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)
A 3-year journey from water scarcity to security
Manayali village in Maharashtra not only became water secure but also managed to provide a solution to a small Banjara community that lives 3 km away from it -- through community participation.
Dhaval Joshi and Jairaj Rajguru
Posted on 02 Mar, 2015 02:43 PM

Santosh Gavale, a resident of Manyali village in Umarkhed tehsil of Yavatmal district, is a happy man now. The village, which has faced an increasing water crisis over the years, is now water sufficient because it manages its water resources well and shares it equitably. Santosh managed to do this for his village. 
Manyali residents testing water from their well
Budget 'asks' for food and nutrition security
With the budget round the corner what are the asks from the standpoint of food sovereignty? A Convention on Budget 2015-16 by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability looks at these.
Centre for Budgetary and Governance Accountability
Posted on 24 Feb, 2015 04:19 PM

Children at an anganwadi centre at Mysore
Empowered TN fisherfolk challenge urbanisation
Should a fishing hamlet be lost to an elevated Beach Expressway? No!, say the fisherfolk of Olcott and Odai Kuppam who claim their rights over coastal commons using community self-mapping.
Mukul Kumar K Saravanan Nityananda Jayaraman
Swapna Majumdar
Posted on 24 Feb, 2015 11:52 AM

Rapid urbanisation in various forms is set to transform the coastline of Tamil Nadu as real estate, infrastructure, tourism, and urban beautification plans are in full swing. Fisherfolk, whose everyday life and survival is rooted in the commons, are at the centre of these processes of coastal urbanisation.
Fishermen launching their boat into the sea
Environment Ministry lied to Supreme Court about the Uttarakhand dam report
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 24 Feb, 2015 11:08 AM

Centre presents an opposite picture in the Uttarakhand dam case
Ganga at Kaudiyala
Small farming needs a budget boost
The asks of the Agriculture sector are many but what all must the budget focus on? A National Convention on Budget 2015-16 by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability looks at these.
Centre for Budgetary and Governance Accountability
Posted on 24 Feb, 2015 10:02 AM

The agriculture sector has been playing a significant role in shaping India’s overall growth trajectory. What promising initiatives should the Budget 2015-16 come up with? Should it extend timely credit facilities to farmers belonging to all the farming categories? Should it extend crop insurance facilities to all farmers and for all crops? 
Farmer in Palamau; Image: VSK, Palamau
Climate change threatens Indian mangroves
Increase in temperatures, carbon dioxide concentration, rise in sea levels and extreme weather events like cyclones and droughts, are predicted to have deleterious effects on Indian mangroves.
S. Sandilyan
Posted on 21 Feb, 2015 07:20 PM

India’s 7500 km coastal line supports nearly 4, 87,100 hectares of mangroves. These unique ecosystems harbour nearly 3985 species of flora and fauna. Due to the increasing effects of climate change, mangrove forests in the country are under serious threat.

What are mangroves?
Sundarban mangrove (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Water Untouched: A film on Dalits' lack of access
Forming 17% of India's popultion, Dalits still have to depend on the goodwill of dominant castes for many things including access to basics. Why?
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 19 Feb, 2015 08:59 AM

“The Dalits of this country get access to water on the goodwill of the dominant caste. Water to untouchables is still miles away,” says Goldy M George, a Dalit activist and an expert on Dalit rights.
A Dalit woman in Ekta Nagar, Raipur
Applications invited for the post of 'Gender and Natural Resource Management Specialist', International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal
ICIMOD is looking for an expert with substantive conceptual and theoretical knowledge and understanding of gender issues in natural resource management, climate change, and social systems.
Posted on 18 Feb, 2015 04:45 PM

The expert must be capable in providing technical expertise integrating social and gender dimensions, perspectives and approaches into ICIMOD’s regional programmes, initiatives and thematic areas; and who has substantial experience conducting research and policy advocacy and ensuring gender-positive impacts. 
Mhadei Tribunal favours Goa
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 17 Feb, 2015 08:39 PM

Goa relieved, as tribunal restrains work on Maharashtra's Virdi dam
A dam in Maharashtra
India ranked 12th in mismanaging plastic waste
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 17 Feb, 2015 08:28 PM

8 million tonnes of plastic waste dumped into world's oceans in 2010: Study
Two oceans meeting at Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu
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