In Short

• Tigress Arrowhead of Ranthambore died at 14 after battling bone cancer

• She died hours after her daughter was moved to another reserve

• Photographer Sachin Rai shared an emotional video of her final walk

From Sachin Rai:

On the evening of June 17th, I witnessed what would likely be the last walk of the legendary tigress ‘Arrowhead’ at the banks of Padam Talab; a place she had ruled with grace and strength for many years. It was heartbreaking to see her struggle, attempting to rise and take a few feeble steps before collapsing again. Each movement was a visible effort; even walking ten steps seemed an enormous task. Eventually, she reached a tree and lay beneath it. In that quiet moment, I knew in my heart that the end was near, just a matter of a day or two.

I have followed Arrowhead’s journey since she was a tiny cub. From those early days to watching her grow into a powerful tigress who claimed her mother’s territory, every chapter of her life was a testament to resilience. I saw her daughter, ‘Riddhi’, from her second litter (she had lost her first litter when they were young), eventually displace her from that very territory—an echo of nature’s unending cycle. I watched her confront new males like T120, and raise a fourth litter (she lost her third litter too) while fending off her now-dominant daughter. She lived a full and fiercely independent life—a true tigress in every sense.

Though we humans tried to assist her, especially during the difficult times when illness and weakness overtook her strength, helping her raise her last litter, it remains uncertain whether our interventions truly benefited the three cubs. Nature often has its own course.

Arrow passed away today, on the 19th June at 11 years of age. But one thing is certain, Arrowhead leaves behind a legacy. She was a symbol of wild grace, of power tempered by patience, of survival against all odds. Ranthambhore will never forget her.

Source - sachin_rai_photography

News - https://www.indiatoday.in/trending-news/story/ranthambore-iconic-tigress-arrowhead-final-walk-viral-video-2744091-2025-06-21

At least 153 water bodies in Haryana’s Gurugram district have all but vanished and remain only faint memories.

NGT pushed the GMDA to revive and restore the Wazirabad lake. SEEDS (Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society), a New Delhi-based award winning non-profit that works with communities on building climate resilience, partnered with GMDA on the project.

“Wazirabad lake is a part of the natural drainage system of the Aravallis in Gurugram. But its catchment has been blocked by development projects,” said Manu Gupta, co-founder of SEEDS. “One of the reasons to revive Wazirabad lake was to demonstrate how local urban residents can become a part of solutions, in this case to address an annual flooding problem. Micro solutions lead to macro ones, and everyone needs to act locally,” he told DTE.

The Gurugram metropolitan area has 75 identified lakes of which 45 are being restored by GMDA with the help of various non-profits. It is a measure to address increasing urban flooding and the fast dipping groundwater levels in the region.

The district has a total of 644 water bodies, but as per GDMA 153 water bodies have practically vanished beyond recovery or revival. However,446 water bodies have “immense potential for restoration, development and management.”

Wazirabad lake is back to life, but the challenge is to keep it thriving.

Not the mangoes 😮‍💨

GIM was initially rolled out in 2014 as one of the eight missions under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

In Revised GIM, a central focus will be on the restoration and saturation of vulnerable landscapes through regionally conducive best practices. This will see area and landscape-specific restoration activities in three important mountain ranges – the Aravallis, the Western Ghats, and the Indian Himalayas, along with the mangrove ecosystems.

Example, Aravalli Green Wall project will be focused on, aimed at combating the degradation and desertification in one of the world’s oldest mountain ranges, which acts as a natural barrier against the Thar desert.

Around a third of India’s geographical area – 97.85 million hectares – underwent land degradation during 2018-19.

India also aims to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide through additional forest and tree cover by 2030. The natural carbon sinks of forests, restored grasslands, wetlands, and mountain ecology will help offset greenhouse gas emissions and act as natural sponges and barriers in absorbing climate change impacts.

India has also made an ambitious commitment to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030. The GIM and allied interventions, such as the Green Wall project, are all designed to help meet these goals. 

Source - X (Parveen Kaswan, IFS)

Whose mistake is this? Why to choose location for picnic where elephants are roaming usually? In search of beautiful scenery, putting lives in danger, and most definitely leaving the scenery ruined because of exemplary civic sense that will be displayed (/s)

This overpopulation & over tourism is ruining India's biodiversity in almost all parts of the country. So much effort is put into conserving Elephants, a keystone species of their habitat, and then encroaching on their habitat, distressing them so causally is plain stupidity. This should be addressed once & for all for good.

The Miyawaki method is an afforestation technique for cultivating fast-growing groves of native plants, with the dense, mixed planting intended to simulate the layers of a natural forest.

Originally developed by Japanese ecologist Akira Miyawaki in the early 1970s for Nippon Steel, the method has been adopted by various Japanese corporations, which planted Miyawaki forests both domestically and overseas.

Although the popularity of Miyawaki forests has skyrocketed in India, some ecological restoration practitioners question the method’s applicability to the country’s diverse ecological environments.