Durga puja art exhibits spur dialogue on conservation
Underpinned by the message of “good-over-evil”, Durga puja or the worship of goddess Durga, is one of the most important event in the religious calendar in east India. In contemporary times,…
Home gardens and polluted fields are helping conserve this perfume source
The primary source of agarwood and one of the world’s most expensive trees, the evergreen agar tree (Aquilaria malaccensis Lam.) is a step away from extinction in the wild. In…
When drought and extreme heat strike forests at the same time
The frequency of extreme weather events is going up around the world, and droughts and heatwaves are no exception. When the globe warms by 3-4 degrees - a possibility during…
How an India-Bhutan transboundary landscape sheltered animals during internal conflict
Recurring ethno-political violence that rocked Assam’s Manas National Park (MNP), in the Bhutan-Himalayan foothills, from the late 1980s till 2003 changed the spread and abundance of wildlife, including royal Bengal…
A ‘normal’ monsoon with droughts and floods?
Two months of the annual southwest monsoon are over, with another two to go. As against a normal rainfall of 452.8 millimetres (mm), the country has received 426.1 mm rainfall,…
Dogs sniff out rhino poachers in Assam
It’s 5 AM and Officer Zorba is reporting for duty at Kaziranga National Park, the global stronghold of the one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) and the epicentre of a fierce battle…
It takes a village to fight off rhino poaching
This is the second article in a two-part series on poaching in Jaldapara National Park. In Part One, interviews with former poachers revealed the inner workings of wildlife trafficking in…
A small village in Jaldapara is reeling under illegal trading of rhino horns
This is the first article in a two-part series on poaching in Jaldapara National Park. Part Two (published on 28-May) looks at prevention and enforcement efforts. JALDAPARA NATIONAL PARK, India…
Kaziranga facing twin threats of rampant mining, erosion: NTCA
Hemmed in by rapacious quarrying and river erosion, India’s Kaziranga National Park (KNP) that harbours the world’s largest population of great Indian one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), is at a “high…
Mulai Kathoni: a young man’s dream is now a thriving ‘people’s forest’
In 1980, the social forestry wing of the Assam state forest department in northeastern India launched an experimental programme that aimed to measure how well tree cover could protect against…
