How Sarmoli became a poster child of ecotourism in Uttarakhand
"पहाड़ का पानी और पहाड़ की जवानी पहाड़ में नहीं रुकती " (the water of the mountains and the youth living in the mountains, never stay in mountains). This local…
Mongabay series: Environment and Her
From environment heroes to women-centric solutions for environmental problems, our stories in this series explore how the environment impacts women uniquely. What are these challenges and are women equipped to handle them?
Women from Kerala weave a solution to the region’s climate woes
Idukki district gets its name from the Malayalam word idukku, which means gorge. Beautiful narrow gorges run across this hilly tourist destination in Kerala in south India. But the district…
Increased farm work negatively impacts women’s nutrition: study
When women put in extra hours on farms in peak seasons of sowing, transplanting, and harvesting, it may impact their food preparation time and reduce nutrient intake, a study finds.…
Study finds some UN SDGs could damage forests, some others may be beneficial
Progress towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets, relating to energy and infrastructure, has the potential to be the most damaging to the world's forest ecosystems, even…
The woman who breaks stereotypes while rescuing wildlife in Kashmir
In the last week of December 2020, a video of a leopard scaling fences and roaming the streets in the Bagh-e-Mehtab locality near Srinagar, startled people in Kashmir valley. It…
Odisha forest officer gets UN Award for environment enforcement, gender leadership
Sasmita Lenka’s journey in environment enforcement – cracking down on pangolin trafficking, clearing illegal aquaculture and mitigating human-elephant conflicts – started out with a burning desire to prove herself on…
[Interview] ‘There is so much you can do in the forest service’, says IFS Vanjulavalli Sridhar
With busy doctors as parents, annual visits to wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in the Western Ghats punctuated Vanjulavalli Sridhar's childhood, sparking and nurturing her love for forests and wildlife.…
Lack of alternatives force women back to work in stone mines, which are health hazards
“What is the alternative? Where is it? Four of my sons work in the stone mines even as they know they will contract silicosis. But what is the alternative to…
Ignored and invisible: The burden of mining on women
Kusum, 14, and Pushpa, 12, (both names changed) ran away from their home in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh in 2019, as their family didn’t have enough food to survive after losing…
[Interview] Turning to science to find innovative solutions: plant biologist E. V. Soniya
For E. V. Soniya, a scientist with the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, science, and especially molecular biology, has been a lifelong passion. Her expertise in the basic…
A traditional healer combines ancient wisdom and training for healing and livelihood
When she was a young girl, Sarojini Goyal of the Korba district of Chhattisgarh would often accompany her parents to the nearby forest to collect shoots, leaves, flowers, and fruits…
Beekeeping empowers women, brings in honey and lush kitchen gardens
Parulben Pawar has to walk through the forest of Dharampur, in Gujarat, to reach her bee boxes. A path of four kilometers crossing a forest of teak (Tectona grandis), tamarind…
A budding botanist’s quest for plant-indigenous community relations
In 2019, budding ethnobotanist Momang Taram and her friend Ojar Taku were scouting the Siang river valley in Arunachal Pradesh for flowering plants belonging to a specific family. “Then suddenly…
Nilgiris district collector says, environment before development
When it comes to taking crucial decisions, J. Innocent Divya, an administrative officer of the mountainous Nilgiris district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, goes by the mantra…
Household air pollution: Empowering women could boost LPG adoption
Household air pollution caused mainly by the burning of solid fuels, including biomass—firewood, charcoal, coal, dung, and agricultural waste—and ambient air pollution are among the leading risk factors contributing to…
Bridging the gender gap through groundwater monitoring in a Rajasthan village
In Hinta, a village in the west Indian state of Rajasthan, Manju Soni, troops through lush wheat fields and adjoining homesteads adorned with animal motifs, stopping at wells where she…
Women in slums, stranded migrant workers grapple with water access in Bhubaneswar
One of the crucial guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation, to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is obligatory hand hygiene - to wash hands with…
Agrobiodiversity initiatives open women’s horizons in Kerala
Kaliamma Nanjan, 70, sings as she cuts through her farm in Kerala's Western Ghats. She deftly navigates the slopes of Attappady in Palakkad district with the gravity-defying dexterity of a…
“Ladies First!”: Women fight against solid waste dumping in this Himachal Pradesh village
In India’s Himachal Pradesh, in the western Himalayas, Anuradha is doubled down into the soils of her farmland in Sudher village, donning a dhattu—the term used in the hills to…
Ganjam fisherwomen unite to get back fish trade from monopolistic traders
As the sun moved above the horizon dividing the sky and sea, five boats approached the coast at Sana Nolia Nuagaon, a fishing village in Ganjam district of eastern Indian…
Special series
Wetland Champions
- The story of Jakkur lake sets an example for inclusive rejuvenation projects
- Welcome to Tsomgo lake: Please don’t litter
- Managing waste to save the wetlands of Himachal Pradesh
- The monks who protect the Bhagajang wetland
Environment And Health
- India’s dietary guidelines have a relatively lower carbon footprint: study
- [Commentary] Will the COVID-19 second wave buck the trend for the Indian middle class?
- How did a once water-rich village in Goa become entirely dependent on tankers?
- Avian flu in India brings forth environmental, animal and human health linkages
Almost Famous Species
- 148 zebra loaches exported per day from Western Ghats to feed global pet trade
- What’s dangerous about these cute turtles which are popular pets in India?
- Common, yet threatened: The case of northeast India’s Malayan giant squirrels
- Newly described scorpion species from Western Ghats highlight need for more research and conservation
India's Iconic Landscapes
- The toxic love for Ladakh is weighing heavy on its natural resources
- [Video] Mapping Tamil Nadu’s grasslands to protect them and know their role in carbon storage
- The development plan that could end up sinking Lakshadweep islands
- Andaman forests need longer intervals between repeat logging for recovery: study
Beyond Protected Areas
- Impact of armed conflicts on wildlife underestimated: study
- Millions of seahorses caught as bycatch in Indian shores
- Neglect shrouds Behali Reserve Forest’s biodiversity along Assam-Arunachal border
- Longest dispersal of a female tiger recorded in Central India
Conserving Agro-biodiversity
- Plant Man Miguel Braganza on how Konkan Fruit Fest preserves food biodiversity
- Building up carbon sinks in northeast India’s shifting cultivation landscape
- Coloured cotton from India on the cusp of commercial release in 2021
- Revival and absence of Bengaluru’s traditional crop varieties
Just Transitions
- Bigwigs of India’s fossil-fuel industry could drive the country’s green energy sector
- Subsidies for India’s renewable sector are falling, needs renewed support, says study
- Land conflicts on the horizon as India pursues a clean energy future
- The balance between jobs in the renewable energy and fossil fuel sectors could play on India’s energy transition
