A citizen’s movement to protect wetlands emerges in Jammu and Kashmir
It was a cigarette butt that turned Tariq’s life around. Tariq A. Patloo remembers the moment like it were yesterday. “I was taking a German tourist through one of our…
Kashmir’s retreating glaciers could also be influenced by local land use change
Kolahoi Glacier, the largest glacier in Kashmir Himalayas which feeds two major tributaries of the River Jhelum - Lidder and Sindh - has further reduced in area over three years,…
[Commentary] Finding the middle ground with the Changpa herders in Ladakh
The temperature was touching -15 °C as the sun set in Tsaba valley in Ladakh. We were bunched inside a tiny bunker, all seven of us. Making the most of…
Tribal population of Jammu and Kashmir cries foul about non-implementation of Forest Rights Act
Before the semi-autonomous status of the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir was abolished by the Union Government on August 5, 2019, the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest…
Forest land identified for development after reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir
After August 6, 2019, when the Government of India scrapped the semi-autonomous status of the former Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into two union territories, recent…
Community initiatives tackle climate change in Ladakh village
The picturesque traditional Ladakhi houses made of stones, mud and wood are increasingly finding it difficult to sustain themselves. Wooden roofs that were originally designed to stand amid snow now…
Kilns add to Jammu and Kashmir’s air and land pollution, brick by brick
Haji Abdul Gaffar, 74, recalls the time when his village (Batpora-Budgam) and all the adjacent villages used to be lush green and free of pollution. It was around 40 years…
Plastic ban in J&K opens door for revival of wicker crafts
“People now prefer plastic for everything,” rued Ghulam Rasool Ganie, as he deftly worked on a wicker basket, at his residence in Sogman Lolab, some hundred kilometres north of Srinagar,…
Scientists seek help from wheat’s wild cousins to sustain high yields
In the year 2014, when Jammu and Kashmir was facing one of its worst floods, a group of researchers from the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) and Punjab…
Poaching interrupts study of migratory birds in Kashmir
Gunshots crack into the air as dusk falls. A young man from Zainakote village in Srinagar district, bumps into two other local youth who are strolling on the eastern shore…
