Forests

Term Path Alias

/topics/forests

Featured Articles
May 19, 2024 The surprising connection between Wikipedia, beaches, and your water bottle.
A top down image of a lush green forest in a sacred grove in Meghalaya (Image created by: Sreechand Tavva)
May 11, 2024 Deforestation, expansion of agricultural land, encroachment into forested areas, and unplanned urbanisation alter landscape connectivity, fragment habitats, and increase fire ignition sources.
Uttarakhand's wildfire wake-up call (Image: Pickpic)
May 8, 2024 What is the ecosystem based approach to water management? How can it help in solving the water woes of states in the Deccan Plateau?
An ecosystem based approach to water management (Image Source: India Water Portal)
May 26, 2023 Orans are traditional sacred groves found in Rajasthan. These are community forests, preserved and managed by rural communities through institutions and codes that mark such forests sacred. Orans have significance for both, conservation and livelihood. The author visited two orans in Alwar district in Rajasthan and in this article, she writes about her observation.
Since ancient times, communities in Rajasthan have preserved these orans, and their lives have been inextricably entwined with them. (Image: Ranjita Mohanty)
April 26, 2023 Carbon market can play a role in rewarding environmental stewardship
The motivated young farmer proudly showed his 80 guava trees that he planted for the first time in the village and made a profit of INR 6,000. He is the second generation. His-father made the first attempt at agroforestry in 2010. He is motivated to adopt innovative practices and does not want to migrate to a larger city. (Image: Yasmeen Telwala)
Managing commons: Need and challenges
How can technology, knowledge and capacity creation help in management of commons? Posted on 06 Feb, 2020 07:17 PM

Common pool resources, popularly known as “commons”, are those resources which are accessible to the whole community or village and to which no individual has exclusive ownership or property rights. Commons have two essential characteristics: non-excludability and high-subtractability.

Plantation in Gomala (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)
Ramsar tag granted to ten more wetlands
News this week Posted on 30 Jan, 2020 10:36 AM

10 more wetlands in the country are now Ramsar sites

A wetland in Punjab (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Rubber monoculture: Death knell for agrobiodiversity
A study looks at the subjective well-being of an indigenous community of Tripura amidst the transition from shifting cultivation to monoculture of natural rubber. Posted on 29 Jan, 2020 04:44 PM

People tend to be happier and reinvigorated in green spaces. Agrobiodiversity - the number and abundance of different species in particular systems is known to promote happiness. It ensures the resilience of ecosystem services such as food production, climate regulation, and pest management that in turn underpin human wellbeing.

Tripura had the highest rate of growth of rubber plantation during the first decade of the millennium as compared to any other state (Image: Flickr Commons)
Neeru and the Nilgiris
Conserving springs, small hill wetlands and their catchment in the Nilgiris. Posted on 24 Jan, 2020 11:36 AM

Locally called Neeru, water of the Nilgiris in its springs and wetlands has been the fountainhead for two main rivers systems of South India. Today, with growing anthropogenic influences, there is a water crisis in the hills that needs our attention more than ever before.

A view of the Nilgiris (Image credits: Golkul Halan)
Cauvery riverfront development plan gets an approval
Policy matters this week Posted on 22 Jan, 2020 08:41 PM

Cauvery riverfront development plan gets a nod

Cauvery river at Hogenakal, Karnataka (Source: IWP Flickr Photos via Claire Arni and Oriole Henri)
The Karnataka State Water Policy 2019
The Karnataka Jnana Aayoga (KJA) set up a Task Group to draft a new water policy for Karnataka in December 2017 and the report is now in public domain. What are the suggestions that the report makes? Posted on 20 Jan, 2020 11:42 AM

The water crisis in Karnataka has not only led to severe agrarian distress in the eastern plains region but also created an acute shortage of domestic water, in both rural and urban areas. The 21st century has seen significant changes in demography, economy and agriculture, increasing the demand for water in the state.

Groundwater depletion, a growing challenge (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Can ruin of quality forests be made up by plantations?
There is a gain in forest cover outside forest land as per the 'State of forest report 2019'. But, can reforestation replace natural forests and its essential ecosystem? Posted on 18 Jan, 2020 04:49 PM

The recently released biennial State of India’s Forest Report 2019 (SFR) indicates an improvement in forest cover since 2017 but dense forests continue to turn into non-forests.

Chir pine trees felled by forest fires in Uttarakhand, 2016 (Image: Ramwik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
Whose forests, whose rights?
While forest bureaucracy has been trying to undermine reforms in forest governance in India, the need for community level forest governance is more urgent than ever. Posted on 15 Jan, 2020 02:58 PM

India’s forest sector, at crossroads

Mangar Bani, a green patch between Faridabad and Gurgaon (Image: Pradip Krishen, Facebook)
If she built a country: A film review
The film looks at corporate grab of forest and private lands in the Scheduled Areas of Chhattisgarh. Posted on 04 Jan, 2020 10:49 AM

Maheen Mirza’s film ‘Agar wo desh banati/ If she built a country’ looks at the widespread displacement on an unprecedented scale for mines and industries in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.

The documentary brings attention to how development interventions changed gender relations (Image courtesy: People's Film Collective)
Centre approves Atal Bhujal Yojana to improve groundwater management
Policy matters this week Posted on 02 Jan, 2020 11:04 AM

Centre approves Atal Bhujal Yojana, worth Rs 6,000 crore

An irrigation well at Randullabad, Maharashtra. (Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr)
×