On Monday, the Indian government referred the Biological Diversity Act Amendment Bill (2021) to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). The Bill was developed to amend certain provisions of the Biological…
Several Asian countries, including India, have set ambitious targets to restore tens of millions of hectares of degraded land by 2030. But, according to new research, these plans could be…
The largest division on the geological time scale (GTS), which depicts distinct time periods in geological history, is called eons. Eons are further divided into eras, which are divided further…
Mid-October saw extreme weather events, specifically unusually heavy rains in some parts of India. In Kerala, heavy downpours — an excess of 135% for the first 19 days of the…
Plastic is a boon to many industries as a versatile material that can be moulded into myriad products from simple packaging bags to life-saving medical devices. When a plastic product…
The wait for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is almost over, with the report scheduled to be released on August 9. The…
Humans are testing the limits of most species’ survival, with their planet-wide changes. As urbanisation, deforestation, loss of wildlife, and human-wildlife conflicts continue to spiral up, there is a need…
Thai Sacbrood, a viral disease affecting honey bee colonies, has resurfaced in southern India. The disease, which has been dormant in the southern states for some years, is back and…
Sand, a natural resource that seems abundant and often ignored is the second most extracted one, just after water. Sand extracted from rivers, lakes, coastlines, deltas is one of the…
What is entomophagy? Entomophagy is the practice of eating insects. Humans have harvested insects, as components of their food, for thousands of years. This practice was previously considered ‘ancient’ and…
How much menstrual waste does India generate? A 2018 report by WaterAid India and Menstrual Hygiene Alliance India (MHAI) states that there are 336 million menstruating women in India, out of which…
What are dung beetles? Dung beetles use the dung of warm-blooded herbivores for… everything. They are attracted to fresh dung via volatiles (meaning, the smell). Adults feed on the soup…
Just as forests are called as the ‘lungs of the earth’, wetlands are the 'kidneys' that regulate water and filter waste from the landscape. The kidney comparison aside, wetlands are…
When we think of wildlife, we might picture tigers moving among tall sal trees, crocodiles swimming in rivers, elephants gathered around waterholes. We often only think of pristine forests; we…
What do you do with your e-waste? The answers would possibly range across a wide spectrum – from ‘what is e-waste’, ‘office IT vendor’ and ‘collection boxes’ to ‘we just…
Continuing its push for ensuring a smoother path for industries in securing environment clearances, the Indian government's environment ministry is in the process of changing the environment impact assessment (EIA)…
Alongside a global pandemic, India prepares to fight yet another battle for food security. Unlike the micron-sized virus, however, the new threat is millimeters in size but millions in number:…
What is a forest? At present, in India, there is no clear nationally-accepted definition of ‘forest’. States are responsible for determining their definition of forests. In its meeting in September…
What is a COP? The Conference of Parties, or CoP, is the annual meeting of the representatives from the countries that are members of the United Nations Framework Convention on…
Dreaming of a perfect blue-sky and rain-free wedding day? A luxury travel company promises to do just that for a price with the help of cloud seeding, a commonly used…
