Indian savannahs, often tagged as ‘degraded forests’ in the afforestation framework, are likely to throw up “tons of new plant species,” say Indian scientists in a new study. Scouring through…
As outbreaks of Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) or ‘monkey fever’ rapidly expand across the Western Ghats, a study finds that in landscapes undergoing forest loss, a lower number of mammalian…
For the people of Kodagu, August could well be the cruelest month of the year. In the last three consecutive years, incessant rains in the first two weeks of August…
A newly discovered species of frog, endemic to the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats, is the first new addition to the genus Walkerana in more than a century. There are three previously…
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…
It is estimated that about nearly 200 million Indians, about 15 percent of the country’s population, depend upon spring water from the Himalayas, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Aravallis and other…
One more new frog species has been spotted in the Western Ghats of India, reconfirming the region’s status as home to one of the richest assemblage of frogs in the…
Every summer, Indian farmers eagerly await the arrival of the southwest monsoon, which comprises up to 90 percent of the country’s annual rainfall. The Western Ghats (WG), a 1600-km mountain…
It was around noon when I crossed the mud path and entered the little strip of forest that led to the stream, gingerly picking my way down through the vegetation.…
With an aim to reduce the pressure of firewood extraction in forest habitats, conservationists are encouraging forest-dwelling communities in the Cauvery and Malai Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuaries in Karnataka to…
Since the development of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in the Western Ghats in 1986 — the first such reserve to have been established in India — active measures have been…
The Kabini river originates in the Western Ghats of northern Kerala. Cutting through the Ghats, it flows eastwards to join the Cauvery river in the neighbouring state of Karnataka. During…
The Western Ghats, a stretch of mountains running parallel to the western Indian coast, is a biodiversity hotspot, home to countless species that are unique to the region — known…
When rich forests in biodiversity hotspots are carved out as protected areas it is presumed that the notification will help conserve them. But high human density, road building and other construction…
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has commended Sikkim’s Khangchendzonga National Park with a “good” conservation outlook for the year 2017 in its World Heritage Outlook 2 report.…
It was a cold December day in Kanger Valley National Park in Chhattisgarh, India, and Zeeshan Mirza was not happy. He was on a faunal survey for the state government,…
Naturalists in India have rediscovered a rare flowering plant — Arisaema translucens — after nearly 80 years. Botanist Edward Barnes first collected this plant in 1932 from the Nilgiri mountains in southern India. The plant,…
