Ecology & environment

“In Central India, individual plant species figure in the first fruit ceremonies of the adivasi (indigenous) communities. During certain periods of the year, their fruits, flowers, leaves or seeds are not collected or consumed. This allows those species to rest for a few weeks or months during crucial periods for their growth or regeneration. The norms around these practices or methods are often embedded within the cultural-religious traditions of communities. As a knowledge system being transferred between generations, seldom are they explained or discussed in terms of ecology or conservation.” – Madhu Ramnath in “How culture threatens species A note on Caryota urens in South India” (Current Conservation 16.3, accessed 4 December 2022)
https://www.currentconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/16.3.pdf
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=20305

An environment minister’s call for a change in the colonial outlook: “Forests, tribal forest dwellers and life forms living in forests complement one another and are not rivals”

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Forests, tribals and wildlife are not rivals, says [former] environment minister Anil Madhav Dave addressing senior-level forest officers at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun The meeting of state forest secretaries to develop mitigation measures for faster green clearances for projects in wildlife habitats, which began today, saw the environment minister Anil Madhav Dave … Read more

A craft workshop for Santal women in Purulia: Determined to overcome poverty – West Bengal

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Source: courtesy Ratnaboli Bose, Daricha Foundation (by email, 5 October 2018)

Updates on the Convention on Biodiversity: Conservation to be “connected to livelihood” – Hyderabad biodiversity pledge

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Goa villages to document biodiversity PANAJI: Goa has become the second State after Kerala to constitute Biodiversity Management Committees in most of its village panchayats, according to Pradip V. Sarmokadam, Member Secretary, Goa State Biodiversity Board.The move is aimed at forming People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) in villages, which as many as 75 villages are already … Read more

Ancestral land of Soliga tribe restored: “Government realizes that tribal peoples are the best conservationists” – Karnataka

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Survival on 2 November 2011 (the organization working for tribal peoples’ rights worldwide) Indian tribe secures unprecedented rights to tiger reserve In a landmark victory, a tribe in India has for the first time had their right to use their ancestral land recognized – even though it is inside a tiger reserve. In 1974 members of the Soliga … Read more

“Tribal communities have a much deeper and a live sense of nature, living organisms, climate and material”: Veteran architect Narendra Dengle on architecture as an art – Maharashtra

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Source: “Poetry in architecture” by Harish Kabra, The Hindu, July 29, 2007Address: https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/poetry-in-architecture/article2275459.eceDate Visited: 27 December 2020 There are 16 tribes in Nagaland, each with different architectural traditions. Each has responded efficiently to climatic challenges, dovetailed with cultural needs and providing a nurturing matrix for ordinary life. That each produced uniquely beautiful buildings is not … Read more