Highlights from the issue

Highlights from the issue

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The New Environmentalism

The new environmentalism
Illustration: Yogendra Anand/CSE

The environment improves only when development works for everyone, including the poor

The fossilised ICAR needs to be shaken up

The fossilised ICAR needs to be shaken up
Illustration Credit: Ritika Bohra/CSE

India's vast agricultural research network has made no breakthroughs as crop yields drop and imports soar, especially in oilseeds

No feather in the cap

No feather in the cap
The flag of Switzerland.Photo: iStock

In June, Switzerland will vote in a referendum to cap its permanent population below 10 million until 2050. The experiment will have implications far beyond the country's borders

Rethinking conservation

Rethinking conservation
Photograph: Athiya Mahapatra

India saved its tigers. Now a handful of reserves are bursting at the seams while may others stand nearly empty, and conflict with people is rising

Funds and Stress

Rethinking conservation: Project Tiger may have expanded but funding has not kept pace
Representational photo.Photo: iStock

Conservation economics is more than key allocations

Uneven distribution

Rethinking conservation: India’s striped cats are unevenly distributed

Just eight of India's 53 tiger reserves house 1,144 (over 40%) of the country's 2,835 tigers

Big cat diplomacy

A tiger in the Bandhavgarh National Park in Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh.
A tiger in the Bandhavgarh National Park in Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh.File photo: Sunita Narain / CSE

India's conservation experience demonstrates that large carnivore conservation is possible even within densely populated and development-intensive landscapes

Align human rights, conservation

A tribal family outside their home in Mavinhalla, on the foothills of Ooty. Residents say tigers are often spotted near the village, raising concerns for the safety of people and livestock.
A tribal family outside their home in Mavinhalla, on the foothills of Ooty. Residents say tigers are often spotted near the village, raising concerns for the safety of people and livestock.Ratheesh S R

Human-animal conflict stems from strict protection policies, unchecked rise in big cat numbers

Tigers, cattle and lantana

Some of the highest rates of livestock depredation by tigers in India now occur outside protected areas, precisely where lantana dominance is highest
Some of the highest rates of livestock depredation by tigers in India now occur outside protected areas, precisely where lantana dominance is highestKiran Nagendra

The story of tigers, cattle and lantana is not a feel-good conservation tale. It is a warning wrapped in ecological ingenuity

Harvest of heritages

Harvest of heritage
Families in Odisha’s Koraput district store seeds of traditional rice varieties at home for cultivation and consumption(Photograph: K A Shreya / CSE)

India's wealth of traditional seeds hold the key to its nutritional security amid a changing climate. Yet comprehensive data on these seeds remain scarce

Ganga runs polluted

Ganga runs polluted
Establishing sewage treatment plants to prevent untreated wastewater from entering the Ganga river system is a major component of the Namami Gange programme Photograph: Vikas Choudhary / CSE

Uttarakhand's river-cleaning efforts face scrutiny as audit reveals untreated sewage discharge and incomplete infrastructure

When bonds break

iStock

Study of a rare split in Uganda's largest chimpanzee group suggests conflict can emerge from fractured social ties, even without ideology or identity divides

Down To Earth
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