Safe haven elusive for Africans fleeing conflict, climate stress

In West Africa, people are moving from one risky place to another, triggering new tensions and dangers ANKARA, Nov 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The growing flow of migrants into drought-prone Niger, whose own...

India’s Odisha readies pioneering plan to combat deadly heat

Heat action plan would stop work at brick kilns and construction sites on hot days – and even tigers get help. BHUBANESWAR, India, April 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – From stopping work at brick...

India builds solar plants atop canals to save on land, water

The canal-top plants will form part of India’s major push to boost investment in solar energy VADODARA, India, Jan 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As India moves to ramp up investment in solar power,...

‘Intelligent’ power rationing eases Indian state’s irrigation woes

A scheme to separate agricultural and domestic power supplies in Gujarat has been recognised by the United Nations for making irrigation more efficient and dramatically improving farm productivity NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) –...

Can Land Rights and Education Save an Ancient Indian Tribe?

MALKANGIRI, India, Aug 19 2014 (IPS) – Scattered across 31 remote hilltop villages on a mountain range that towers 1,500 to 4,000 feet above sea level, in the Malkangiri district of India’s eastern Odisha...

Tribal Priestesses Become Guardians of Seeds in Eastern India

NIYAMGIRI, India, Jul 22 2015 (IPS) – As the rhythmic thumping of dancing feet reaches a crescendo, the women offer a song to their forest god for a bountiful harvest. Then, with earthen pots...

Lessons from an Indian Tribe on How to Manage the Food-Forest Nexus

RAYAGADA, India, May 19 2015 (IPS) – Scattered across 240 sq km on the remote Niyamgiri hill range in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, an ancient tribal group known as the Dongria Kondh...

South Asia running out of groundwater

India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan along with China account for nearly half of the world’s total groundwater use and these regions are expected to  experience serious deficits, says the UN World Water...

Integrated Farming: The Only Way to Survive a Rising Sea

SUNDARBANS, India, Jan 8 2015 (IPS) – When the gentle clucking grows louder, 50-year-old Sukomal Mandal calls out to his wife, who is busy grinding ingredients for a fish curry. She gets up to...

Women on the Edge of Land and Life

SUNDARBANS, India, Nov 26 2014 (IPS) – November is the cruelest month for landless families in the Indian Sundarbans, the largest single block of tidal mangrove forest in the world lying primarily in the...