Forest & Biodiversity

While, globally, it is the loss of forests that is a major issue, in India it is forest degradation that remains the biggest challenge. Our work focuses on promoting sustainable forest management, providing practical solutions towards generating finance through carbon trading from forests, and supporting the livelihood of forest dependent communities. We also work towards engaging communities for biodiversity conservation and mitigation of human-wildlife conflict through policy and scientific measures.

forest

NEW IN FOREST & BIODIVERSITY

  • forest wood

    Article

    Rehabilitation services at RMP for converting red mud dump yard into green cover

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  • village-community
     

    Article

    Carbon finance is a way to conserve India's tigers and their habitat

    Read More
  • nagaland biodiversity

    PUBLICATION

    A Tradition in Transition: Understanding the Role of Shifting Cultivation for Sustainable Development of Northeast India

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  • nagaland hunter

    Article

    Firewood Consumption and Forest Degradation in Himalayan states: A Review of Research Gaps

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  • Social Impact Assessment

    Opinion

    To maintain sustainability, gram sabhas have to be empowered

    Read more

Projects

Articles

Critically Endangered Forest Owlet: Under Threat from Habitat Loss

Forest owlets are an endemic species to India. They are found only in small pockets of forest patches in India, and nowhere else in the world. The species were thought to be extinct, until a group of scientists rediscovered the species, and then started working on them. The forest owlets are threatened by severe habitat loss and development projects, apart from changes in climate. Sharada Balasubramanian writes about the birds, their rediscovery and how their habitat is threatened by ancient climate change and landscape modification.

Rajaji National Park: A Biodiversity-rich Landscape in the Lap of River Ganga

Rajaji National Park is a magnificent ecosystem nestled in the Shivalik range and the beginning of the vast Indo-Gangetic Plains, representing rich floral and faunal diversity. The Park constitutes an important repository of the wild fauna and the last refuge of a number of threatened animal species in the lesser Himalayan zone and upper Gangetic plains. Considering the abundance of nature's bounties heaped in and around the Park, the area attracts a large number of wildlife conservationists, nature lovers, and eco-tourists.

The Elf of Plants They Call Mushroom

Thomas Carlyle had said once, 'Thou fool! Nature alone is antique, and the oldest art a mushroom; the idle crag thou sittest on is six thousand years of age.' Isn't it a fact that we haven't yet grown big enough to realize the benevolence of nature that has long been arming us to the teeth against all odds?

Carbon finance is a way to conserve India's tigers and their habitat

Mr Yatish A Lele

Ahead of International Tiger Day on 29th July, our ecologist Yatish Lele highlights TERI's efforts to measure the value of ecosystem services in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh, reducing human-wildlife conflict in protected areas of India, and public awareness towards wildlife conservation.

Biodiversity, Pandemics, and the Web of Life

TERI Web Desk

India can restore biodiversity in urban and rural areas by creating green corridors in cities and rejuvenating water bodies in rural areas.

Events

COP26 Charter of Actions: Virtual Stakeholder Roundtable on Nature-based Solutions

August 26, 2021
to August 26, 2021

Accelerating economic growth along with equitable recovery is fundamental to sustainable development and climate action. Under the presidency of United Kingdom in partnership with Italy, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), to be held from 1–12 November 2021 in Glasgow will aim at mobilising action on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience, and aligning them with sustainable development goals.

Linkages of Eco-Development Committees (EDCs) with institutions of community participation and Panchayati Raj Institutions

April 8, 2021
to April 8, 2021

Participants at the webinar will deliberate on issues arising in governance of forest, biodiversity and wildlife in light of multiplicity of institutions and regulatory regimes at the local level

Linkages of Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) with Institutions of Community Participation and Panchayati Raj Institutions

April 5, 2021
to April 5, 2021

This webinar would deliberate on the issues of overlapping regulatory regime and multiplicity of institutions in the context of Joint Forest Management in India

Linkages of Van Panchayats with institutions of community participation and Panchayati Raj institutions

March 25, 2021
to March 25, 2021

The webinar will hold discussions on challenges and issues of overlapping regulatory regime and multiplicity of institutions in the context of Van Panchayats of Uttarakhand.

Linkages of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) with institutions of community participation and Panchayati Raj institutions

March 19, 2021
to March 19, 2021

The webinar will focus on discussions around overlapping mandates and jurisdiction of different institutions leading to conflicts at various levels of community-based governance on management and conservation of natural resources

Climate Change Mitigation: Role of Forests within the Clean Development Mechanism Framework

November 10, 2020
to November 11, 2020

TERI is organising a two-day online training workshop for Indian Forest Service officers, nominated by MoEFCC, to discuss the theory and concepts of CDM in India.

Click here to download the reading material.

News

NATIONAL YOUTH DAY: Environmental Education needs to take centrestage to achieve sustainability goals

January 12, 2024
| Dr Livleen K Kahlon
| The Times of India

It is crucial to shape the youth's behaviour for promoting sustainable choices in decision-making, says Dr Livleen K Kahlon, Senior Fellow and Associate Director, Environment Education and Awareness Division, TERI.

Urban Menace: India can no longer afford to monkey around on macaque management; here is why

July 1, 2023 |
July 1, 2023
Down To Earth

First humans encroached on macaque habitat. Now they invade ours, and are unwilling to return because of easy availability of food. Loss of habitat and a poor waste management system in urban areas gives monkeys easy access to food and is driving the troops here said Dr Yogesh Gokhale, Senior Fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

Data Lab: Making sense of India's forest cover change, both gains and losses

April 6, 2023 |
April 6, 2023
WION

WION Data Lab examined India’s forest cover statistics and spoke with Dr. Yogesh Gokhale, Senior Fellow, Centre for Forest Management and Governance, TERI, to study the data and understand its complexities. According to Dr Gokhale, comparable data on India’s forest cover was made possible only in 2007, with the advent of wall-to-wall mapping by the interpretation of satellite data. Dr. Gokhale claims that to comprehend the loss of forest cover, we must also grasp the specific classification of forests according to their canopy density.

UP aims to collect 45 lakh tonnes of carbon credits in 10 years

September 19, 2022 |
September 19, 2022
Hindustan

The Government of India has announced to become carbon neutral by the year 2070. In December 2021, Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and TERI signed a Memorandum of Understanding to play their part in achieving this goal of India.

TSF signs MoU for Green School Project

September 15, 2022 |
September 15, 2022
The Pioneer

TERI and Tata Steel Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on implementing the latest stage of The Green School Project which aims to create awareness about environment conservation in the school network.

Leverage agroforestry for carbon markets

September 9, 2022
| Dr Yogesh Gokhale
,
| Dr Jitendra Vir Sharma
| The Financial Express

The country's agroforestry plantations play a key role in stabilising its forest and tree cover, estimated at about 24% of its area. Over 25 million hectares (mha) in the country are under the agroforestry system. Timber-growing agroforestry systems fulfil more than 80% of the domestic timber demand. India imports about 15-20% of its timber requirement, and that costs us more than Rs 40,000 crore annually. Over 159 mha can be potentially developed under agroforestry.

Policy

Meeting the challenges of human-wildlife conflict reconciliation in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve

February 6, 2020

Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) leads to the bearing of direct as well as indirect economic costs of conflict by the communities. Such losses can seriously dent the incomes of concerned community members and result in increased antagonism towards conservation in general.

Carbon finance: Solution for mitigating human–wildlife conflict in and around critical tiger habitats of India

January 29, 2020

Our study in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh indicates to the fact that use of Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards (CCBS) approach to generate carbon finance can yield 8 times more finance than just considering the aspect of carbon sequestration.

Minimum Support Price of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and Its Sustainable Harvest: A Social Safety Measure for MFP Collectors in India

February 15, 2018

Forests in India are treated primarily as social and environmental resource, and only secondarily, as commercial resource. More than 300 million people derive full or partial livelihood and sustenance need from forests. Many a times, communities are compelled to harvest forest produce unsustainably due to lack of adequate finance to meet their day to day life supporting needs. With such large population dependent on forest resources, the minor forest produce (MFP) sector is India’s largest unorganized sector.

Persistent organic pollutants in Indian environment: a wake-up call for concerted action

January 11, 2018

India has a comprehensive apparatus of environmental laws. However, the lack of an integrated approach to the regulation of chemicals, poor management of pollution, and the fundamentally retrospective vision have resulted in ineffective implementation of the laws as demonstrated by the example of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the environment.

Services

Carbon sequestration potential and biodiversity assessment

We undertake study for companies to estimate the carbon sink and other co-benefits including the biodiversity conservation from the plantation activities carried out in and around the companies premises.

Capacity building for management of natural resources

We undertake work on various institutional issues relating to participatory forest management, and have major interests in the study of forest-based livelihoods and benefit-sharing at the community level.

Senior Director, Land Resources
Area Convener of Centre for Forest Mgmt. & Governance; and Nutritional Security
Area Convener, Centre for Sustainable Land Management
Area Convenor, Centre for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services
Area Convenor, Sustainable Services Management