In 2020, zoologist Bivek Gautam and members of his team were exploring the forests of eastern Nepal on an expedition to look for the Himalayan salamander (Tylototriton himalayanus). That's when…
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.…
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…
The high-altitude rangelands of the eastern Himalayas with the backdrop of towering snow-capped mountains might be a dream vacation destination for some. But for many traditional pastoralists who once reared…
In Sikkim in the eastern Himalayas, religious and cultural ties have helped preserve patches of forests attached to monasteries for centuries. These sacred groves are also crucial to the fight…
“Long time ago, there was no lake in this place. This used to be a huge valley where yak herders used to graze their animals. One day, an old woman…
A new study from pastures in the alpine rangelands of the Eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, that enacted a grazing ban in 1998, finds that traditional pastoral grazing enhances plant…
Reconstruction of 700 years of the Brahmaputra river’s water flow in the monsoon season, based on tree-ring data, suggests that the transboundary river’s real flood risk is likely an underestimate…
As the Teesta gurgles down its way from its snow-fed origin in North Sikkim (5200 metres) to the plains in the south (300 metres), the river and its swiftly flowing…
“We thought otters were cats who came from the jungle and ate fish. We did not know much about otters,” recalls K. B. Rai, a homestay owner in East Sikkim,…
Floods which are a recurring phenomenon in the northeast Indian state of Assam have hit the state heavily this year but healthcare workers have risen to the occasion serving the…
Certified disease-free and blessed by a Lama in Bhutan, Druk, a four-year-old yak bull, crossed the border and traveled to the state of Sikkim in India in February 2020, in…
Indian scientists are building a DNA database for red panda populations in the country, even as a report warns of “serious threats” to the bushy-tailed and chestnut-furred animals. The main…
Even as Sikkim introduces climate change disaster studies as part of its school curriculum to aid community preparedness, latest research emphasises the need for the state to be equipped with…
Shifting cultivation, variously known as swidden agriculture, slash and burn, or locally as jhum in Bangladesh and northeast India, has been vilified and blamed for deforestation and environmental degradation since…
Bishnu Rai gets emotional every time he tries to speak about his home. Especially since he’s on the verge of losing it. Thirty-one-year old Rai lives on a hilltop in…
For two small indigenous communities in the eastern Himalayas, the fight against hydropower power projects (HEP) goes beyond the battle to protect fragile mountain ecologies of northeast India, a hotbed…
As India battles invasion of the cereal-eating moth, fall armyworm (FAW), which is now chomping its way into northeastern states, scientists have turned their attention to another incursion, from the…
A new study has attempted to work out conservation priorities for plant species in Sikkim, in the face of climate change projections. The existing network of ‘protected areas’ in the…
Elephant herds migrating across boundaries from Assam in India to Nepal are increasingly coming in contact with humans in their natural habitat, causing a rise in conflict situations. A three-country…
