-Mongabay/ Scroll.in Grasses can boost mangrove restoration by strengthening erosion-riddled and nutrient-deficient patches in the region. Baby mangroves with leathery leaves peep out through lush meadows of grass that greet the Bay of Bengal. Soon enough these densely clumped blades and tufts of salt-tolerant grasses, in a degraded patch in the Indian Sundarbans, will fix the erosion-riddled saltmarsh to aid mangroves to expand their turf. “As they change the sea-soaked soil for the better...

-The Hindu The findings will play a key role in developing drought and salt-tolerant food crops for the 7,500 km long Indian coastline. CUDDALORE: A group of researchers from the Department of Genetic Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai; Centre for Advanced Studies in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University and Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, have for the first time identified a reference-grade whole genome sequence of...

-IndiaSpend.com To set up big commercial, tourism and shipping projects in the islands, the Centre has taken measures that could affect the region's unique biodiversity and ethnicity New Delhi: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are often pictured as a lush, tropical tourist paradise. But recent government moves may strip the protections that the ecologically and ethnically significant archipelago enjoys, in order to make way for big business, shipping and tourism projects, documents...

-Deccan Chronicle Critical to human life as they provide all of world’s freshwater. Kochi: Wetlands, the most economically valuable and among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, are disappearing three times faster than forests. A new report by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands warned of severe consequences for the future unless urgent action is taken to ensure their survival. Approximately 35 per cent of the world’s wetlands were lost between 1970-2015 with...

-Hindustan Times In 3 years, the Agarwals have prevented the land from being damaged five times Mumbai: Refraining from the usual practice of blaming authorities for destruction of mangroves and wetlands in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, this Navi Mumbai couple felt obligated to make a change. For the last three years, Sunil Agarwal, 55, and his wife Shruti, 50, residents of NRI Complex in Nerul, Navi Mumbai, have been guarding an 80-hectare wetland...