Institutional expertise meets judicial confusion in the Aravalli hills definition case
Down To Earth | 30 December, 2025 Sachin Pernacca Sashidhar, Milind Bunyan, Kripa MK, Abi T Vanak The Supreme Court’s now-stayed definition of the Aravalli Range relies on a 100-metre height threshold that could exclude most of the landscape. Scientists and environmental groups warn the move ignores decades of ecological research on how the Aravallis […]
The Three-decade-old Pesa Act Has Not Been Implemented Yet.
The PESA Act is about to complete 29 years in India. The Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, commonly known as the PESA Act, came into force on December 24, 1996, applicable to the Fifth Schedule areas of the country.
World Soil Day: Grassland Soils, Not Trees, Anchor India’s Climate Resilience
“Wastelands”. That’s how India’s biodiverse semi-arid grasslands and savannas have been undervalued ever since the British colonial era. For the masters, the woody forests of the subcontinent fuelled industrialisation, while the grassy biomes served no purpose in their timber-driven colonisation.
The Cascading Effect of Melting Glaciers From the Third Pole
International Mountain Day was first celebrated on 11 December 2003, following a United Nations General Assembly resolution that designated it a global observance to highlight the importance of mountains and promote sustainable mountain development. But long before the world agreed to mark the date, mountain peoples across continents had already honoured their peaks with reverence, […]
The cascading effects of melting glaciers
Newspaper article
The villagers’ Coexistence with Crocodiles.
The article discusses how villagers living near the Kali River region in Uttara Kannada district have developed a unique and harmonious way of coexisting with mugger crocodiles (locally called moṇale). Although crocodiles are commonly seen near human settlements, attacks are extremely rare because both people and wildlife have adapted to each other over time.
On World Soil Day, Rajasthan’s Traditional Water Systems Offer Climate Change Lessons
In the desert landscape of western Rajasthan, how communities use water has long depended on an intimate understanding of soil. Water management systems such as khadeens, bavdi, beris, tankas, johads, naadi, naada and talab were built on a deep, practical knowledge of how soils behave in extreme aridity in the region characterised by low rainfall. […]
The Indian Wolf’s Survival Depends on How We Classify Land
The Indian wolf’s future is tied to how India recognises and manages its savanna grasslands and predator–people relationships.
The Legal Hoodwinking of Adivasis
An examination of how legal processes have undermined community forest rights in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Arand forests.
Vanishing Chirps: Rapid Urban Growth Pushes Bengaluru’s Birds to the Brink
Urban growth and habitat change are reshaping bird populations in Bengaluru, with species responses linked to habitat dependency.
