Environment

As visitors arrive at Kempegowda International Airport, they are welcomed by lush indoor greenery designed to showcase Bengaluru's identity as the "Garden City." Beyond the airport gates, however, the reality is starkly different. Roads and streets all over the city are losing the green cover that once defined its character, to make way for metro lines, elevated corridors, and road-widening projects. Development is essential for a growing metropolis. But when it comes at the cost of thousands of trees, it raises a difficult question: can Bengaluru continue to build for the future without erasing the very landscape that made it…

Inside her 10x10 sq ft home in Pulianthope, Parvathy faces unbearably hot conditions during the sweltering summers from March to July. Green shade is a rare luxury in her neighbourhood, home to many marginalised families who earn a living making shoes. “We live right under the roof on the second floor, so it’s hot. Even if we open all the windows and doors, it does not help. Here, we end up spending more time on the streets to find respite,” she says. As temperatures continue to climb, residents like Parvathy are left with little relief. Despite July’s arrival with hopes…

Rabindra Sarobar, affectionately known as the "Lungs of South Kolkata," is at a critical turning point. As a designated site under the National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA), Kolkata's living ecosystem requires dedicated protection. Authorities are not supposed to use the lake as a commercial revenue generator for municipal expenses. However, the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), as the custodian of the lake, has failed to safeguard this beautiful green oasis in the heart of the city. Many Public Interest Litigation (PIL) matters remain pending before the Kolkata High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT). Yet, KMDA…

Uppal is a suburb of Hyderabad, located in the northeastern part of the city. It is known for housing landmarks like the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium and has schools, government offices, industrial zones and commercial centres. The area experiences high temperatures due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect that operates within the city limits.  Our examination of Land Surface Temperature (LST) data covered the years 2015, 2020, and 2025 and shows how heat zones have expanded with warmer areas becoming larger. In Uppal, rapid urban development has changed the thermal balance. Dense construction and fewer trees  are creating  persistent…

Fifteen lakh trees. A place in the Guinness Book of Records. The Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) has been on overdrive, promoting its new project to plant 15 lakh trees in spaces created in its new layouts. 240 acres have been earmarked across BDA’s faraway layouts. The saplings are to be planted across lake and nala buffer zones, parks and public spaces in new neighbourhoods like Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout, Banashankari 6th Stage, and Dr Shivarama Karanth Layout, according to the BDA Chairman N A Haris. While such massive tree plantation exercises are by themselves questionable, there is also the question of a…

On a regular day in May, the calls of migratory waders and other shorebirds foraging in sprawling mudflats fill the air in the southern reaches of Chennai. May is the dry season for the Pallikaranai Marsh, when water levels naturally recede, exposing the critical feeding and breeding grounds that attract hundreds of bird species to this globally recognised urban wetland. But this year is different. The mudflats are gone. In their place is a stagnant expanse of water. This unusual water level during the dry season is not due to early rains. Indiscriminate construction within the marsh is blocking the…

The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO)'s decision to appoint Australian aviation consultancy Avisure to study bird movement around the Navi Mumbai International Airport has raised fresh questions about the future of Navi Mumbai's wetlands. The agency has cited the ongoing study as grounds to defer legal protection for DPS Flamingo Lake, arguing that no irreversible decision should be taken until the assessment of bird-related aviation risks is complete. But bird movement around the airport is not being studied for the first time. Findings of BNHS More than a decade ago, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) was…

"We are literally risking our lives with floods. We are a coastal city. To mess around with mangroves is digging your own grave," says Pooja Domadia of Save Mumbai Mangroves, a campaign born in the wake of the decision to construct the Versova-Bhayandar Coastal Road in Mumbai. This mega project is going to impact 45,000 mangroves. The cutting of the mangroves has already begun to make way for the 26.3 km Coastal Road. In March this year, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the Bombay High Court's go-ahead for the project. But concerned Mumbaikars are not giving up. Save…

A collective of citizens, environmentalists, legal experts and civil society organisations from across India has demanded that the Supreme Court withdraw oral remarks made by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) during the Pipavav Port hearing on May 11, 2026. The group aims to ensure these comments are not misinterpreted as questioning the legitimacy of genuine environmental public-interest litigation, or the constitutional right of citizens and affected communities to demand the enforcement of environmental laws. In an open letter to the CJI, the coalition outlined urgent environmental concerns and the right of citizens to question irregularities in projects negatively impacting…

Summer in India has been merciless this year, with many states recording temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius and rising reports of fatalities. Despite these harsh conditions, urban support continues for development projects that clear trees, wetlands, mangroves, and forests near cities. A recent Article 14 report provides data on thousands of trees that will soon be sacrificed nationally for infrastructure projects. Those opposing such unscientific large-scale tree felling are often labelled 'tree-huggers', 'anti-development' and 'anti-nationals'. While capitalism accelerates environmental degradation and the world faces a growing climate crisis, societal divisions deepen.  Yet, we give trees too little credit: Beings necessary…