Is permaculture a real solution to agricultural distress?
Permaculture farming, which spread across the West as part of the hippie movement, is fast gaining ground in India among subsistence farmers and …
Year-long tenancies deter soil conservation
The present land tenure laws do not encourage the conservation of agricultural land and lead to fallow patches, as is evident from the condition …
Can we make this U-turn?
THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION Willem Hoogendijk Publisher: Green Print/Jan Van Arkel Price: £6.99
Nature to tackle environment challenges: Triple investments by 2030, says UN report
Current investments of $133 billion comprise about 0.10% of global gross domestic product, most of which come from public sources
Climate change & trafficking: ‘We have little understanding’
Down To Earth spoke with Christopher Richter from International Organisation for Migration to understand why the data gap exists
Seeding happy, cleaning air: Farmers adopting non-burn tech give hope
Several Indian states are experimenting with Happy Seeder that cuts and lifts the paddy straw and also improves soil health
Weak governance escalating deforestation in Tanzania: FAO report
Of the total land area (88.3 mn hectares) in the African country, 55% is under forest cover. According to 2017 estimates, deforestation occurred …
Wood-based bioenergy production in Europe causing indiscriminate felling of forests
Rampant logging of whole trees is taking place in protected forests to source wood products for bioenergy plants
Food consumption rate in Africa rising 10 times faster than production
Low productivity of smallholder agriculture and growing population are pushing the demand for forest resources
Chopping down the future
About 90 per cent of Arunachal Pradesh's revenue is generated by its forests. Yet these very forests are under heavy pressure, thanks to …
Popular poisons
Toxic pesticides that contaminate the soil and enter the food chain need to be replaced with non-toxic ones. But research in this area is still …
Land the size of Central Asia lost since 2015 due to degradation
At this rate, restoring 1.5 billion hectares of land by 2030 will be necessary to achieve a land-degradation-neutral world
11,000 scientists warn: Climate change isn’t just about temperature
A new paper track a broad set of indicators to convey the effects of human activities on greenhouse gas emissions, and the consequent impacts on …
Beyond conservation, why our natural ecosystems need restoration
Significant strides have been made in both the science and practice of restoration over the last three decades, with specialisation across …
Africa’s Great Green Wall: Viable return on investments, says FAO study
GGW programme aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded ecosystems across 11 countries in the region
World Indigenous Peoples Day: How net-zero climate goal alienates tribals
Promotion of net-zero climate targets may alienate tribals from their land when science tells us that there is simply not enough land
Holistic approach could be key to curb climate change: Experts
Different aspect of climate change should not be taken in isolation rather the time has come to find solutions holistically
Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (May 30, 2019)
Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
Can goats secure livelihood for small and marginal farmers?
The Centre's discussions on boosting the goat sector to double farmers’ incomes may be futile if fodder and grazing lands, both …
Fishery degradation in Pakistan: A poverty-environment nexus?
The number of fishing vessels in Pakistani coastal waters has been steadily increasing but the fish catches steadily decreasing. Press reports …
Nothing goes waste
The biological method of hospital waste management, which helps reclaim degraded land and cultivate medicinal plants, may be the best alternative …
When climate crisis meets human rights conundrum: Decoding death curves of environment, land avengers
As many as 1,539 environment, land right defenders were killed between 2012 and 2020
Healthy diet means a healthy planet? Not always, says study
Massive amounts of agricultural resources are mobilised to support current diet patterns, including non-renewable energy, fertiliser nutrients, …
UNDP kicks off its innovation summit
The two-day conference will see how innovations can address development challenges in Asia and the Pacific
Ease of doing business takes precedence over environmental and social concerns in project review process
The office memorandum has taken a very myopic view of any perceived delay in appraisal for environmental clearance