Biodiversity Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Climate Change & You’ is a fortnightly newsletter by Bibek Bhattacharya and Sayantan Bera. Subscribe to Mint's newsletters to get them directly in your email inbox. Dear Reader, Even a few years ago, it would have seemed ridiculous to suggest that Delhi might hit a daytime high of 40 degrees Celsius in late March.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, known for biodiversity and isolated ancient tribes, is in the news as India moves to promote tourism and industry in the archipelago.

Rajasthan Forest Department unveiled a groundbreaking discovery—Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve has recorded its first photographic evidence of a caracal. This elusive wild cat was captured on a camera trap during the reserve’s winter Phase IV survey, marking a significant milestone in conservation efforts. The presence of the caracal, a medium-sized wild cat known for its striking tufted ears and stealthy nature, highlights the effectiveness of the reserve’s strong protection measures. Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve, primarily known for its tigers, has now proven to be a thriving habitat for lesser-seen felines like the caracal, showcasing the region’s rich biodiversity.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Last week, science delivered a really cute experimental result. Researchers created a “colossal woolly mouse," a fluffy rodent that’s purported to be a step on the way to resurrecting woolly mammoths from the age of dinosaurs.

safari slang for off-roading—helping wildlife enthusiasts spot everything from lions to pangolins. There are fleets of hot air balloons, canoes and pontoon boats, too, all offering different vantages of the continent’s vast biodiversity. But there’s only one solar-powered cable car system meant to get you eye-to-eye with giraffes or hovering above baobab branches. When it opens in May, the six-seat Solfari gondola will be a new claim to fame for the Unesco-designated Vhembe Biosphere Reserve, in South Africa’s little-visited Limpopo province. The amenity will be exclusive to guests of a new luxury lodge there, the six-suite, solar-powered Few & Far Luvhondo, where rates start at $1,800 per person per night. This aerial amenity is the invention of Jacob Dusek, who with wife Sarah Dusek founded the American glamping company Under Canvas. After selling the company to KSL Capital Partners for more than $100 million in 2018, the pair moved to Cape Town and launched a venture capital firm to invest in female-run African companies. By fall 2019 the firm was smoothly up and running, and the pair yearned to return to their nature-tourism roots in their newly adopted homeland.

Diamond Facts Report, the Natural Diamond Council has said that laboratory-grown diamond (LGD) prices have dropped significantly, with a 1.5-carat stone declining 83% since 2015. Natural diamonds, with prices influenced by rarity, have shown a long-term annual growth rate of 3% since 1970 and a 2% yearly increase in rough diamond prices since 2007, despite market fluctuation

A new report says the expansion of nickel mining in Indonesia is a threat to one of Earth's most biodiverse marine regions

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The piquant wood sorrel is used in appetising chutneys and goes into salads; the sour butterfly pea flowers make nourishing tisanes; and the bitter balloon vine go into delicious rasams and chilas. These ingredients now feature in a fascinating new board game called Map the Wild.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Ken-Betwa River Linking National Project on Wednesday (December 25), coinciding with the 100th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The project, hailed as a landmark in India’s water resource management, also faces criticism for its potential environmental impact.

Geoffrey's spider monkeys that dangle high in the rainforest canopy are elusive and hard for scientists to track.

A biologist hid 350 audio monitors across Costa Rica’s tropical rainforests to spy on endangered spider monkeys in order to help protect them

This programme will support India’s climate and sustainability goals by empowering local communities, restoring ecosystems, and fostering sustainable development practices in collaboration with Safe Water Network, the company said in a statement. Program Vasundhara’s will prioritize water resource management, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and renewable energy across the two cities. In Bengaluru, around the Aivarakhandapura Lake, Program Vasundhara is building an 18-million-liter rainwater harvesting structure to boost local water availability and reduce dependency on external sources. This is a crucial step in addressing local water challenges while fostering resilience in the community.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. With this year’s global summits on biodiversity (CoP-16) and climate change (CoP-29) done and the one on desertification (CoP-16) fast approaching, the consequences of the climate emergency are evident everywhere. Floods have ravaged central Europe, super-typhoon Yagi has just struck Southeast Asia, and Hurricanes Helene and Milton have wreaked havoc in the southeastern US.

The Bahamas says it will refinance $300 million of its external debt to free up more than $120 million for marine conservation projects and climate change mitigation

Gandhamardhan hills in Odisha, the opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress on Thursday demanded clarification on whether the company has any plan to go for mining in that region. The Adani Group, however, said the purpose for land acquisition is to enrich the local ecology through afforestation and there is no commercial intent. Gandhamardan Hill Range spanning Bargarh and Balangir districts was declared as a Biodiversity Heritage Site (BHS) in 2023 when the BJD was in power. BHS is an area with unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems with rich biodiversity. «The government should speak out on the purpose of the Adani Group acquiring land near Gandhamardhan Hills, which reserves an estimated 207 million tons of bauxite. Since the state government is silent on the matter, suspicion of the people grows,» said Bolangir's BJD MLA Kalikesh Singh Deo.

climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. According to WEF's Global Risks Report 2024, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse is the third-most prominent long-term risk. According to UN Environment Programme (UNEP) data, nearly 1 in every 4 species assessed is threatened, with demand for resources expected to rise 60% by 2060 from 2020 levels. Often, economic prosperity and nature conservation are perceived as a zero-sum game. But it can be a more nuanced relationship. Services provided by ecosystems are widespread, of both the tangible and intangible kind. This link between economic output and biodiversity is supported by a large set of evidence.

After two weeks of negotiations, delegates agreed at the United Nations conference on biodiversity to establish a subsidiary body that will include Indigenous peoples in future decisions on nature conservation

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. It is easy to think of humans as existing separately from nature. But the greatest threats to humanity come from crises affecting nature, not least climate change, biodiversity loss and rampant pollution.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. TEMPERED DELIGHTThe Diwali Feast Box from Manam Chocolate has brownies, chocolate popcorn, dessert bars and spice-coated roasted nuts coming together for an indulgent gift. Available on manamchocolate.com; ₹2,750.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Governments that committed two years ago to a historic agreement to protect nature and biodiversity now will try to figure out how to actually carry that out.

biodiversity talks in Cali, Colombia next week, India showcased the way its development story intertwines with ecological conservation, including the role that tribal communities play in conservation efforts. This, according to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, is clearly demonstrated in the “shinning success” of Project Tiger. India is home to 70 per cent of world’s wild tiger population. Speaking at the inauguration of the art exhibition ‘Silent Conversation’, organised by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Sankala Foundation, a Delhi-based organisation focused on sustainability, Jaishankar focused on the contribution of tribal and other local communities.