National Park’s Fatal Flaw When thinking about wildlife conservation, most people think of humans as playing the role of observer (except for your park ranger). They see humans’ role in the environment as something that should be kept to a minimum. When looking at protected land around the world such as national parks or wildlife sanctuaries, it is rare to find humans living ...
ENV 240: Indian Environment and Ecology
Ecotourism: The Essence of Incredible India
Feeling the white pristine sand filter through your toes as you stare at a breathtakingly beautiful shoreline is the dream of millions of people. With the ease of air travel and increased globalization, one of the world’s fastest growing industries is tourism, and its subset, ecotourism. Many people are opposed to the large waves of tourists that invade their area a few times ...
Ecotourism, Climate Change, and the Andaman Islands
Last week, our study abroad group flew to the Andaman Islands to learn about biodiversity and environmental conservation from the Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team (ANET). The Andaman Islands are a biodiversity hotspot, meaning that there are at least 1500 endemic species of vascular plants and 70% of its primary vegetation has been lost. The weeklong trip was composed of ...
Global Warming, Coral Reefs, and the Andaman Islands
Last week our group travelled to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an archipelago that belongs to the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region that has lost at least 70% of its original habitat and has a high amount of endemic species (species that are native to the region and not found anywhere else in the world). I considered ...
A Walk Along the Mangroves and A Fishing Village
On our trip to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, we worked with the Andaman Nicobar Environment Team (ANET) for a couple days. There, we learned about the intertidal ecosystem that the Andamans supports through its mangrove forests and got to see for ourselves the different animals that come out at different times, high tide and low tide. We also learned about a fishing village ...
Today’s Catch: A Look Into Sustainable Fishing Practices
It was an early morning on Tuesday. At 6:45 AM, we arrived at a fish landing on the Andaman Islands. Walking down the crowded landing, I woke up to the smell of fish carried by the warm breeze. We passed by women with baskets full of fish balanced on their heads. Autos drove by with more carts of fish, and people hovered around the arriving boats. The fishermen pulled out a ...
Fisheries and India’s GDP
Overtime, natural resources decrease in quality and quantity when a government encourages its people to focus on development more than preservation. This is the case in India. People encroach upon India’s environment in many ways due to the government’s constant encouragement for economic development above all else. Dr. L. Venkatachalam of the Madras Institute of ...
Andaman Islands: Environment and Conservation
We spent the first two days of our Andaman Islands trip working and learning with ANET (Andaman Nicobar Environment Team). The days were long, beginning early in the morning and ending well after a late dinner, plus a long drive back to our hotel. Which didn't have wifi or any other internet. In fact, the entire island was without cellular data (we could make phone calls but ...
