UN Ocean Conference: a roadmap for sustainable use of oceans
Stakeholders have been invited at the Ocean Conference to give voluntary commitments to ensure that the oceans remain clean and provide a robust …
Derailment of climate action will be catastrophic for India
With major GHG emitter backing off, any action to combat climate change will be insufficient, and that's not good news for India
Farmers will bear the brunt of climate change
By 2050, India is likely to experience a temperature rise of 1-4°C; rainfall will increase by 9-16 per cent. This will have a detrimental …
New global standard adopted for making trade in plants and seeds safer
There is an increasing risk that pests carried by seeds could establish themselves and spread after planting
Adaptation finance for agriculture is the need of the hour
Efforts for adaptation finance will have to be multiplied greatly as the needs of today are not being met, leave alone the needs of a more …
Supreme Court issues directive for implementing MGNREGA, food security Act to tackle drought
In a bid to provide relief to households in drought-hit areas, the apex court directed the Centre to release funds to states for providing …
CBSE lists detailed measures to limit junk food in schools
CBSE-affiliated schools will have to ensure that foods such as chips, carbonated beverages and ready-to-eat noodles are not available in …
Global production of wood products registers growth
Governments need to ensure that principles of sustainable forest management are enforced, says forestry expert
We created a new material from orange peel that can clean up mercury pollution: researchers
When researchers combined two industrial waste products, they created a material that could clean up mercury
Ebola spurs food insecurity fears in African countries
Areas most affected by the outbreak are among the most productive in Sierra Leone and Liberia
UN warns against one of the world’s ‘most destructive banana diseases’
After Asia, Latin America, a region where about 70 per cent of the world’s banana exports are grown, could be next to be affected
A billion strong or weak?
Recently, India crossed the one-billion population mark. The question on everyone's lips is what does the future hold for babies born this …
Insect attacks affected 142 mn ha forest between 2003 and 2012: Report
The State of the World’s Forests report warned climate change will exacerbate wildfires and pest attacks in the future
"Subsidy culture has killed local agriculture"
Thupstan Chhewang, Chief Executive Councillor and chairperson of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) speaks to Down To Earth.
Ladakh on the move
Ladakh is the one region in India where sustainable development is the only way ahead. Dry toilets, water efficient crops, cooperative farming, a …
Draft global guidelines to reduce plastic fishing gear in oceans agreed upon
A set of draft Voluntary Guidelines on marking fishing gear have been adopted by countries to monitor the use of fishing gear, which is …
Death on mounds of a bumper crop
As corruption hijacks procurement centres in Bundelkhand, farmers prefer suicide to a debt trap. Richard Mahapatra reports from Uttar Pradesh …
Goodness of the unpolished
The popularity of polished white rice has killed the red and black varieties that have medicinal properties. A few Tamil Nadu farmers are …
Why Rajasthan's camel protection law is not enough to save its camels
Since the law does nothing to provide for the welfare of camels and their breeders, the government must take over from the Raika their …
New software to conserve shark species
The practice of slashing off a shark's fins and dumping the animal back into the sea has been declared illegal in many countries
Fragile, conflict-affected states disproportionately affected by climate change concentrated in Africa: IMF
By 2040, fragile states could face 61 days a year of temperatures above 35°C — four times more than other countries
How COVID lockdowns triggered changes in peregrine falcon diets
Urban pest control needs rethinking; pigeons contribute to the success of apex predators like the peregrine falcon
Millets should be mainstreamed for better nutritional outcomes in children
Civil society organisations can play an enabling role in helping the government to combat malnutrition by introducing millets in ICDS
State of the Climate in Africa 2021: High water stress to displace up to 700 million Africans by 2030
Extreme weather and climate change are undermining human health and safety, food and water security and socio-economic development in Africa
Food Systems Summit: ‘Supports to farmers keeping the world away from SDGs and the Paris Agreement’
United Nations calls for repurposing and reforming price-distorting and environmentally harmful supports to farmers