Aditi Dhillon This year, in June 2021, the Karnataka High Court passed a judgement according to which monkeys entering residential spaces were to be translocated and moved to their natural habitat by the state. This judgement, however, was not one of its kind. It was, in fact, along the lines of a judgement passed by … Continue reading Out of Place and Out of Space – Translocation and the Urban Monkey
Divya Mehra It is well established that India is an 'under-construction' country. As a developing economy, the country invests a significant amount of its budget in new development projects that are being proposed, planned, and implemented at the regional or local level. Very often the land for development projects is taken from the forest area … Continue reading Compensatory Afforestation – Where is the Land?
Aditi Dhillon & Ajay Immanuel Gonji In his seminal essay Why Look at Animals? John Berger (2009) talks about how, in the past, people kept domestic animals because they were useful to them – as guard dogs, hunting dogs, mice-killing cats, and so on. Later, people began to keep animals regardless of their usefulness, a … Continue reading Disciplining Non-human Bodies in the City
Photographed and curated by Fizala Tayebulla and Shiwani The Photo Essay is a combined effort of CUES team members. The butterflies have been documented mostly in months of October and November across Dheerpur Wetland Park, Malcha Mahal and Pusa Hill Forest in Central Ridge Forest, New Delhi. The identification of the following Lepidoptera species is … Continue reading Butterflies in the city of Delhi
Vipin and Sonali At the turn of five years of untiring efforts towards restoring a wetland at Dheerpur village, now recognized as the Dheerpur Wetland Park (Project Site) has finally started to show the fruits of labour. Besides numerous flora (48 tree species), several species of grasses and sedge and a significant variety of fauna (birds, amphibians, … Continue reading Snakes in the City
Divya Mehra In my previous blog, titled ‘Responsible Consumerism Comes at a Cost’, I have highlighted the importance of being a responsible consumer, and how more and more people are choosing environmentally sustainable or simply green products to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. In doing so, increasingly, people are trying to choose products that are labelled … Continue reading Green or Greenwashing?
Fizala Tayebulla Lakes and other water bodies have been an important part of civilisation all around the world. Freshwater sources have been the cardinal for settlements historically, as these settlements required a continuous and dependable source of fresh water for subsistence. Dense network of lake ecosystems were maintained by dedicated group of people and designated … Continue reading On Seeing City Water Bodies
Ajay Immanuel Gonji Recently, I had the opportunity to go into the field with my colleague, Ojit, an entomologist by training. While Ojit was observing the mating behaviour of dragonflies, I was extremely fascinated with the eyes of the insect. And so, I inquired about vision in insects. Ojit informed me that insects, like the … Continue reading Valuing Insects
Vijaylakshmi Suman The popular imagination of monsoon is that of lush green surroundings and pleasant weather, but the monsoon scenario in Delhi is not always the same. Water-logging and floods are becoming an annual phenomenon. This year Delhi received 64.5-124.4 mm of rain, and according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) was classified as 'heavy … Continue reading Sustainability of Smart Cities
Shiwani One of the important steps in wetland restoration is managing the invasive or weed species (SER Report, 2019). A common invasive plant that is a threat to the ecological health of wetland ecosystems is a family of grasses called phragmites (Phragmites karka). These are dominant wetland plants and are found all around the world, … Continue reading A Brief on Control and Management of Invasive Phragmites for Wetland Restoration
