As this year nears its end, here’s a look at stories by Down To Earth that brought some relief to an otherwise climate change-ravaged period
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The Aranya story: turning barren land into a food forest using permaculture
The story of Padma and Narsanna Koppula, who turned a barren piece of land in Telangana's Medak district into a food forest by engaging the community that lives around it.
The story of National Bamboo Mission
In April 2018, a restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM) was approved by the GOI with an investment of Rs 1290 crore. It is hoped that the restructured NBM would focus on the development of a complete value chain of the bamboo sector to link growers with consumers.
This is what Africa can learn from India's sanitation story
Despite several limitations of the Indian model of sanitation, Africa can still emulate its positive aspects. The continent can witness more success if it prioritises sanitation just like India has accorded it top national importance under the Prime Minister’s flagship Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).
The Gharials of the Gandak: A conservation success story
Surveys indicate that the Gandak, a trans-boundary river between Nepal and India, houses 210 gharials in the Indian section, the second-largest such population in the country after the Chambal. The presence of such a good number of gharials indicates the healthy condition of the river, especially disturbance-free zones, with sufficient food and availability of sand banks which are under great threat due to mining in other gharial-inhabited rivers in the country.
38 years on, AIDS now a successful public health story
The convergence of multiple factors have ensured that almost four decades since the epidemic broke in the US there are now several ways of treating AIDS and containing HIV, with the credit divided between an alliance of researchers, doctors, pharma companies, civil society and patients who participated in a number of trials while a cure was being found.
Five key sustainability trends for 2018
The global buzz around sustainability has grown rapidly over the last few years and research shows it is only likely to increase. At the same time, governments and companies are increasingly using the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to guide their sustainability work.
Long overdue change made in new draft of Forest Policy
The central government has come up with a new draft National Forest Policy (NFP), 2018, which takes into account a reality that has become the defining feature of the world today—climate change. NFP 2018 talks about climate change mitigation through sustainable forest management.
Bengaluru moves towards plastic-free weddings
In an important move to curb burgeoning plastic waste in Bengaluru, mostly due to social events, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has decided to ban plastic during marriage ceremonies as per an order issued on September 7, 2018.
The first wave of African migrants leaving Malkangiri, Odisha—their ancestral region—in search of livelihood
History is repeating itself for the Bonda community and the story of one of the oldest tribes in the world is now taking a new turn. Earlier, only a few Bonda men migrated to nearby towns to earn a livelihood, but now women too have started abandoning their ancestral region.
Making of a carbon-neutral community in Kerala
Wayanad district—nestled in the Western Ghats on the extension of Deccan Plateau and home to crops that are thermo-sensitive and vulnerable to climate change such as coffee, paddy and pepper—was selected for a community-based climate change adaptation initiative called “Carbon Neutral Wayanad”.
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