Category: Environment, Forest and Climate change

Published on 30-01-2019

Villupuram, Tamil Nadu: While Amazon rainforests remain the world’s largest intact forest, according to recent research, the seemingly untouched forests were in fact manmade food forests. For thousands of years, humans were dependent on forests for food. In time, villages and farms replaced forests.

However, unprecedented climate change is causing a rethink on the way we grow our food. More and more farmers in India are looking at resilient food forests to sustain themselves, with reduced irrigation needs and improved productivity – and to help the country through the current agrarian crisis. Read more

By Rucha Ghate, Harini Nagendra
Tuesday 29 January 2019

“After our village institution is eroded, you want us to take care of forests?” This statement by a village elder from a tribal village in Gadchiroli poses a fundamental question — how do we protect and restore our forests and our local institutions, in a time of great change?

The effects of climate change are clear and visible. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report warns that the world is 1.2°C warmer compared to pre-industrial levels. These impacts will only become stronger in the coming decades. Read more

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched the five-year action plan earlier this month to reduce air pollution by 30 per cent by 2024, with 2017 as base year.

Over 130 highly polluted cities violating the national air quality standards have been left out of the recently launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), a new study has revealed. A Greenpeace India report, which identified 139 cities where air pollution level exceeds national standards, said the NCAP is based on limited data from 2011-2015 and that’s why a large number of highly polluted cities have been kept out of its purview. Read more

India needs to aggressively promote growing bamboo as it looks to increase forest cover to sequester increasing amounts of carbon dioxide

When plans are drawn up to capture carbon dioxide from the air by increasing India’s forest cover, the native bamboo that is found in profusion across the country, is often ignored. But now, a body of evidence is emerging that shows bamboo captures captures carbon quickly, while it also rapidly rejuvenates degraded lands, restoring soil fertility.

Capturing carbon dioxide from the air is an important way to combat climate change, which is being caused by emission of excess carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Plants use carbon dioxide from the air to manufacture food, so growing plants is the best to do this. Read more