Environment & Ecology Current Affairs for UPSC
The latest 88 Environment & Ecology current affairs notes for UPSC Prelims and Mains, newest first.
October 2026 · 21
Namami Gange Tightens Industrial Pollution Monitoring Mechanism
Industrial pollution abatement is a core pillar of the Namami Gange Programme. It is built around annual inspection of Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) since 2017. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is the…
14 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Concerns Raised Over Kishau Dam's Ecological and Seismic Risks
The Kishau Multipurpose Project is a proposed large dam on the Tons river in the Yamuna basin. It was recently revived after six states and Delhi signed a cost-sharing agreement. The Centre funds most of it. This…
13 Oct 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Experts Question Removal-Only Approach to Invasive Plants
Invasive alien species such as Prosopis juliflora, Lantana camara and Senna spectabilis have become a major focus of administrative and judicial action in India. Courts and governments order their removal as a solution…
13 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Why Cement Remains a Hard Barrier to India's Net-Zero Goal
Cement is central to India's construction boom but also a major obstacle to its climate goals. India aims to become an economically developed country by 2047 and reach net-zero emissions by 2070, but cement making is a…
9 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Species-Specific Recovery Efforts Show Gains Across India's Wildlife
India's wildlife recovery effort has moved from general habitat protection to targeted, species-specific action. The Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats scheme supports recovery for 24 identified species. It is…
8 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Rewilding of Great Indian Bustards Begins in Rajasthan
Two captive-bred male great Indian bustards (GIB) were released into the wild in Rajasthan's Desert National Park. This marked the first rewilding step under Project GIB, a joint effort of the Environment Ministry, the…
7 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Ancient grasslands, once destroyed for development, can take 100 years to grow back
Grasslands, long dismissed as 'wasteland' in Indian land records, are in fact a distinct, stable ecosystem maintained by fire and water-limited conditions that prevent trees from taking over, not an unfinished stage of…
6 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Fossil-Fuel-Dependent Hosts Shape COP31 Climate Summit Agenda
COP31, the next UN climate conference, will be held in Antalya, Türkiye, with an unprecedented split arrangement: Türkiye holds the COP31 presidency while Australia serves as vice-president overseeing negotiations, a…
6 Oct 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Study Splits Urban Warming into Urbanisation and Climate Change
A study using NASA's MODIS satellite data separated two causes of rising city temperatures in India: local urbanisation and wider climate change. It analysed 141 cities from 2003 to 2020. It found cities warming at…
6 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Study Warns River-Linking Project May Spread Invasive Species
The National River Linking Project (NRLP), which proposes connecting 37 river basins through 30 links to transfer water from 'surplus' to 'deficit' basins, faces a new ecological concern beyond its well-known…
6 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Tigress Translocated to West Bengal's Buxa Reserve for Reintroduction
On October 2, 2026, a three-year-old tigress, T138, was translocated from Bihar's Valmiki Tiger Reserve and released into West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve, starting a phased plan to rebuild a self-sustaining tiger…
6 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Bird islands: On India’s bustard conservation programme
The release of two captive-bred Great Indian Bustards at Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, marks progress in a captive breeding programme that now holds 97 birds, with 29 chicks born this year. The species, protected…
6 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Two Captive-Bred Great Indian Bustards Released Into the Wild
The Great Indian Bustard (GIB), classified Critically Endangered by the IUCN with fewer than 150 wild individuals, is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and Appendix I of CITES. Its…
5 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Chhattisgarh Tiger Reserve Finds Large-Scale Tree Girdling, Encroachment
Chhattisgarh's Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve (USTR) has documented girdling, a slow bark-stripping method that kills trees, of over 2,500 trees in the Karka area, once part of the erstwhile Sitanadi Wildlife Sanctuary.…
4 Oct 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Ecologists Seek Wider Monitoring Network Amid El Niño Stress
India is entering a difficult post-monsoon period after this year's southwest monsoon closed with a rainfall deficit, with a strengthening El Niño expected to keep most of the country dry. El Niño works by weakening…
4 Oct 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
Captive-Bred Great Indian Bustards Released Into Desert National Park
The Great Indian Bustard (GIB), listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, is one of India's most critically endangered birds. Desert National Park in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer and Barmer districts is…
4 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Economists Propose Carbon-Pricing-Linked Climate Reparations
A forthcoming book by a University of Chicago economist and two Nobel-winning co-authors proposes that OECD countries pay citizens of developing countries directly for climate damage, calculated using the Social Cost of…
3 Oct 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Rescue act: On tiger reintroduction in West Bengal’s Buxa
Buxa Tiger Reserve in North Bengal, declared in 1983, has received its first tigress under India's Tiger Reintroduction Programme. The tigress was translocated from Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar, following years of…
3 Oct 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
Why India needs more transmission, battery storage for green energy push
The government has approved the third phase of the Green Energy Corridor (GEC-III), with an outlay of Rs 1.86 lakh crore, to enable evacuation of up to 135 GW of renewable energy. For the first time, the scheme includes…
2 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Government Launches Guidelines for National Coastal Mission 2.0
The Union Environment Ministry has launched Guidelines to implement National Coastal Mission 2.0 (NCM 2.0), a Central Sector Scheme with an approved outlay of ₹767 crore running till 2030-31 across nine coastal states…
1 Oct 2026 · GS3 · Environment
UN Declares Sea-Level-Hit States Keep Statehood, Borders
The UN General Assembly adopted its first declaration on sea level rise, addressing what happens to a country's statehood and maritime boundaries if its coastline shrinks or disappears. Under the 1933 Montevideo…
1 Oct 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
September 2026 · 32
India Presents Forest Restoration Progress at FAO's COFO 28
India presented its forest and landscape restoration record at the 28th session of FAO's Committee on Forestry (COFO 28) in Rome. India's forest and tree cover stands at 82.74 million hectares, 25.17% of its…
29 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Debate Over Regulating Legal and Illegal Mining in Aravallis
The Aravalli Range, among the world's oldest mountain systems, faces a governance crisis rooted in weak enforcement rather than absent law. Legal mining under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and Environment…
28 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
Karnataka Rejects Draft Western Ghats Ecological Zone Notification Again
The Kasturirangan Committee's 2013 report recommended declaring about 37% of the Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area, a narrower approach than the Gadgil Committee's 2011 recommendation covering 64% through…
27 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Nepal Faces Fresh Flood Risk, PM Urges Himalayan Climate Cooperation
Weeks after Nepal's deadly Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods, a fresh low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal is bringing heavy rain to Nepal's hill and mountain provinces, raising renewed flood risk in districts already…
27 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Study Links Current Super El Niño to Rising Heat Deaths
A research assessment projects that the current 'Super El Niño', marked by eastern Pacific sea-surface temperatures over 3°C above normal, could cause around 15,800 additional heat-related deaths in India between…
25 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
Bengaluru Tunnel Project Sparks Urban Tree Felling Dispute
The Greater Bengaluru Authority has identified 1,128 trees across more than 70 species for felling along a 2.2-km stretch to build the Hebbal short tunnel project, running near the Hebbal lake buffer and a tree park.…
24 Sept 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Report Projects Rising Heat-Related Deaths in India Amid El Nino
The current El Niño episode is being classified as a Super El Niño, with Pacific sea-surface temperature anomalies already exceeding +3°C above normal and projected to reach +4°C, a level with no precedent in the past…
24 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
New Checklist Records 3,261 Flowering Plant Species in Agasthyamalai Reserve
A new checklist compiled by the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute records 3,261 flowering plant species across 190 families and 1,139 genera in the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve (ABR)…
22 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
Grassland Restoration Central to India's Rhino Conservation Push
The Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros, once reduced to a few hundred animals, has recovered by nearly 170 percent to over 4,000 individuals, concentrated in Assam, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Though rated Vulnerable on…
22 Sept 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Tiger Trafficking Shifts From Reserve Boundaries To Wider Landscapes
Global wildlife trade data compiled over 25 years shows that tiger trafficking has evolved beyond the traditional model of poachers breaching reserve boundaries. As tiger populations recover under India's Project Tiger…
21 Sept 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Prime Minister Outlines India's Climate Progress at NGT Conference
The Prime Minister's address at an international conference hosted by the National Green Tribunal reviewed India's climate performance over the past decade and reiterated India's calls for equitable climate…
20 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Noise and Climate Change Threaten Himalayan Monal's Habitat
Two studies on the Himalayan monal, Uttarakhand's state bird, highlight distinct but related threats. One study, comparing a quiet valley with a road-linked, tourist-heavy valley inside the Kedarnath Musk Deer…
19 Sept 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Debate Grows Over India's Deep-Sea Mining Ambitions
India holds three International Seabed Authority exploration contracts across the Central Indian Ocean Basin, Central Indian Ridge and Carlsberg Ridge, having identified large polymetallic nodule deposits rich in…
19 Sept 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Melting Himalayas Threaten India's Water and Economy
Glacier retreat in the Himalayas poses both slow-onset and acute risks to India's water security, economic activity and disaster resilience. Himalayan snow and ice buffer dry-season river flows that sustain the Indus…
18 Sept 2026 · GS3 · Environment
GIB Soft Release Centre Inaugurated in Kachchh Amid Grassland Conservation Push
The Great Indian Bustard (GIB), listed as Critically Endangered under the IUCN Red List and protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and CITES Appendix I, survives in two fragmented populations…
15 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
Gujarat Action Plan Released for Great Indian Bustard and Grassland Conservation
The Great Indian Bustard (GIB), listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and CITES Appendix I, faces extinction risk from grassland…
14 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
India-Indonesia Coordinate Repatriation of Trafficked Orangutans Found in Odisha
Five juvenile orangutans rescued from Balasore district in Odisha have triggered a multi-agency investigation and a formal government-to-government exchange between India and Indonesia under the CITES framework.…
13 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
India Launches Fifth Edition of Coastal Cleanup Campaign Swachh Sagar Surakshit Sagar
India's approximately 11,098-kilometre coastline, touching nine states and four Union Territories, faces compounding threats from plastic pollution, microplastics, ghost nets, coastal erosion, and sand mining. These…
13 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Nepal Estimates $4.78 Billion Reconstruction Cost After Glacial Flood Disaster
A major Glacial Lake Outburst Flood along Nepal's Bhotekoshi River corridor caused destruction that Nepal has estimated will cost $4.78 billion to reconstruct. GLOFs occur when ice or moraine dams fail suddenly…
12 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Five Rescued Orangutans in Odisha Expose International Wildlife Smuggling Network
Five juvenile orangutans discovered in Balasore, Odisha — far from their native rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra — have exposed an international wildlife-smuggling network and triggered a multi-agency investigation…
11 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
DRI Seizes Protected Wildlife Across Six Operations Nationwide
India's wildlife protection framework combines the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and obligations under CITES to prohibit trade in endangered species. Schedule I of the Act confers the highest level of protection —…
10 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
India Hosts ISA Deep-Sea Taxonomy School for Indian Ocean Researchers
The Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), under India's Ministry of Earth Sciences, hosted a five-day International Deep-sea Macrofauna Taxonomy School in Kochi in collaboration with the International…
10 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Nepal Glacier Collapse Exposes Gaps in Himalayan Transboundary Disaster Governance
A glacier collapse near the Nepal-Tibet border triggered a devastating Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) that destroyed roads, bridges, and hydropower infrastructure across Nepal's river valleys. The event illustrates…
9 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
India-Japan Joint Working Group Advances Forest Cooperation Roadmap 2027–2031
The 7th India-Japan Joint Working Group meeting on forests, held in Bengaluru, advanced bilateral cooperation under the Memorandum of Cooperation signed in 2015. The two sides deliberated on three thematic areas: Trees…
9 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
WMO Warns Wildfires and Heatwaves Worsening Global Air Quality and Health
The WMO's annual Air Quality and Climate Bulletin warns that wildfires and heatwaves are generating toxic PM2.5 at levels that offset industrial pollution reductions achieved in Europe and North America. PM2.5…
8 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
CAQM Re-tests Satellite Protocol as Stubble Burning Data Shows Divergence
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the statutory inter-state body established in 2021 to replace the court-constituted EPCA, has acknowledged that its burnt area assessment protocol for monitoring paddy…
8 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
India's National Clean Air Programme Reports Progress Across 130 Cities
The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), launched in 2019, covers 130 non-attainment cities across India with the goal of reducing particulate matter pollution through source-specific, multi-sectoral action plans.…
8 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
UNEP Report Warns 1.5°C Paris Threshold Now Effectively Breached
The UNEP report *Limiting Overshoot* confirms that the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C warming threshold has been breached multiple times and cannot now be held as a long-term target. The best-case scenario projects warming…
6 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Supreme Court Panel Proposes Ecosystem Framework for Aravalli Hills Definition
The Aravalli Hills, one of the world's oldest mountain ranges stretching 700 kilometres across four states, have long lacked a legally settled definition, creating a governance vacuum exploited by mining and real-estate…
5 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari Expands Groundwater Recharge Structures Across India
Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB), launched in September 2024 under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, is India's community-centred groundwater recharge initiative guided by the 3Cs: Community, CSR, and Cost. It focuses on…
4 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
UNEP Report Declares 1.5°C Warming Threshold Breach Now Inevitable
The UNEP report *Limiting Overshoot* has formally declared that a sustained breach of the 1.5°C warming threshold set by the Paris Agreement (2015) is now inevitable — the first such declaration by an authoritative…
3 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Nepal's Disproportionate Climate Burden Raises Global Climate Justice Questions
Nepal contributes less than 0.1 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions but faces catastrophic climate impacts, illustrated by the August 2026 floods that caused an estimated $4–5 billion in damage — roughly…
2 Sept 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
August 2026 · 29
Glacial Lake Outburst Floods Reframed as a Multi-Wave Public Health Crisis
The Hindu Kush Himalaya region, warming faster than the global average, contains over 7,500 glacial lakes in India and 3,600 in Nepal, many expanding rapidly as glaciers retreat. When moraine or ice dams fail, Glacial…
30 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Hanging Glacier Collapse Triggers Nepal Flash Floods; India Reviews GLOF Preparedness
A glacial collapse near Langtang Lirung (approximately 5,200 m) in Nepal's Rasuwa district triggered a cascading disaster along the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli river system, killing hundreds and leaving thousands missing. The…
29 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
Supreme Court Panel Urged to Halt Kukrail Night Safari Over Clearance Gaps
The Kukrail Night Safari and Zoological Park, proposed on 855 acres of reserved forest land in Lucknow at an estimated cost of Rs 1,510 crore, is facing a legal challenge before the Supreme Court's Central Empowered…
27 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Urban Lake Degradation Demands Outcome-Oriented Rejuvenation Beyond Quick Fixes
Wetlands, including urban lakes, cover nearly 6% of the planet's surface and are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, storing large amounts of carbon and supporting biodiversity, climate regulation, and human…
27 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Record Sea Surface Temperatures Signal Urgent Need for Climate Adaptation
Global sea surface temperatures (SSTs) have broken consecutive monthly records, reaching 21.1°C in August 2024 — surpassing the previous record of 21.09°C set in March 2024 and occurring outside the normal seasonal…
27 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
Climate change disrupts forest phenology across Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve ecosystems
A peer-reviewed study published in 2024 used satellite imagery to track forest phenology across four forest types in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR) over two decades. It found that temperature in the NBR rose by…
23 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
Supreme Court intervenes to protect elephant movement corridors across states
Elephant corridors are movement pathways connecting fragmented natural habitats, essential for seasonal migration, genetic exchange, and reducing human-elephant conflict. India's 22,446 elephants are distributed across…
23 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Supreme Court overturns NGT order on Yamuna floodplain damage liability
The Supreme Court set aside an NGT order that had held a private foundation liable for damage to the Yamuna floodplains during a large cultural event. The Court found that the NGT had failed to establish that the…
23 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
India Releases Comprehensive Report on Deep-Sea Fishery Resources of Its EEZ
India's Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, has released a landmark national report on deep-sea and distant-water fishery resources of India's Exclusive Economic…
21 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
India chairs BRICS Environment Ministers' Meeting, advances climate and sustainability agenda
India hosted the 12th BRICS Environment Ministers' Meeting under its 2026 Chairship, themed 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'. BRICS collectively represents 49.5% of the world's…
20 Aug 2026 · GS2, GS3 · Environment
CAQM mandates phased cleaner LGV registration, tightens stone-crushing dust controls in NCR
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), established by Parliament in 2021 as a statutory inter-state body replacing the court-constituted EPCA, approved two significant Directions at its 29th Full Commission…
20 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
DRC's 17th Ebola Outbreak Becomes Deadliest in Country's History
The DRC's 17th Ebola outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain and centred in Ituri province in eastern Congo, has become the deadliest in the country's history with over 4,945 cases and 2,325 deaths, surpassing the…
18 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Supreme Court directs nationwide survey to protect elephant corridor free passage
The Supreme Court has directed the Union government to conduct a nationwide survey of elephant corridors and ensure unobstructed passage for wild elephant herds across State boundaries. The Court held that no State can…
18 Aug 2026 · GS2, GS3 · Environment
CAG audit finds Green India Mission achieved under 10% of forest-restoration targets
The Green India Mission (GIM), one of the eight missions under India's National Action Plan on Climate Change (2008), was designed to restore and enhance forest quality over 1.4 million hectares and serve as India's…
18 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
India's organic waste governance fragmented across 16 ministries, CEEW finds
India's organic waste — encompassing food waste, agricultural residue, animal waste, and biowaste — represents a massive untapped resource that is currently mismanaged due to a fragmented governance architecture. The…
14 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Supreme Court Directs Guidelines on SWM Rules 2026 Environmental Compensation
India's Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2026, which came into force on April 1, 2026, replace the decade-old SWM Rules of 2016 and represent the most comprehensive overhaul of India's municipal waste framework. The…
14 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
India's first open-access ecoacoustic dataset enables AI-based wildlife monitoring
Ecoacoustics — the scientific study of environmental soundscapes — has emerged as a powerful tool for biodiversity monitoring, particularly in dense or inaccessible habitats where visual surveys are limited. Animals use…
12 Aug 2026 · GS3 · Environment
El Niño threat persists for rabi crops despite July monsoon revival
The current kharif season began with a severe crisis — June rainfall was 38% below LPA, the sixth driest June since 1901, with no Low-Pressure System forming. Kharif sowing lagged 20.8% year-on-year, with oilseeds…
11 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS1 · Environment
Parliamentary Committee Flags Gaps in Himalayan Forest Fire Research and Policy
The 412th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change examines forest fires in the Himalayan region, identifying critical gaps in research, data…
8 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Farmers resist land acquisition for canal revival project in Tamil Nadu
The Nandan Link Canal project in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, proposes to revive a defunct British-era canal by constructing a 28.95 km canal network between Sathanur dam and Samudram village, requiring acquisition of…
7 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Gauhati High Court orders status quo on Manas Tiger Reserve encroachments
Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam — a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tiger Reserve, Biosphere Reserve, and Elephant Reserve spanning 2,837 sq. km — is facing large-scale encroachment in its core tiger habitat.…
6 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Climate Resilience as a Low-Risk Pathway for India-China Bilateral Engagement
India and China face strikingly similar climate resilience challenges — urban flooding from compressed, high-intensity monsoon events, glacial melt in the shared Himalayan ecosystem, and food-security disruptions —…
6 Aug 2026 · GS2, GS3 · Environment
Kerala researchers identify new seahorse species, resolving 150-year taxonomic confusion
Marine researchers from Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (Kufos) have identified a new seahorse species, Hippocampus amandavincentae, resolving a 150-year-old taxonomic confusion. The thorny seahorse…
5 Aug 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Glaw Lake designated India's 101st Ramsar Site, Arunachal Pradesh's first
Glaw Lake in Arunachal Pradesh has been designated India's 101st Ramsar Site — the state's first — under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971), to which India acceded in 1982. Located within the Kamlang Tiger Reserve…
4 Aug 2026 · GS3 · Environment
India's conservation future requires landscape connectivity beyond protected areas
India's protected area network, while extensive, cannot alone secure biodiversity in an era of climate change and rapid infrastructure expansion. The article argues for a paradigm shift from isolated site-based…
3 Aug 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Recurring floods and landslides expose governance gaps in disaster preparedness
India's recurring floods in Assam and landslides in Kerala are not simply products of extreme weather — they are disasters co-produced by ecological degradation, floodplain encroachment, and governance failures that…
3 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Tribal community protest halts laterite quarry near ecologically sensitive Kerala hill
A Scheduled Tribe settlement in Kannur, Kerala, successfully halted a laterite quarry through a 17-day hunger strike after the District Collector issued a temporary stop memo. The quarry had resumed operations under…
3 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Genome Sequencing Study Reveals Hornbill Population History and Conservation Insights
A study by CSIR-CCMB and NCF used whole-genome sequencing to decode the complete genomes of four Asian hornbill species — the Great Hornbill, Wreathed Hornbill, Rufous-necked Hornbill, and Malabar Pied Hornbill — and…
1 Aug 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Western Ghats ESA notification stalled amid Centre-State conservation disputes
The Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world's eight biodiversity hotspots spanning six Indian states, has been at the centre of a protracted policy dispute over Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA)…
1 Aug 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
July 2026 · 6
Supreme Court narrows post-facto environmental clearance to public interest cases
India's Environmental Impact Assessment framework, grounded in the precautionary principle under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, requires prior environmental clearance before any project commences. From 2017…
31 Jul 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Supreme Court rules post-facto environmental clearances require statutory notification
The Supreme Court quashed a 2021 Office Memorandum (OM) of MoEF&CC that had created a mechanism for granting post-facto Environmental Clearances (ECs) to projects that commenced operations without prior approval. The…
30 Jul 2026 · GS2, GS3 · Environment
CAQM directs NCR states to use drones for stubble burning surveillance
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), established under a 2021 Parliamentary Act with jurisdiction over Delhi and four adjoining states, has directed state governments to deploy drones for real-time…
30 Jul 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
India launches initiative for tiger conservation outside protected reserves
India's tiger population has grown from 1,411 in 2006 to 3,682 in 2022, with the country hosting over 70% of the world's wild tigers across 58 reserves. This success has created a new challenge: the NTCA estimates that…
29 Jul 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment
Captive-bred Great Indian Bustard chicks enter rewilding tunnel in Jaisalmer
The Great Indian Bustard (*Ardeotis nigriceps*), India's most critically endangered large bird and Rajasthan's State Bird, has a wild population of only 110–150 individuals confined largely to the Thar desert. Protected…
27 Jul 2026 · GS3 · Environment
Tribal protests over rehabilitation failures stall Ken-Betwa river-link project
The Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP), India's first inter-basin river-linking initiative under the National Perspective Plan, proposes to transfer surplus water from the Ken River in Madhya Pradesh to the Betwa River in…
26 Jul 2026 · GS3, GS2 · Environment