Biodiversity

Featured Articles
December 4, 2022
Small scale inland open water fisheries of India
What is the status of inland fisheries in India? Read these situational analysis reports to know about inland fisheries, the life of the fisherfolk, governance and tenure in inland fisheries and threats to the sustainability of inland fisheries.
Fishing in an irrigation canal in Kerala (Image Source: Martin Pilkinton via Wikimedia Commons)
August 2, 2022
Floods in Assam - a boon or a bane for fish diversity?
The frequency and intensity of floods is on the rise in Assam spelling doom for fish biodiversity.
Life during floods in Assam (Image Source: Kausika Bordoloi via Wikimedia Commons)
June 27, 2022
Poisoned wetlands, toxic fish
Heavy metal pollution is poisoning the East Kolkata wetlands, affecting fish and posing a threat to the health of humans who depend on this fish for their food. Urgent action is needed!
Fishermen use wastewater in Kolkata to rear fish (Image Source: India Water Portal)
June 15, 2022
Damned by pollution, doomed by beautification
The River Front Development project planned by the PMC is nothing but a cosmetic makeover for the already choked Mula Mutha river in Pune, argues Dr Gurudas Nulkar while speaking to the India Water Portal.
The highly polluted and encroached Mula Mutha river in Pune (Image: Alexey Komarov via Wikimedia Commons)
June 4, 2022
Conserving India’s freshwater ecosystems: A shared vision
Freshwater ecosystems in India are in peril. We invite comments on this vision document by TNC-India, FES and Ooloi labs that highlights future actions needed to save them.
Freshwater ecosystems, in peril! (Image Source: The Nature Conservancy, India)
May 10, 2022
India’s fantastic freshwater fauna and where to find them
Freshwater ecosystems are not mere sources of water, they are treasure troves of biodiversity. Know more about the fascinating and diverse animal species that inhabit freshwater habitats in India.
Freshwater ecosystems, treasure troves of biodiversity (Image Source: India Water Portal)
One in every two individuals will be living in water-stressed regions by 2050: Report
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 23 Mar, 2020 12:27 PM

World Water Development Report 2020: Tropical countries to be worst hit by water stress
Banks of the Ramganga river (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
USD 450 million loan from the World Bank for Atal Bhujal Yojana
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 22 Feb, 2020 09:39 PM

World Bank to provide USD 450 million loan for Atal Bhujal Yojana
Atal Bhujal Yojana aims to arrest the country's depleting groundwater levels (Source: IWP Flicke photos)
Mumbai lost 71 percent of wetlands in last four decades: Report
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 09 Feb, 2020 07:11 PM

Among 22 cities in India, Mumbai has lost the maximum number of wetlands: WISA
The pink guests of Sewri wetland, Maharashtra (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Ramsar tag granted to ten more wetlands
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 30 Jan, 2020 10:36 AM

10 more wetlands in the country are now Ramsar sites
A wetland in Punjab (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Monitoring guidelines for sand mining released
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 29 Jan, 2020 11:39 PM

Guidelines to monitor illegal sand mining released

For the first time, the Environment Ministry has released Enforcement and Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining 2020 to monitor and check illegal sand mining in the country.
Illegal sand mining continues in the country unabated (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Rubber monoculture: Death knell for agrobiodiversity
A study looks at the subjective well-being of an indigenous community of Tripura amidst the transition from shifting cultivation to monoculture of natural rubber.
D K Pandey
P Adhiguru
Uma Sah
N Devachandra
S K Dubey
Chandra Deo
Posted on 29 Jan, 2020 04:44 PM

People tend to be happier and reinvigorated in green spaces. Agrobiodiversity - the number and abundance of different species in particular systems is known to promote happiness. It ensures the resilience of ecosystem services such as food production, climate regulation, and pest management that in turn underpin human wellbeing.
Tripura had the highest rate of growth of rubber plantation during the first decade of the millennium as compared to any other state (Image: Flickr Commons)
Neeru and the Nilgiris
Conserving springs, small hill wetlands and their catchment in the Nilgiris.
Aditi Sajwan
Water Practitioners Network
Posted on 24 Jan, 2020 11:36 AM

Locally called Neeru, water of the Nilgiris in its springs and wetlands has been the fountainhead for two main rivers systems of South India. Today, with growing anthropogenic influences, there is a water crisis in the hills that needs our attention more than ever before.
A view of the Nilgiris (Image credits: Golkul Halan)
Increased river traffic threatens Gangetic dolphins
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 22 Jan, 2020 08:57 PM

Gangetic dolphins under threat thanks to increased river traffic
The Gangetic Dolphin (Source: Arati Kumar Rao)
Can ruin of quality forests be made up by plantations?
There is a gain in forest cover outside forest land as per the 'State of forest report 2019'. But, can reforestation replace natural forests and its essential ecosystem?
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 18 Jan, 2020 04:49 PM

The recently released biennial State of India’s Forest Report 2019 (SFR) indicates an improvement in forest cover since 2017 but dense forests continue to turn into non-forests.
Chir pine trees felled by forest fires in Uttarakhand, 2016 (Image: Ramwik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
Whose forests, whose rights?
While forest bureaucracy has been trying to undermine reforms in forest governance in India, the need for community level forest governance is more urgent than ever.
Sharachchandra Lele
Posted on 15 Jan, 2020 02:58 PM

India’s forest sector, at crossroads
Mangar Bani, a green patch between Faridabad and Gurgaon (Image: Pradip Krishen, Facebook)
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