What is sand mining? Sand mining is the extraction of naturally formed sand from river banks, riverbeds, wetlands, or coasts. Sand is a silicate mineral and is of high value in construction, which is the primary driver of sand mining.… Read More
Every five years, India’s Finance Commission (FC), a constitutional body instituted by the President, determines the criteria for the devolution of the tax revenue by the Centre to the States. Of the total demarcated fund pool, a percentage of the … Read More
Tarun Nair is a conservation biologist with an affinity for crocodilians and rivers. Leading the Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (WCT’s) Makara Programme, he works along North-Central Indian riverscapes that harbour the last remaining populations of the Critically Endangered gharial, a fish-eating … Read More
It is interesting to behold the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial trajectory of forest governance in India. The forests have been viewed through a spectrum of administrative lenses over the past few centuries, ranging from subsistence to extraction in the past, … Read More
Meet Prachi Paranjpye, 28, conservation and social psychologist, researcher: What inspired you? My parents love travelling and so I was bitten by the travel bug very early, traversing India with them. As a teenager it prompted me to intern with… Read More
I have been working in the riverscapes of Bihar for over 25 long years, for the conservation of river biodiversity, particularly the Ganges river dolphin, by trying to understand the complex web of relations between humans, animals, and the river… Read More
An increase of 1,540 sq. km. of ‘forest cover’ in the recently published Indian State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021 started the year on a ‘green’ note. This continues the trend of recent ISFRs that consistently manage to announce increased… Read More
The death of an elephant in Kerala has galvanised the nation and there have been clarion calls for ‘justice’. As the sentiment wears off, phrases like ‘fed’ and ‘hungry’ have disappeared from the reports. A clearer picture has subsequently emerged … Read More
We are pleased to announce that the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) has won the prestigious UNDP Mahatma Award for Biodiversity 2023. WCT bagged this coveted award because of the success of its flagship ‘Heater of Hope’ project, which involves the… Read More
Where a vehicle doesn’t reach, Girish Punjabi walks with the forest staff installing camera traps and recording signs and tracks of tigers, leopards, dhole, and sloth bears. He and his team covered nearly 850 km. on foot in 2019-20 alone… Read More
It was 9.30 a.m. in May 2022, and the forest had already gone silent under the overpowering blaze of the sun. Just as our vehicle drove up a small but steep slope, leading to a large dike that encircled a… Read More
Equipping the Enforcers and Interpreters of Law: The journey of a wildlife crime, from its undertaking to its adjudication in the court of law, is a complex affair fraught with umpteen challenges for law enforcement agencies in their struggle to… Read More
Protecting and enhancing wildlife populations could be a global warming game changer New science recently published reveals that protecting and enhancing the populations of even a limited number of wildlife species could help to keep rising global temperatures below the … Read More
Bony and dishevelled, Kanta Kamde stands barefoot outside her house. I stand with her in silence, arms wrapped around my chest, gaze lowered. It feels like a condolence visit. Then she speaks, “We had run out of firewood. The cooking… Read More
“…until we turned to another book to find the age of the Earth, the one that was written in the rocks themselves.” – Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in ‘Cosmos’ Beauty of fossils lies not only in the fact that they … Read More