-The Indian Express The ingenious plan, a brainchild of state Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac, was formally rolled out earlier this week in Meenangadi, a panchayat of 33,000 people curled up in the Western Ghats hills in Wayanad district. Kochi: In a bid to encourage planting and preserving trees and thereby reduce carbon footprint, a village in Kerala has kickstarted a project that will allow farmers to mortgage the trees on their...

-The Hindu The Eastern Ghats, despite its rich bio-diversity, is often overlooked. Here’s a movement that aims to conserve it Despite being older than the Himalayas and the Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats, an ancient discontinuous low mountain range that spreads along the East coast of the Indian Peninsula, never got its due. The geographical extent of the Eastern Ghats is about 75,000 kilometres, spread over the states of Odisha (25 %),...

-The Hindu The projects, including mining and a highway, were brought up during virtual conferences; but site inspections are ‘a crucial component’ of project evaluation, say scientists Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh has a decidedly other-worldly feel. “Yeh kaunsi duniya hai,” my colleague exclaimed as we climbed the towering mountains — home to the endemic goat-antelope Mishmi takin, the ‘bright-eyed’ butterfly Callerebia dibangensis, and the Mishmi wren-babbler. I had read about the...

-The Hindu Deaths have occurred in eight districts, including 15 in Kolkata; casualties were due to falling of trees, electrocution, house collapse; PM to take aerial survey; Mamata sets up ₹1,000-crore fund. Kolkata: The death toll in Super Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal increased to 72, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday. Fifteen of the deceased were from Kolkata, she said. Ms. Banerjee, who met senior officials at the State Secretariat to...

-Livemint.com The line, connecting Hubballi and Ankola, poses a risk to 2,500 endemic species. On March 20, the controversial Hubballi-Ankola railway line project was cleared at the Karnataka State Wildlife Board meeting in Bengaluru amid protests from members. The proposed 164.44-km line will pass through the Western Ghats, a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation World Heritage Site, and see felling of 2.2 lakh trees, a move that has been opposed...