Armageddon

The fires in the Amazon forest show no signs of abating. Lax environmental laws have added fuel to them

Chased off

Pockets of salt manufacturing uits and an army firing range within the Wild Ass Sanctuary i Gujarat are scaring the animals away

A shift in tradition

THE HOE AND THE AXE: AN ETHNOHISTORY OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN EASTERN INDIA· A Pratap·Oxford· New Delhi·2000·…

Nobody's children

A plantation economy, land grabbing and migrations from neighbouring states have forced Gudalur's tribals into destitution

Baiga agriculture can solve problems that plague modern systems

Book>>Benwar Swaraj by Naresh Biswas Nirman Vaikalpik Vikas Evam Sehbhagi Shodh Sansthan, Mandla, Madhya Prades

Farmers can only teach traditional knowledge

P S Ramakrishnan , former director of G B Pant University in Nainital, Uttar Pradesh and currently professor at the School of Environmental …

Crossroad

nitin sethi visits Arunachal Pradesh and finds the Apatani grappling with stereotypes and change

Mautak will flower

In 2006-2007, a bamboo species will flower over vast swathes of Mizoram, Tripura and Assam. When bamboo flowers, it dies; usually a famine follows.…

Truth is more Slppery

Hydropower is northeast India's biggest resource. But the manner in which the Subansiri Lower Project (SLP) is being implemented forces nitin …

Chipping away

Time was, when the Saranda forest cover was so dense that even the sun's rays couldn't penetrate it. Ironically, denudation has driven the region …

Shifting blame

Avian diversity in the Northeast is better off with shifting cultivation than selective logging and monoculture forests

Mutual interest

Farmers care for the hill slopes only when the hills provide livelihood -- a simple lesson that has been forgotten

Old as the hills

Shifting agriculture on the hillsides has been going on for centuries. In recent times, it has been blamed for degrading the ecology. Agriculture …

Baigas in exile

Once called lords of the jungle, the Chhattisgarh tribals are being evicted without adequate relief

Desertification in India: Slash-and-burn farming destroys Nagaland

Experts blame shifting cultivation for land degradation as about 20,000 hectares of forest is felled every year in the state for it

A profane proposal

10 years ago, Down To Earth reported on the state of sacred groves in India (see: Down To Earth, January 31, 1994). Patches of forest protected …

Timber travails

After completing two years as the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh Mukut Mithi is proud to relate his government's achievements while …

Shifting greening options

Is jhum cultivation still a viable option for the future?

Mountains that matter

The United Nations declares 2002 as the International Year of the Mountains

A silent worker

Final shift

Guns and poses

The Tripura government's plan to secure development for tribals

MADAGASCAR

Development offer

VIETNAM