Tag: Environment

Pangolins are one of the world’s most trafficked mammals even as their existence is threatened by shrinking habitats. So to protect them, conservationists are keen to know where they are being poached. The problem is that it is notoriously difficult to trace a bag of scales seized from a smuggler in an airport back to...

Even as the Calcutta High Court is set to hear challenges to the Centre’s Great Nicobar Island (GNI) project over allegations that the Forest Rights Act was violated while obtaining locals’ consent for it, the tribal council in Nicobar has now flagged further violations of the law in the government’s notification of three wildlife sanctuaries...

The story so far: The India Meteorological Department on Tuesday unveiled a new forecast system that, for the first time, will generate block-level forecasts of the monsoon’s arrival. The system covers 15 States and one Union Territory, taking in 3,196 blocks — roughly half of India’s 7,200-odd blocks. Until now, monsoon onset estimates have been...

In March 2025, Dehradun’s Parade Ground transformed into a funereal space. Scores of people dressed in white, their mouths bound in black cloth, paid silent ‘homage’ to the hundreds of trees felled for development projects in Uttarakhand — past, present, and those marked to go in the future. As you read this, 4,400 trees are...

The British natural historian David Attenborough turns 100 today. It is likely no one has done more to make the non-human world more legible and loveable to mass audiences. Attenborough’s career as a host, starting with Zoo Quest in 1954, spans seven decades and nine documentary series. His influence on how several generations of people...

Flood hazard assessments for Uttarakhand have routinely underestimated the danger to its towns and villages because they have leaned on long-term average rainfall figures rather than the extreme downpours that actually trigger disasters, according to a study in Current Science. The findings arrive at a moment when the Himalayan state is grappling with what climate...

The British natural historian David Attenborough turns 100 today. It is likely no one has done more to make the non-human world more legible and loveable to mass audiences. Attenborough’s career as a host, starting with Zoo Quest in 1954, spans seven decades and nine documentary series. His influence on how several generations of people...

Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Sabha MP and former Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, general secretary (communications), Indian National Congress. | Photo Credit: PTI “David Attenboroughwas part of Indira Gandhi’s circle of naturalists. In 2019, in his acceptance speech on winning the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, he recalled a conversation...

Industrial decarbonisation is often framed through solutions that promise deep emissions reductions (e.g. green hydrogen and carbon capture). These pathways are essential, particularly for hard-to-abate sectors, but are still several years away from large-scale adoption Industry accounted for nearly half of India’s final energy consumption in 2025, much of it still tied to fossil fuels....

Officials have confirmed the return of the rare caracal in the Thar Desert near the India-Pakistan border, raising fresh hopes for conservation of the highly elusive, and critically endangered species. The officials spotted two wildcats, a male and female, in the Shahgarh region of Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer, with the help of camera traps and radio-collaring, taking...