Month: October 2025

GLOBAL – October 2, 2025 – New research published in the journal Science warns that global pledges to plant billions of trees as a cornerstone of carbon reduction may be based on wildly optimistic land and sequestration estimates. The study found that the amount of land previously deemed suitable for forestation an area about the size of India shrank by as much as two-thirds when vital environmental and social constraints were factored in. The research co-authored by Josep “Pep” Canadell, executive director of the Global Carbon Project, determined that once adverse impacts on biodiversity, food security, and water resources are accounted for the potential for existing tree-planting pledges to store an estimated 40 gigatons of carbon by 2050 drops significantly to just 12.5 gigatons. ...

NEW DELHI — The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved a landmark ₹6,957 crore project to widen and upgrade the Kalibor–Numaligarh section of National Highway (NH)-715 in Assam. The project includes a historic 34.5 km elevated corridor across the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) establishing a new benchmark for conservation-friendly infrastructure in India. The approval is hailed as a historic step in infrastructure planning, designed to ensure the uninterrupted and safe movement of the park iconic wildlife, including elephants, rhinos, and tigers, especially during annual floods and migration periods. Project Balances Development and Conservation The 85.675 km stretch of NH-715 (formerly NH-37) currently skirts the sou...

A critical gap in protected area management is allowing illegal fishing to threaten a unique marine ecosystem off the coast of northern Peru, according to an investigation into the Illescas National Reserve. The reserve, while protecting vital terrestrial and coastal areas including the only known coastal nest of the endangered Andean condor is designated exclusively as a terrestrial protected area. This limitation restricts park rangers' ability to intervene against illegal fishing activities that take place just outside their jurisdiction in the adjacent sea. The Chinchorro Challenge The primary threat comes from fishers using chinchorro nets, a "very low selectivity" fishing method that has been banned across the Peruvian coast since 2009. Park rangers frequently confront fi...

A group of botanists from Benin Côte d'Ivoire, and Switzerland have launched the African Network of Palm Scientists to combat the decline of native palm species across the continent due to deforestation, overexploitation, and habitat loss. Though Africa is home to relatively few palm species compared to other tropical regions (with 52 in Central Africa, 38 in West Africa, and 18 in East Africa), palms are essential to the continent's social, economic, and cultural life, providing food, medicine, and construction materials. Key Threats and Conservation Goals African palms are disappearing, with species like Hyphaene guineensis and Sclerosperma profizianum becoming rare. The slow life cycle of palms with seeds taking months or years to germinate and plants growing slowly makes them ...

HONG KONG – Asia faces another major weather threat as Tropical Storm Matmo continues to intensify approaching the Philippines and posing a potential typhoon threat to southern China this weekend. This comes shortly after the region was left reeling from the devastating impact of Super Typhoon Ragasa, one of the strongest storms to hit the area in years. As of its latest bulletin Tropical Storm Matmo, known locally in the Philippines as Paolo has escalated in strength and is tracking west-northwest. It currently boasts maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour (kph) and is moving at a speed of 22 kph toward the vicinity of Luzon the Philippines most populous island. The Philippine weather agency has issued urgent warnings regarding a potential landfall in the provinces of sou...

The annual toxic haze over North India has again placed the spotlight on the country's multi-faceted, yet struggling, strategy to stop farmers from burning paddy stubble. India's "stubble playbook" combines technology subsidies, biological solutions, energy mandates, and financial penalties in a mix of incentives and enforcement. The central strategy is to encourage in-situ (in-field) incorporation of stubble back into the soil through the Crop Residue Management (CRM) Scheme, which provides subsidies for essential farm machinery such as the Happy Seeder and mandates the use of Super Straw Management System (Super SMS) attachments on combine harvesters. The Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) acts as the umbrella program facilitating cost-sharing and requiring states to ...

NEW DELHI — The Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the continuation of the Biomedical Research Career Programme (BRCP) Phase-III, securing a significant ₹1,500 crore outlay to bolster India's biomedical research capabilities. The approval reaffirms the government commitment to building a resilient, innovative, and globally competitive biomedical ecosystem aligning with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. The programme, implemented through a partnership between the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Wellcome Trust (WT) of the United Kingdom and the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), India Alliance will cover the period 2025–26 to 2030–31, with a budget commitment extending to 2037–38 for grants servicing. The funding split sees the DBT contributing ₹1,000 cro...

MEXICO CITY — Mexico is grappling with a severe and escalating outbreak of the flesh eating screwworm parasite, recording a 32% surge in confirmed cases with the total number now reaching 6,703. The alarming northward progression of the infestation primarily impacting cattle, has led to a major diplomatic dispute with the United States over containment measures and livestock imports. The latest data from Mexico sanitation agency, Senasica, indicates a concerning concentration of the outbreak as it moves closer to the U.S. border. A vast majority of the confirmed cases are in cattle, sparking fears over the safety of the nation livestock and the potential economic fallout for both countries. The New World Screwworm a parasitic fly whose larvae burrow into the living flesh of warm-bloo...

PAKISTAN — Pakistan push for solar energy in its agriculture sector is inadvertently accelerating a looming water crisis, particularly in the breadbasket province of Punjab. As farmers transition to solar-powered tube wells to escape high diesel costs and an erratic power grid the freedom of near-zero-cost irrigation is driving the rapid depletion of groundwater resources. The solar boom has led to an estimated 650,000 tube wells now running on solar power across Pakistan. Farmers are taking advantage of this unlimited, cheap power to irrigate their crops far more regularly, including multiple times a day a practice known as "pulse irrigation" that was previously unaffordable. Dual Impact: Over-Extraction and Crop Change The transition has coincided with an alarming decline in wat...

India appears to be on the verge of a significant entry into the Arctic driven by strategic and economic interests particularly through a partnership with Russia on the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Russia is actively courting India a long-standing partner to participate in the development of the NSR a new shipping corridor along the Russian Arctic coast. The NSR is up to 40% shorter than traditional southern routes like the Suez Canal, offering a faster, safer, and more cost-effective logistics artery between Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region. Key developments and potential for India bigger Arctic role: • Northern Sea Route (NSR) Partnership: Following Prime Minister Modi visit to Moscow in July 2024, a joint working group co-chaired by officials from both nations was established t...