Ecology and Environment

Featured Articles
December 16, 2022
Healthy soil critical to human health and for achieving SDGs
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
Categorising watersheds for freshwater ecosystem conservation in India
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
Improving community resilience in ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction in India
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
Slow disaster: Political ecology of hazards and everyday life in the Brahmaputra valley, Assam
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
Deteriorating landscapes and threatened ecosystems of Jammu and Kashmir
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
Ichamati: River of poetry is dying a slow death
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)
States fail to tackle groundwater crisis
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 09 Jan, 2017 09:52 AM

A majority of states fail to stop overexploitation of groundwater
A well in Rajasthan (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Invite to the conference on conservation science and sustainable development
ATREE invites for a two day international conference to celebrate 20 years of completion and call attention to current environmental challenges.
Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 10:34 PM

In order to celebrate 20 years of ATREE and to call attention to current challenges in biodiversity conservation, environment and development, ATREE has organized a two day international conference in January, 2017.
Curious case of disappearing fish
Fish species are rapidly disappearing from Himalayan rivers. Dams are not the reason. Human activity is.
Chicu Lokgariwar
Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 09:41 PM

Jaman Ram, a resident of Bhikia Sain, a tehsil in Uttarakhand, remembers fishing with his father in the Ramganga. “We could catch 80-100 kilograms of fish a day. That is no longer possible,” he says. Shafiq of Haldwani shares an unsettling memory of the Ramganga. As a young man on a holiday, he was paddling in the river near Marchula when the rock he was standing on shifted.
Mahseer swim in the bracing waters of the Ganga in Uttarakhand.
Changing coast affects livelihood
While sundry development and infrastructure projects beautify the Chennai coastline, fishermen are left to fend for themselves.
Seetha Gopalakrishnan
Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 07:05 AM

Going by the statistics from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Tamil Nadu’s coastline is densely populated with 573 fishing villages along 13 coastal districts. The story is slightly different around the urban and peri-urban coastline, thanks to the ongoing gentrification of the coastline in most parts of urban India.
Chennai coast on a busy day.
The sea mouths crisis
The opening of sea mouths in the Chilika is increasing the salinity of the lake, affecting the fish population and the livelihood of the fishing communities.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 06 Jan, 2017 11:21 PM

Lingaraj Jena is a worried man. At 86, he is one of the older fishermen in Berhampura village, an island on the Chilika lake in Odisha. Though he no longer goes for fishing due to old age, he is worried about the opening of new sea mouths; he knows it is not good news for the fishing communities he is a part of that depend on the Chilika for their livelihood.
A view of the Chilika in the evening.
Ecologists challenge Bharti's remark on Ken-Betwa
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 05 Jan, 2017 11:20 AM

No final approval for Ken-Betwa river link as claimed by Centre
The Ken-Betwa river link shown on a map. (Source: Shannon via Wikipedia)
Worst drought in 115 years hits Kerala
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 02 Jan, 2017 10:33 PM

Kerala hit by worst drought in 115 years
Parched land during drought in India. (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
When riverbed becomes real estate
The banks of Yamuna have witnessed many forced evictions of illegal settlers over the years. The officials, however, turn a blind eye to encroachment by massive infrastructures.
Chicu Lokgariwar
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 02 Jan, 2017 08:17 PM

Shalu’s household was evicted from Koyla Basti of the Yamuna pushta (embankment), a massive slum cluster on the banks of the Yamuna river in the year 2004. Earthmoving machines bulldozed thousands of homes at the site which was to host the Commonwealth Games of 2010.
Forced evictions before the Commonwealth Games. (Source: Housing and Land Rights Network)
A book every city needs
Jal Aur Samaj' takes the readers through the pond culture of Bikaner that nurtured its past and holds promise for its future.
Manu Moudgil
Posted on 01 Jan, 2017 07:46 PM

A scarcity of something makes it special. That’s the reason why Rajasthan has always sanctified water much more than any other place in India. Low rainfall and saline groundwater turned people into great conservers who not only built beautiful and durable structures but also developed sustainable practices around them.
One of the ponds in Bikaner.
Hyderabad water bodies unfit for even irrigation
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 25 Dec, 2016 07:19 PM

Most of Hyderabad water bodies reduced to cesspools
Himayat Sagar lake in Hyderabad (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
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