Jangal hei
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Jangal = jungle
After net gains for several years, India’s forest cover is in decline. The full data is available now from the Forest Survey of India in its newly released State of the Forest Report 2011.
The government writes off any major backsliding, saying the reduction is due to shifting cultivation patterns in the rural northeast, plantation harvesting and Naxal rebels cutting trees. That last one is a dubious.
More likely, there are many factors at play in a complex dynamic that varies state by state. I’m in the process of designing a statistical research project looking for explanation among a number of variables, biological, economic, political and social.
The photo above comes from tropical forest in the Andaman Islands.
Tags: andaman and nicobar, conservation, deforestation, forest, india, jangal, jungle, photography, research, sky through trees, trees
Sunrise against the forest
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under united states
Light reaching down into the woods
Every Wednesday I have to get up early enough to beat traffic. I have early class. Lately, when I’m just hitting the road, the dawn has barely arrived. The dark such that I keep my lights on.
By the time I get to campus, the sun has climbed just high enough to reach the tops of the trees.
What a glorious sight!
Tags: autumn, fall, landscape, leaf, nature, photography, sunrise, trees, washington d.c.
More treetops
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under united states
A great advantage of not owning a car. While riding, I have the luxury to look around so much more.
Of course people sometimes think I’m goofy. And I am, so I don’t care.
Tags: autumn, environment, fall, forest, leaf, nature, photography, sky through trees, trees, washington d.c.
Primary forest, sustainable life cycle
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under ecuador
Old growth
At Arutam, the Shuar community where I worked, the villagers are responsible for a couple thousand hectares of Amazon, allotted to them by the government. Their model, with the hands and dollars of ecotourists and paying volunteers (me), is to develop a small portion of the forest — cutting for banana plantations and fish ponds and whatnot — while keeping pressure off the remaining primary forest.
The above photo shows a tree reaching into the upper jungle canopy. The tree, by the estimates of our guides, could be 200 years old. In the present model, it’s protected because of, not in spite of, the community clearing land nearer the road and their homes for agriculture and aquaculture. Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: arutam, ecuador, emerging nations, en la selva, environment, oriente, photography, plants, shuar, sky through trees, trees, volunteering
Falling stars
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Chamrod flowers on Lodi Gardens
In March, the dying flowers of Chamrod, as it’s called in India, cover patches of Lodi Gardens and other green spaces in Delhi. Just another one of nature’s details.
Tags: delhi, environment, flowers, india, lodi, lodi gardens, photography, tiny, trees
Lingering devastation of the tsunami
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Dead, bleached trees are the most visible legacy of the tsunami
Hut Bay, Little Andaman, which was struck by a 30-meter wall of water five years ago, still carries a few scars: now-empty beaches where homes once stood. But photographing that dramatically is a bit akin to taking pictures of something that isn’t there.
The most stark reminder: sun-bleached trees along the forest line (above) that were stripped of their leaves by the force of nature.
Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: andaman and nicobar, beach, destruction, ecology, environment, hut bay, islands, little andaman, tidal, trees, tsunami, wave
An eco-friendly mine?
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under madagascar
Mining giant Rio Tinto has an ambitious conservation agenda in connection with its titanium mine near Tolagnaro, Madagascar. It has created conservation zones that it won’t mine and pledged to regrow the forests that it destroys.
Critics say it won’t succeed, in part because too little will be conserved. NGOs also say the mine has been detrimental to local people, but the government approves because it represents significant foreign investment.
The above photos were taken at the Mandena nursery, where plants are grown to one day repopulate the forest. A few shots are also from around Tolagnaro, also known as Ft. Dauphin. Rio Tinto does not allow photography of the mine itself.
Tags: environment, flora, ft dauphin, madagascar, mining, nursery, photography, plants, titanium, trees
Saving a forest?
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under madagascar
Saviors of the Mandena forest?
The hands belong to Johny Rabenantoandro, director of biodiversity and rehabilitation for Rio Tinto’s mine in southern Madagascar. Yes, you read that right. A mine, with a director of biodiversity.
Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: conservation, environment, forest, ft dauphin, madagascar, mine, photography, rio tinto, seeds, trees
MBG: Development through conservation
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under madagascar
Chris Birkinshaw (right) and Christian Camara (center), both of MoBot, inspect flora at the Ankafobe reserve in Central Madagascar
Solofo, president of the local fokontany, checks sohisika seedlings at the nursery
Seedlings of sohisika, a tree endemic to only a few small stands of forest in central Madagascar
Before leaving Madagascar, I took a day-trip with botanists Chris Birkinshaw and Christian Camara from the Missouri Botanical Garden to inspect a small nature reserve and several associated projects.
Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: ankafobe, antananarivo, conservation, environment, madagascar, missouri botanical garden, photography, plants, sohisika, trees
