Western Ghats

Pandemics tied to fragmented forests, biodiversity loss? What science says, and India's response

Experts warn loss of ecology will lead to more pandemics, India uses lockdown to dilute environmental laws.

The Zai Whitaker column | Remembering Bob and Tanya, saviours of the Western Ghats' sky islands

The Palani Hills bug bit Bob Stewart and Tanya Balcar, two young British backpackers who were travelling through southern India in 1985.

Coronavirus Outbreak: Monkey fever epidemic in Shivamogga district opens up two battlefronts for Karnataka

KFD Virus spreads primarily through forest ticks which are most active between November till the first weeks of monsoons.

A bird festival in Gujarat's Dang forests raises awareness about biodiversity in Western Ghats

Dang forests form the northern end of the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot. Among the Western Ghats endemic species, sightings of Malabar trogon, Malabar whistling thrush and white-bellied woodpecker were most noteworthy said the organisers.

Of sundews, strangler fig and elephant foot yam: Nirupa Rao's Hidden Kingdom is an ode to flora of Western Ghats

In Hidden Kingdom, the unusual plants of the Western Ghats are demystified and allowed the space they need to be understood in their singularity, Urvashi Bahuguna writes in a new column about environmental literature, #PagesFromTheWild

Wayanad's agrarian and tourism prospects increasingly threatened by climate change

A hill district on the Western Ghat known for tourism and large scale cash crop production, Wayanad in Kerala is one of the major places of south India where the impacts of climate change and global warming are acutely felt.

India needs to stop deforesting its mountains if it wants to start fighting floods

They are an annual nightmare in many parts, areas that were not considered a risk, are flood-prone,

Adivasis and the Indian State: Coffee plantations and reserved forests in Karnataka have stripped Jenu Kurubas of land, forest rights

Jenu Kurubas were listed as a primitive tribe by the state government. Now, they are listed as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).

It is the ice from the western ghats that keep the shola grasslands intact

Ecologists have debated why extremely different habitats, grasslands and forests, co-exist in same climatic conditions.

Is climate change the only reason for flooding taking place in the Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, older than the Himalayas, stabilised after going through many climatic variations since its formation.