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		<title>Mongabay India</title>
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		<link>https://india.mongabay.com/list/coronavirus/</link>
		<description>India&#039;s environmental science and conservation news</description>
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					<title>Cyclone Tauktae exposes vulnerabilities along India&#8217;s west coast</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/cyclone-tauktae-exposes-vulnerabilities-along-indias-west-coast/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/cyclone-tauktae-exposes-vulnerabilities-along-indias-west-coast/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2021 13:08:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Supriya Vohra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change impact]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate resilience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fishery]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/05/25181432/Local-MLA-visits-damaged-site-at-Madh-Island_Photo_Kiran-Kohli-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=14251</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Flood and drought]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, and Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Climate Change, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Fishing, Impacts of Climate Change, Oceans, People, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“There were about 25 boats parked in one place. The tide was so high and the wind so powerful that they crashed into one another and broke. And when I say broke, I mean they were splintered, shattered into pieces. Nothing left,” said Kiran Koli, a fisher based in Madh Island, northern Mumbai, describing the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“There were about 25 boats parked in one place. The tide was so high and the wind so powerful that they crashed into one another and broke. And when I say broke, I mean they were splintered, shattered into pieces. Nothing left,” said Kiran Koli, a fisher based in Madh Island, northern Mumbai, describing the impact of Cyclone Tauktae that wheeled through the western coastline last week. As the country reels through a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic with the official death toll at over three lakh (300,000), 2021’s first pre-monsoon cyclone barrelled its way across the west coast over four days last week. Starting from the morning of May 14, when a depression began to form in the Arabian Sea near Lakshadweep, it travelled north, causing heavy rainfall, gusts of up to 230 kmph, and huge storm surges of nearly three metres impacting the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat as it intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm till it made landfall on the evening of May 17 between Porbandar and Mahuva in Gujarat.  KS Hosalikar, Head and Scientist-G, Surface Instrument Division, Climate Research and Services division at India Meteorological Department (IMD) Pune, and has over ten years of operational experience at IMD Mumbai says the cyclone is notable for being the “longest travelling cyclone” on the west coast. “We were generating a three-hourly bulletin. On the 16th it remained a very severe cyclonic storm for a long time, barely about 200km&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/cyclone-tauktae-exposes-vulnerabilities-along-indias-west-coast/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/05/cyclone-tauktae-exposes-vulnerabilities-along-indias-west-coast/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>West Bengal fishermen observe fewer shrimp and fish deaths by pollution this year</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/08/west-bengal-fishermen-observe-fewer-shrimp-and-fish-deaths-by-pollution-this-year/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/08/west-bengal-fishermen-observe-fewer-shrimp-and-fish-deaths-by-pollution-this-year/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2020 12:59:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Namrata Acharya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/08/15194721/kolkata1fishing-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=10999</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[West Bengal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coronavirus, COVID-19, Fish, Fishing, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Around mid-April, when Siddik Mollah, a fisherman at a village called Boyarmari, located in the district of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, found that day-by-day shrimps were growing unhindered on his Bheri (embanked water body with shallow water), he was pleasantly surprised. By the end of April, Mollah’s Bheri had a healthy population of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Around mid-April, when Siddik Mollah, a fisherman at a village called Boyarmari, located in the district of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, found that day-by-day shrimps were growing unhindered on his Bheri (embanked water body with shallow water), he was pleasantly surprised. By the end of April, Mollah’s Bheri had a healthy population of shrimp. Yarul Islam Mollah, another fisherman at Boyarmari, also had a similar experience. This year, nearly 90 percent of shrimps survived on his Bheri. For almost the last ten years, every year, the picture was different. The end of April would come with scenes of dead shrimp floating on Bheris at Boyarmari. On average, between 50-80 percent of the shrimps would die in about 30-35 days of releasing larvae in the water body. This year, almost 95 percent of the shrimp survived, said Mollah. Small canals connect Bheris at Boyarmari to a river called Bidyadhari, a saline water river, suitable for shrimp cultivation. The river flows through the district of North 24 Parganas to the Bay of Bengal through the deltaic Sundarban region. Bidyadhari receives saline water under tidal effect from the sea. However, it also acts as a conduit to Kolkata’s sewage and effluents released from various factories, including tanneries, garment, plastic and glass factories. “Effluent from tanneries is the main reason for the contamination of water. Since the last ten years, as the number of tanneries started increasing, water turned more and more contaminated and shrimps started dying,” said Mollah. Now, with factories&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/08/west-bengal-fishermen-observe-fewer-shrimp-and-fish-deaths-by-pollution-this-year/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/08/west-bengal-fishermen-observe-fewer-shrimp-and-fish-deaths-by-pollution-this-year/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Odisha&#8217;s coastal migrants return to where they started</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/odishas-coastal-migrants-return-back-to-where-they-started/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/odishas-coastal-migrants-return-back-to-where-they-started/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2020 13:39:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Azera Parveen Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2019/09/11171354/A-child-and-his-father-use-a-polluted-pond-at-Talakainsari-panchayat-in-Keonjhar-district.-Credit-Manish-Kumar-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=10324</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Coronavirus, COVID-19, and Migration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Four years ago, when Minoti Naik of the coastal district of Bhadrak in Odisha, decided to send her 17-year-old son to the “city” for work, it was in hope that their lives would thereon be on the road to improvement. With a meagre land-holding and depreciating land productivity that, in addition to frequent floods and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Four years ago, when Minoti Naik of the coastal district of Bhadrak in Odisha, decided to send her 17-year-old son to the “city” for work, it was in hope that their lives would thereon be on the road to improvement. With a meagre land-holding and depreciating land productivity that, in addition to frequent floods and cyclones, had made agriculture increasingly unsustainable in her village, Minoti and her husband had pinned all their hope on their young son. Only, life came a full circle. In March this year, as the lockdown was implemented in the country, to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, 21-year-old Jaidev, like hundreds of thousands of other migrant workers, was left to fend for himself in Tamil Nadu where he was working as a plumber. Almost two months into the lockdown, not only had he exhausted all his money to survive, he also fell ill. “He didn’t have enough to eat, nor the money to return home,” Minoti said in a stoic voice, “We had to loan Rs 10,000 from the self-help group I am a part of and send it to him. That’s how he could come back home.” Four years on, the Naik family — like many others — are, therefore, back to where they started: vulnerable, in debt, and staring at an unsure future. There is no absolute number of people who migrate (seasonally and otherwise) from Odisha in search of employment. However, in the reverse-flow, around 600,000 (six lakh) migrant workers had&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/odishas-coastal-migrants-return-back-to-where-they-started/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/odishas-coastal-migrants-return-back-to-where-they-started/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>How Mumbai&#8217;s fishers adapted in the lockdown, kept their sales alive</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/how-mumbais-fishers-adapted-in-the-lockdown-kept-their-sale-alive/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/how-mumbais-fishers-adapted-in-the-lockdown-kept-their-sale-alive/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2020 13:36:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Himanshu Nitnaware]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/06/08004442/Karanja-fishing-harbour-taking-catch-direct-boats.-Provided-by-Ganesh-Nakhawa-e1591557930864-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=10116</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coast, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Fish, Fishing, Oceans, Overfishing, and People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The members of Mumbai’s fishing community, the Koli community, have found a sustainable answer to their economic woes brought forth by the lockdown. The lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24, to control the spread of the coronavirus, left many, especially those in the marginalised sectors, without any means to arrange for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The members of Mumbai’s fishing community, the Koli community, have found a sustainable answer to their economic woes brought forth by the lockdown. The lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24, to control the spread of the coronavirus, left many, especially those in the marginalised sectors, without any means to arrange for their daily survival. However, with disruption in the traditional methods of fishing and moving towards sustainability, the fishing community from Mumbai is adapting during the lockdown. “There were hundreds of fishers reaching the coast on March 24 when the lockdown was announced, suspending all activities. Since fish or meat didn’t fall into essential commodities, none of the fishers were allowed to get fish at the port for sale by the authorities,” said Ganesh Nakhawa, a fisherman from Karanja near Mumbai. Nakhawa mentioned he read that 15,000 tonnes of fish had to be dumped, causing a loss of crores of rupees to the industry, and this prompted him to take action. Mumbai fisherman Ganesh Nakhawa with a big catch. With the lockdown disrupting the fishing ecosystem, fishers are adopting newer practices to recover as well as move towards sustainable fishing. Photo courtesy Ganesh Nakhawa. Determined to survive the crisis and get the community back on its feet, Nakhawa, who is the director of Karanja Fishing Co-operative Society in Raigad district, advocated getting fish included in the essential commodities category. By the first week of April, he had managed to get some fishers back to the sea.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/how-mumbais-fishers-adapted-in-the-lockdown-kept-their-sale-alive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/how-mumbais-fishers-adapted-in-the-lockdown-kept-their-sale-alive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>With floods and COVID-19, Assam faces a dual threat</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/with-floods-and-covid-19-assam-faces-a-dual-threat/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/with-floods-and-covid-19-assam-faces-a-dual-threat/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jun 2020 13:45:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Azera Parveen Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/06/03110136/Dhemaji-floods-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=10034</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Flood and drought]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Assam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Floods, and Indigenous Peoples]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly three lakh people in nine districts of Assam have been affected by the season’s ‘first flood’, triggered by cyclone Amphan, wreaking havoc in the state. A phenomenon that ravages different parts of Assam every year like clockwork &#8212; displacing people, destroying crops and damaging homes &#8212; floods are not unusual in this part of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly three lakh people in nine districts of Assam have been affected by the season’s ‘first flood’, triggered by cyclone Amphan, wreaking havoc in the state. A phenomenon that ravages different parts of Assam every year like clockwork &#8212; displacing people, destroying crops and damaging homes &#8212; floods are not unusual in this part of the country, particularly during monsoons. This time, however, it is not just the threat of rising waters that is facing the people of the state. Immediate damage aside—of agricultural fields inundated, roads and bridges broken, cutting off communication—the looming threat of COVID-19 in the flood relief camps set up by the administration, threatens to push the already-vulnerable to higher risk. In the Majuli river island, for example, people are nervous about the prospect of shifting to a relief camp. Majuli is one of the most flood-prone areas in the state and has, over the years, borne the brunt of such repeated episodes that have led to chunks of landmass being washed away by the mighty Brahmaputra. Tilok Chamuah of Salmara village, now inaccessible because boat services have been stopped due to the flood, said that while his village has been saved this time, 50 villages on the other side of the embankment have not been as fortunate. “They went underwater,” he said, adding “fields were inundated, boat services were stopped. But thankfully, the rains have stopped and no one around here has had to shift to a relief camp yet.” Chamuah is familiar with living&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/with-floods-and-covid-19-assam-faces-a-dual-threat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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					<title>As captive elephants starve, lockdown brings problematic practice to the fore</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/as-captive-elephants-starve-lockdown-brings-problematic-practice-to-the-fore/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/as-captive-elephants-starve-lockdown-brings-problematic-practice-to-the-fore/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 May 2020 15:02:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Supriya Vohra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/27144212/captive-elephant-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9861</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coronavirus, COVID-19, and Elephants]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In early April this year, a video was being circulated amongst animal rights activists in Karnataka. A mahout spoke to the camera, stating that since the lockdown, his 55-year-old captive elephant has not had anything to eat. The elephant belonged to a temple in Mudhol district, and for the last 40 years, had been living [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In early April this year, a video was being circulated amongst animal rights activists in Karnataka. A mahout spoke to the camera, stating that since the lockdown, his 55-year-old captive elephant has not had anything to eat. The elephant belonged to a temple in Mudhol district, and for the last 40 years, had been living off offerings of jaggery, sugarcane, fruits and grains provided by the people visiting the temple. But since the lockdown, the elephant has not been able to step out and the temple was running out of fodder. The video ended with the mahout appealing for help. Ever since the lockdown, there have been several such stories that have been doing the rounds on social media, seeking donations to provide food for starving captive elephants. Joseph Barretto, owner of the Jungle Book Resort in Goa has five elephants in captivity, which are typically used for rides and &#8220;showers&#8221; for tourists. He released a video seeking donations for &#8220;his starving elephants&#8221;. The elephant owners of Amer Fort in Jaipur, Rajasthan, known for using at least a hundred elephants for tourist rides, also complained about the lack of income that disabled them from getting fodder for their elephants. Similarly, elephants held captive by individual owners in Kerala, and religious institutions in Karnataka, have been seeking help for the upkeep of the gentle giants. &#8220;It takes one pandemic to throw things out of gear,&#8221; said Suparna Ganguly of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (WRRC), an animal rights non-profit based in Bangalore, Karnataka. &#8220;It just goes&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/as-captive-elephants-starve-lockdown-brings-problematic-practice-to-the-fore/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/as-captive-elephants-starve-lockdown-brings-problematic-practice-to-the-fore/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>[Commentary] The environmental impacts of the economic package</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-the-environmental-impacts-of-the-economic-package/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-the-environmental-impacts-of-the-economic-package/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2020 11:22:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/22103740/economic-package--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9910</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health and Environomy]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cities and Towns, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Environmental Economics, Environmental Law, Hydroelectric power, Migration, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In recent weeks, the situation in India was a throwback to two historical events. The sight of millions of internal migrants cycling and using any mode of transport to return to their homes far away in this large country brought back images of the mass migration following India&#8217;s partition in 1947. The second – with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[In recent weeks, the situation in India was a throwback to two historical events. The sight of millions of internal migrants cycling and using any mode of transport to return to their homes far away in this large country brought back images of the mass migration following India&#8217;s partition in 1947. The second – with the prime minister and the finance minister announcing a series of policy changes – was a reminder to the launch of the economic reforms in 1991.  The Partition of 1947 divided the country into two. Families migrated across the newly-formed boundary. The COVID-19 lockdown of the past weeks again divided the country into two – those who stayed at home, and the others who had lost their jobs and incomes and walked.  The desperate reverse migration starkly brought out the economic links of the pandemic which is believed to be environmentally-caused. The crisis also provided an opportunity to reset some of the structural environmental-economic issues that brought the situation to such a pass.  In his televised address to the nation on May 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had focused on using the opportunity of making India self-reliant. He launched a mission, Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, calling the 21st Century to be that of India. He called for turning the crisis into an opportunity to build a self-reliant India on the five pillars of economy, infrastructure, technology-driven systems, demography and demand.  He announced a Rs 20 trillion economic package to support the revival. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-the-environmental-impacts-of-the-economic-package/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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					<title>Anxious farmers in Maharashtra prepare to sow amidst lockdown</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/anxious-farmers-in-maharashtra-prepare-to-sow-amidst-lockdown/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/anxious-farmers-in-maharashtra-prepare-to-sow-amidst-lockdown/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>19 May 2020 12:55:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Prachi Pinglay-Plumber]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/19123536/KVK-Jalna-1-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9826</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Maharashtra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Coronavirus, and COVID-19]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In April, amidst several gloomy developments related to COVID-19, there was one announcement that should have brought cheer to many farmers of Maharashtra, especially non-irrigated areas such as Marathwada and Vidarbha – the announcement that monsoon will arrive on time and will be normal. However, the news made most of the stakeholders anxious because of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In April, amidst several gloomy developments related to COVID-19, there was one announcement that should have brought cheer to many farmers of Maharashtra, especially non-irrigated areas such as Marathwada and Vidarbha – the announcement that monsoon will arrive on time and will be normal. However, the news made most of the stakeholders anxious because of lack of preparedness for the upcoming kharif season. And though, in the next two to three weeks, a flurry of activity is expected to ensure farmers sow by first showers in June, many farmers are contemplating a reduction in sowing to minimise losses. Kiran Pawar, from Latur district, usually would have been extremely busy at this time with trying to procure seeds, ensure fertiliser and pesticide supply and so on. However, with much of his previous stock of cotton unsold, he is doubtful about preparations for a good monsoon. He also has a stock of onions lying in his field and is worried about it getting spoilt. “We will have to try and sow millets, maybe not on the entire area but we will have to do something. Preparations are on but everything is in limbo.” The nearest market place for them – Udgir or Latur – is about 80 km from his village. Since transport and price for the produce are both unpredictable many farmers have reluctantly sold off their produce at lower prices in and around their villages. “There was a red zone area near us and so every village was barricaded, so&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/anxious-farmers-in-maharashtra-prepare-to-sow-amidst-lockdown/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/anxious-farmers-in-maharashtra-prepare-to-sow-amidst-lockdown/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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					<title>[Commentary] Post-COVID there is a case for a greener GNP</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-post-covid-there-is-a-case-for-a-greener-gnp/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-post-covid-there-is-a-case-for-a-greener-gnp/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 May 2020 14:52:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ganesan Balachander]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/18014127/marc-hastenteufel-nkO9jThJ8LA-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9755</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health and Environomy]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate Change, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Environmental Economics, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Even before the upending of the world as we knew it by COVID-19, there had been disquiet for some time over the slowing global economy, in the backdrop of the trade dispute between the US and China. India’s growth had also slowed markedly, falling below 5%, with calls to stimulate the economy. Now, it is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Even before the upending of the world as we knew it by COVID-19, there had been disquiet for some time over the slowing global economy, in the backdrop of the trade dispute between the US and China. India’s growth had also slowed markedly, falling below 5%, with calls to stimulate the economy. Now, it is anyone’s guess whether it could even drop to as low as 2-2.5% due to the pandemic. While we are not strangers to pandemics and disease outbreaks, the emerging zoonotic viral diseases are a result of large-scale changes in the environment, habitat modification and human food consumption habits. Ebola, SARS, MERS, Chikungunya and now COVID-19 are the infamous five. I argue it is an opportune time for global institutions such as the World Bank and IMF as well as nation-states to initiate steps and radically revise how the hitherto measured the gross national product (GNP) is calculated by incorporating principles of natural capital accounting. The current estimate of GNP is a single bottom-line assessment of the growth of the economy, without paying attention to the ecological and environmental consequences of human action. In the early 1970s, the Club of Rome published ‘The Limits to Growth.’ The message of this book still holds today. Almost two decades later, ‘Our Common Future,’ the Brundtland Commission Report recognised that fair and equitable human resource development was crucial to formulating strategies for environmental conservation.  A further step in our evolving thinking and ethos is the global compact to achieve Sustainable Development Goals&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-post-covid-there-is-a-case-for-a-greener-gnp/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-post-covid-there-is-a-case-for-a-greener-gnp/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Gap in sampling hampers India’s ecological monitoring in Antarctica</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/gap-in-sampling-hampers-indias-ecological-monitoring-in-antarctica/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/gap-in-sampling-hampers-indias-ecological-monitoring-in-antarctica/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2020 14:10:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sahana Ghosh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/13190943/Adelie-penguin-near-Bharati-station_Photo-Anant-Pande-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9798</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Connected Environments and Environment And Health]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coronavirus, COVID-19, and Impacts of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If this summer had gone as planned, Anant Pande would be in his laboratory in the Wildlife Institute of India, in Dehradun, ready to catalogue and analyse samples that he and his colleagues had painstakingly collected in Antarctica over 10,000 km away. But Pande who works on marine top predator ecology and conservation and studies [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If this summer had gone as planned, Anant Pande would be in his laboratory in the Wildlife Institute of India, in Dehradun, ready to catalogue and analyse samples that he and his colleagues had painstakingly collected in Antarctica over 10,000 km away. But Pande who works on marine top predator ecology and conservation and studies climate change effects on Antarctic fauna is now in quarantine in Cape Town, South Africa, with 27 of his colleagues who were part of the recently-concluded 39th Indian scientific expedition to Antarctica that began in late 2019. They could not return to India as both India and South Africa initiated their respective lockdowns in late March that coincided with their travel dates. Waiting to get back home, Anant Pande, project scientist at Wildlife Institute of India (WII), told Mongabay-India from Cape Town, South Africa, that the ongoing crisis will have repercussions on long-term ecological studies that need consistent data collection. Read more: India&#8217;s polar missions hit pause.  “Antarctica, being at the centre stage of global climate change, has been showing pronounced signals of anthropogenic impacts including temperature rise, increased glacial and sea ice melting and loss of ice cover from coastal Antarctica. These impacts are more evident in the species which are higher up on the trophic level (seabirds and marine mammals), thus necessitating long-term monitoring to perceive changes in their populations as well as on the Antarctic marine ecosystem as a whole,” Pande said. Collecting samples from snow petrel individuals in east Antarctica. Climate&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/gap-in-sampling-hampers-indias-ecological-monitoring-in-antarctica/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/gap-in-sampling-hampers-indias-ecological-monitoring-in-antarctica/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>An online network emerges during the lockdown connecting farmers directly with customers</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/an-online-network-emerges-during-the-lockdown-connecting-farmers-directly-with-customers/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/an-online-network-emerges-during-the-lockdown-connecting-farmers-directly-with-customers/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2020 13:02:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/12105507/Banner-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9745</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health and Environomy]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cities and Towns, Coronavirus, COVID-19, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A few weeks ago, 22-year-old Dhananjay K.C. was worried that thousands of kilograms of grapes grown at his family’s farmland would go waste as the crop was ready but its sale had become nearly impossible due to the nationwide lockdown imposed to control the spread of coronavirus. However, similar to many farmers across India, he [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A few weeks ago, 22-year-old Dhananjay K.C. was worried that thousands of kilograms of grapes grown at his family’s farmland would go waste as the crop was ready but its sale had become nearly impossible due to the nationwide lockdown imposed to control the spread of coronavirus. However, similar to many farmers across India, he decided to turn the crisis into an opportunity and reached out to online crop markets and groups to sell their produce directly to consumers.  “I found about an online platform, Harvesting Farmer Network (HFN) that was helping farmers in selling their crops and getting a good price for it. I contacted them, posted details of the crop and soon we sold nearly half of our crop to a buyer in Bengaluru,” Dhananjay K.C. told Mongabay-India.  Dhananjay and his family live in the Gudihalli region on the outskirts of Bengaluru (Karnataka’s capital city). He is a mechanical engineering student in an institute in Bengaluru and had come home to be with his family during the lockdown. India’s nationwide lockdown first started on March 25 for a period of three weeks after which it was extended twice, with the current extension up to May 17.  The HFN’s Twitter post a month ago that shared information about his crop has garnered over 600 retweets and one thousand likes so far. “We got many calls and soon found a good deal. We sold the entire produce of grapes &#8211; about 20-25 tonnes of grapes &#8211; to a buyer in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/an-online-network-emerges-during-the-lockdown-connecting-farmers-directly-with-customers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/an-online-network-emerges-during-the-lockdown-connecting-farmers-directly-with-customers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Lockdown slows wildlife forensics</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/lockdown-slows-wildlife-forensics/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/lockdown-slows-wildlife-forensics/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>11 May 2020 13:52:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sahana Ghosh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Animals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/11094957/Image-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9731</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Environmental Crime, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As India cautiously emerges from an extended lockdown put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), wildlife forensic scientists have flagged concerns over the delay in investigating wildlife crimes in the country. The nationwide lockdown that started on March 25 was recently extended by the government of India until May [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As India cautiously emerges from an extended lockdown put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), wildlife forensic scientists have flagged concerns over the delay in investigating wildlife crimes in the country. The nationwide lockdown that started on March 25 was recently extended by the government of India until May 17, with some relaxations. The extended lockdown, which is considered necessary to flatten the curve of the disease, created a chink in the chain for wildlife forensic scientists: from dispatch/reception of samples, transport of chemicals, and processing samples. There is also the apprehension of the possibility of a cut in funds for research. Wildlife Institute of India scientist Samrat Mondol, who runs the rhino forensic facility said the pause in laboratory activities has resulted in a delay in processing some of the rhino case samples they received just before the lockdown. “We have not been able to process the samples so definitely there will be delays in providing the reports to concerned authorities. During the lockdown, I received emails from the forest department about cases that they dispatched (or are planning to dispatch), but I am not sure when will I receive them,” Mondol told Mongabay-India. At the Hyderabad-based Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology too, forensic work has been affected. “We have received only two cases recently from nearby areas in Telangana state. This is worrying as investigations on wildlife crimes are being hampered,” said Karthikeyan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/lockdown-slows-wildlife-forensics/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/lockdown-slows-wildlife-forensics/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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					<title>[Commentary] A post-lockdown pathway for forest-edge communities of central India</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-a-post-lockdown-pathway-for-forest-edge-communities-of-central-india/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-a-post-lockdown-pathway-for-forest-edge-communities-of-central-india/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2020 11:07:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth DeFries]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rural]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/08104415/2020-05-08-1.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9707</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Forests, Health impacts, Migration, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Households living at the edges of India’s forests straddle two ends of India’s spectrum: wild India with its harsh realities for eking an existence from the forest and urban India with its demand for labourers to build burgeoning cities.  As the COVID-19 calamity unfolds, these two realities meld into a puzzle for communities and authorities [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Households living at the edges of India’s forests straddle two ends of India’s spectrum: wild India with its harsh realities for eking an existence from the forest and urban India with its demand for labourers to build burgeoning cities.  As the COVID-19 calamity unfolds, these two realities meld into a puzzle for communities and authorities as they cautiously navigate a safe path through the crisis. In Central India, one of the country’s most critical conservation landscapes, the puzzle pieces connect through the high proportion of households who depend on income from seasonal migration to get by.  In 2018, my colleagues from multiple institutions and I surveyed 5000 households across forest-fringe villages in central India to assess the extent of migration, where migrants go, how long they stay, and which households are most likely to use migration as part of their livelihood strategy.  The purpose of the strategy was not related to the spread of disease.  We could not foresee the hardship that would arise two years later.  We learned that the households who send their family members to earn money in the city are most likely to be the poorest and have few income sources.  In the cities, migrants do daily labor in construction or work as security guards in housing and office complexes.  They leave their villages to earn much-needed income for their families, more from necessity than from desire.  Opportunities to earn a decent income in their villages are scarce and precarious, limited to income from rice paddies&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-a-post-lockdown-pathway-for-forest-edge-communities-of-central-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/commentary-a-post-lockdown-pathway-for-forest-edge-communities-of-central-india/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Uttarakhand eyes a part of Rajaji Tiger Reserve for Kumbh</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/uttarakhand-eyes-a-part-of-rajaji-tiger-reserve-for-kumbh/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/uttarakhand-eyes-a-part-of-rajaji-tiger-reserve-for-kumbh/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2020 12:15:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/07043023/Banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9712</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coronavirus, COVID-19, Deforestation, Forests, Habitat Fragmentation, Habitat Loss, Rivers, Tigers, Water Pollution, Wildlife, and Wildlife Sanctuary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ignoring one of the most important lessons from the coronavirus pandemic &#8211; to let wildlife habitats remain undisturbed &#8211; the Uttarakhand government is eyeing to temporarily use at least 778 hectares area of the Rajaji National Park (RNP), which is home to rich biodiversity, for Kumbh scheduled to take place in Haridwar from January 2021.  [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ignoring one of the most important lessons from the coronavirus pandemic &#8211; to let wildlife habitats remain undisturbed &#8211; the Uttarakhand government is eyeing to temporarily use at least 778 hectares area of the Rajaji National Park (RNP), which is home to rich biodiversity, for Kumbh scheduled to take place in Haridwar from January 2021.  Environmentalists, on the other hand, have been advocating for expanding the land allocated for Kumbh (in Haridwar) by including the nearby land currently used for mining. Kumbh is among the important religious rituals for the followers of Hinduism. Considered among the biggest religious gatherings in the world, it attracts millions of visitors from across India and the world. The location of Kumbh rotates among four places in India – Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik.  In the last week of April, news reports highlighted that Uttarakhand government’s forest department has proposed to temporarily transfer at least 778 hectares of forest land from the 107,517 hectares of the Rajaji National Park for creating temporary facilities for devotees coming to Kumbh. The proposal sought the permission of the central government to transfer the land for a period of nine months from September 2020 to May 2021.  Named after India’s famous freedom fighter C. Rajgopalachari, the Rajaji National Park was formed in 1983. It is also a tiger reserve and is among the 50 tiger reserves notified across the country. Known for its rich biodiversity, Rajaji National Park is home to at least 23 species of mammals such as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/uttarakhand-eyes-a-part-of-rajaji-tiger-reserve-for-kumbh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Women in slums, stranded migrant workers grapple with water access in Bhubaneswar</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/women-in-slums-stranded-migrant-workers-grapple-with-water-access-in-bhubaneswar/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/women-in-slums-stranded-migrant-workers-grapple-with-water-access-in-bhubaneswar/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2020 10:54:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pragati Prava]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[people]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/06212412/Photo-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9708</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health and Environment and Her]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Odisha]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Coronavirus, COVID-19, People, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One of the crucial guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation, to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is obligatory hand hygiene &#8211; to wash hands with soap frequently, or use sanitiser, and maintain proper hygiene. These activities need water access. But washing hands frequently as a preventive measure to check the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[One of the crucial guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation, to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is obligatory hand hygiene &#8211; to wash hands with soap frequently, or use sanitiser, and maintain proper hygiene. These activities need water access. But washing hands frequently as a preventive measure to check the transmission of novel coronavirus disease spread is an unaffordable luxury for millions in India. In many parts of Odisha, including its capital Bhubaneswar, frequent hand washing is not a priority, or even a possibility,  for migrant labourers, homeless people and slum dwellers, who are grappling with long-term water shortage.  Odisha, on the east coast of India along the Bay of Bengal, is home to over 41.9 million people. The population density of the state is 270 persons per square km and over one fifth of Odisha’s urban population lives in slums. According to the Odisha Economic Survey 2019-20 the number of people living in slums of Odisha as of 2011 is 15.60 lakh. According to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) there are 436 authorised slums under the BMC with 80,665 households and population of 3,01,611. In one such slum, Tarini Vihar Basti in Bhubaneswar, Muna Das rued, “Everyone is asking us to wash hands. But nobody is checking whether we have water for it.” “Washing hands frequently is not possible for us. For my four-member family, it requires at least six extra buckets of water. We have to carry water from a tube well, which is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/women-in-slums-stranded-migrant-workers-grapple-with-water-access-in-bhubaneswar/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>COVID-19 lockdown dents the economy of India’s forest dwellers</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/covid-19-lockdown-dents-the-economy-of-indias-forest-dwellers/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/covid-19-lockdown-dents-the-economy-of-indias-forest-dwellers/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>06 May 2020 13:06:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hridayesh Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/06015244/Banner-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9698</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health and Environomy]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coronavirus, COVID-19, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Non-Timber Forest Produce, and Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sanjay Kumar Hansda, a member of the Santhal tribe, would usually earn as much as Rs. 25,000 between March and June by collecting and selling minor forest products. However, this year, the prospects look rather bleak. Until now, early May, his earnings have plummeted by 70 percent from the usual due to the ongoing lockdown [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Sanjay Kumar Hansda, a member of the Santhal tribe, would usually earn as much as Rs. 25,000 between March and June by collecting and selling minor forest products. However, this year, the prospects look rather bleak. Until now, early May, his earnings have plummeted by 70 percent from the usual due to the ongoing lockdown in India. “I used to collect and sell mahuwa, karanj seed, tamarind and other forest products in the market but this year no buyer has turned up in our area. Whom should I sell all this to now?” questioned Hansda, who lives in Jashipur Block of Mayurbhanj district in Odisha.  The countrywide lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the livelihood and economy of indigenous people living in and around the forests of India. The collection and sale of hundreds of minor forest products (MFPs) – that form the backbone of forest dwellers’ economy &#8211; are badly affected. This is despite the lockdown relaxation announced by the central government on April 17 for harvesting and processing of these forest products. It is estimated that every year the tribal people and forest dwellers collect Rs. two trillion (Rs. 200,000 crore) worth of non-timber forest products (NTFP) from the country’s forests. “The lockdown relaxation is for the people living in these (tribal) areas, not for the traders and contractors. For the traders to come and operate (collect and purchase the MFPs), they need to bring vehicles like trucks etc. with them to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/covid-19-lockdown-dents-the-economy-of-indias-forest-dwellers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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					<title>[Interview] &#8220;We really have to find a way to exist with the planet&#8221;</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/interview-we-really-have-to-find-a-way-to-exist-with-the-planet/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/interview-we-really-have-to-find-a-way-to-exist-with-the-planet/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2020 11:36:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Prerna Singh Bindra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/05/04163507/Alan-Weisman-Thelon_Pic_Jay-Dickman-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9673</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Coronavirus, COVID-19, and Environment]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Science writer Alan Weisman’s morbidly fascinating The World Without Us (2007) projects events that follow after the sudden disappearance of humans from planet earth. First, the physical infrastructure collapses: skyscrapers crumble, tunnels flood, boulevards buckle; predictably the plastics remain — almost — forever. Then, nature begins to revive, dominate – vegetation creeps into the graveyard of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Science writer Alan Weisman’s morbidly fascinating The World Without Us (2007) projects events that follow after the sudden disappearance of humans from planet earth. First, the physical infrastructure collapses: skyscrapers crumble, tunnels flood, boulevards buckle; predictably the plastics remain — almost — forever. Then, nature begins to revive, dominate – vegetation creeps into the graveyard of cities slowly seeding mature forests; birds thrive, coyotes and bobcats reclaim Manhattan. On the other side of the globe, Africa reverts to a primeval state; as man ceases to hunt, elephant populations are restored, so are hyenas and lions who voraciously predate on cattle wiping them off. But how do the humans vanish? The book has no clear answers but one probable cause is “a Homo sapiens specific virus – natural  or diabolically nano-engineered – [that] picks us off but leaves everything else intact.”  Thirteen years after its publication, humans have retreated into their shelters – at least the privileged among us – caged by a virus, affecting millions and destroying economies. Wild animals have not (yet) replaced people on streets, but the air is cleaner in pollution hotspots like Delhi NCR, and the water flows clearer in rivers like the Ganga and the Yamuna. The global lockdown is unprecedented and presents a window of a planet without people, indicating our impacts. Mongaybay-India spoke online with Weisman in his rural Massachusetts home to discuss if he believes COVID-19 will bring about the kind of scenarios he imagined in The World Without Us, the other threats&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/interview-we-really-have-to-find-a-way-to-exist-with-the-planet/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Absence of human presence impacting monkey behaviour in Ayodhya</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/absence-of-human-presence-impacting-monkey-behaviour-in-ayodhya/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/absence-of-human-presence-impacting-monkey-behaviour-in-ayodhya/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>04 May 2020 10:25:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shweta Thakur Nanda]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/04/27230114/monkey-drinking-water-from-a-packaged-water-bottle.-photo-by-Arijit-Pal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9600</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Uttar Pradesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behaviour, Coronavirus, COVID-19, and Human Wildlife Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Twenty-nine-year-old Rohit Sharma recalls growing up with monkeys in Ayodhya, the famous pilgrim centre in Uttar Pradesh. The last few weeks though, in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown, he has witnessed a behavioural change in the animals. &#8220;Since my childhood, monkeys have been an integral part of our daily life &#8211; both from a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Twenty-nine-year-old Rohit Sharma recalls growing up with monkeys in Ayodhya, the famous pilgrim centre in Uttar Pradesh. The last few weeks though, in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown, he has witnessed a behavioural change in the animals. &#8220;Since my childhood, monkeys have been an integral part of our daily life &#8211; both from a religious point of view and in our social living. They eat from our hands, touch us in playful moods and, at times, sit on people&#8217;s shoulders. It&#8217;s no more the case in the last few weeks,&#8221; Sharma, a local advocate, said. Last week, his mother Krishnawati Devi was bitten by a monkey outside her house near Naya Ghat in Ayodhya. It was a hot and quiet forenoon and Krishnawati had stepped out of her house to buy some essential non-food items when the monkey unexpectedly but her. Immediately rushed to a local hospital by her family, she returned home tired and stunned after her treatment. &#8220;Monkeys in Ayodhya are used to the hustle-bustle of humans, crowded religious places, high decibel rituals, and free meals at mathas (Hindu monasteries) and temples,&#8221; Sharma tod Mongabay-India over a telephonic conversation. His mother joined the phone conversation to explain how, in decades, she has never seen such aggression among these primates. A troop of monkeys outside a matha in Ayodhya during the ongoing lockdown. Photo by Rohit Sharma. &#8220;The coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown have changed the character of the place, and monkeys are certainly not finding it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/absence-of-human-presence-impacting-monkey-behaviour-in-ayodhya/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Despite COVID lockdown, environment ministry’s expert panels race to clear projects</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/despite-covid-lockdown-environment-ministrys-expert-panels-race-to-clear-projects/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/despite-covid-lockdown-environment-ministrys-expert-panels-race-to-clear-projects/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>04 May 2020 10:11:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nihar Gokhale]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/04/30202959/Banner-8-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9652</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health, Environomy, and Hewing The Regulatory Tree]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coal, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Environment, Environmental Economics, Environmental Law, Forests, and Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Even as India is just coming out of a nationwide lockdown due to the novel coronavirus, the environment ministry is considering large scale mining, infrastructure and industrial projects for environment, forest and wildlife clearances by hosting video meetings of its expert panels. This is despite the expert panels admitting that time available for considering some [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Even as India is just coming out of a nationwide lockdown due to the novel coronavirus, the environment ministry is considering large scale mining, infrastructure and industrial projects for environment, forest and wildlife clearances by hosting video meetings of its expert panels. This is despite the expert panels admitting that time available for considering some of these projects is “very less” and in some cases just about 10 minutes per project. A nod from the expert panels – the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) and 10 Expert Appraisal Committees (EAC) – is necessary for projects to get green clearances from the central government’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). Once a project is recommended or rejected green clearance by these panels, the final decision is taken by the environment ministry but their decisions are rarely overturned. Earlier, meetings of such panels were cancelled after the nationwide lockdown came into effect on March 25. But they have now been scheduled to take place in April and May over videoconferencing. According to meeting agendas posted on the environment ministry’s website, 191 projects are to be considered for clearances.  In some meetings that have already taken place, the expert panels have cleared several important projects. For instance, in the meeting of EAC on infrastructure on April 22-24, the project related to the construction of India’s new parliament was recommended environment clearance. The environment ministry has said the meetings are being held to help clear proposals for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/despite-covid-lockdown-environment-ministrys-expert-panels-race-to-clear-projects/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
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					<title>India’s polar missions hit pause</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/indias-polar-missions-hit-pause/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/indias-polar-missions-hit-pause/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>01 May 2020 12:42:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sahana Ghosh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sahana]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/04/30180436/polar-mission-india-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=9642</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment And Health]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Coronavirus, and COVID-19]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-associated lockdown has cast its shadow on India’s scientific expeditions to polar regions. The expedition to the Arctic this year is cancelled while as many as 28 homeward-bound scientists, who were part of the country’s 39th scientific expedition to the Antarctic are in quarantine in Cape Town, South Africa owing to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-associated lockdown has cast its shadow on India’s scientific expeditions to polar regions. The expedition to the Arctic this year is cancelled while as many as 28 homeward-bound scientists, who were part of the country’s 39th scientific expedition to the Antarctic are in quarantine in Cape Town, South Africa owing to the lockdown in India which began on March 25, 2020. Efforts are on to bring the 28 scientists home, said M. Ravichandran, director, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), India’s premier research institution responsible for the country’s research activities in the polar (Arctic, Antarctica, Himalayas) and Southern Ocean realms. “The 28 Indians who are currently in quarantine at a hotel in Cape Town since April 12 are part of the 100-member Indian team to Antarctica. They were not able to return home through air travel due to the lockdown. We are in talks with the Ministry of External Affairs to bring them back home soon, most probably during the second week of May 2020,” Ravichandran told Mongabay-India. “As for the Arctic, this year the expedition is cancelled due to COVID-19. Usually, we go in batches of 8-10 to the Arctic from April to October. Though we have continuous observation of atmospheric and ocean parameters using automated instruments in the Arctic, some of the biological and glaciological activities could not be accomplished this year. But we will cover up the same in the next year,” he added. The studies undertaken in the two polar&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/05/indias-polar-missions-hit-pause/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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