Environment and Ecology

Environmental conservation and sustainability, respecting ecological integrity and limits

This section relates to initiatives that promote the principles of ecological integrity and limits. These are initiatives which envision models of decentralized conservation of land, water and biodiversity, based on a respect for both local and modern knowledge, and considering environment as an integral part of life and work. It also highlight attempts at linking livelihoods to ecological regeneration and restoration at local and landscape level. It will feature innovative attempts to deal with problems of pollution and waste. Overall, this section will try to work towards an understanding of the ecosystem which includes sociological, historical and geographical considerations while deciding on the path that local urban/ rural communities and the larger society take towards well-being.

What if we designed homes to stay cool?

Ways in which residential buildings can be made cooler – a set of techniques called ‘passive design’ because they do not require the expending of energy for cooling.

Beeing: Harmonious, Slow, Tenacious

Sustainable harvest of honey and conservation of bees while employing the values of small-scale production, rural-livelihood development and women empowerment

On a journey to find where the wild things grow

Chefs, scholars and farmer collectives are trying to document the medicinal and nutritional value of wild foods

Solid waste management: Why integrating informal sector is a must

There is an urgent need to frame and implement a uniform waste-picker welfare law that recognises and integrates them into the waste management chain.

At 75, is India behaving like a responsible elder? Its ecological record does not indicate it is…

How can livelihood security and dignity be ensured for hundreds of millions of people in ways that also ensure ecological security?

Changing lives around the Mahakali

Women's role in governance, water management and conservation pivotal for transboundary water dialogues with villages across the river in Uttarakhand

हर घर का फैमिली फार्मर बनाना होगा (in Hindi)

बीजोत्सव से किसान और उपभोक्ताओं के बीच संबंध बन रहा है, बिचौलियों की भूमिका कम हो रही है और किसानों को उनकी फसल का उचित दाम मिल रहा है

जंगल और नदी कैसे बचाते हैं भारिया? (In Hindi)

भारिया आदिवासियों का जंगल व नदी बचाने का अपना तरीका है, वे जंगल की कटाई-छंटाई और नदी की साफ करते हैं, बल्कि उन्होंने पीढ़ियों से देसी पौष्टिक अनाज भी बचाए हैं

Forest rights good for forests too: This Odisha village shows how

The independence and ownership of the forest have allowed the villagers to regenerate the woods with depleted vegetation.