Electric buses in India: To be or not to be?
Transport corporations in India are gradually junking rickety old buses that spew blankets of thick black smoke, to make an ambitious and direct leap to cleaner and sophisticated electric buses.…
Ping! Elephants ahead: reducing human-elephant conflict, one SMS at a time
In India, few animals carry the kind of cultural symbolism like elephants do. Human-elephant interaction boasts a rich history dating back centuries. It is but natural that such a long…
Study links declining native vegetation to water stress in Kali basin
A novel approach by Indian scientists to assess the water and ecological footprints in Kali river basin in the Western Ghats of peninsular India has revealed declining native vegetation in…
[Commentary] The future of the otter hangs by a thread
When wildlife and forest specialists will meet in Colombo this May, at the 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild…
How lizards in Bengaluru are faring, when compared to their country cousins
Imagine your home, a vast open space with gentle hillocks, grassy fields and massive boulders, is slowly encroached upon by a growing city, hungry for land. The hills are levelled,…
Will citizen technology rescue Bengaluru’s lakes in 2019?
In the new year technology is expected to aid citizen action to keep a check on water quality in Bengaluru’s ailing lakes. With a lack of funding preventing citizen groups…
Roads versus wildlife in Karnataka’s protected areas
The Nagarahole-Bandipur-Mudumalai-Wayanad belt and its adjoining areas, in the southern state of Karnataka, is one of the best landscapes for the conservation of tigers, elephants, dholes and other large wildlife…
Latest draft notification is another step in the ongoing journey to protect the Western Ghats
After being criticised by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for failing to finalise the ecologically sensitive area (ESA) in the Western Ghats region, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate…
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…
Following the sound trail: pulling India’s cicadas out of oblivion
On a wet rainy day in 2014, Kiran Marathe was busy looking for loud, clamorous cicadas hiding in the bushes, in Verlem district in South Goa. Marathe, a young 20-something…
