Dying Kingdom
In the past decade, eight bird species have been confirmed as extinct or close to extinction. Globally, there are more than 16,000 animals on the …
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.…
We don’t know how many mountain gorillas live in the wild. Here’s why
A new census — carried out by the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (a coalition of governments, non-profits and …
GOT IT!
Think tourism in India and the first images that will flash through your mind is -- the Taj Mahal and the Indian tiger. Tigers, and the protected …
Who's to blame?
Management of protected forests is a hotly debated issue. In the absence of a sound policy based on a scientific approach, there are as many …
Farming out the problem
A recent report that the Union ministry of environment and forests may be "exploring the possibility of allowing private persons to breed wild …
Green poetry
On October 15, 2003, the Prime Minister (PM) attended the first meeting of the new all-powerful Indian Wildlife Board. He gave a virtuoso …
MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION
Knowledge without power, and power bereft of knowledge. This, in sum, is the story of mismanagement of wildlife and protected forests in India. …
Book review: Inventing Global Ecology by Michael Lewis
In the 1950s and 1960s India used to import not only subsidised sewing needles and milk, but also wildlife conservation science from the US. …
What's eating the vulture?
There were 2,000 vultures in Bharatpur's Keoladeo National Park during the 1980s. In 1998 experts could spot only four . Ornithologist …
Lives of others
Wildlife is more of an academic concern except when the charismatic tiger is wiped out from a protected forest or our favourite fish vanishes …
BIG CAT CONUNDRUM
The tiger occupies a hallowed seat in India. Ecologists believe that millions of small ecological processes live out their routine lives under …
Are community reserves the answer to conservation?
The 2002 Amendment to the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972) -- the bible of the conservation movement -- calls for a new category of …
‘Wild tigers could be back in Kazakhstan by 2026’
Igor Chestin is the head of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s Russia chapter. He is in Delhi to attend the third Asia Ministerial …
Everybody's a Loser
The World Trade Organization's recent ministerial meet in Seattle, USA, will be remembered more for the protestors who turned the venue into a …
Charming no more
The saperas (snake-charmers) of Delhi loive in a unique colony called Mollarbandhgaon. This community, located next to the Badarpur thermal power …
Astray?
From the Gir National Park in Gujarat to the Sunderbans in West Bengal, lions and tigers are ranging far beyond territories administered by the …
Mining firms set up shop in Orissa
Lanjigarh block, Kalahandi, Orissa, May 17: At its summit, the northeastern ridge of the Niyamgiri hill range has a bald patch, typical of …
'Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson’s accuracy of description is very much in question'
Bruce D. Patterson is the MacArthur Curator of Mammals at the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is also an …
`Religion is not doing enough to help wildlife'
George Schaller is one of the first scientists to study and rediscover several rare and charismatic species. These include the mountain gorillas …
The Method Behind The Madness
When the official system learns to loot the official treasury, it also targets the natural estate, the biggest property of the modern state. Good …
Whitley Award winner's mission hornbill
Hornbills, the awkward-looking birds with over-sized beaks, are important for the regeneration of Himalayan forests in north-east India. They are …
Should conservation be privatised?
Since the late 1960s, many African countries, including Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, have adopted a new approach to conservation.…
On the Edge
In Vietnam, an astonishing array of species, some never before encountered by humans, are being threatened by deforestation and an illegal trade …
Taking stock of biodiversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity, 20 years on, is still struggling to stem the precipitous decline in biodiversity. After missing the 2010 …
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