“There was a road leading to Buxa Duar, which was one of the finest trails in that area. Unfortunately, that road was washed out in the 1993 floods. I was…
On a cold winter morning in late 2009, Dilip Konwar, a sprightly man in his late forties, scrambled up a bamboo ladder and peeked into the dark insides under the…
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…
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…
Biodiversity, the variety of life across genes, species and populations, plays an integral role in ensuring food security, ecosystem function, and human well-being. Amid alarming reports of skyrocketing species extinction…
“Powerbaaz”. “Main boss”. No, these descriptions don’t refer to any power-hungry politician or underworld don. It’s how the indigenous Warli people of Maharashtra see their animal god, the Waghoba. The…
Tigers once roamed the lands from Turkey in the west to the Amur river basin in the east, across south and southeast Asia all the way to the island of…
September 22 is a special day in the calendar of the forest department and wildlife lovers of Assam. It's World Rhino Day, marking the occasion for celebrating the one-horned rhinoceros…
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…
One hot 2019 afternoon in Lakshadweep, as marine mammal scientist Divya Panicker sat engrossed in listening to recordings retrieved from underwater sound recorders, she came across low blue whale moans,…
The threat of Maoist conflict is now looming in Chhattisgarh's Achanakmar Tiger Reserve. The central government recently included Mungeli district, where the tiger reserve is located, in the list of…
“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…
The impacts of armed conflicts on wildlife globally are underestimated, according to recent research which calls for urgent attention to conflict resiliency in conservation plans for a wide suite of…
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…
Expanding the land area under agroforestry systems, which integrate trees alongside crops, is a promising strategy to offset greenhouse gas emissions and could help achieve India’s Nationally Determined Contributions to…
On May 22, a forest protection team of Satkosia wildlife division was on its usual patrol duty when they spotted a nest of a female gharial with 28 hatchlings on…
From “shooting with catapults and guns” to “shooting with cameras”, church worker Nuklu Phom mobilised communities in his ancestral village Yaongyimchen, in mountainous Nagaland, to identify an area for conservation…