As we wind up 2020, managing editor @GopiWarrier dived into the 570+ stories we published this year, emerging with a curated despatch from nature's frontlines in India.
Read this #thread for a Twitter summary.
#YearInReview2020
https://india.mongabay.com/2020/12/2020-review-packs-virus-controversies-wildlife-transitions-and-wetland-championss/

You can read the 2020 despatch in Hindi as well on @mongabayhindi
#YearEnder2020 #environment #conservation #wildlife https://hindi.mongabay.com/2020/12/29/editors-review-of-2020-virus-wildlife-transitions-and-wetlands/

The year started with a short series on Indian forests #TheIndianForestStory, which seems an eon ago thanks to what followed.
https://india.mongabay.com/series/the-indian-forest-story/
@aathiperinchery @ArathimenonM @pragatiprava @BasudevNews

Coverage on science of the COVID-19 pandemic linkages to environment & biodiversity was a major thrust this year.
#Zoonosis -- wet markets @prernabindra; one health @sghstory; vanishing biodiversity & disease @tvpadma; surveillance methods @lifesciexplore

Impacts of COVID-19 on multiple sectors followed.
1) Day to day issues: is there enough water to wash hands? @Supriya_Vohra; for sanitation and #WASH purposes? Social distancing and staying indoors in slums?
Biomedical waste guidelines, disposal @worthwords01 @naliniravi9

2) #COVID19 #Agriculture: eminent agricultural scientist & World Food Prize winner M.S. Swaminathan @mssrf explained impact on India’s food security; effect on farmer income and the govt economic package @journomayank; plight of #Maharashtra farmers.

3) #Fishing: How fishers fared during the lockdown; innovations to stay afloat @himanshujourno
We also had stories on how states managed COVID outbreaks @KAShaji123 @scribemanish, effect on research @aathiperinchery

4) #Wildlife: how did the forest department manage during the lockdown? Has the number of poaching cases gone up? @azerarahman
We also wrote on migrants and how different traditional communities coped with the pandemic.

We launched a small fight against #FakeNews about COVID by setting the record straight about #wildlife "reclaiming" homes @ByAditiTandon @Shwettathakkur AND spoke about how bats are not the villains @SejalMehta06

We did some introspection about recoveries from the pandemic, with commentaries from @UNEP, researchers from @atree_org and a series of commentaries linking environment, economy and the pandemic by @GopiWarrier.

We covered extreme weather events: Amphan, Kodagu floods @ArathimenonM, Mumbai floods @worthwords01, Assam floods @nabarun_guha45, landslides in Kerala @KAShaji123, floods in Vidarbha @nivedita_Him, Hyderabad floods @Som_mulugu and Nivar @theplainjain

While the country stayed locked in, the environment ministry unlocked many protected areas for development, and there was a race to clear projects.
#EIA #DraftEIA

Through a series of stories checking whether transitions in and out of the mining sector are socially and environmentally just, we have been writing about policy and specific locations as well.
Watch this video by @kcmouli25 and @journomayank

The #JustTransitions series has explored:
Mining in the Aravallis, Rajasthan's policy for silicosis victims, mining affecting communities and agriculture in Goa, mica mining in Jharkhand, phosphate mines of Udaipur...
@hridayeshjoshi @Supriya_Vohra @saurav_journo @KapilKajal1

..Mining affecting Great Indian Bustard in Ahmednagar, MH @himanshujourno, in Ballari @tejastj88, Kolar; Dehing Patkai, Assam; coal in Odisha; soapstone in Himalayas; bauxite in CH-JH @deepanwita_t; and explored multiple facets of India's dream of going big on renewables.

Another series that we launched was about human-wildlife interactions outside protected areas. The wildlife outside India's 5.2% protected areas often has conflict with human populations, or the two live in coexistence.
#BeyondProtectedAreas @sghstory

We spoke of tigers in a thermal power plant; golden jackals in airports; Indus dolphins @guptavivek83; blue sheep & langurs in the Himalayas; golden langurs in Assam; leopards across the country; otters in the Himalayan rivers; the elongated tortoise of the Terai @roopak1966

The lesser florican in MP & RJ @hellomishra; and the ever-expanding footprint of the gaur in the Nilgiris, Coorg (and Pune! @shatakshigawade).
We documented the work by communities in Manipur, Nagaland & Andhra to conserve their habitats and thereby wildlife.

We launched a series identifying individuals and/or communities that have understood the ecological significance of #wetlands and have conserved them against odds. @ByAditiTandon
@RiteshEconomics

We have covered Kutch, Muthupet, Sindhudurg mangroves in Gujarat, TN and MH; wetlands in J&K; a geoogically significant riverbed in MH; ponds in Mandya dt, KA and Mawphlang in Meghalaya; a Pune river; mudflats in Navi Mumbai; lakes in Bhandara district MH and Darbhanga in Bihar.

We looked with awe at the bioluminescent mushrooms in Meghalaya, and listened in wonder at the bat call library for the Himalayas.

We discussed the relationship between music and environment with Rahul Ram of the Indian Ocean band, and unravelled the architectural secrets of termite mounds.

This hanging bridge at Karapara in Nelliyampathi Hills in Kerala symbolises the environment vs development discussions.

The bridge brought access and development to the communities living on the other side. However, if upstream forests are destroyed and the perennial water flow stops, the bridge would not be of much use to the community, which will have to move.
@GopiWarrier

The year 2020 was an opportunity for India to introspect and re-calibrate the environment to development matrix towards sustainability. The year is unlikely to be remembered for that introspection.
What do you think?