The National Biodiversity Authority has released a new set of rules to manage sharing of benefits generated through the use of biological resources. The Biological Diversity (Access to biological Resources and Knowledge Associated thereto and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits) Regulation 2025 was approved by the Central government and …
Young farmers in Ratnagiri are successfully preserving the unique diversity of the region by integrating small scale agriculture with livestock production.
Recent evidence from India suggests that rearing indigenous poultry rather than focusing on commercial breeds that give a higher yield can significantly contribute to the self-sufficiency and cultural wealth of rural communities
A month ago I found myself dodging traffic in one of Chennai’s older areas, Mylapore. I was on an errand to buy a herbal medicine for a cousin. The shop I was looking for is well-known but hard to locate. Dabba Chetty Shop, as it is called, is tucked away …
Winter reminds me of the innumerable lessons grandpa would give us cousins on the crops growing in our fields in Ambala. We would go there each year, but more than the lessons we were keen on eating delicacies grandma cooked for us. Bajra would intrigue me because it is a …
Livestock is a very important component for profitable farming as most of the agricultural by-products can be used to feed them converting them into manure immediately. Other economical gains are in the form of wool, milk, egg, meat and skin. In India, very good draught animals like bullocks and he …
In the chilly month of December when nerves freeze and hands shiver, there is nothing more comforting than a hot cup of tea. But even the spiciest and strongest brew would fail at 3,500 metres above sea level, where temperatures plunge below -20°C in a ruthless winter. People in the …
German architect Andre Alexander has been restoring old buildings in the Tibetan capital Lhasa for 15 years now. Over the past few years he has extended his work to Leh. Ravleen Kaur caught up with him over a cup of chhaang (barley wine) at a party where the artisans celebrated …
There is evidence that human beings are familiar with use of animals for food, cloth, medicine, etc. since ancient times. Enormous work has been done on ethnobotany and traditional medicine. Like plants, animal and their products are also possessing medicinal properties that can be exploited for the benefit of human …
The objectives of the case studies are to determine the potential of indigenous knowledge in strategically contributing to mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The case studies assess the indigenous knowledge practiced and applied by local communities in East, West and Southern Africa regions and determine the benefits of integrating …
The intricate, intertwined forces driving global climate change are mirrored by similar complexity in the human response to it. That makes it nearly impossible to anticipate the stance of any one group based solely on a label such as nationality, race, or economic class. But there is ample evidence that …
The value of the banyan tree is no mystery to traditional medical practitioners in India. For years they have been prescribing preparations containing latex of the banyan tree (Ficus bengalensis) to people suffering from joint pains and inflammation. Scientists from Maharashtra tested its efficacy on mice and agreed it is …
A Sydney-based astronomer has used ancient culture and modern technology to identify a meteorite crater in central Australia. Macquarie University PhD candidate Duane Hamacher has spent the past 18 months researching how aboriginal people incorporated the night sky into their culture. He says he used a story of the Arrente …
Dark brown seeds pointed at both ends resemble the kind of wild seeds growing just anywhere that children would collect to play with. Only, this seed is one of the rare and nutritious foods losing out to the rush for market food. To the Mahadeo Koli and Thakar tribals in …
People living in and around Aurangabad were getting round the clock water supply through underground pipelines at a time when most cities in medieval India relied directly on wells, ponds and rivers. These conduits dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries transported water over long distances through gravitational pull …
Many of my favourite childhood memories have to do with the time I spent with my grandmother in her kitchen, the ranna ghor. Ma usually was the first to wake up. I loved huddling up with her while she crushed spices on a pentagonal slab of stone—the sil —with a …
It was an evening in August. A group of men on a boat were packing dried dung cakes and hay into an earthen silo tied to the hull in Darbhanga district. Slowly, a body was pushed between the dung cakes. Oil was sprinkled on top. Smoke curled out as the …
Diversity of opinion blocking deal on diversity After Copenhagen, the North-South divide on the global commons will once again come to haunt the efforts to hammer out an international legal framework on biodiversity that seeks to supplement, if not replace, the existing Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The proposed accord …
As a mark of its commitment to biodiversity conservation, India will host the eleventh Conference of Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October 2012. Called
