Traditional healer Janakiamma (60) belongs to the Kurumba community. An indigenous community in south India, Kurumba is listed by the government of India as one of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal…
Only a smidge of Punjab’s geographical area is forested, a state in north India’s wheat-producing belt. Nurtured by people’s beliefs in these small forest patches are sacred groves –forest fragments…
Protection, restoration and better management of ecosystems through Nature-based Solutions (NbS) feature in many national commitments, including India's, but there is scope for much more in climate change mitigation and…
As the blazing rays of the overhead sun signals noon, Jayanta Patra, a farmer in his 60s from Saratchandrapur village in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district, wraps up work in his four-acre…
It is 7 a.m. but inside Borvan city forest, the last vestiges of the night still hang heavy. Birds chirp relentlessly and a few morning walkers try to sweat it…
A "whole-farm" approach or integrated farming systems that supplement traditional crops with farming vegetables, fruits, poultry or fish is re-emerging as a nature-based solution to boosting productivity in climate-stressed regions.…
In the village of Nongtraw in Meghalaya, one of the world's wettest region, honey is quite sought after by the Khasi indigenous community who go to the forest to collect…
New research reveals tea plantations can support biodiversity from native plants, wildlife and microorganisms when managed in an agro-ecological setting with sustainable, good practices. Scientists at Ashoka Trust for Research…
Until a few years ago, local communities in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli would have no fear going inside forests to collect firewood, pick fruits, and cultivate their farms. Things, however, have changed…
Thiophilus Khojol has been a farmer in Assam's Cachar district on the hill slopes along the Assam-Manipur border, for over 20 years. The district's pineapple production hit an all-time high…
Extreme rainfall deficiencies were not the only causes of famines in semi-arid regions of southern India in the 18th to 20th centuries, according to research that blends paleoclimate reconstruction and…
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…
Arecanut and coconut plantations sweep across the landscape and eventually into forests that creep up the hills of the Western Ghats. At a distance, windmills perched on a hillock oversee…
Senior Zoological Survey of India scientist Dhriti Banerjee has straddled two different worlds of research — physiology of drug abuse and working on the use of insects in forensic investigations…
If depleting groundwater resources was one of the reasons why the Madurai bench of the Madras high court passed a landmark judgement in 2014 to remove all eucalyptus and wattle…
Long before global warming became a topic of hot discourse worldwide, certain traditional practices of humans, like homegardens, have served as natural ways to maintain environmental equilibrium. Homegardens are defined…
Aesthetically, they may not quite cut it, but these two-tiered sanitation structures, set against the sprawling cold deserts of the Indian Himalayas, have supplied organic manure to local communities for…
“For a crop loss worth Rs. 15,000 per acre, we receive only Rs. 6,000 in compensation from the forest department. That money is of no use to us; we have…
One of the key announcements by the newly-formed cabinet, led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, in Assam, was of two new national parks in the state - Raimona in Kokrajhar and…
By 2050, around 9.74 billion people are estimated to be inhabiting this planet and the requirement for food is expected to increase proportionately as well. To meet the ever-growing food demand…