homes to stay with their cattle in neighbouring villages,” shared [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Amol Katkar was a college student in 2002 when Kiraksal experienced a terrible drought. “I remember children roaming from village to village on foot or on their cycles in search of drinking water. Cattle camps were set up and farmers were compelled to leave their homes to stay with their cattle in neighbouring villages,” shared Katkar, sarpanch of Kiraksal from 2015 to 2018. Kiraksal is a village located approximately 75 km east of Satara headquarters in Maharashtra’s Maan taluka and covers about 18 sq km of the Deccan Plateau terrain. The semi-arid climate here, with low average annual rainfall (300-500 mm), and weathered basalt, known locally as “khadak”, makes it a challenging landscape for agriculture. History repeated itself in 2012, when Maan taluka was again declared drought-hit by the Maharashtra government. “There was a severe drought, and Maan, Atpadi, and Sangola talukas were among the worst affected,” recalls Avinash Pol, Chief Advisor at the Paani Foundation. As before, Maan taluka was heavily dependent on tankers and farmers were once again forced to leave their homes and settle in cattle camps. It was at this crucial time that Pol visited Kiraksal, conducted a gram sabha, and advised Katkar (who was a gram panchayat member at the time) and a few other villagers on watershed management. Kiraksal village in Satara, Maharashtra, with its semi-arid conditions and low rainfall, has experienced severe droughts. In the last decade or so, local government bodies and citizens have banded together to improve watershed management. Image by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/effective-watershed-management-improves-livelihoods-in-drought-prone-village/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Why feasibility matters for land use projects in India [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-feasibility-matters-for-land-use-projects-in-india-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-feasibility-matters-for-land-use-projects-in-india-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jul 2026 15:37:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[J.V. SharmaSayanta Ghosh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[land management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[livelihoods]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/07142040/AP274368273581-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39054</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Carbon emissions, Carbon Finance, Carbon Offset, Carbon Trading, Climate Change Mitigation, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystem services, Forestry, Forests, Grasslands, Green Business, and Reforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[India’s carbon market conversation is widening beyond energy and industry. Forests, farms, grasslands, wetlands, mangroves and rice fields are increasingly being viewed as spaces where climate action, ecological restoration and rural livelihoods can converge. Carbon credits are expected to help bring private finance into these landscapes. But the global experience of the voluntary carbon market [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[India’s carbon market conversation is widening beyond energy and industry. Forests, farms, grasslands, wetlands, mangroves and rice fields are increasingly being viewed as spaces where climate action, ecological restoration and rural livelihoods can converge. Carbon credits are expected to help bring private finance into these landscapes. But the global experience of the voluntary carbon market shows that a project can be registered, verified and even generate credits without necessarily delivering the climate or community outcomes that buyers assume. After evaluating 2,346 carbon-crediting projects and nearly one billion tonnes of issued credits, a 2024 study in Nature Communications estimated that less than 16% of the credits examined, represented real emission reductions. The study does not mean that every carbon project has failed, but it shows how badly results can diverge from claims when baselines, additionality or monitoring are weak. Specific cases make the warning harder to ignore. In 2025, the carbon certifier Verra reviewed Zimbabwe’s Kariba REDD+ project and found that actual deforestation in the reference area was far lower than originally projected. Verra identified 15.22 million excess credits among 26.82 million credits already issued and said these could no longer be corrected through future monitoring periods because the project had withdrawn from its registry. Similarly, in 2024, Verra rejected 37 rice-cultivation projects in China. It sanctioned project proponents and validation bodies and required compensation for overissued credits after concerns were raised about project areas, additionality and emission-reduction calculations. Community governance can be equally decisive. The Northern Kenya Grassland Carbon Project&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-feasibility-matters-for-land-use-projects-in-india-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Scientists test turning aquatic weeds into liquid fertilisers</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-test-turning-aquatic-weeds-into-liquid-fertilisers/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-test-turning-aquatic-weeds-into-liquid-fertilisers/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jul 2026 11:59:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hirra Azmat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Renuka Kulkarni]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invasive plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invasive species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[organic farming]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/07104509/retiredlife-scaled-e1783401379419-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=39022</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Nature-based Solutions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Jammu and Kashmir]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Ecology, Environment, Himalayas, Lakes, Natural Resources, Nature-based Climate Solutions, Plants, Positive Environmental, Sustainability, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The uncontrolled growth of aquatic plants has become a major environmental challenge in Dal lake, an important freshwater lake in the Kashmir Himalaya. A new study has tested a way to convert these excess plants into fermented liquid fertilisers, offering a potential solution to manage weed overgrowth while producing a useful agricultural input. Dal, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The uncontrolled growth of aquatic plants has become a major environmental challenge in Dal lake, an important freshwater lake in the Kashmir Himalaya. A new study has tested a way to convert these excess plants into fermented liquid fertilisers, offering a potential solution to manage weed overgrowth while producing a useful agricultural input. Dal, a culturally and ecologically important lake in Kashmir, has been showing visible symptoms of eutrophication, with runoff from surrounding areas, untreated sewage, and other pollutants adding excess nutrients to the lake and leading to the rapid growth of aquatic plants. While aquatic vegetation can be useful as food, medicine, and fodder, overgrowth disrupts water quality, alters ecohydrology, and threatens native biodiversity. “While the overgrowth of aquatic plants and algae blooms follows a seasonal cycle, the underlying decline in water quality is palpable year-round. We’ve seen the lake struggle under the weight of these excess nutrients, which is exactly why we are focused on repurposing that biomass into something useful for our land,” Kowsar Majid, one of the study authors and a professor in the department of chemistry at National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, told Mongabay-India. The study was published in ACS Sustainable Resource Management journal in March 2026. The findings are a proof of concept, with further studies needed to assess costs, large-scale feasibility and regulatory approval before the approach can be adopted widely. Majid explains that most previous work on Dal lake biomass has focused on solid soil amendments such as compost, vermicompost or hydrochar.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-test-turning-aquatic-weeds-into-liquid-fertilisers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>As elephants venture to higher altitudes researchers track possibilities of conflict</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-elephants-venture-to-higher-altitudes-researchers-track-possibilities-of-conflict/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-elephants-venture-to-higher-altitudes-researchers-track-possibilities-of-conflict/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jul 2026 15:55:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manish Chandra Mishra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shailesh Shrivastava]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[elephant corridors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elephant Movement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human elephant conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife corridors]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/07/03141812/Picture2_Camera-trap-capture-of-an-elephant-herd-above-3200-m-the-highest-known-altitude-of-elephant-presence.-C-WWF-IndiaArunachal-Pradesh-Forest-Department-e1783069319919-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38962</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arunachal Pradesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animal Behaviour, Biodiversity, Camera traps, Conservation, Elephants, Habitat Fragmentation, Habitat Loss, Human Wildlife Conflict, Land Rights, Mammals, Wildlife, Wildlife Protection Act, and Wildlife Sanctuary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Elephants in Arunachal Pradesh may be present at higher elevations than previously thought. According to the new action plan on managing human-elephant conflict in the state, elephant tracks as well as a camera trap image of a juvenile elephant were observed at an altitude of 3,266 metres in the state’s Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, possibly the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Elephants in Arunachal Pradesh may be present at higher elevations than previously thought. According to the new action plan on managing human-elephant conflict in the state, elephant tracks as well as a camera trap image of a juvenile elephant were observed at an altitude of 3,266 metres in the state’s Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, possibly the highest recorded presence of Asian elephants in the world. The highest known record of an elephant (African elephant) is at around 4,000 metres, on Mount Kenya. Elephants in Arunachal Pradesh were previously known to be present primarily in the lower reaches and Himalayan foothills occasionally moving up to an altitude of 2,000 meters. However, this assessment found their presence at altitudes going up to 3,266 metres. The new action plan, released in May 2026, was jointly developed by the Arunachal Pradesh Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and WWF-India, to address human-elephant conflict in the state, threats to habitats and analyse whether elephant corridors are well-protected. Data was collected between December 2024 and March 2026. Officials examined elephant habitats where conflict was reported, and where crop or property damage had occurred. Why the altitude record matters According to Aritra Kshettry, who works with WWF-India’s Elephant Conservation Programme (ECP), elephants are not typically found at such high altitudes. The records of elephants at these altitudes gives clues about their movement outside of protected areas which helps predict potential interactions between elephants and humans. According to the action plan, elephant presence and crop damage have been&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-elephants-venture-to-higher-altitudes-researchers-track-possibilities-of-conflict/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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