/topics/ecology-and-environment
Ecology and Environment
Can legal compliance address environmental injustice?
Posted on 18 Mar, 2018 02:47 PMWhat happens after an environmental law is made or an environmental approval is granted to a project? Are all the safeguards complied with? Do the authorities in charge enforce the environmental regulations and laws proactively? What are the impacts that arise due to non-compliance with environmental regulations? How can affected communities pursue remedies?
![Landfills are a threat to the environment. (IWP Flickr photos; photo used for representation only)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/14342294073_0d6a890f89_z.jpg?itok=unSN4Dz2)
Village heads come together to save Dzongu
Posted on 15 Mar, 2018 06:12 PMAs we sit sipping tea with him, Ugen Lepcha calmly spells out his stand. “Even if it means having to leave my (political) party, I will continue to be against dams,” he says. Ugen Lepcha, the president of Passingang gram panchayat in the Dzongu area of Sikkim, clearly has courage when it comes to his political convictions.
![River Rongyoung which is sacred to the Lepchas is not yet dammed.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/save_dzongu_cover.jpeg?itok=kL-C89Cr)
Citizens save polluted Bengaluru lake
Posted on 14 Mar, 2018 07:23 PMGottigere lake used to be a major source of water for south Bangalore. Its overflow fed several other lakes in the area. It was also the reason why so many people bought apartments nearby.
![Gottigere residents gather to clean the lake. (Pic courtesy: 101Reporters)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/rsz_residents_of_gottigere_volunteer_to_clean_the_lake_that_is_being_used_as_a_dump_yard_since_many_years.jpg?itok=mxL3KuB0)
Centre fails to see the wood for the trees
Posted on 13 Mar, 2018 03:38 PMAs per the biennial State of Forest Report (SFR) 2017 by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), the total forest and tree cover in India increased during the period 2015 to 2017 by 0.94 percent. The increase in the forest cover has been of the order of 6,778 sq km and that of tree cover was about 1,243 sq km.
![India’s forest cover stands at 21.54 percent while its dense forest cover is about 12.26 percent, as per the State of Forest Report, 2017. (Image: Tridib Choudhury, Wikimedia commons, CC BY SA-4.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/tridib-chowdhary.jpg?itok=uUHAvbIr)
Karnataka to stop industries from using fresh river water
Posted on 13 Mar, 2018 11:19 AMKarnataka to formulate plan to prohibit industries from drawing fresh river water
![Karnataka plans to regulate fresh water use by industries. (Picture courtesy: India Spend)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/water_river.jpg?itok=h1vWOyH9)
Arsenic-affected village gets water after two decades
Posted on 12 Mar, 2018 05:41 AMKaudikasa is a small village with a population of just 350 people in the Ambagad Chowki block of the Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh. Despite its small size, Kaudikasa village has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Severe health problems have been reported from the village, thanks to acute arsenic contamination in its groundwater.
![Yuvraj Singh, a former sarpanch of Kaudikasa near the tube well reported to have the highest level of arsenic contamination.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/38815330440_fb9d5c937f_z.jpg?itok=vO6sXoDQ)
Islands float on Delhi lake
Posted on 08 Mar, 2018 06:09 AMLocated in the Hauz Khas urban village in the busy metropolis of Delhi is an exquisitely landscaped lush green patch. This deer park, with spotted deer, peacocks and numerous birds, leads to an incredibly beautiful lake. As per a plaque at the site, the lake is a part of the medieval (13th century) city of Delhi Sultanate.
![Phytoremediation principle is used to convert Hauz Khas lake into a water purifying wetland ecosystem. (Image: Tarun Nanda)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/lead-evolve.jpg?itok=7W7CAm0W)
Uttarakhand bans quarrying in Ganga, its tributaries
Posted on 06 Mar, 2018 12:14 PMUttarakhand bans quarrying in the Ganga and its tributaries post NGT order
![The state government plans to ban quarrying in the Ganga. (Picture courtesy: Hindustan Times)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/quarrying_0.jpg?itok=NDT6_x86)
Manhole-cleaning robot completes trial run
Posted on 06 Mar, 2018 11:50 AMManhole-cleaning robot Bandicoot successfully completes trial run in Thiruvananthapuram
![Team behind Bandicoot. (Picture courtesy: Scroll)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/bandicoot.jpg?itok=NzccUzVe)
Hot springs harbour microbial diversity
Posted on 28 Feb, 2018 08:31 PMMicroorganisms can be found in almost every habitat in the environment owing to their capacity to adapt and to survive. Some of them can withstand extremely hot environments such as natural hot springs. Studying such organisms can help in understanding not just why they are so hardy but may also yield new and useful chemicals.
![The team of scientists from the National Collection of Industrial Microorganisms (NCIM) who are conducting the study at the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. (Pic courtesy: ISW)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/ncl_dharne_grp.jpg?itok=crE1sfmN)