/topics/ecology-and-environment
Ecology and Environment
Acquired lands lay barren, SC questions states
Posted on 16 Jan, 2017 12:11 PMWhy are lands acquired from farmers barren? SC asks states
![Women farmers protest against land acquisition (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/sundari_protest_0.jpg?itok=f7pxz7Py)
State of rivers goes south
Posted on 14 Jan, 2017 05:40 PMAt a time when the government’s attention is steered towards the concerns of the northern rivers like the Ganga and the Yamuna, it is seldom that the polluted rivers of the south India come up for discussion.
![Water-borne litter in Salem, Tamil Nadu. (Source: Parvathisri, Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/water-borne_litter_in_salem_tamil_nadu_india-parvathisri-wikimedia-commons_0.jpg?itok=Y5QZTdyg)
The doer from the Thar
Posted on 10 Jan, 2017 10:53 PM“Can you see the alternating bands of light and shadow in the sky?” Chattar Singh asks me. When I nod in affirmation, he continues, “This is Mogh. There are clouds where the sun is setting right now. If we get a favourable wind, these clouds will reach here and we may get rain by night. In desert, people live by such clues from nature.”
![Despite all the great work, Chattar Singh's demeanour remains unassuming. Source: Farhad Contractor](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/chattar_0.jpg?itok=M6B0FQSh)
Maharashtra gears up for irrigation projects
Posted on 09 Jan, 2017 10:14 AMMaharashtra approves cost overrun in irrigation projects, set to complete Gosikhurd project
![Irrigation canal from the Bhima dam, Maharashtra (Source: Nvvchar on Wikipedia)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/irrigation_canal_taking_off_from_the_dam_0_1.jpg?itok=Q_jAYiNI)
States fail to tackle groundwater crisis
Posted on 09 Jan, 2017 09:52 AMA majority of states fail to stop overexploitation of groundwater
![A well in Rajasthan (Source: IWP Flickr photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/27560459605_dd7aeae4a2_z_0.jpg?itok=1_nCY7wm)
Invite to the conference on conservation science and sustainable development
Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 10:34 PMIn order to celebrate 20 years of ATREE and to call attention to current challenges in biodiversity conservation, environment and development, ATREE has organized a two day international conference in January, 2017.
Curious case of disappearing fish
Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 09:41 PMJaman Ram, a resident of Bhikia Sain, a tehsil in Uttarakhand, remembers fishing with his father in the Ramganga. “We could catch 80-100 kilograms of fish a day. That is no longer possible,” he says. Shafiq of Haldwani shares an unsettling memory of the Ramganga. As a young man on a holiday, he was paddling in the river near Marchula when the rock he was standing on shifted.
![Mahseer swim in the bracing waters of the Ganga in Uttarakhand.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/mahseer_cover.jpg?itok=nP3lGpGC)
Changing coast affects livelihood
Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 07:05 AMGoing by the statistics from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Tamil Nadu’s coastline is densely populated with 573 fishing villages along 13 coastal districts. The story is slightly different around the urban and peri-urban coastline, thanks to the ongoing gentrification of the coastline in most parts of urban India.
![Chennai coast on a busy day.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/32005696281_54bd33c028_z_1.jpg?itok=abpN0Mke)
The sea mouths crisis
Posted on 06 Jan, 2017 11:21 PMLingaraj Jena is a worried man. At 86, he is one of the older fishermen in Berhampura village, an island on the Chilika lake in Odisha. Though he no longer goes for fishing due to old age, he is worried about the opening of new sea mouths; he knows it is not good news for the fishing communities he is a part of that depend on the Chilika for their livelihood.
![A view of the Chilika in the evening.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/30347858053_a6bb48c3f4_o.jpg?itok=6KFn0RE8)