How women adapt as climate comes unhinged
In Karnataka’s drought-prone Kolar, men started moving out of agriculture about a decade ago, to find jobs off-the-field. The area, once considered the world's second deepest gold mine with two…
[Commentary] Can India rise to Greta’s concerns on climate change?
The FridaysforFuture campaign for school strikes led by Swedish climate activist 16-year-old Greta Thunberg and her peers highlights the importance of treating climate change as an urgent issue. The theme…
Preparedness remains inadequate even as floods become an annual affair in Kerala
The wounds of the 2018 floods had not fully healed when disaster struck Kerala again in August 2019 in the form of floods, landslips and debris slide. According to the…
Climate emergency: India says it can only aspire to implement already promised climate actions
As the United Nations secretary-general calls for countries to ramp up climate action, India demands the appeal be matched with climate finance to developing countries. The UN Climate Action Summit…
How a community radio gives voice to the climate-vulnerable in Tamil Nadu
“What preparations should one make for children before a cyclone strikes?” asked Durga, a volunteer at a community radio station in the coastal village of Vizhuthamavadi, roughly 320 kilometres (km)…
[Commentary] Is Indian monsoon turning into a string of extreme weather events?
From the time settled agriculture started on the Indian subcontinent millennia ago, there was a dependence on the calendrical reliability of the rains as they sustained the crops. Every year…
An agroforestry scientist’s notes on Kodagu, coffee and climate change
As southwest India finally has a respite from the recent heavy rains, the discussions have now turned to what went wrong. In the district of Kodagu, nine days of non-stop…
Family plants over 6000 trees in Mumbai and inspires communities
The high noon sun makes it tough to inspect the shrubs and plants in the butterfly park without squinting. Despite the harsh conditions, the Athalye family - Sandeep, his wife,…
‘Green walls’ can help combat desertification, says IPCC report
Asserting that the range and intensity of desertification have increased in some dryland areas over the past several decades, a latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)…
Spotlighting the rising stars: Neglected crops in saline areas in a changing climate
As salt-spoiled soils increase across the world, can neglected and underutilised crop species be the rising stars in sustainable agriculture in salinisation-hit countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh? Spotlighting…
There’s bajra in my beer!
As you sip the freshly brewed craft beer, there is nothing to indicate the pale brew is generously infused with bajra, or pearl millet, a grain that has been grown…
Flood-resistant housing attracts attention in Kerala
In the runup to the observance of the first anniversary of the torrential floods that wreaked havoc in Kerala, causing a loss of Rs. 310 billion (31,000 crores) and claiming…
[Interview] “Avoiding the risk of land degradation is fundamental to any response to climate change”
Barron Joseph Orr, lead scientist at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), is at the forefront of the UN body’s efforts to tackle land degradation. The UNCCD was…
[Commentary] Surviving in the fragile Sundarbans delta: Will the new government respond?
With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) making a landslide victory in the 2019 general elections of India, one cannot relegate apprehensions about the ways in which…
[Commentary] Did the budget miss the bus for building climate resilience for agriculture?
When I was a schoolboy in Kerala, there was an annual calendar event that we hated. It was the date June 1. That was the day on which the schools…
Chennai water crisis once again exposes the city’s climate vulnerability
It is noon and the scorching heat of Chennai’s sun hits across S. Punitha’s face. She has just filled her first pot for the day from a hand pump in…
Women lead the way in disaster preparedness, recovery in Odisha’s Ganjam
High-speed winds had smacked into sturdy mango trees and shaken the fruits away. They were all over the ground. Extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani’s dread had barely passed. Rashmi Behera…
[Commentary] Back to the Future: Lessons from Cyclone Fani
On May 3, the coastal state of Odisha in eastern India witnessed Fani, an ‘extremely severe cyclonic storm’ and the first major cyclone of the 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone…
Farmers become citizen scientists to adapt to climate change
Farmers in three countries, including in India, have turned into citizen scientists, helping generate data on crop varieties that adapt best to potential climatic changes. In a study spanning India,…
Agriculture is taking the hardest hit of climate change in Chhattisgarh
Climate change is slowly beginning to affect the most important cog in the economic wheel of India – agriculture. Rain-fed agriculture systems are taking a hard hit with monsoons becoming…
Special series
Wetland Champions
- [Commentary] India establishes the largest network of Ramsar Sites in South Asia
- [Commentary] Wetland champions: Promise from the grassroots
- The story of Jakkur lake sets an example for inclusive rejuvenation projects
- Welcome to Tsomgo lake: Please don’t litter
Environment And Health
- Converging heat action plans, climate goals and environmental health for healthier communities
- Industrial water pollution threatens residents in Haryana’s Kundli area
- [Photos] Maharashtra’s female farm workforce struggles in the shadows of floods
- Sewing their way to a sustainable menstruation
Almost Famous Species
- Concerns over increased whale shark stranding along Andhra Pradesh’s coast
- Dimming the glow of firefly festivals in Maharashtra
- Habitat changes may be causing sarus cranes to form breeding trios
- New gharial hatchlings in Nepal a hopeful sign for the critically endangered reptile
India's Iconic Landscapes
- The container terminal that could sink the Great Nicobar Island
- North India’s hills are feeling the heat too, but differently
- [Commentary] Is expansion of aquaculture in the Indian Sundarbans an ecological threat or a pathway to sustainable development?
- One year of Similipal forest fire: The hits and misses
Beyond Protected Areas
- Involvement of fishing communities, transboundary cooperation could help mitigate threats to the Ganges river dolphin
- Attacks by dogs a serious concern for the revered blackbuck in Haryana
- Human-animal conflict in Kashmir leaves a trail of deaths and psychological impacts
- Explosives smuggled from India used in blast fishing in Sri Lanka
Conserving Agro-biodiversity
- Farmers fear low fruit production as Kashmir records decline in precipitation
- Scientists sequence chickpea genome which could inform crop improvement efforts
- [Video Explainer] What is the significance of the Biological Diversity Amendment Bill and why did it face opposition?
- Tackling agrobiodiversity loss in Odisha’s Similipal protected area
Just Transitions
- Land banks in Jharkhand may become a recipe for conflicts
- Unaccounted deaths lay bare the dark side of sand mining
- In the midst of coal shortage reports, a coal mine extension is approved in pristine Hasdeo forests
- As India looks to shift to renewables, Jharkhand’s coal mine workers fear loss of jobs and social security
