On the margins

Cyclones have irrevocably impacted the lives of people on Bangladesh’s south-west coast.

Rafiqul Islam Montu

Climate change makes life a struggle in Bangladesh

Cyclones have irrevocably impacted lives on the country’s south-west coast.

Rafiqul Islam Montu

Protests against Parandur airport continue, away from media spotlight

The agitating residents hail from 13 villages, which will stand to lose 5,000 acres to the proposed project.

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Tamil Nadu’s first biodiversity heritage site Arittapatti needs your attention

Locals fear the richly deserving BHS tag, while safeguarding the area, may entail livelihood loss.

M. Mathivanan,T. Ganesh

Mumbai in a haze: Pollution hits alarming levels

The SAFAR government monitoring system says AQI was 300-400 for 23 days in January.

Anupama Katakam

Joshimath collapses - Info Card

Alarming rise in landslides now a pan-India peril

It is leading to calls for a serious rethink on balancing development with environmental concerns.

Ramesh Chakrapani

The hungry river

Villages in West Bengal’s Malda and Murshidabad districts live under the constant threat of river erosion that eats up their homes overnight.

More stories from Environment

Workers inside the NTPC tunnel, at Helang near Joshimath on January 17, 2023.

Missed warnings on Joshimath: A timeline

A compilation of the many studies done over the years, and how they were all ignored.

Anupama Katakam

A Joshimath resident sits next to the cracked wall of her house on January 10, 2023.

Joshimath crisis: A story of criminal neglect

Ignoring protests and pleas of residents for 14 months, the government pushed on with mega projects.

Ravi Chopra: ‘It is madness’

The research scientist says Joshimath was a disaster waiting to happen.

Anupama Katakam

Editor’s Note

While development is indeed required in the Himalaya, it must come with meticulous planning.

An aerial view of a landslide-hit mountain in Rudraprayag in 2013.

Joshimath is proof why eco-friendly development is the need of the hour

It highlights our continued, blatant indifference to rigorous terrain testing and resilient design.

Vinod Kumar Gaur

Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Plant of NTPC, in Joshimath, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023.

Tapovan Vishnugad: NTPC project at the heart of Joshimath crisis

Were thorough geological, geophysical, and geotechnical studies done before sanctioning the project?

Himanshu Thakkar

Cracks in the road leading to the main market of Joshimath, on January 21.

Joshimath: A tragedy foretold

In the midst of the current crisis, the Congress and the BJP are blaming each other.

A cluster of houses built on a hill, in Nainital, Uttarakhand, in 2009. The entire Himalayan region is geologically unstable, tectonically alive, and environmentally fragile even without human interference of the scale now seen.

How unplanned urbanisation threatens the mountain towns of Uttarakhand

More than 60 per cent of the built-up area in these towns is in environmentally unsafe zones.

Prakash C. Tiwari

Lalpur in West Bengal was badly eroded in October 2021. Thirty-six families became homeless when a 300-metre long road and six houses were washed away.

The hungry river in West Bengal eats up homes overnight

Villages in Malda and Murshidabad districts live under the constant threat of river erosion.

According to data from the Karnataka Forest Department, 79 people have died as a result of elephant encounters in Karnataka between 2017 and 2021. Elephants are commonly sighted in the coffee plantation areas of Hassan district.

Hills of Hassan district plagued by perennial human-animal conflict

Giant fences or elephant translocation might not be the right solutions to resolve the problem.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

‘Permanent solution to human-elephant conflict elusive’: Vinod Krishnan

In conversation with the wildlife conservationist.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

Sea change

India could learn a few lessons from small island nations like Maldives on mitigating climate change.