Cautioning against the “weakening” of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, India’s first and foremost legislation to protect the country’s wildlife, MK Ranjitsinh Jhala, one of the architects of the legislation,…
Fencing is a key conflict mitigation strategy in the Mysore Elephant Reserve in Karnataka, which sees regular cases of human-elephant conflict. Putting up fencing accounts for a significant proportion of…
After marathon negotiations and a clutch of protests, including a “die-in” by global youth and a walk-out by developing countries over a funding stalemate, nearly 200 nations struck a historic…
The 18th and 19th centuries' Sri Lanka saw many British naturalists studying the island’s rich biodiversity. They also contributed to profiling the same. One of them, W.W.A. Phillips, a tea…
Its call is hard to miss. A series of high-pitched and staccato chirrups reverberate through the dense forests where it is found. Follow the sound and you might spot the…
The tiger population in Nepal nearly tripled over the past 12 years. As part of global efforts to double the wild tiger population, the country's target was to have 250…
The expert appraisal committee of the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recommended the grant of environmental and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for a big infrastructure…
On a September morning in 2019, the 240 residents of the small and picturesque Murlen village in the Champhai district in Mizoram, were in for a surprise. Amit Kumar Bal,…
Fifty years after the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 came into existence, raising hope that human-animal conflicts would reduce and poachers who were decimating our forest and rivers of their animal…
On September 17, India will wake up to welcome African cheetahs flying 11 hours non-stop, from Namibia, in a customised aircraft. A forest patch in central India is at the…
Early morning on May 25, a Tata Sumo ‘maxi cab’ – an SUV commonly used for long distance travel across Mizoram – was stopped at the Khankawn police check gate…
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…
Human-wildlife interactions are on the rise. But not all of them are positive. In India, every year, hundreds of people and animals die due to human-animal conflict. Conflicts with wild…
Maheshakya was widely agreed upon as an exemplary specimen of an elephant, with large tusks. He roamed the wildernesses of Kebithigollewa in Sri Lanka’s North Central province. Maheshakya got into…
Scottish economist Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” has been the dominant paradigm in development and policy circles, especially in neoliberal economics, for over 250 years. In 1776, in his seminal An…
Free-ranging dogs have emerged as a potential threat and predator to the local nilgai and blackbuck populations in parts of Haryana, according to a recent study conducted in the Badopal…
The high peaks of the Himalayas, rising in places to more than 8,800 metres (29,000 feet), act as a physical barrier separating nuclear-armed neighbours. The mountains serve as a wall…
It’s a scorching day in June, and Mohammad Mudasir Bhat, the person responsible for the Wildlife Control Room in Kashmir’s Shopian division, is out in the dense apple orchards, in…
In recent years, the construction of crossing structures has been one of the key measures adopted in India to mitigate wildlife mortality and increase connectivity. Several projects, including nine overpasses…
The government of India is going all guns blazing on the “holistic development” of the Great Nicobar Island with a multi-component mega project. An international container trans-shipment terminal, a military-civil…
