Pests and diseases cause significant crop losses and income to farmers. Timely diagnosis of the issue (including pest, disease and nutritional deficiencies) that hamper crop growth is necessary to minimise production losses. However, the existing agricultural extension systems do not have adequate capacity to extend farmer-centric plant health advisories.

Moringa (Moringa oleifera) popularly known as Drumstick, is less water requiring and economically important crop, which is increasingly being cultivated by smallholders. In Tamil Nadu, Moringa is widely cultivated in Dindigul, Karur and Coimbatore districts. The crop is cross-pollinated, and insects are essential for pollination.

Without a scientific GIS Plan, engineers with the Department of Rural Development (DRD), Government of Tamil Nadu, found it a challenge to implement the Natural Resource Management (NRM) and non-NRM works in Gram Panchayats (GPs) allotted under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNERGA) budget.

Tiruvannamalai district has several isolated hillocks at a minimum height of 120 metres above sea level. Most of the hillocks are in a degraded state causing severe losses in crucial ecosystems services. Restoration requires that there be a scientific approach to plan and implement locally suitable solutions.

The atmosphere is a global commons. Contrary to its widespread portrayal as a pollutant, carbon dioxide is necessary for life, as well as giving rise to global warming in higher concentrations. This idea is elegantly captured in the concept of the carbon budget. For global warming to be limited to a specified rise in global average temperature, the world’s cumulative emissions of greenhouse gases must stay within a specified limit associated with this temperature rise.

Mangroves are a group of trees and shrubs situated along the tropical coastline of India, that flourish in low-oxygen soil, where slow-moving waters allow fine sediments to accumulate. Mangrove plants have unique adaptation properties that allow them to survive in harsh environments.

The coastal agro-ecosystem is a fragile ecological systems and highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Crop productivity in this zone is well below the state average. Fertility status of the soil is moderate to poor, and a large area is under rainfed cultivation coupled with irrigation during summer season with small ponds and shallow borewells. The cropping intensity ranges from 100 to 200 percent.

The endangered Olive Ridley Turtles along Odisha Coast needs protection. It is an important site for millions of marine Olive Ridley that migrate from faraway places for mass nesting. This is an annual phenomenon, and therefore mechanised and motorised fishing are banned from November 1st of given year to May 31st of the following year (seven months) vide Odisha Government Notification No. 12312 dated 12.11.2014.

Mangroves are highly productive unique ecosystems harbouring diverse unexplored microbial communities that play crucial roles in nutrient cycling as well as in maintaining ecosystem services. Research to uncover the microbe-mangrove interactions that maintain ecosystem services and resilience under changing conditions is urgently needed for successful conservation and rehabilitation of these fragile ecosystems as these communities play crucial roles in mangrove biogeochemistry and nutrient cycling.

Coastal agroecosystems have become more vulnerable due to climate change. Farm families in the Aghanashini Estuary region, Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, are traditional cultivators of paddy that is always submerged in saline water. Unique to this ecosystem is the saline tolerant Kagga paddy that is cultivated in a growth cycle with marine shrimp/fish. However, area under Kagga is diminishing due to changes in land use, hyper-salinity, climate change, non-availability of quality Kagga seeds, low demand, and lack of modern agro-technologies.