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In the heart of Altamira, a city often overshadowed by its reputation as the most deforested municipality in the Brazilian Amazon, a small backyard business is redefining the local economy. Alessandra Moreira, a former administrative assistant who turned to sustainable crafting as a means of healing from burnout and anxiety, founded Ecoplante. This innovative company transforms discarded paper scraps into handmade, seed-embedded sheets that can be planted after use to grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers. The process begins with collecting waste paper, which is shredded and blended into a pulp before being spread over mesh screens. Moreira and her team then hand-sprinkle seeds ranging from basil and arugula to daisies onto the wet fibers. Once dried, the paper serves as a functional s...

The population of Asiatic lions in Gujarat has witnessed a remarkable surge, growing from 674 individuals in 2020 to 891 in 2025, according to the latest census by the Gujarat Forest Department. This 32% increase represents one of the highest growth rates for a big cat population globally. However, the census reveals a significant ecological shift: for the first time, a majority of the lions roughly 57% are now living outside the traditional core protected areas of the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. Expansion into "Satellite" Populations While the core Gir Protected Area remains the heart of their habitat, it is now considered "saturated," hosting 394 lions. The remaining population has fanned out into nine distinct "satellite" regions across the Saurashtra landscape. This...

    India’s persistent solid waste management crisis is rooted in the absence of robust mechanisms, inadequate infrastructure and a lack of accountability across institutions and citizens, experts said during a panel discussion held in Chennai on Tuesday. The discussion highlighted that while several pilot projects and city-level success stories exist, their impact remains limited due to weak policy implementation and poor coordination among stakeholders. The panel discussion titled Future of Waste Management: Innovation, Technology, and Behaviour Change was part of The Hindu Sustainability Dialogues 2026 in collaboration with Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS) under the theme Shaping Tomorrow’s Sustainable Narrative. Speakers at the session...

The prolonged dry spell over Tamil Nadu is expected to ease in the coming days as an unusual weather system over the Bay of Bengal has intensified into a deep depression. Meteorological officials have forecast scattered to heavy rainfall across several parts of the State, particularly along the coast, for at least three days beginning Friday, January 9. According to the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai, the deep depression is currently positioned over the southwest Bay of Bengal and the adjoining east Equatorial Ocean. It is located approximately 810 kilometres southeast of Karaikal and about 980 kilometres south-southeast of Chennai. The system is likely to move west-northwestwards and cross the Sri Lanka coast between Hambantota and Kalmunai by Friday evening or night. ...

    Residents across several parts of south, southeast and north Delhi are likely to face disruptions in water supply over the next few days following damage to a major pipeline in north Delhi and a scheduled maintenance shutdown at a key water treatment plant, officials from the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) said on Monday. In north Delhi, water supply has been affected after an 800-millimetre pipeline originating from the Haiderpur Water Treatment Plant was damaged. The disruption is expected to continue until the morning of January 8. Officials said technical teams have been deployed and repair work is underway on a priority basis, though restoration may take over 24 hours due to the depth of the pipeline and site-related constraints. Areas likely to be affected in north D...

Every winter, air pollution in India is treated like a seasonal inconvenience. Governments blame stubble burning, fireworks or cold weather, announce emergency measures, and wait for the season to pass. Once the air clears, so does public attention. What is rarely discussed is the real reason winter air becomes so deadly. Winter does not create pollution. It traps it. And by ignoring the basic physics of how air behaves in winter, governments continue to allow a predictable public health disaster to repeat itself every year. The most important factor behind winter pollution is a phenomenon called temperature inversion. Normally, warm air near the ground rises and carries pollutants upward, allowing them to disperse. In winter, especially during calm nights, the ground cools rapidly. ...

Global carbon markets have crossed the $100 billion mark for the second year in a row, signalling the growing acceptance of carbon pricing as a central climate policy tool. Nearly 28 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are now covered by a direct carbon price, a sharp rise from just 5 per cent in 2005, according to the World Bank State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2025 report. While this expansion reflects progress at the global level, India’s experience with carbon markets suggests that scale alone does not guarantee meaningful emission reductions. Across the world, carbon pricing instruments are expanding rapidly. The World Bank report notes that 80 direct carbon pricing mechanisms are currently operational, including 37 emissions trading systems and 43 carbon taxes. Much of t...

    The failure of negotiations at the 11th Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, held in Lima, Peru, in late November 2025, has exposed a deep and widening fault line in global biodiversity governance. What unfolded in Lima was not merely a technical disagreement over seeds, but a fundamental clash between the Global North and the Global South over control, compensation, and the future of food security. At the heart of the deadlock was a long-standing dispute over access to plant genetic resources and the equitable sharing of benefits derived from them. Developed nations pushed for a sweeping expansion of Annex I of the Treaty, seeking access to all plant genetic resources under a single multilater...

    New Delhi witnessed continued cold day conditions for the second consecutive day as dense upper-level fog and icy northwesterly winds kept daytime temperatures well below normal. The maximum temperature on Wednesday settled at 16.7 degrees Celsius, marginally higher than Tuesday’s 15.7 degrees Celsius, but still around two degrees below the seasonal average. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), cold day conditions were recorded at Palam and Lodhi Road weather stations, similar to the previous day. The weather agency has issued a yellow alert for the Capital, warning that chilly conditions are likely to persist, even as a slight rise of about one degree in the maximum temperature is expected on Thursday. Meteorological officials said shallow fog ...

    Saudi Arabia now known for its vast deserts and arid climate, was once a land shaped by flowing rivers, large lakes and fertile grasslands, according to a growing body of scientific research. Multiple international studies suggest that the Arabian Peninsula experienced long periods of humid and green conditions in the past, supporting wildlife and repeated human settlement. Today, nearly 95 per cent of Saudi Arabia is covered by desert, including the Arabian Desert and the Rub’ al Khali, or Empty Quarter. Despite this, recent scientific evidence shows that extreme dryness is not the region’s permanent natural state. Researchers say dramatic climate shifts over millions of years repeatedly transformed Arabia into a habitable landscape. Much of this transformation o...