How To Create An Oasis

Neither a short-term solution nor a one-size-fits-all approach will help fight desertification. Governments tend to commit this mistake, but communities across the world are building on their traditional experiences to achieve land degradation neutrality

The Dictum On Desertification

LAND IS AT THE CORE OF FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE

Taming The Thar

What it takes to reclaim the world’s most populated desert

Silent Spread

More than 100 countries are at the risk of desertification. Left unchecked, this could fuel conflicts and displace 700 million people worldwide by 2050

Picture Imperfect

It’s difficult to ignore how desertification is expanding in areas that are on the front line of climate change

Quash The Dogma

Most policies to tackle desertification are bound to fail. The problem will get solved as soon as they become holistic

It Is Everybody's Business

Private sector is vital to restore land and sustain life

A Quarter Under Desertification

What does this mean for India where more than 60 per cent of the population depends on agriculture?

Trouble For Tomato

Country's biggest tomato producing district surrenders to cheap Chinese pulp

Ask No Questions!

The amendment to the RTI Act will hit grassroots activism

Mortal Combat

Can life be extended indefinitely? There is a renewed vigour among scientists looking for ways and means to cheat death.

Bid For Mahadayi

Should Karnataka divert the Mahadayi's water to end the water crisis in its three districts?

Unhealthy Climate

As the global negotiations increasingly talk about the impacts of climate change on health, the upcoming UN CoP meet in Morocco will debate one important aspect: how to fund health adaptation

Go Gokul Gone

For all the noise around cow protection, NDA's cow mission, the very first it announced on assuming power, has nearly died

Dry no more

Rajasthan has launched an ambitious programme to become drought-free in four years.

Genesis Of Water

Life on Earth is the result of several fascinating coincidences, of which the presence of water is considered the most important. But we are still not sure where this water came from.

At Death's Door

Around three million people are estimated to be severely food-insecure in north-eastern Nigeria, South Sudan and Somalia. JONATHAN POUND looks at the reasons famine still plagues Africa.

Oh Deer!

Kashmir has barely 200 Hangul deer left, but it does not seem to be alarming enough for the state government, whose conservation initiatives are struggling to get off the ground.

Real Potent Life of Lead

The long-term impacts of lead exposure have finally been revealed: reduced IQ levels and lower socio-economic status. For India, the implications are grave. 

Primitive Classification

The Gonds, like other indigenous communities, still do not have sovereign political rights.

Suffocating Tragedy

There is no scientific consensus on the cause of encephalitis that has been claiming lives every year in the Gorakhpur region since 1978. But an unprepared government along with medical mismanagement made matters worse this year. 

Goa Undermined

As mining resumes in eco-sensitive Goa amid protests, a village tries to implement the cooperative model SHREESHAN VENKATESH panaji 

Sowing Adaptation

Farmers in eastern Indian states are replacing paddy with alternative crops to prevent elephant attacks. Can this experiment be replicated? DEEPANWITA NIYOGI palamu, east Singhbhum SAMARJIT SAHU angul

Can Farmers' Income Be Doubled?

For that, farmers will have to make an investment of ₹463 billion in the next five years 

Champaran Redux

Peasants in Champaran are relying on satyagraha once again to claim the land their ancestors once owned.

Hidden Wonders of India

Did you know that the Ganga and the Brahmaputra sequester nearly 20 per cent of the global carbon? Or that Bengaluru owes its unique climate to a tectonic event that took place 88 million years ago? For the first time, a book comprehensively collates all scientific streams about the natural history of the Indian subcontinent. Down To Earth speaks to PRANAY LAL, author of Indica, on the jaw-dropping facts about our natural history.

Plateful of Pain

Climate change will make the disease burden more complex. Breakthroughs may help the affluent, but the poor will not have access to even basic healthcare.

Target Zero

India's waste will double in the next 25 years. If we are to avoid drowning in garbage, adopting zero waste management is a must.

Sukhomajri Falls Apart

A model Haryana village, which had pulled itself out of poverty by managing natural resources, shuns the very model of development.

Withering Heights

The rich diversity of aquatic plants in the Eastern Ghats has aided local communities in meeting their nutritional as well as livelihood needs. AJAY MAHAPATRA and ASHOK BISWAL analyse why these poorly documented plants are under threat.