Local folklore of the Mising people (an indigenous community) has facilitated a reverence for rivers and their wild inhabitants over the centuries. The story features a Mising woman named Yakashi,…
Chug, located in the Dirang region of Arunachal Pradesh, is a green and golden valley, with maize and rice fields running parallel to it on both sides and cosmos flowers…
“No one was willing to buy the argument that mangroves buffer against tsunami,” environmental economist Saudamini Das recalls the research and debate surrounding storm protection services of mangroves following the…
At an altitude of 3,900 metres, in the mountainous Himachal Pradesh, thin Bhoj trees (Himalayan birch or Betula utilus), dominate the landscape, an area known locally as Tapa-phraun (tapa meaning…
The high peaks of the Himalayas, rising in places to more than 8,800 metres (29,000 feet), act as a physical barrier separating nuclear-armed neighbours. The mountains serve as a wall…
The illegal tiger-farming business is thriving in parts of Asia. Tigers and bears can be seen pacing inside prison-like cages made of cement and corrugated steel in a new, covert…
Following pressure from conservationists and NGOs, Nepal's government recently adopted guidelines to make infrastructure such as roads, dams and railway lines wildlife-friendly. But not all wildlife have been included, with…
On May 9, during regular patrolling on elephants at Orang National Park in Assam, forest guards found a rhinoceros bleeding from the nose and its signature horn missing. It was…
In April 2022, news organisations in Tamil Nadu reported a sudden decline in the blackbuck population within the Raj Bhavan campus in Chennai – a staggering 20 deaths in five…
An international team of scientists has confirmed that current environmental protections in South and Southeast Asia fail to safeguard tree species and their valuable seed sources. The team studied the…
At the first-ever global tiger summit, to save tigers from extinction, held at St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2010, 13 tiger range countries, including India took a resolution to double tiger…
As much as 36% of 47 protected areas in the eastern Himalayas, especially those isolated higher up in the mountains, are highly vulnerable to climate change, a study has said.…
All over Sri Lanka, vehicles are queuing up in long lines for what's left of the high-priced fuel in beleaguered gas stations. Among them are a few Department of Wildlife…
Sonam Tashi Lama, a conservationist from Nepal who works with the Red Panda Network, is one of the six global conservation leaders to win this year’s prestigious Whitley Awards. The…
As many as 10 invasive alien species (IAS), out of 330 that are known to be invasive in India, have cost the economy $127.3 billion (Rs. 8.3 trillion) in the…
When Nepali ornithologist Hem Bahadur Katwal reviewed the existing literature to prepare a proposal for his Ph.D., he came across a subject barely explored, not just in Nepal, but in…
Sri Lanka's small population of Indian pangolins in the wild have faced a single consistent threat for decades: the domestic meat market. While some believe pangolin parts have medicinal properties…
The months of March and April are busy for the people of Masiyari, a village in Madhya Pradesh, adjacent to a forest. It’s the season for mahua flower collection. Everyone…
Medicinal plants in the Himalayas are under threat due to climate change, which calls for reviewing current conservation strategies, including protected parks in the mountain ranges, new research shows. The…
Newspapers, as someone famously said, publish the first rough draft of history. If this is right, then the book under review can be said to provide a first rough draft…