How Kerala is leading the way in biodiversity conservation through localised efforts

A light pollution mitigation pledge in Philadephia called Lights Out Philly asks building managers to agree to turn off their lights late at night during bird migration periods to decrease bird collisions with windows.

To adjust from L.A. regularly draining Owens Lake for its water supply, locals have found that they can recover the dry lake by simply re-adding water to it, which prevents it from creating toxic dust storms. When water is added to the lake, the environment wakes up and becomes home to several plants and animals, specifically millions of birds, which depend on habitats like Owens Lake when traveling around the world.

Researchers, conservationists, and shellfish farmers on both U.S. coasts are starting and studying seaweed farms as a way to soak up excess nutrients in acidic water to help shellfish survive and grow.

In the Indian state of Bihar, women-led self-help groups are challenging traditional gender norms and saving money to buy and install solar irrigation pumps. The pumps increase the local agricultural capacity by providing a cleaner, more affordable alternative to the diesel pumps typically used to combat water scarcity in the region.

Mobile homeowners are buying the land their homes are on to form resident-owned cooperatives so they can upgrade infrastructure faster. This allows them to combat and adapt to climate change by installing things like solar panels and drainage systems.

The community in Jakhni, India, reimplemented old farming practices, like building embankments to trap rainwater and planting trees to prevent erosion, to combat severe drought.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s RainReady program is creating flood mitigation projects most suitable for Illinois communities in need by ensuring community members have input. The program designs nature-based solutions, like widening creeks and installing rain gardens, based on demographics and flood data. And community committees are involved throughout.

The Bangladesh Resource Center for Indigenous Knowledge runs a rice breeding initiative to preserve and encourage the planting of indigenous seeds. The program trains farmers how to problem solve, cultivate, and save the different seed varieties.

Auroville is home to foresters, ecologists, and other conservation advocates working on various reforestation efforts like propagating tropical dry evergreen forest species and planting drought-resistant species. Today, community-run nurseries supply about 50,000 saplings a year for tree-planting projects in Auroville. There are also “forest groups” made up of local residents who plant native species, collectively planting more than half a million evergreen saplings of over 200 different species.

Engineers with the Division of Water Resources created a new berm in the Great Salt Lake to help protect the lake’s ecosystem and slow the water exchange and reduce rising salinity between the north and south arms of the lake. Initial findings after the berm’s construction have shown a significant decrease in high-salinity waters, as well as improvements in the lake’s brine shrimp population.