Last October, I took some time off work at the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) to learn how to surf. Surfing has always been a dream of mine…
LALITPUR, Nepal — As the gates to the vet clinic at the Central Zoo in Lalitpur opened, more than two dozen photojournalists thronged the facility and surrounded a metal cage…
The ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana has it that Hanuman was a mighty ape god who marshaled an army to build a bridge linking northern Sri Lanka’s Mannar region with South…
BURU ISLAND, Indonesia – At the beginning of November last year, Tamami’s rice field lay vacant except for a herd of cattle grazing on the land. Like many rice farmers…
KATHMANDU — Until Tuesday afternoon for residents of Urlabari town in the eastern plains of Nepal, snow leopards (Panthera uncia) were animals they knew little about. The leopards they knew…
In Bangladesh, farmers are increasingly tapping into a growing global market for moringa, a tree prized for its nutritional value and potential as a climate solution. The fast-growing, drought-resistant moringa…
DHAKA — Lika Chakma, 37, says she can still remember her childhood days when the springs in the Digholchari Hajachara area of eastern Bangladesh, where she grew up, flowed year-round.…
Western hoolock gibbons (Hoolock hoolock), native to the forests of northeastern India, western Myanmar, and eastern Bangladesh, are among the world's most threatened primates, listed as endangered on the IUCN…
New amendments to India’s existing green laws in the last couple of years have sparked a fierce backlash from activists, social groups and NGOs across the country. Many have argued…
Bangladeshi farmers are struggling with five major crop diseases, likely reducing the crop yield by up to 62% annually. Researchers suggest no effective insecticides for these diseases except for taking…
For the past two decades, wildlife photographer and writer Bjorn Olesen and travel writer Fanny Lai have published books aimed at raising awareness of conservation in Asia. Beginning in 2012,…
DHAKA — Bangladesh’s strong economic growth over the past two decades has lifted millions of the country’s citizens out of poverty. It’s also led to a booming elite class —…
Illegal placer gold mining along the scenic Indus River in the area of Nizampur, District Nowshera, has escalated to alarming levels, posing a dual threat to national assets and the…
KATHMANDU — The Nepali government has approved a controversial proposal allowing the construction of large-scale hydropower plants inside the country’s protected areas, in a move conservationists have slammed as a…
MATARA, Sri Lanka — Flying birds, running squirrels, hopping hares and snakes are species that frequent the tea estates in Akuressa in southern Sri Lanka. But an unusual heavy rustling…
LAMJUNG DISTRICT, Nepal — When the dark, heavy clouds loom over the lush hills of Ghanpokhara, Ratna Gurung knows it's time to bring in the sun-dried foxtail millet. Before the…
KATHMANDU — Think of big cats in Nepal, and the majestic tiger likely springs to mind, or maybe even the elusive snow leopard. But Nepal is also home to a…
KATHMANDU — As Nepal, one of the least industrialized countries in the world, invests in hydropower and roads to lift its people’s living standards, balancing public aspirations with conservation has…
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s much-lauded achievement of nearly tripling its tiger population between 2010 and 2022 made headlines all over the world. Officials hailed the milestone as proof that with concerted…
On Oct. 17, a mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), also zoologically known as a marsh crocodile, was recovered from the Bhubaneswar River in Bangladesh’s south-central Faridpur district, creating much excitement among…
KATHMANDU — A rich diversity of life abounds across Nepal, from iconic big cats like the tiger and the snow leopard, to less celebrated creatures like vultures and macaques. And…
KATHMANDU — A year after nearly tripling its population of tigers (Panthera tigris) in just 12 years, Nepal’s conservation authorities and stakeholders decided in 2023 to change their approach from…
Nepal’s community forestry program has been hailed as a success for helping increase the country’s forest cover from 26% to 45% in 25 years. As part of the program, pioneered…
KATHMANDU — In the isolated kingdom of Lo Manthang, tucked away in Nepal’s Himalayas, ancient structures stand tall on arid lands that only allowed tourists in from the late 1990s.…
KATHMANDU — Hari Prasad Sharma recalls being astonished when he visited the Chure region in Nepal’s southern Madhesh province to study sloth bears. Sharma, an associate professor of zoology at…
ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka — “He is a king without a crown.” This is how wildlife lovers refer to the majestic elephant Agbo, named after a king from an ancient kingdom…
With their camouflaged coats, impossibly long tails, and extraordinary tree-climbing skills, clouded leopards are evolutionary marvels. They’re beautifully adapted to a feline life in the trees. But what evolution hadn’t…
A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Japan’s Niigata University have unearthed water droplets trapped in mineral deposits in the Kumaon mountains in the central…
Pramila Pradhan, 51, embraced thengapalli, a form of forest stewardship, because of her mother-in-law, who took her along on forest patrols. Thenga means stick, and palli means turn or rotation.…
KATHMANDU — Whenever someone talks to Dev Narayan Mandal about biodiversity and conservation in his native Madhesh province in Nepal, he remembers an incident that took place a few years…