Complementary Actions Can Transform Human-wildlife Conflict Into Coexistence
Kesang Wangchuk and Sanjeeb Pradhan ICIMOD | August 21, 2025 Lying on opposite banks of the Mechi River, the Naxalbari block (of West Bengal) in eastern India and the Jhapa district of eastern Nepal are en route to the Mahananda-Kolabari-Mechi transboundary passage for elephants in the eastern Himalayan foothills. Both locations witness regular elephant incursions […]
The Bird of the Hills: Why the Darjeeling Woodpecker Deserves Our Attention
Aditya Pradhan Himalaya Darpan | August 12, 2025 High in the temperate oak and rhododendron forests of the Eastern Himalaya lives the Darjeeling Woodpecker (Dendrocopos darjellensis), the only bird named after Darjeeling, yet unknown to most locals. Found only in undisturbed forests above 1,800m, its presence signals healthy, diverse bird communities, making it a vital […]
Between Birds and People: Field Notes on Gender and Access
Current Conservation | August 12, 2025 Sanmadi K. R. Our study, as part of the Agasthyamalai Community Conservation Centre (ATREE-ACCC), focused on examining the community’s relationship with these birds, perceiving their understanding of conservation, and assessing the feasibility of community-based ecotourism as a potential livelihood opportunity. This required not only structured interviews but also unstructured […]
Fading Memories and Forgotten Tales: Jackals in Assamese Narratives
Priyanka Borah Current Conservation | August 11, 2025 I was walking through the streets under the scorching sun. Suddenly, my gaze fell on an aita, an elderly woman, sitting on the threshold of her home. As soon as our eyes met, she smiled and gestured for me to come closer. I introduced myself as a […]
Mahua: The Magic Tree of Life
Abhijit Dey Round Glass Sustain | July 30, 2025 The mahua tree may be famous for the potent indigenous liquor made from its flowers, but for many forest-dependent communities, the tree is also a source of oil, medicine, insecticide, livestock feed, and has even served as famine survival food
Efforts to Restore Mangroves Can Turn the Tide on India’s Coastal Security
Priya Ranganathan The Hindu | July 26, 2025 Across India’s coasts, from the languid channels of the Sundarbans delta to Mumbai’s stifled creeks, mangroves form a barrier between land and sea. These coastal forests are critical in India’s pursuit of climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, and the empowerment of coastal communities.
Milk, Moonwalks and Icebergs: the Metaphors of Luni
Hassan S Islam Veditum India Foundation | July 24, 2025 we found the river sustaining with green vegetation, trees and farmlands. Sometimes, even patches of water. It was neither a river in the conventional sense, nor was it just an arid scar in the desert landscape.
By Invitation: Why India must protect its open natural ecosystems
Abi Tamim Vanak and Anuja Malhotra Bangalore Mirror | July 16, 2025 Deserts are often misunderstood as failed ecosystems—barren, lifeless expanses in need of redemption. Popular imagination and policy alike view these arid landscapes as degraded zones to be greened through afforestation or irrigation. However, deserts are far from broken. They are ancient, biologically rich […]
Contesting the future of forest governance
Gautam Aredath, sharachchandra Lele The Hindu | July 16, 2025 Chhattisgarh forest department issued a letter designating itself as the nodal agency for implementing community forest resource rights (CFRR) under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. CFRR, a transformative provision of the FRA, recognises the right of gram sabhas to manage their customary forests. It […]
Why Must India Recognise Its Open Ecosystems?
Abi Tamim Vanak, Anuja Malhotra The Hindu | July 14, 2025 Deserts are often imagined as failures of nature, and barren wastelands in need of redemption. This worldview fuels grand ambitions to “green” the desert, through afforestation, irrigation schemes, or even climate engineering. This gives way to the idea that deserts are broken ecosystems.
