Next to India’s capital, a village looks to the past for its forest’s future
DELHI NCR — Sunil Harsana says he always knew there were paintings in the caves near his home in Mangar, a village on the outskirts of India’s capital, New Delhi.…
India-conservation News
Leopards could reduce rabies by controlling stray dog numbers in India, study finds
Leopards are among the most widespread of all big cats, with a historical range covering large parts of Africa and Asia. Though humans have whittled away about 80 percent of…
Social-media firestorm defends popular man-eating tiger in India, raising conservation questions
A tiger identified as Ustad prowls Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in 2012. Photo credit: Allan Hopkins. On May 8, when 56-year-old forest guard Rampal Saini set out to patrol an area…
Can the millions in urban India live among greenery?
An interview with urban ecologist Harini Nagendra Large swathes of wilderness alternating with pockets of urbanization may be a reality in some countries, but in India boundaries are soft. Where…
Will tigers march ahead? Scientists find surprising connections between isolated populations in Central India
In May 2011, a young male Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) made its way to a village in the state of Karnataka in India. The tiger had been quite a…
Tracking one of the world’s last Great Indian Bustards to save the species
A new project aims to track the movements of the Critically Endangered species in a last ditch effort to preserve it. Bilal Habib is closely tracking the flight of a…
Curious bears take ‘selfies’ with camera traps
"Selfies" are all the rage this year, and even bears have jumped on the trend. Especially the shaggy-coated, termite-loving sloth bears (Melursus ursinus), who seem particularly fascinated by the cameras…
Where have all the dugongs gone?
Legend has it that lonely sailors mistook them for beautiful, mythical mermaids. But as it turns out, the muse behind these beguiling sea nymphs was instead the dugong – a…
The swan song of India’s dancing bears
India’s last dancing bear has retired. As the stars of their cruel little roadshows, sloth bears danced to the piercing sounds of the damru for hundreds of years. Orphaned by…
Photo essay: notes from India’s Kabini River
The Nilgiris, also known as the "Blue mountains," in southern India are an extraordinary mountain range that form one of the most diverse biospheres in the country, the Nilgiri Biosphere.…
Wildlife in Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve suffers from lack of a transition zone
The Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve in southern India acts as a conduit between the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats, a mountain range parallel to the western coast of India and its eastern counterpart,…
Photo essay: India’s Western Ghats is a haven for endemic amphibians
The Western Ghats are a globally recognized repository of biological diversity for our planet. We know very little about most species found here, particularly the ecologically sensitive and spectacularly beautiful…
India moves rapidly to protect Amur falcons from mass-hunting
In October last year, an astounding mass hunting came to light—an estimated 120,000–140,000 Amur falcons were being hunted and killed in Nagaland, India, every year. A small bird of prey,…
Amendments to Indian legislation could pose a threat to wildlife research
In the upcoming session of the Indian Parliament, MPs will debate whether researchers and poachers should be treated in the same manner for a breach of law. A new bill…
Sahyadris – Mountains of the Monsoon
Stunning images, snippets of video and a compelling narrative come together in a “showcase” app for the iPad. The Sahyadris app is an immersive experience, which taps the full potential…
New Android app helps you identify frogs in the Western Ghats
Amphibians hop onto your Android phone in an app that focuses on ease of use. There are many among us who have gone out for a walk in the night,…
Scientists map human-wildlife conflict in India
Designating protected areas in a country with 1.27 billion people comes with its own consequences: around each protected area in India lies a zone where wildlife strays out, and people…
Scientists develop new model to estimate poaching in animal populations
Keeping track of the number of wild animals killed illegally has never been easy. From counting carcasses, to looking at official records and trade logs, managers have had to innovate.…
First of its kind rescue and release for sloth bear in India
For a young wild sloth bear who found himself amidst a panic-stricken village in India, rescue was fortunately, and surprisingly, close at hand. In a one-of-a-kind heartwarming story, a team…
How tigers are faring in their final frontier
An edited version of this article first appeared on NatureIndia on July 8th, 2013. “Gone are the tiger-filled days when Corbett, as a small boy wandering the jungles of Nepal…
Saving the Raja of India’s grasslands: new efforts to conserve the Critically Endangered Great Indian Bustard
The flagship species of India's grasslands and savannas, the Critically Endangered Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps). Photo by: Ramki Sreenivasan/Conservation India. The Great Indian Bustard, one of India's iconic birds,…
Local people provide wildlife and forest data in park plagued by conflict
There are often many obstacles for scientists when gauging wildlife decline and forest loss, and one of the most difficult is civil conflict, like the situation in the Similipal Tiger…
India’s hornbill conservator is awarded the ‘Green Oscar’
The Whitley Awards is a prestigious international prize awarded annually to individuals working in nature conservation at a grassroots level. They were first awarded in 1994 and over the past…
Where the flamingos fly: Mumbai, apparently!
When you think of flamingos you think of the great flamingo migration, a sea of pink in Tanzania, or maybe even a funny cartoon with these dancing, lanky creatures but…
Human-wildlife conflict on the rise in India
Recently, the news has been rife with reports of human-wildlife conflict over various parts of India. Most of these reports originate from forest areas surrounding the Western Ghats in the…
Where do the birds fly? – Migrant Watch, a ‘citizen science’ data collection organization tells you
India is a hot spot for migratory birds and there are many species that visit the country in various times of the year. Amateur bird-watchers have taken it upon themselves…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
- Monitoring group cracks down on deforestation in Cameroon gorilla sanctuary
- Western Kenya’s most important water-capturing forest is disappearing, satellites show
Oceans
- Conservationists see progress for swordfish, problems for sharks at Atlantic fisheries summit
- As tidal power rides a wave of clean energy optimism, pitfalls persist
- Plan for close season rings alarm bells for Liberia’s artisanal fishers
- Lab-grown corals resisted bleaching during Caribbean’s worst marine heat wave
Amazon Conservation
- ‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- ‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
Land rights and extractives
- Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await
- Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
- A national park and its rangers in Bolivia endure persisting road construction, illegal mining
- Can nations ever get artisanal gold mining right?
Endangered Environmentalists
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
- Mongabay video screening at Chile’s Supreme Court expected to help landmark verdict in Brazil
- Indonesian activist freed in hate speech case after flagging illegal shrimp farms
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
Conservation Effectiveness
- How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- An ‘ocean grab’ for a property megaproject leaves Jakarta fishers grounded
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
