Environment

Flanked by the Outer Ring Road, where unceasing traffic spews noxious fumes, and a concreted canal where heaps of plastic float amid sewage, the Hennur Lake Biodiversity Park is an incongruous speck of green in a wide swath of concrete. And for a few slender loris individuals, it is an unlikely home. As implausible as it may seem, gray slender lorises (Loris lydekkerianus) have clung to life while the city’s concrete-scape has cornered them into this 34-acre park. At least 4-5 individuals of the beady-eyed, small, elusive primate species has been spotted in the canopies of the park. Surveys conducted between…

Mangrove Action Project recently announced the winners of their 2020 Mangrove Photography Awards. The intimate relationships between wildlife, coastal communities and mangrove forests, as well as the fragility of these unique ecosystems from both above and below the water line, were captured by amateur and professional photographers from nearly 70 countries. We are thrilled to find that two photographers from India are among the winners, both having captured the flamingos at Talawe, Navi Mumbai. There are also a few 'Highly Commended' photographs from India. In it's sixth year, the competition received over 1,100 entries in five categories - threats, conservation,…

The long-pending Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) has turned controversial for its environmental impacts and lack of transparency. The project would lose Bengaluru over 33,000 trees, including in the Thippagondanahalli Reservoir catchment and in reserve forest areas. On Wednesday, September 23, the Deputy Commissioner of Bangalore Urban District will hold a public consultation (webinar) on the project's environmental impacts. BDA (Bangalore Development Authority) is implementing the project, and its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report is available online. Here are details of the public hearing and how you can attend it. Do the environmental impacts of the PRR justify the project? Will…

On August 9, a leopard made its way from Aarey forests to an abandoned warehouse in Andheri East. The animal was mapped, trapped and released back to the forests. This was one of the happier stories of man-animal interaction in a city like Mumbai. Six leopards have been rescued from Mumbai Metropolitan Region since 2017 and dozens have strayed into human habitats. In July 2018, a man was hurt by a leopard, when he tried to save his pet dog in Mulund’s Rahul Nagar, on the periphery of SGNP. In January 2018, a leopard had entered a ground floor flat…

We’ve likely seen coloured garbage bins in malls, airports and so on. The bin colour indicates, of course, what kind of trash we should put where, based on whether it's food waste or recyclable waste. Many a time, I have stood in front of these bins and wondered where to put the coffee cup and the little styrofoam container. Are they the same material? Are they both recyclable? Manufacturers must step up! For years the burden of dealing with plastic disposal has been with the consumer. We are told to reduce, reuse, and recycle while the manufacturers who sell us…

It's that time of the year in Mumbai now. If you visit the mangroves of Mumbai these days, you will see clouds of dragonflies (Pantala flavescens) dancing above them. Dragonflies helicoptering above the mangroves at Thane Creek (Photo: Gopal) Dragonflies undertake one of the longest migrations known among insects. They fly all the way from the Deccan to South Africa riding the North-East monsoon winds. In Kerala, the dragonflies appear just around or after the festival of Onam in September, when the South West Monsoon loses steam and are called Ona-thumbi or the dragonflies of Onam. In Mumbai, we do not have a…

Farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are peeved at being blamed for Delhi’s smog. “We have been burning crop residue for the past 50 years now,” said a leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union from Haryana, who does not want to be named. “If anybody is affected it should be the surrounding villages. We don’t face any such problem. So why is this problem in Delhi seen just during these past few years?” Every winter, not just Delhi but the entire northern region is frequently enveloped in a thick blanket of smog, caused by air pollution from vehicular and…

In 2008, Nandini N, professor at the Department of Environmental Science at Bangalore University, started documenting Bengaluru’s biodiversity for its first People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR). She was a member of BBMP’s Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC), which is mandated to prepare a PBR under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. Professor Nandini inaugurated the exercise at JP Park in Mathikere where, she remembered, “very few Matti trees were surviving”. For the next two years, Professor Nandini, then the Director for Student Welfare at Bangalore University, involved approximately 20 colleges across the city to collate information on biodiversity. They first divided the city…

Tens of thousands of flamingos congregate annually in Talawe Wetlands, in Navi Mumbai on India's west coast. These annual visitors comprise Lesser and Greater Flamingos, the two varieties that migrate to India. Flamingo congregation at Talawe, May 2020 (Photo: Surabhi Agarwal) With India's coronavirus lockdown, this year saw a 25% increase in numbers of these migratory birds. Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), estimates that number this year may be more than 1,50,000 vis-à-vis 1,34,000 counted last year. Flamingos at sunset (Photo: Surabhi Agarwal) These wetlands, habitat of flamingos, are in danger of being taken over for development for a golf…

This article is part of our special series Environmental Sustainability & Climate Change in Tier II cities supported by Climate Trends. Chandigarh: The Beautiful City, located in the foothills of Shivalik range, was originally a cluster of 58 villages. When the site was chosen to build a modern capital for the then state of Punjab in 1948, it resulted in relocation of 21,000 people, mainly farmers cultivating crops such as wheat, corn, and maize. The city lies in the Indo-Gangetic plains, between two seasonal hill torrents – the Sukhna and Patiali rivers. Presumably, back then it was a much cooler…