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)
Barriers to organic farming: Experience of Kansari Organics
Government needs to switch subsidies and investments from chemical agriculture to the promotion of sustainable agriculture
Subhadra Khaperde
Ananya Mukerji
Posted on 15 Aug, 2021 09:15 PM

Agriculture in India directly or indirectly provides livelihoods to 60% of the population and so the problems of this sector are most relevant for the country’s overall development and have to be effectively addressed.
A farmer harvests the season's cauliflower crop near Kullu town, Himachal Pradesh (Image: Neil Palmer, CIAT; Wikimedia Commons)
Floods and recurring natural disasters in India
Better regulation of environmentally sensitive areas is needed to avert disasters.
Gurinder Kaur
Posted on 04 Aug, 2021 09:59 AM

After two weeks of extremely hot and long dry weather, the monsoon winds brought heavy rains to the hilly northern states of India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand) and the south-west coastal states (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, and Kerala).
Floods in Uttarkashi (Image: Oxfam International; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Did the moody monsoon shrink forests in peninsular India?
A study finds that while forests existed in peninsular India, they were replaced by savanna grasslands over time. And the weakening monsoon was the culprit!
Nils Riedel
Dorian Q. Fuller
Norbert Marwan
Constantin Poretschkin
Nathani Basavaiah
Philip Menzel
Jayashree Ratnam
Sushma Prasad
Dirk Sachse
Mahesh Sankaran
Saswati Sarkar
Martina Stebich
Posted on 04 Jul, 2021 04:26 PM

Vegetation in peninsular India is dominated by large tracts of grasslands, mainly savanna vegetation.
Savanna grasslands at Nannaj Bustard Sanctuary, Solapur, Maharashtra (Image Source: Raju Kasambe via Wikimedia Commons)
A just energy transition roadmap
iFOREST looks at challenges and opportunities for a post-coal future in its new report
iFOREST
Posted on 30 Jun, 2021 11:15 AM

In the run-up to COP 26, International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology (iFOREST), the Delhi-based environmental organization, launched India’s first ‘Just Transition’ Centre at a virtual event on Ju
How the demand for coal is transforming the environment and the people who depend on it (Image: Wilson-Centre, Environmental Change and Security Program, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Eco-Tales exchanging ideas, suggestions on 'Wetland Management and Biodiversity Conservation
Posted on 17 Jun, 2021 01:04 PM

The Central Pollution Control Board, MOEF&CC, are offering an open and free-flowing discussion forum where you can share your valuable ideas, your thoughts, tell your stories and suggestions about 'Wetland Management and Biodiversity Conservation', its usage its value towards humankind (based on this year's theme- Ecosystem Restoration).
Four north-western states and UTs to achieve 'Har Ghar Jal' status by 2022
Policy matters this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 10 Jun, 2021 01:24 PM

Centre to allocate Rs 8,216.25 crore for four north-western states and UTs under Jal Jeevan Mission
A woman climbs up a water tank to fetch water due to lack of access to pipe water connection (Image Source: India Water Portal Flickr Album)
Kerala top performer in Niti Aayog's SDG India Index 2020-21
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 10 Jun, 2021 01:19 PM

NITI Aayog releases SDG India Index 2020-21, Kerala top performing state while Mizoram is the top gainer
View of lush green Kerala (Image source: ATREE via India Water Portal Flickr Album)
When the Ganges spews plastic!
Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear not only forms a large portion of plastic waste that the Ganges pours into the sea, it also poses a major threat to the environment and biodiversity!
Sarah E. Nelms et al
Posted on 04 Jun, 2021 07:59 PM

Rivers, carriers of plastic
Ganga river at Gadmukteshwar (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Amidst Covid-19 second wave, two cyclones hit the Indian coasts
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 27 May, 2021 09:26 PM

Cyclone Tauktae hit the west coast, while Yaas batters the east coast
Fallen lampost and trees lay sprawled across the road after a cyclone (Image Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Centre releases funds to states under Jal Jeevan Mission
Policy matters this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 27 May, 2021 06:59 AM

Jal Jeevan Mission: Centre releases funds to states and asks states/UTs to digitise water supply infrastructure in rural India
A roadside tap in a village (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
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