UN Crime Congress adopts Doha declaration on combatting wildlife crimes

International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime calls on members to recognise wildlife and forest crime as a transnational organised crime …

This week from the world of science and environment

The discovery of an important piece in evolutionary science and the threat of extreme weather events to our food security—a quick look at …

Secret life of plants

A new book reinforces the fact that plants have intelligence and a complex sensory network

Science and Technology - Briefs

Science & Technology - Briefs

Thirty one per cent of world’s cacti facing threat of extinction: IUCN

Unscrupulous collection of live plants and seeds for trade and private ornamental collection affects 47 per cent of the threatened species

Meet thy neighbours

Every existence has its excuse, it is said. Every year taxonomists in India venture into uncharted landscapes and scan every nook and corner to …

Climate change spurs rapid growth of trees in Tibet

Warmer weather is melting the permafrost of the plateau, moistening the ground and making nutrients available to plants

The environmental costs of Trump's wall

All that concrete will generate millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions and the wall will ravage a unique desert habitat that straddles two countries

How the warming world could turn many plants and animals into climate refugees

Almost unprecedented rate of global temperature increase means that species need to migrate at rapid rates

The Earth's biodiversity could be much greater than we thought

A widely touted study proposes a total of 8.7 million species, but they could be 10 times more

Khar’s experimentation with Himalayan nettle brings recognition

Himalayan nettle, a fibre-yielding plant, has become an important livelihood option for people living in the remote mountainous villages of the …

Have scientists stumbled upon the brain of a plant?

Scientists have shown how a 'decision making centre' of a plant that assesses environmental conditions and determine when seeds will germinate

Unchecked mining spells doom for Saranda forest in Jharkhand

Unregulated large-scale mining activities have decimated plant and wildlife populations in the once-rich Saranda forest in Jharkhand

Climate change causes species to change habitats

A warmer climate is playing havoc with both flora and fauna

A unique tree park for Chennai

With 300 species of trees, the ‘Forest Genetic Resources Tree Park’ will serve as a unique gene pool for Tamil Nadu’s …

Listen... plants too speak

As early as in 1880, Charles Darwin demonstrated that plants could sense light, moisture, gravity, pressure and possessed several other qualities.…

Lack of data on gut microbes in India a problem

Studies across the globe have linked intestinal microbes with protection from diseases; India may be sitting on a mine of information

India Eco Watch: Major ecological happenings of the week (Feb 10-17)

Down To Earth brings you the top happenings in the world of ecology, botany and zoology

Database launched on flora in peninsular India

The work started with digitising the flora of Karnataka, but was later expanded to cover other states

Propagate and protect halophytes

It is high time that India’s governments make serious efforts to identify, propagate and protect these plants which establish mangroves, …

Five actions Madagascar's president must take to save country's biodiversity

Andry Rajoelina’s term represents the last chance to save some of Madagascar’s incredible natural heritage

World Environment Day in numbers: Natural resources

Deserts not deserted, but full of floral, faunal activity

These unforgiving lands may appear lifeless only to the unacquainted, but they are a unique and living ecosystem

The Amazon’s tallest tree just got 50% taller – and scientists don’t know how

At 88m tall, it dwarfs the previous record holders by almost 30 m