Down To Earth recaps the primary environment, health and developmental news from 2023
Photo: iStock The world of wildlife was full of news in 2023. In India, several cheetahs brought in from Africa for the reintroduction project died, human-animal conflicts were reported in several parts of the country and the sword of climate change hung upon the existence of many species of wildlife. Here are some of Down To Earth’s (DTE) best stories on events concerning wildlife in India and abroad:
DTE series on the urban menace of dogs, monkeys and pigeons in Indian cities took an in-depth look into why the populations of these animals are becoming unmanageable in urban landscapes
The cheetah reintroduction project in India was flagged off in 2022, bringing in 20 wild cats from South Africa and Namibia. So far, 14 of those cheetahs and a female cub have survived in India’s Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh
The question whether the Global Environment Facility (GEF) will get the funding needed to achieve the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework looms large as the GEF Council gets ready to meet in Brazil on June 26, 2023.
Last summer, the banks of the River Oder in Poland was a picture of doomsday — hundreds of dead fish washed up every day, making headlines in the regional media. An EU report confirmed initial concerns — the destruction was caused by toxic algal bloom made possible by anthropogenic factors.
The wild orchids of Darjeeling are a popular attraction. They are, however, dying off at an alarming rate and their plight is stirring calls for “rewilding” places where they thrived until driven out by habitat loss owing to illegal logging and development.
About a quarter of the world’s freshwater fish species are at risk of extinction by climate change, a new International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessment revealed.
An explosion in the number of tigers in the country has impacted the once tranquil farmlands of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts in Karnataka. The region has reported an increase in human-wildlife conflicts in the region.
Free-ranging domestic cats are a conservation threat, a study found, calling the feline species one of the most invasive species in the world.
The planet’s sixth mass extinction, fuelled by human activities, may trigger a rapid biodiversity imbalance, according to scientists. Nearly 50 per cent of the animal population across all strata is being driven towards extinction.
In the last two decades, narratives have been floated about the coexistence of people and leopards. This narrative is not based on proof of reduction in conflict incidences or of fewer leopards being captured, taken captive or translocated.
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