Palm oil consumption increased 230% in almost 2 decades, yet India imports most of it

India has not been able to achieve self-sufficiency in palm oil production despite 40 years of efforts. Down To Earth travelled to some of the …

मौसम बदलने वाले बादल

प्रदूषकों से भरे बादल मौसम में बड़ा बदलाव ला सकते हैं।&…

Ganga's ebbs and flows

Mallet navigates the various issues, including culture, politics and practises that define the Ganga

What triggered the dust storms?

Desertification, unprecedented heat wave conditions, more Western Disturbances, increasing cyclonic circulations & 2 lines of low pressure …

Winds beneath the storms

A confluence of global, regional and local variables is leading to the development of massive storms

Climate change impacts will not wait for slow government negotiations like Bonn

By 2018 end, the Paris Agreement rule book has to be finalised. But efforts to finalise these set of rules at Bonn was marred by tardy pace and …

Monsoon's progress will be stalled till the end of June, but IMD portrays a rosy picture

More than 90 per cent of IMD’s forecast for the next two days is about strong advancement of monsoon; in the coming week, it has …

Why zoonotic diseases are fast spreading to humans

Infectious diseases that were once confined to animals in forests are now attacking human beings, at a faster pace

India's plastic consumption increases at over 10 per cent year-on-year

Despite this, policy and implementation is woefully out of step to deal with the problem of managing the mounting waste

Run for cover: 100 days, 44 storms, 16 states, 423 deaths

An unprecedented storm season challenges India's scientific community

An Indian consumes 11kg plastic every year and an average American 109kg

But that doesn’t mean you get to consume more because even if India's per capita consumption is low compared to developed countries, …

Cancer not a single disease: it has multiple causes and as many treatments

With time, cancer has increasingly come to be understood as a lifestyle and an environmental disease with several causal pathways

Monsoon arrives three days early

Thunderstorms and negative Indian Ocean Dipole indices could affect its distribution and progress

Africa: The least responsible, but most vulnerable to climate change

More than 2,000 natural disasters have hit Africa since 1970 affecting 500 million people and killing 0.9 million

Is the Modi government serious about climate change?

Unlikely since nobody knows where and how it has spent environmental cessess, such as the coal cess, meant to mitigate climate change 

Clouds of confusion over monsoon's timely arrival

While extended range forecast shows some signs of an early onset, other meteorological conditions have shrouded the forecast in uncertainty

Bonn climate meet ends amid concern over lack of urgency in accelerating negotiations

While the Bonn meet was packed with hundreds of parallel meetings, progress on readying a text for COP 24 has been slow

Six months after including agriculture in climate negotiations, Parties agree on roadmap

Over the next two and half years, the negotiating group will meet five times to discuss and prepare reports on the work required for each of the …

Suva Expert Dialogue: Parties fail to present new ideas on tackling climate impacts

The two-day dialogue on loss and damage could not move beyond stating the obvious and raising concerns over roadblocks

Indian scientists study dust holes that dot the Himalayas for the first time

These holes could not only hasten glacial melt but also host unique ecosystems

Take note: there is 44% probability of below-normal monsoon this year

Although IMD predicts normal rain in 2018, there is 44 per cent probability of deficient or below normal monsoon

पानी को क्यों तरसा केपटाउन?

केपटाउन में 15 जुलाई से जीरो डे लागू करने की घोषणा की गई थी…

At least 42 killed in devastating pre-monsoon rains in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh

Weather forecasting agencies have warned of further rainfall around April 16 or 17 when a fresh western disturbance is expected to become active

Antarctic ice melting at a rate that led to the end of last ice age: Study

Researchers found that between 2010 and 2016 the base of ice near the floor of the ocean has shrunk by 1,463 sq km, roughly the size of Delhi

India's climate quandary

The National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture, India's flagship programme that aims to make Indian villages climate-proof, is at …

First galaxy sans dark matter challenges longstanding belief about universe

DF2 was expected to have about 100 times more dark matter than regular matter. Instead, researchers found almost none

By 2100, heat waves in South Asia could be too deadly to survive: study

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are likely to be the most severely hit

36 per cent cities to face water crisis by 2050

An estimated 400 million people currently live in cities with perennial water shortage. The number is slated to go up to 1 billion by 2050 due to …

World of Cape Towns

From Cape Town to Bengaluru and Nairobi to Mexico City, hundreds of cities across the world are on the verge of going completely dry

"Cape Town's consciousness about water consumption has helped reduce demand"

Xanthea Limberg, mayoral committee member for informal settlements, water and waste services & energy speaks on water restriction rules …

Last few drops

Taps will run dry in the South African metropolis of Cape Town in two months. Hundreds of cities across the world are nearing a similar breakdown.…

Scientists may have found an answer to antibiotic resistance

Australian scientists have found antibacterial properties in platypus milk

Cape Town will not run out of water this year

The announcement has been made keeping in mind the May-September winter rainy season

Eminent physicist Stephen Hawking dies at 76

Hawking theoretically proved that black holes were present as singularities in the cosmic space-time continuum

“Environmental amnesia is constricting our intellect”

Though we are living in a highly degraded environment, we have failed to spot behavioural fallouts. Increasingly, children living in polluted …

Answer to ‘Karakoram Anomaly’ found?

Scientists say the reason behind the Karakoram Range’s glaciers not being affected by climate change could be intensification of irrigation …

The futility of CoP23

Although in its 25th year, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is still struggling to find a way out of this century's …

Global warming set to breach 1.5 degree limit: IPCC Draft Report

Emission trajectories will have to undergo historic and unprecedented changes if the Paris Agreement is to be adhered, say authors

Supreme Court reduces Tamil Nadu's allocation of Cauvery water

Noting that Karnataka is "entitled to marginal relief," the Supreme Court reduced the allocation for Tamil Nadu by 14.75 TMC

Why scientists are baffled about cyclone Ockhi

Cyclone Ockhi intensified from a deep depression to a cyclonic storm in less than six hours, becoming one of the worst cyclones to have struck …

Mercury rising in the Arctic; scientists discover over 1.6 million tonnes in reserves

Scientists discover 793,000 tonnes of mercury in frozen permafrost soils and another 863,000 tonnes in unfrozen soils in the northern permafrost …

Union Budget 2018: climate action funds lying unused is a concern

There is a possibility of unspent money being diverted to other more politically pressing concerns

Global warming likely to be in the range of 2.2-3.4°C by 2100, breaching limit set under Paris deal

While chance of cataclysmic levels of warming is miniscule, but achieving Paris climate deal’s objective more uncertain

हिमनद: जानकारी का संकट

जियोलॉजिकल सर्वे ऑफ इंडिया द्वारा सूचीबद्ध भारतीय हिम�…

Are we measuring sea level changes correctly? There is room for doubt

Assessment of sea-level rise might actually be underestimating the total changes in the sea by up to 8 per cent

Not just oceans, freshwater bodies are turning acidic as well

Acidification of freshwater bodies is about 10 times faster than oceans

How raging wildfires made mudslides in California more dangerous

An extremely active wildfire season has made the region especially vulnerable to mudslides

Rare takes on the year just passing by

Being a Down To Earth reporter entails merging the personal with the professional. The magazine you so dearly own has a fascinating world hidden …

Poor show of northeast monsoon raises doubts over Rabi crops production

Erratic distribution of northeast monsoon rains is most evident in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and the Deccan regions

Warming Arctic is making winter worse for eastern US; ‘bomb cyclone’ on cards

The US is bracing for an intense storm, which is expected to blast the entire east coast with frigid winds, ice and snow on Thursday

Potential of Spiti Valley's wild fruit waiting to be tapped across India

In the past two decades, seabuckthorn collection has increased 20 times in the valley. Can a pan-Indian market unleash the full potential of this …

Himalayan glaciers are receding faster than before

To understand their changing behaviour in the wake of climate change, Indian scientists have for the first time set up a high-altitude glaciology …

Is permaculture a real solution to agricultural distress?

Permaculture farming, which spread across the West as part of the hippie movement, is fast gaining ground in India among subsistence farmers and …

International Solar Alliance will soon be legal entity, but how will 1,000GW target be met?

On December 6, the ISA will become a legal entity for mobilising finance to meet global ambitions of energy access and climate action

Finally, a decision on agriculture comes through at Bonn climate talks

Parties have been invited to submit adaptation assessment methods for improvement of soil health, soil carbon and soil quality

Here's why the latest push for pre-2020 action at COP23 is likely to fall flat

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stressed on the importance of meeting pre-2020 commitments on which there has been little progress so far

COP23 at Bonn: “US still in”, say dissenting senators, but sense of crisis still palpable

Democratic Senators try to assure rest of the world that the people of US are committed to fulfill climate obligations

Finally, a breakthrough on agriculture on the cards at Bonn

Draft document on agriculture stresses on assessment of risks, a differentiation of vulnerability and actions required based on farming systems …

Between 1990 and 2016, 2,843 climate disasters affected 4·8 billion people: Lancet report

The report was jointly prepared by 24 academic institutions and intergovernmental organisations based on 40 indicators

Cassini dives into Saturn

The Cassini-Huygens probe has enabled scientists analyse the surface and atmosphere of some of Saturn's mysterious moons

Intensity, extent and duration of severe heat waves to increase dramatically: study

The entire stretch from Uttar Pradesh in the north to the southern peninsular tip is likely to be badly affected by increased heat wave frequency

Three-fold increase in extreme rain events over central India: study

Widespread extreme rain events have increased during the 66-year period between 1950 and 2015

IMD predicts ‘normal’ northeast monsoon, but details on rainfall categories sparse

Northeast monsoon is crucial for several southern states which receive about 30 per cent of their annual rainfall during this season

This monsoon was far from being ‘normal’

While rainfall over the entire country falls under the normal category, distribution of rain has been a far cry from IMD scientists' forecast

Global carbon emission remained static in 2016, but India registered significant rise

Slowdown in emissions is attributed to decreased use of fossil fuels, especially coal, and increasing popularity of renewables

Road construction projects are destroying Goa's traditional wetlands

Intensive infrastructure projects in Goa are threatening a unique wetland system that protects the state from flooding

Goan village residents fight for sustainable mining rights

Residents of Caurem, a tribal village, have always been at the forefront of anti-mining demonstrations. Now, they have formed a society …

खतरे में प्रवाल-भित्तियां

दुनिया भर में प्रवाल-भित्ति या मूंगे की चट्टानों को जैस�…

Wildlife homicide

The book lays bare wildlife mismanagement and chronicles the demise of nature in the world's most biodiverse country

Time to define the new normal

The monsoon of 2017 has challenged India's conventional and simplistic definition of the complex tropical circulation

From Africa, with will

For the first time, African countries flagged off urbanisation as a factor impacting climate change at the recently held Africa Carbon Forum …

Mumbai once again on the verge of deluge, but why?

Heavy rains expose Mumbai’s vulnerability and the city’s preparedness repeatedly comes under criticism. Despite witnessing …

Swine Flu deaths cross 1,000; will this year be a repeat of 2015?

More than 22,000 cases of swine flu have been reported in 2017, a bulk of them from Maharashtra and Gujarat

This year, monsoon has been anything but normal

There is a problem with IMD’s long-range forecasts and how we understand and classify our monsoons

बाढ़ के लिए कौन जिम्मेदार?

सूखे के बाद भीषण बाढ़ की चपेट में आए कई राज्य। बारिश नहीं…

Unpredictable weather, unreliable insurance, unbelievable profit to companies

Farmers across India suffered heavy losses when the monsoon turned out to be a non-starter. The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the government'…

Scattered dots

Sarnath Banerjee takes on too many nuances of a water crisis that are difficult to integrate in his graphic novel

Unmasking con-science

Incorporating dark humour, wit and cartoons, The Madhouse Effect lays bare the obfuscation of climate science deniers

World’s second-largest emitter might leave the first-ever global climate deal

अंकल सैम बनाम धरती मां

क्या कोई ऐसा कानूनी तरीका है जिससे विश्व के सबसे बड़े उत�…

Uncle Sam v Mother Earth

Is there a legal way to hold the world's second largest emitter accountable for withdrawing from the Paris Agreement?

Droughts getting intense, more frequent in southern states

Be it temple tanks or rainwater harvesting structures, South India had set the standard in water conservation. Now they are just forgotten traditions

Is the monsoon here? The winds say not yet

India Meteorological department has announced the onset of monsoon, but crucial wind conditions essential to back it are missing

Flash floods in Assam, Mizoram kill at least 12, destroy hundreds of houses

The IMD has predicted heavy to very heavy rain across the northeast over the week

Trump calls Paris Agreement ‘unfair’, but how fair is his claim?

Trump’s speech on withdrawing from climate deal punctuated by half-truths and exaggerations

To withdraw from climate deal is to reject the idea of global cooperation

American pressure was fundamental in retaining voluntary emission reductions for countries and eliminating possibilities of penalties in the …

India's burning issue of crop burning takes a new turn

The pattern of burning crop residue in India is changing. The practice is no longer limited to the post-monsoon crop of rice or the northern …

Water scarcity, parched lands stare at peninsular India

South India reels from the worst drought in over a century. Our reporters travel to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala to …

Neduvasal residents protest hydrocarbon extraction in agricultural land

A new government policy has made it easier to dig deeper for unconventional oil and gas. But a village in Tamil Nadu is up in arms against the …

Muted presence

India's participation at the recently concluded 22nd Conference of Parties was passive and lacked vision

As El Nino probability increases, uncertainty looms over Indian monsoon

Earlier this month, IMD predicted a normal monsoon based on a low probability of El Nino occurrence

Normal monsoon prediction comes as relief amidst drought in south

This time, the IMD has not clarified what the probability is of the country getting below normal or deficient rainfall

Frequency of heat waves increasing; we must prepare for it: experts

Experts gathered at the National Workshop on Heat Wave Forecasts for State Level Preparedness deliberated on extreme weather and states' …

Genesis of water

Life on Earth is the result of several fascinating coincidences, of which the presence of water is considered the most important. But we are …

Storm front

From myth to reality, how storms have shaped human history

Sister Solar System and Earth's cousins

After discovering Earth-like planets in 2014 and 2015, the NASA took a step towards finding life outside our own solar system by discovering a …

Towards breaking point

The imminent calving of ice shelf, Larsen C, will reduce Antarctica to its smallest ever size. Is global warming responsible?

Why the recent surge in earthquakes?

The recent surge in earthquakes and the explanation for the formation of the world's largest exposed fault have provided momentum to …

Chennai oil spill: planning, assessment and action inadequate

The extent of ecological and economic damange is yet to be known and coordination between the maritime board, the state disaster response …

Model law on contract farming on the cards this year

According to experts, the law must address dependency that farmers can develop on the private parties for seeds and farm equipment

Mr Prime Minister good news

The finance minister has said that the government is committed to double farmers' income in five years. Here are a few villages across the …

Climate in Budget 2017-18: notes ban effect likely to leave climate expenditure high and dry

With eyes on upcoming state elections and cool down in the mood towards climate action around the world, no major announcements to offset climate …

Meet Mesentery, the newest occupant of your gut

The anatomic description that had been laid down over 100 years of anatomy was incorrect

Seismic activity has gone through the roof in last two months

Since December 2, 2016, there have been around 420 earthquakes of magnitude over 5 along all major continental plate boundaries

Countries will move forward on climate change even without Trump’s support: US envoy

According to Pershing, the momentum and power to effect change already exists

Debate: Can neutrinos have devastating impacts on local biosphere?

Research on neutrinos has come a long way. First postulated by Swiss scientist Wolfgang Pauli in 1930, neutrinos are tiny and neutral elementary …

`Remote sensing is being used to predict crop-growing seasons'

Satellite technology is not just being used to monitor and predict climate change events. Its applications are now also accurately estimating crop-…

Dense fog in north India linked to cyclonic activity in Bay of Bengal

This year, the fog has arrived few weeks early on the back of cyclonic activity in the Bay of Bengal and light easterly winds blowing over the …

Pre-2020 action and climate finance need of the hour: BASIC

Adaptation fund and finance are issues that are still to be discussed and resolved

COP 22: India urges developed nations to adhere to the principle of 'Climate Justice'

Environment minister Anil Madhav Dave says developed nations need to provide effective finance, technology transfer and capacity building support

Global warming worryingly close to lower limit set by Paris Agreement: WMO

The risk of losing the race against climate change becomes real as temperature rise globally likely to breach 1.2 degrees by the end of 2016

COP 22: developed countries pledge $23 million to support technology transfer

The pledge, however, does not mean that there shall be a transfer of intellectual property or patents to developing countries

COP 22: US must respect climate change commitments, says French President

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hoped that climate action will be implemented with swiftness and special focus on equity and justice

Include health actions in Paris Agreement implementation: WHO

Although evidence linking environmental degradation to health is growing, political action regarding it has been woefully inadequate

First week at COP 22: discussions on crucial issues stalled due to lack of consensus

There has been a near-zero progress on pre-2020 action as most discussions have gotten stalled over fundamental differences

Mr Trump, please don’t set a bad precedent

Despite the signs of climate change, Donald Trump administration can derail the modest progress that the US has made towards tackling it

COP22 summit kicks off with a message of collective responsibility

The COP22 President stresses on the need to strengthen the support mechanisms to tackle climate change among the developing and most vulnerable …

COP22: opening session on agriculture discusses climate adaptation, food security

Developing countries, especially from Africa, voiced the need to mobilise finance from developed countries

India Pavilion at COP22 inaugurated

The Enviroment Minister underlined the need to spread climate change awareness and the importance of collective action

Issues at stake in COP 22

The COP summit in Marrakech may be crucial for negotiations on some long-standing issues at the UNFCCC

Paris Agreement comes into force; first meeting of governing body may not happen

One of the talking points during this year’s COP could be the financial mechanism at play for climate change action

Bleached to death

The current mass bleaching of corals across the world appears to be the most severe ever. It threatens the very existence of coral reefs. …

Sweet ’n’ sour

Moringa and tamarind are popularly known as the trees of life for Indians. Moringa is in fashion as the world eyes India to feed its frenzy for …

First-of-its-kind policy initiative on nutrition and diet launched in Delhi

The total health burden arising from poor diet exceeds the combined burden of unsafe sex, alcohol, drug and tobacco use    

War zone Cauvery

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are once again at loggerheads over the sharing of the Cauvery waters. Why have the successive agreements failed to …

Climate talks now focus on health adaptation

As the global negotiations increasingly talk about the impacts of climate change on health, the upcoming UN CoP meet in Morocco will debate one …

High stakes

Experience in Giridih suggests that the success of rural electrification depends on the sincerity and commitment of the local contractor

Have human-made changes heralded a new epoch?

Experts have proposed that the new epoch—Anthropocene—began around 1950, when human-induced changes started affecting earth's geology

Current distress

Six states, 30 villages, 13,000 kilometres. Down To Earth travelled to some of the most remote villages of the country to assess India's progress …

Study establishes link between monsoon and dust particles

The Indian agricultural scenario is linked to monsoon as most farmers depend on the rains for cultivation in the absence of irrigation

Debate over domiciles

The announcement of a domicile policy by the Jharkhand government has triggered protests, and a debate on how to define natives of the land

Reality of floods

Rivers breached danger mark, lakhs of hectares of standing crops were destroyed and millions were displaced. It's time we stepped back and …

At a blind bend

The Madhya Pradesh government has over and again failed to reclaim the ravines of Chambal Valley. Will it succeed this time?

Chennai apart

From ignoring warnings to delays in taking actions, Tamil Nadu administration played its part in making the December floods more devastating

Cloudburst in Uttarakhand: 30 killed, many missing

All the major rivers in the region have swollen following heavy rains; Mandakini and Alaknanda have crossed their danger marks