Environment

​“What happens when we remove this natural infrastructure of the city? What happens if it floods? What happens if the air quality (index) goes really high?” asks Pooja Domadia, a member of the Save Mumbai Mangroves campaign. These are questions that many Mumbaikars have as work begins on the Versova-Bhayandar Coastal Road, which is set to affect 45,000 mangrove trees. In March this year, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the Bombay High Court order to greenlight the cutting of mangroves for the project. Is the SC decision a fatal blow to the movement? The BMC has already begun…

Urban biodiversity is often discussed in terms of tree cover, lakes, or flagship species, but far less attention is paid to pollinators—the insects and birds that quietly sustain urban ecosystems. In Bengaluru, a rapidly urbanising city with a strong culture of citizen science, large volumes of biodiversity data are now being generated by the public. But what does this data tell us about pollinators in the city? This article draws from a data jam hosted by OpenCity in Bengaluru that explored pollinator observations using publicly available, citizen-generated datasets. By analysing long-term observation records and spatial data on land use and…

When we discuss urban nature, we often forget about real natural habitats. In Bengaluru, widely called the Garden City, most talks about urban nature focus on landscaped parks, roadside trees, and manicured gardens; in other words, artificial ecosystems designed for looks and human comfort. As lay citizens, we usually notice only such nature as we see around our homes, workplaces or other areas we generally pass by. While these places do have some ecological value, they mostly support a few highly adaptable species. This has strong negative implications for native flora and fauna that depend on open scrublands, grasslands, rocky…

Imagine you’re out on a morning walk, phone in hand, when you spot a butterfly you’ve never seen before. You snap a photo, log it into a citizen science app, and voila! You’ve just contributed to crucial biodiversity monitoring. This isn’t just a hobby; it’s part of a global movement where ordinary people collect, record, and sometimes analyse data about plants, animals, and ecosystems. Citizen science stretches the reach of ecological research. Every observation adds to unique longitudinal datasets that reveal phenology — periodic events in the life cycle of a species — along with species distribution shifts and population…

Indian cities are struggling to breathe. Air pollution is a year-round governance challenge. In 2024, 35 of the 50 most polluted cities globally were in India, with PM2.5 concentrations above 66.4 μg/m3. This is at least 13 times the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and at least 1.6 times the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in India. Citizens continue to bear the brunt of worsening air quality, and urban local governments (ULGs) are at the forefront of the problem, being primarily accountable for their citizens' first mile. While they do have a role to play in addressing this threat,…

​Two decades ago, Gandhi Nagar in south Chennai was a shaded green canopy, recalls Meera Ravikumar, a resident. “Now, in the name of development, many incidents of tree felling have occurred in the past 15 years on avenues and across private properties. In highly populated and polluted urban areas, green lung spaces are important,” says the member of Swacch Gandhi Nagar, a citizens group.   Since 2000, India has lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover, according to the 2024 Global Forest Watch. Tamil Nadu has fared better than most states — its forest cover has remained “largely stable” since…

Bengaluru is often described as having “better air” than North Indian cities, yet new evidence shows this perception may be misleading. Data from 40 low‑cost air quality sensors set up by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) reveal sharp variations in pollution across time and place, patterns that citywide averages completely miss. In this interview, Abhishek Penchala, Senior Analyst in CSTEP’s Air Quality team, tells Citizen Matters how hyperlocal monitoring uncovers hidden pollution hotspots, from waste burning to construction dust and traffic, that the sparse official network fails to detect, forcing us to rethink how urban…

Editor’s Note: This article is the third in a three-part series.Part 1: Bengaluru’s Peripheral Ring Road: Two decades on, who really benefits?Part 2: Peripheral Ring Road: Bengaluru farmers allege unfair payouts threaten their future Two decades after the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) was announced, the project is far from completion. For farmers, it has meant years of uncertainty and mounting financial losses, while residents remain unsure about the usefulness of the long-pending road development. In an earlier article, we explored how the PRR project could lead to forced migration and threaten the livelihoods of farmers. In Part 2 of the…

The chimneys of the NTECL Vallur Thermal Power Station, billowing smoke, loom over Kuruvimedu in Ponneri, Thiruvallur near Chennai. Wedged between the plant and its sprawling 300-acre ash pond, the hamlet lies under a blanket of kari (coal) and sambal (ash), coating its narrow streets, colourful homes, and trees. Kuruvimedu is hard to find on Google maps, just as its namesake bird. The main road leading to this place is flanked by factories and industrial complexes, its surface riddled with potholes that make every journey dangerous for motorists.  Home to mangroves, networks of canals, and fields, Kuruvimedu once buzzed with…

Across Pallikaranai marshland, migratory birds can be spotted, searching for forage and water. Yet the wetland they depend on has steadily depleted. As Chennai has grown in an amoeba-like manner, ebbing with the promise of ‘development,’ the marsh has borne the brunt. In the 1990s, the marsh covered 2,450 hectares, nearly 70% of its original size. Today, barely 500 hectares remain. In recent years, the marshland has often entered public discourse. In September 2025, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), acting on an order from the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal, halted planning permission for development within the Pallikaranai…