Viva Cuba For Its Vaccine Revolution

Punching way above its weight, the tiny nation has developed five vaccines, and offers hope of vaccine equity across the world

2021 Was Earth's Sixth-Hottest Year

THE YEAR 2021 was the fifth warmest for India since 1901. The "Climate of India during 2021" report published by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on January 15 says annual mean temperature of the country was 0.44oC above the long period average (LPA).

VOICE OF SILENT VALLEY

M K Prasad spread environmental consciousness until his last breath

SITTING DUCK

Food inflation is at an unprecedented high across the world. Crop loss due to extreme weather events is behind the spiralling prices. The cycle can be interrupted only if farmers have access to robust weather forecast mechanisms and crop insurance schemes

An unusual contest

Rajasthan's state bird, the great Indian bustard, might lose its last natural habitat to wind and solar power plants

Patchy growth

Forests and trees now cover one-quarter of India's geography. But this is not necessarily good news

HOPE DEFERRED

With the pandemic near endemicity, an effective and widely available treatment for COVID-19 would be a significant breakthrough for managing the viral infection. Are we there yet? TARAN DEOL, NEW DELHI

Good riddance

A firm develops safer devices that use light and sound to reduce human-wildlife conflicts DAKSHIANI PALICHA

AN ETCH IN TIME

Santhali communities of Odisha and Jharkhand re changing their ways of painting Sohrai murals

We Are Not At Peace With Nature

What can I wish for in the middle of a pandemic? It is not going to be a “new” year if we continue with our foolish ways of managing the planet

Omicron Unlikely To Increase Threat In Children

Hasty vaccination of healthy young people will have little benefit

A GENERATION INTERRUPTED

Children born today might be the next development challenge for the world

RESIDUAL PANDEMIC

There is a huge number of people who have defeated COVID-19, but continue to suffer its debilitating long-term effects RAVLEEN KAUR IN SURAT, GUJARAT

UNPREPARED STILL

World enters an endless loop of disease outbreaks and remains dangerously unprepared for such crises even in third year of the COVID-19 pandemic

RISING MERCURY IS MAKING NEPAL GLACIERS VULNERABLE

Changing nature of glaciers and glacial lakes make the Himalayas one of the most climate vulnerable regions on the planet. RIJAN BHAKTA KAYASTHA, a glaciologist at the Himalayan Cryosphere, Climate and Disaster Research Center, Kathmandu University in Nepal, speaks to AKSHIT SANGOMLA about glaciers in Nepal and the impact of climate change on them

For A Sustainable Farm Sector

A look at strategies and pathways to make Indian agriculture resilient in a changing climate and help the country fulfil commitments it made at COP26

SUN, SALT AND SAND

Use of solar-powered pumps for salt manufacturing has not just helped Gujarat's Agariya community fight the rising fuel costs, but also drastically cut their carbon emissions

Protracted struggle

Despite legal win, three tribal villages in Andhra Pradesh are still fighting the state to save their land from mining

Calling out Albert Bourla and Big Pharma

Omicron is the result of leading vaccine makers and rich nations' failure to provide equitable supplies of jabs against COVID-19

On thin ice

Reduced snowfall and high temperatures have upturned the lives of people in the Himalayan cold desert

Virus' Variant Ways

The third year of the global COVID-19 outbreak begins with a new variant, much like the earlier Delta variant that emerged at the start of the second year. Delta caused deadly waves, but the new variant, named Omicron, is more transmissible and shows signs of breaching acquired immunity. The world should be braced for a prolonged pandemic

Some more unequal

The world today is richer than ever, but the wealth gap between the rich and the poor has also widened to levels last seen at the height of imperialism 200 years ago

RAINING FOR 60 DAYS

Incessant heavy rains over south India for the past two months indicate a drastic change in the country’s monsoon system and hint at the new climate extremes of a perpetually warming world

Plant protection authority sets right its potato blunder

A public campaign forced it to revoke registration of PepsiCo’s potato variety, but the agency needs to reset its priorities

POLAVARAM DAM "FROM HEAVEN TO HELL"

Under the serene backwaters of the Godavari are 72 villages of Andhra Pradesh that got submerged, some completely, this June because of the under-construction Polavaram dam. SHAGUN KAPIL visited some of these villages in East and West Godavari districts as well as seven rehabilitation colonies, and found serious flaws with the resettlement process that has caused agony to countless families

AEDES THE MENACE

The latest outbreaks of Zika fever in India indicate that mosquito-borne diseases are fast spreading to new populations and regions. They are also no longer restricted to the monsoon season. Aedes mosquitoes that are responsible for transmitting a range of diseases are particularly becoming invasive in a rapidly warming world. An analysis by VIVEK MISHRA and VIBHA VARSHNEY in Delhi with NEETU SINGH in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh

Moderna's brazen patent rab on a COVID jab

The US administration is finally putting its foot down on the appropriation of public research by drug firms

Bitter sweet

Petha production in Agra leaves behind waste and pollution. The city must develop strategies to reduce their impact

India's successes at COP26

Collaborative, not competitive, approach can save our planet

THE SIGNS

The Sumi Naga tribe has developed a whole portfolio of ecological indicators to help predict weather. The lack of documentation and loss of biodiversity puts this traditional knowledge at risk of extinction