Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
The various mechanisms evolved through global negotiations to deal with shared environmental problems, such as climate change, fall short because they are not located within a larger debate on dealing with human well-being and instead focus only on limiting damage. The United Nations is best placed to support a common …
We were standing at the edge of what looked like a swamp—grass and pools and streams. On one side was heavily barricaded land with high walls, barbed wires and armed security. A board read: East Coast Energy, Kakarapalli. This was where a bloody battle had taken place a few months …
The tribal and ecological history of India has been the history of forced transformation of the natural commons into private property engineered under both the colonial and post colonial state policy. In the following period of structural adjustment programme during and after the 1990s the state has opened the public …
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is situated in the Southeast of Bangladesh covering about 10 per cent of the total land. It is the native hoe of 13 tribal communities and these communities have their own traditional knowledge for natural resource managements. This paper provides 8 traditional knowledge namely, folk classification …
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is situated in the Southeast of Bangladesh covering about 10 per cent of the total land. It is the native hoe of 13 tribal communities and these communities have their own traditional knowledge for natural resource managements. This paper provides 8 traditional knowledge namely, folk classification …
Livelihood pattern of the people of an area is directly influenced by the local biodiversity. Biodiversity is essential for human survival and economic well-being, and for the ecosystem function and stability. Over exploitation and biodiversity loss affects livelihood and food security of the local. People change their livelihood strategies as …
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity reports were born out of an initiative in 2007 to produce an analysis of the economics of biodiversity loss parallel to that of existing analysis of climate change. The reports do not preach to the committed environmentalist who already values nature. They are geared …
In a state such as Odisha in which Dalit and tribal groups comprise about 40 per cent of the total population, the issue of ‘access’ to land and resources has apparently been central to all conflicts. For traditional communities, ‘access’ is directly linked to civilizational paradigms and cultural ethos, which …
It is important to understand the strong linkage that exists between food security, forest and resource conservation. Studies conducted over a decade in India clearly point to the fact that a majority of people in this country survive within a biomass based subsistence economy.
“This magazine is not a product of a desire to capture share of the information market. It is a product of a need and desire to fill a critical information gap.” Anil Agarwal, founding editor of Down To Earth, wrote this in his introduction to the launch of the fortnightly …
THERVOY Kandigai village, 50 km northwest of Chennai in Thiruvallur district, is planning another protest against the Tamil Nadu government’s plan to set up an industrial estate on its 405 hectares (ha) of common forestland. People were encouraged by the recent Supreme Court ruling declaring the transfer of common land …
30 villages in Andhra Pradesh are up against a coal-based thermal power plant being built by East Coast Energy Pvt Ltd on Kakarapalli swamp. The contested site is a marshy land with at least 40 middle-sized ponds and a vast area used as salt farms. About 30,000 people depend on …
A village in Andhra Pradesh has become the epicentre of an eight-month-long fight against a power plant in neighbouring Kakarapalli. Following two deaths in police firing on February 28, people from 29 villages near the plant site thronged Vadditandra village in Srikakulam district to show support and mourn the deaths. …
This paper presents an overview of the distinctive features of communal tenure in different community-based land and natural resource management systems. Communal tenure refers to situations where groups, communities, or one or more villages have well defined, exclusive rights to jointly own and/or manage particular areas of natural resources such …
Read this special report published in Down To Earth on Nirma, the detergent company that gave false information to obtain clearance for its cement plant in coastal Saurashtra. Detergent company Nirma gave false information to obtain clearance for its cement plant in coastal Saurashtra. Environment ministry to inspect site and …
Supreme Court has asked the states to evict illegal occupants of village commons. This a report by Down to Earth on the apex court judgement which said that transfer of village community land for private & commercial use is illegal and asked all state governments to prepare schemes for eviction …
About a decade ago, farmers of 15 villages in Mahuva block in coastal Saurashtra could barely grow one crop a year. This was because the groundwater they used for irrigation was saline. Their fortunes changed in 2000 when the Gujarat government created a reservoir—Samadhiyala bandhara— by building a dam at …
JAGPAL SINGH and Dev Singh of Jagir Rohar village in Patiala have little idea that their enmity has resulted in a landmark judgement by the Supreme Court that would bear implications for the rural population of the country. In its January 28 decision in the case concerning encroachment of common …
A special report on the five-day biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons that ended on January 15 at Hyderabad. As the commons come under increasing assault, academics, practitioners and policymakers came together to devise ways to protect shared resources.
As per this order by the Supreme Court, the transfer of village community land for private and commercial use is illegal and all state governments have been asked to prepare schemes for eviction of illegal occupants of village community land and restore them back for the purpose it was originally …
