Sacred groves are community-protected patches of natural vegetation preserved due to religious and cultural beliefs, representing one of India’s oldest traditions of conservation. Found across diverse ecological regions, these landscapes act as biodiversity refuges, support groundwater recharge, prevent soil erosion, and help regulate local microclimates. They also serve as ecological corridors and genetic reservoirs for rare and endemic species. However, sacred groves are increasingly threatened by declining cultural practices, land encroachment, infrastructure and renewable energy projects, and the lack of proper mapping and legal recognition. Strengthening community rights under the Forest Rights Act, recognising them as Community Reserves or OECMs, and integrating traditional knowledge into modern conservation frameworks can enhance their role in biodiversity protection and climate resilience.
Click to View MoreThe UNEP State of Finance for Nature 2026 report highlights a severe global imbalance in environmental finance, revealing that more than $30 is spent on activities that harm nature for every $1 invested in protecting it. Nature-negative financial flows reached around $7.3 trillion annually, while funding for nature-based solutions (NbS) stood at only $220 billion. Harmful subsidies for fossil fuels, industrial agriculture, and resource-intensive sectors continue to dominate global spending patterns. Although investment in NbS has shown modest growth and some decline in fossil fuel financing is visible, progress remains far too slow. UNEP warns that NbS funding must rise to at least $571 billion per year by 2030 to meet global climate, biodiversity, and land restoration targets. Without redirecting financial systems toward nature-positive investments, the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution will intensify.
Click to View MoreThe UNEP report exposes a stark 30:1 imbalance, with nature-harming finance vastly exceeding investments in Nature-based Solutions, deepening the triple planetary crisis. It urges repurposing harmful subsidies and scaling public–private capital. For India, despite CAMPA and Namami Gange, mobilising private finance and reforming subsidies remain key challenges.
Click to View MoreThe article argues that global and national climate policies remain overly focused on forests while neglecting grasslands, despite their critical role as stable carbon sinks, biodiversity reservoirs, and livelihood systems for indigenous and pastoral communities. It highlights how institutional silos between climate, biodiversity, and land-degradation frameworks have marginalised grasslands, using examples from Australia, Brazil’s Cerrado, and India. The piece calls for integrating grasslands into national climate plans and NDCs, recognising community land rights, and building coordination among UN bodies to ensure effective, science-based, and socially just climate action.
Click to View MoreNature-based Solutions involve using ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, mangroves, grasslands, rivers, and urban green spaces to address climate change, biodiversity loss, disasters, and livelihood challenges. They are increasingly recognised as central to India’s climate and development strategy because they provide carbon storage, flood control, water security, food security, and job creation while being cost-effective. However, challenges such as inadequate finance, policy gaps, land conflicts, weak monitoring, and risks of greenwashing remain. Global initiatives such as ENACT aim to accelerate and scale up Nature-based Solutions worldwide, helping countries integrate them into climate policies, mobilise funds, and promote community participation for a resilient and sustainable future.
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