The discerning eye of the insect

How do pests select which plants to attack in the field? By smelling odours plants emit, believe most entomologists. But now an alternative …

Meet Deben Bora

As field researchers will tell, you don't get up one fine morning and cut through an unknown forest in search of an elusive animal species. Even …

Dumping nuclear burden

Australia's move to return to aborigines land located on former nuclear test site draws flak

Dirt bags or detergents?

The Indian detergent industry refuses to clean up its act

Documenting the Northeast's tribal laws

Land is central to the tribal identity in the region too easily abbreviated 'northeast'. Jeuti baruah knows this too well. As director of the Law …

Conversing on conservation

Battles Over Nature: Science and the Politics of Conservation Editors: Mahesh Rangarajan and Vasant Saberwal Publisher: Permanent Black Delhi Rs …

Mammoth task

Elephant management in India just got tougher

Has forest cover really increased?

The provisional figures for India's forest cover are now ready, and Down To Earth has managed to acquire a copy. The figures, when compared to …

Costly largesse

US unveils safety net for its farmers, shackling global free trade and posing a threat to environment

Book review: Inventing Global Ecology by Michael Lewis

In the 1950s and 1960s India used to import not only subsidised sewing needles and milk, but also wildlife conservation science from the US. …

Why states are against CAMPA

Fiscal federalism cramped by compensatory afforestation arrangements

Conservationists distort whaling body's raison d'etre

It took just five votes to shake the very edifice of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Voting 25-20 in favour of setting up a …

Backroom deals

Is US roping in India on the sly to subvert Kyoto Protocol?

One step forward, many steps back

Some recent amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act could infuse new life into a fusty act, but there are others that threaten to pull matters back