Ecological Heritage and Sacred Sites of India

  by  Nabarun Guha A mixed-tree species plantation in degraded areas in the Brahmaputra’s floodplains can address flood and erosion challenges, says a study. Since most of the river valleys are annually affected by intense flooding, promoting planted forests on degraded sandbars may help protect the flood plains from river erosion. Molai Kathoni, a forest created by Padma Shri recipient Jadav Payeng on the Majuli river island is a successful example of this kind of forest. Mixed-tree plantations can arrest flood and erosion impacts if engineering, bio-engineering and nature-based solutions approaches are combined. A new  study  that examined the plant diversity and carbon stock of 39-year-old human created forest, Molai Kathoni in Assam, and a natural forest of comparable age, shows that a mixed tree species plantation in Brahmaputra’s degraded floodplains can be a viable nature-based solution to address flood and  erosion  impacts. The  Molai Kathoni  forest on the Majuli river island

  by  Azera Parveen Rahman Assam’s tea growers who are dealing with high production costs and low profit margins have turned to growing the ‘perfume tree’, agarwood for financial viability. Agarwood, native to Assam and parts of northeast India, is critically endangered (IUCN). The Assam government has announced incentives encouraging tea growers to raise agarwood boundary plantations. While this would draw economic benefits, there is scepticism that agarwood would hamper tea by lowering its productivity. Assam’s tea growers are battling many challenges — high production costs, low profit margin, labour problems, and of late, coal shortage. Amid all this, they have found a window of opportunity, the critically endangered agarwood tree, that promises a symbiotic relationship in which they can both benefit from each other. Agarwood, or  Aquilaria malaccensis , is native to Assam and parts of northeast India. Although its use is varied — as an aromatic, medicine, and for religious purpose

  by  Devayani Khare Plastic is poised to be the most perceivable, persistent and pervasive indicator of the Anthropocene era and human industrial legacy. Terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems are more linked than we realise, and plastic pollution in one ecosystem can have cascading effects elsewhere. Plankton – key indicators of healthy aquatic ecosystems, are being adversely affected by microplastics, and the planet’s carbon sinks are in serious danger. The largest division on the geological time scale (GTS), which depicts distinct time periods in geological history, is called eons. Eons are further divided into eras, which are divided further into periods, epochs, and ages. The Anthropocene – a proposed, but still to be accepted term, represents the epoch when human activity began to leave an indelible, irrefutable mark on the planet. Plastic is poised to be the most perceivable, persistent and pervasive indicator of the Anthropocene era. How has plastic become a  hyperobject  

  by  Shuchita Jha   The Bhojtal wetland in the central Indian city of Bhopal, important for the city’s water supply, is reeling under intense pressure with the growth of the city and the needs of its residents. Nature-based solutions such as growing city forests and arresting soil erosion by targetted plantations have helped address water quality issues and biodiversity loss to an extent in the Bhoj watershed that is primarily rural but is rapidly urbanising. Despite some nature-based management initiatives, there is little progress in curbing ongoing groundwater depression and declines in lake water level and quality. It is 7 a.m. but inside Borvan city forest, the last vestiges of the night still hang heavy. Birds chirp relentlessly and a few morning walkers try to sweat it out but the cool breeze makes it impossible. To walk inside Borvan, in the central Indian metropolis of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, is to take a leisurely stroll in a thick, old tropical forest with the cacophony o