Environment

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…

Burhanpur, an ancient city of central India’s Madhya Pradesh, was until recently facing a water crisis. But now, with a few water-related interventions, Burhanpur is changing its destiny. The city,…

To meet the suite of climate challenges, while also producing food and energy in an environmentally and socially sustainable way, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is becoming popular around the globe. CSA…

Located in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, the 100 square kilometre Sessa Orchid Sanctuary is home to more than 200 species of orchids including several endemic and rare…

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…

A new study that examined the plant diversity and carbon stock of 39-year-old human created forest, Molai Kathoni in Assam, and a natural forest of comparable age, shows that a…

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…

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…

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…

City parks and residential gardens have a unique functional microbiome with more potential human and plant pathogens, and fewer plant-symbionts than neighbouring natural ecosystems, according to a study that unpacks…

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…

Unless there are immediate and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting global warming to close to 1.5 degrees Celsius or even 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times will be…

Biological invasions are a major global challenge for the conservation of biodiversity, maintenance of ecosystem health and sustainable livelihoods. India is not new to the concept and consequences of invasive…

The United Nations declared the decade of 2021-2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recently released the first draft of a new framework…

Delhi recently launched its draft Master Plan 2041- a vision document for the city’s development over the next two decades.The draft plan envisages making Delhi environmentally sustainable, liveable, and economically…

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…

The proposed Bunder diamond block in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh has been in the news for the wrong reasons over the years. The diamond mine project, which is…

“There were about 25 boats parked in one place. The tide was so high and the wind so powerful that they crashed into one another and broke. And when I…