The futility of India's teak forests

Teak plantation forests lack in biodiversity as no other plant grows under teak trees. © Basudev Mahapatra

People’s movement brews against Subarnarekha Port Project

© Basudev Mahapatra

As the government of the eastern Indian state of Odisha has pursued works to realize its dream of Subarnarekha Port, the third non-major port of the state, people of Chaumukh village prepare for their second battle, after the famous Baliapal movement of the 1980s raised against a proposed missile test base.

“This land is dear to us because it has everything to offer for our livelihood. This is a fertile land mass where we grow paddy and many other crops. The Subarnarekha River has been a perennial source of fish, crabs and lime shells for land holding as well as landless villagers to gather food and earn a livelihood. The port will disrupt all these ecosystem services,” said Subash Chandra Chaudhury, 72, a retired school teacher of Chaumukh village.

Mahanadi needs rejuvenation plans to remain a live river system

Mahanadi River at Mundali barrage near Cuttack city, Odisha

Photograph: Basudev Mahapatra

At the centre of the dispute, since 2016, between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over sharing of water, River Mahandi is getting overstressed and its basin ecosystem degrading day by day

Mahanadi is the sixth largest river of India. It originates from a pool, 6 KM from Farsiya village of Dhamtari district, in the State of Chhattisgarh, and flows about 851 KM east through Odisha to reach the Bay of Bengal near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district.

Enterprising Odisha women take to selling fish to improve lives

Women in Odisha’s coastal fishing villages have turned to selling fish and value-added fishery products after eliminating middlemen and abolishing the home brewing of country liquor, the root cause of their problems.

Selling fish at the local fish market, Dulana Das (40) of Rambha village in Odisha’s Ganjam district took pride in introducing herself as a businesswoman instead of a fisherwoman. “I buy fish every morning from fishermen who fish in Chilika Lake and the nearby sea,” Dulana told VillageSquare.in.“With a designated place for me in the market, and a 20% profit, I earn a good income.” 

Ocean warming will kill fish, make them smaller and potentially toxic

No matter how near or far you live from the coast, you'll be affected by it: ocean warming may become one of the biggest threats to ecosystems and food security. 

Ocean warming, driven by increasing carbon emissions and rising temperatures, may become one of the biggest challenges facing humanity and threatening the Earth’s life systems, affecting even those living far from oceanic coasts. Already impacting people, fish stocks and crop yields, it may lead to more extreme weather events and increased risk from water-borne diseases including cholera. Fuelling global warming, it would put the livelihood of agrarian and fishing communities in the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions at stake, cautions the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in a report.