The evolving story of India’s forests
From covering 640,819 square kilometres (19.49 percent) of India’s total land area in 1987 to covering 712,249 sq. km. (21.67 percent) of the country’s geographical area in 2019, India’s forest…
[Explainer] What is a forest?
What is a forest? At present, in India, there is no clear nationally-accepted definition of ‘forest’. States are responsible for determining their definition of forests. In its meeting in September…
All forest fires may not be bad fires
It’s the forest fire season and the officials at the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka have stepped up the ante on fire preparedness. With fire watchers assigned to look out…
India urgently needs to streamline multi-billion rupees worth NTFP market
Every year millions of Indians, who belong to scheduled tribes, collect Rs. two trillion (Rs. 200,000 crore) worth of non-timber forest products (NTFP) from the country's forests. However, in the…
Pramila Bisoyi’s journey from protecting India’s national bird to the corridors of power
When newly-elected Member of Parliament from the east Indian state of Odisha, Pramila Bisoyi spoke in the House in her mother-tongue Odia, it was the subject of many jibes. The…
The curious case of India’s missing forest policy
How do you define a ‘forest’? What are the rules regarding inviolate forests? And when will India get its new national forest policy? Many questions loom even as India pursues…
Will the latest amendment to U.P.’s tree act help the state’s green cover?
Reacting to the outrage over a proposal to cut more than 64,000 trees for a Defence Expo in Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh government has issued new norms to protect trees…
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…
She guards Mumbai’s defence against climate change
Fifty-six-year-old Seema Adgaonkar glides through swampy mangroves in ankle-deep muck. The fragrance of Avicennia marina (the grey mangrove), the most widely-spread mangrove species in Mumbai, makes the trail pleasant despite…
Private sector gets go ahead for assisting rehabilitation of degraded forests
The forest panel of the Indian government’s environment ministry has approved guidelines that would allow private industries to be involved in plantation on degraded forest land. In the June 27,…
