When her mother-in-law started taking her along on forest patrols, Pramila Pradhan, 51, began embracing thengapalli, a form of forest stewardship. In Kodalpalli, Odisha, thenga means stick, and palli means…
At a time when the ascendency of women is being celebrated with the role of women scientists in the Chandrayaan Mission, the introduction of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament…
“My mother used to collect seaweed from the sea. As a child, I naturally followed her to sea and ever since then, seaweed farming is what I do,” says R.…
At its Global Just Transition Dialogue earlier this year, the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology (iFOREST), a think-tank, estimated that a ‘just transition’ out of coal would cost…
It’s early in the morning. Tourists visiting the Satpura Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, cross the Denwa river to reach the forests of Madhai. Gypsy cars (a model of off-road…
A seawater-powered lantern with an output in watts; a small hut powered by one to five kilowatts of ocean energy; or a town that could run on megawatts harnessed from…
Until a decade and a half ago, mola fish (Amblypharyngodon mola), a small indigenous species (SIS), was an integral part of Odia cuisine. However, with changing climatic conditions, pollution, excessive…
Heatwaves, floods, flash droughts and cyclones are increasingly becoming regular events in India. The cities facing such climate events have been experiencing high economic losses and loss of lives due…
The eastern coastal state of Odisha, with a 480-kilometre long coastline, has been imposing two fishing bans annually for over two decades in order to conserve the fish population and…
In rural India, decentralised renewable energy options – primarily solar power – are creating livelihood and business opportunities. Decentralised renewable energy systems are primarily independent of the central power grid,…
“No one was willing to buy the argument that mangroves buffer against tsunami,” environmental economist Saudamini Das recalls the research and debate surrounding storm protection services of mangroves following the…
Bhavana Devi, or Bhuri, as she is known by people in the village of Kerpura in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district, cheerfully opens the rusted iron doors to her home. Sunlight streams…
Several women scientists from Kashmir are at the forefront of research to tackle changing climatic patterns that threaten local ecologies, livelihoods and networks that sustain them. Scientists Nasheeman Ashraf, Ulfat…
“How will we survive? What can we do now? What will we eat?” Hirabai Hugge, 65, spent a majority of her time over six months, thinking about these questions. In…
Birsuni Oraon is a tribal woman in her 50s, living in Guniya village in the Gumla district of Jharkhand. Until a few months ago, she would usually be occupied with…
“You should come here during the monsoon to see how big our gauchar (grazing land) was,” reminisces Nanu Rabari, 60, as she breaks pods of Prosopis juliflora, called gando bawal…
As the number of vagaries of climate extremes increases, so has the disproportionate burden on women and children, finds growing evidence. Policies, however, are yet to catch up and reflect…
Located in Amarpur block of district Dindori in Madhya Pradesh, Lalpur village is widely divided into two hamlets, Banwasi Tola and Muqaddam Tola. While Banwasi Tola depends on poultry as…
Saraju Nayak is a woman farmer based at Jirabadi village under the Bhanjnagar Block of disaster-prone Ganjam district in Odisha. Her family owns around 10 acres of land in the…
Thirty-one-year-old Nagarathna gingerly maneuvers a trolley-like contraption across the dairy shed with solar panel fixtures gleaming in the sun. The contraption – a solar-powered milking machine – saves Nagarathna, a…
