Ecology and Environment

Featured Articles
December 16, 2022 Soil research must focus both on technology development and implementation
The ability of soils to support soil functions or services is decreasing (Image: Katrin Park/International Food Policy Research Institute)
November 25, 2022 These maps at the watershed scales have been made to not only ensure inclusion of different freshwater ecosystems, their connectivity and hydrological processes, but can also provide a spatial context for conservation decisions.
A stream at Anini, Arunachal Pradesh (Image Source: Roshni Arora)
November 16, 2022 Adoption of hybrid solutions - grey and green structures appropriate for resilience building
Healthy wetland ecosystems help in reducing disaster risks and managing climate risks (Image: Pxhere)
October 30, 2022 This book by Dr. Mitul Baruah presents a fascinating, ethnographic account of the challenges faced by communities living in Majuli, India, one of the largest river islands in the world, which has experienced immense socio-environmental transformations over the years, processes that are emblematic of the Brahmaputra Valley as a whole. This is an excerpt from the book.
Floods are recurrent phenomena in Assam (Image: Mitul Baruah)
October 6, 2022 Rapid urbanisation and faulty land use policies are rapidly destroying forests, grasslands and wetlands in Jammu and Kashmir, India and the ecosystem value services they provide. Can these valuable ecosystems be saved?
Deteriorating ecosystems of Jammu and Kashmir, India (Image Source: tkohli at Flickr via Wikimedia Commons)
July 14, 2022 The river is faced with the dual problem of flood plain encroachment and growing levels of water pollution
Illegal transverse check dams (Badhals) built on Ichamati near a village in Basirhat (Image: Prithviraj Nath @ TheWaterChronicles)
Why East Kolkata Wetlands needs to be protected
East Kolkata Wetlands that provides many ecosystem services needs to be preserved to meet the SDGs and to mitigate the effect of global warming. Posted on 17 Aug, 2017 12:27 PM

Increasingly in both academic and social sectors, sustainable development goals (SDGs) are being quoted often and set as targets.

Five-star hotels under construction backdrop the Dhapa vegetable patch.
Maintain 15-20 pc environmental flow in rivers: NGT
Policy matters this week Posted on 16 Aug, 2017 05:53 AM

NGT has ordered states to maintain environmental flow of 15-20 percent in rivers

Ganga river at Kaudiyala (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
MoEF for dropping seven hydel projects in Arunachal
Policy matters this week Posted on 11 Aug, 2017 10:19 AM

Environment ministry recommends dropping seven hydel projects in Arunachal Pradesh

Pristine Arunachal Pradesh (Source: Wikimedia)
Minimising bycatch
Bycatch during trawling not only harms the environment but causes huge economic loss also. A video tells us why it is important to address this issue. Posted on 09 Aug, 2017 01:46 PM

Fishing trawlers symbolise industrial-scale fishing which is lucrative in the present day market. These machines that catch fish in huge numbers are said to be a boon to the sector’s economy but a closer look at the figures show that these modes of mass fishing may not be as efficient as they may seem to appear.

Shrimp bycatch (Image source:Wikipedia)
Bad times at Baddi
Unless industries clean up their act and authorities take it up seriously, Baddi’s water will continue to be polluted causing hardship to its residents. Posted on 09 Aug, 2017 05:59 AM

When Satya Devi was a child, the open well near her house in the village of Malku Majra was the water source for the household. She reminisces, “The water was clean and soft. The well would never go dry.

The state pollution control board insists that none of the factories in the area allow any pollutants to be discharged into the environment. The state of the surface water bodies, however, belies this statement.
What happens to your e-waste?
Though informal e-waste handling, segregation and import are prohibited by the law, e-waste business is thriving in the country. Posted on 05 Aug, 2017 05:44 PM

Take a walk through the maze of lanes at Seelampur in north-east Delhi, you could see small children rummaging through electronic waste that has made its way here from all over north India. They segregate end-of-life electrical and electronic products, prise them apart, put them through acid wash and also burn circuit boards in the hope of extracting precious metals.

Boys sort discarded computer parts as sparks fly from a grinding machine.  (Image: Greenpeace, Flickr Commons; CC BY-ND 2.0)
To some, floods can be good news
A large part of the Kanwar Lake has been converted to permanent agriculture compromising its ecological diversity. A video tells us why it is important to restore it. Posted on 02 Aug, 2017 05:52 AM

Floods are generally considered destructive but in some cases, overflowing rivers have the potential to create wetlands. These wetlands can serve as agreeable landscapes that turn resourceful due to the multiple functions it can host. The Kanwar Lake in Bihar is a striking example of this shared, altering landscapes. 

Red-naped Ibis at the Kanwar Lake (Source: Wikipedia)
World Culture Festival: New panel contradicts report
Policy matters this week Posted on 01 Aug, 2017 02:19 PM

No compaction of soil on the World Culture Festival site: New panel to NGT

Front view of the giant stage under construction for the World Culture Festival. (Source: Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan)
Maharashtra wetlands face threat
News this week Posted on 01 Aug, 2017 01:49 PM

Illegal slums on Maharashtra mudflats cause loss to state

Sewri mudflts in Mumbai (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Playing the soil health card
Is the soil health card scheme introduced to improve the economic condition of the farmers by bettering the health of the soil effective? Posted on 01 Aug, 2017 11:49 AM

Decades of skating over environmental concerns have clearly cost us dear. The folly of pursuing better crop yields using chemical fertilisers in an indiscriminate manner has been surfacing lately. “Decades of agricultural abuse using fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides have taken its toll on us.

The electrical conductivity of a diluted soil sample is being tested as a measure of soil salinity. (Image:CSIRO, Wikimedia Commons; CC Attribution 3.0 Unported)
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