The sun beat down mercilessly. Being in the vicinity of south India's highest peak, in one of the coldest months – December – made no difference. After a tiring morning…
Battling environmental challenges and protests, ecotourism operators in several parts of India, have called for building community resilience as they take stock of losses amid the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)…
Then a range forest officer with Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Kerala, Raju K. Francis still remembers that distant afternoon in 1994, when he arrested elusive forest brigand Aruvi from…
Reefs do not come to mind when one thinks of India’s coastline as coral reef establishments are limited to the waters around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Palk Bay…
Effluent carrier of the Sivakasi-Virudhunagar-Toothukudi industrial belt in southern Tamil Nadu, Vaippar now looks almost like a river on a deathbed. Numerous chemical factories dot both banks of the east-flowing…
Venkatesh Kesav and his friends, equipped with gloves, spades, and dustbins, have a weekly ritual of cleaning a 10-acre pond in the Sholinganallur area in Chennai, the capital of Tamil…
Record high oceanic temperatures triggered an unprecedented global-scale coral bleaching event from 2014 to 2017, which was the longest-lasting and most severe. More than 75 percent of the world’s tropical…
Twenty-seven-year-old Chandra, a house help in Chennai, does not know much about deficient rainfall, rainwater harvesting or the city's degraded water bodies. All she knows is that once in two…
The fishermen of the Thoothoor region in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu are renowned for their bold sea-faring journeys and their ability to catch large, deep-sea species, such as sharks,…
Cyclone Bulbul, the seventh cyclone to hit India in 2019, battered the country and its neighbour Bangladesh’s coasts, killing at least 20 and displacing millions. But the damage could have…
Among the many threatened marine species in the world, shark populations exhibit some of the most worrying trends. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s latest assessment, 139…
A helping hand goes a long way, especially for fragmented and disturbed forests. According to a recent study published in Ecosphere, removing weeds and planting native trees in such patches…
A pristine valley located hardly 26 km away from the famous hill station Udhagamandalam (Ooty), Avalanche got its name from a massive landslide that took place here more than 150…
On September 22, the World Rivers Day, Clean Coonoor, a local NGO, started the second phase of the Coonoor River clean-up drive. Coonoor is a small town of around 45,494…
When forests are broken up by human activities, the impact on wildlife is manifold. Many species lose their habitat, sources of food and are forced to navigate increasingly risky landscapes…
“What preparations should one make for children before a cyclone strikes?” asked Durga, a volunteer at a community radio station in the coastal village of Vizhuthamavadi, roughly 320 kilometres (km)…
Oblivious to those depending on bananas for their favourite protein shake or breakfast fix, a deadly fungus has sneaked up on banana plantations in South America, threatening the fruit’s future.…
Located around 90 kilometres away from Karnataka's capital Bengaluru, Mekedatu is a scenic site where south India's mighty river Cauvery dives into an amazing gorge, facilitating the creation of a…
Across the globe, naturalists have recorded distinct habitats that they call forest-grassland mosaics, where both ecosystems seem to co-exist. In the highlands of the Western Ghats forests and grasslands stand…
In the backdrop of the mild sound of waves lashing against their boats and mechanised vessels berthed in Tharuvaikulam wharf, fishers were busy mending their nets in a shed. The…
