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)
NGT questions UP on potable water to villages
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 24 Jul, 2016 03:30 PM

Provide potable water to villages: NGT asks UP government 
Polluted Hindon river (Source: Hindi Water Portal)
Rapar ends its long wait for water
How an arid, saline land where migration in search of water and jobs was a way of life, boasts of plenty of water now.
Samerth Trust
Posted on 20 Jul, 2016 09:26 AM

Summer temperatures soar to a gruelling 50ocelsius in Rapar, a little known block in Gujarat’s Kutch district. Land here is dry, saline and arid; the monsoon is erratic. Many a times, the entire year’s rain falls in a short span of two or three days, doing more harm than good.
Rapar has many water structures now. (Source: Samerth Trust)
State does a Nero while Kharun weeps
Despite the pitiable state of a polluted Kharun, the government is keen on developing the riverfront to attract tourists.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 18 Jul, 2016 09:30 AM

At sunrise, everything is luminous but not clear. 

― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
Kharun river at Mahadev Ghat, Raipur.
Maharashtra wetlands: Govt withdraws plea against construction ban
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 17 Jul, 2016 03:13 PM

Maharashtra government withdraws plea against ban on construction on wetlands  
India's wetlands under threat (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Ganga revival projects launched
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 09 Jul, 2016 10:36 PM

Centre launches 231 projects under Namami Gange
Ganga river at Gadmukteshwar (Source: IWP Flickr Photo)
Ministries spar over hydel project
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 03 Jul, 2016 04:59 PM

Ministries reach no consensus over Uttarakhand hydel project 
Downstream of ManeribhaliII Barrage at Uttarkashi (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Pipara women realise pipe dream
Pipara village in the parched Bundelkhand region stands out for its uninterrupted water supply. The village has their women to thank for it.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 01 Jul, 2016 12:03 PM

The cracks on the parched land of Bundelkhand are waiting for the monsoon to quench the thirst of its arid landscape. Despite the wide-spread drought here, Pipara, one of the villages in the region, stands apart as the only one that has not run completely dry. 
Women fill water from one of the taps at Pipara.
Centre releases draft of new National Forest Policy
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 25 Jun, 2016 08:50 AM

Environment ministry releases the draft of India’s new National Forest Policy
A forest area in Sikkim (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Farm ponds save village from drought
Tonk Khurd’s innovative farm ponds prove that when it comes to solving water crisis, one size does not fit all.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 21 Jun, 2016 09:09 AM

Vikram Patel, a 71-year-old farmer in Chidavad village of Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh is one of the first farmers to have embraced the idea of farm ponds to increase the groundwater level in his farm.
Vikram Patel near his farm pond in Chidavad.
Delhi water tanker scam: Sheila Dixit to be probed
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 18 Jun, 2016 10:19 AM

Former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit to be probed in water tanker scam
Water tankers fill in water (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
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