News Digest
January 9, 2026
Champion of the Western Ghats, Madhav Gadgil, passes away
Noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil, renowned for his work on the Western Ghats, among other achievements, passed away in Pune on January 7 after a brief illness, reports The Times of India. One of Gadgil’s most widely-known and quoted works is his report submitted to the government as head of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel in 2011. Before that, he founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bengaluru. In 2024, the United Nations Environment Programme awarded him the Champions of the Earth award under the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ category. “The government has surplus ways of justifying its actions, mainly the need for resources and development,” Gadgil told Down To Earth, expressing disappointment at the mining of rocks and its environmental devastation, “The Aravalli mining precedent will be used a blueprint for other parts of the country, and its evidence will come forth,”
Pollution issue central to citizens’ charter for Mumbai civic polls
In the run-up to the municipal elections in Mumbai, held after a delay for four years, citizens’ groups prepared a charter of demands, reports the Hindustan Times. In Malabar Hill’s D ward, residents framed their manifesto around environmental protection, heritage trees, pedestrian safety and unregulated redevelopment warning that unchecked construction and political apathy are pushing the area towards an ecological and public health crisis. Residents of Chandivali, an upscale area, put out their manifesto focused on improving liveability. The Govandi citizens’ manifesto foregrounds survival issues in one of Mumbai’s most vulnerable wards: Slum redevelopment, lack of consent and opaque civic processes. The Govandi Citizens’ Charter flags chronic problems ranging from unsafe housing, water shortages and sanitation failures to air pollution from the Deonar dumping ground and poor access to public healthcare and education. Community groups say they will seek written commitments from all candidates.
Revival of Maharashtra’s Kham river holds lesson for all urban rivers
Persistent efforts over the past few years have revived the Kham river which flows through the historic city of ‘Aurangabad’, now known as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, reports The Print. Kham was a river forgotten with its banks served as dumping grounds, and its waters were blackened by sewage and waste, even as the city around it drew tourists to UNESCO World Heritage Sites Ajanta and Ellora Caves. Kham’s revival began in 2016 when the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a local company Varroc Engineering, and the Cantonment Board identified a highly polluted stretch near a historical bridge. Armed with data, the city’s municipal corporation and all the stakeholders developed a phased five-year plan to revive the river. The Kham River Restoration Mission won the $100,000 St. Andrews prize for Environment last year – not only for reviving the river but also helping transform people’s attitude to it.
Climate disasters cost more than $120 billion in 2025 but not all counted
The review of extreme weather events shows that Asia accounted for four of the six most expensive climate disasters of 2025, reports the Independent. The analysis, carried out by charity Christian Aid, identified 10 climate-related disasters that each caused more than $1billion in damage, with combined losses exceeding $122 billion (£96bn). Most figures are based on insured losses, which tend to be highest in wealthier countries with high property values and more widespread insurance coverage. Many of the deadliest disasters elsewhere did not feature among the costliest events because financial losses were not insured. In many poorer countries, disasters with severe human consequences did not appear in global cost rankings at all. Flooding in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo killed hundreds of people, while a prolonged drought across Iran and West Asia has left up to 10 million people in Tehran facing the prospect of evacuation because of water shortages.
Tackling world’s foremost climate hazard: Flooding
In 2025, floods ravaged Southeast Asia, North America and the Middle East and were worsened by a variety of factors, states a report in Al Jazeera. “Flooding is a complex hazard. It occurs because of interactions between many variables related to weather, infrastructure, land cover and topography and other factors,” said Nasir Gharaibeh, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Texas A&M University. Climate change is a major factor in causing weather events, researchers say. “The specific triggers varied from city to city in 2025, yet a single, universal force magnified them all: Climate change which supercharges rainfall extremes,” said Pawan Bhattarai, assistant professor at the civil engineering department of Nepal’s Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan University. “Don’t try to fight floods; learn to live with them. Don’t try to control and restrict river flows, give rivers room to flow,” advised Ayyoob Sharifi, a professor and urban scientist at Hiroshima University in Japan.
New York City mayor pledges to improve lives of New Yorkers
As Zohran Mamdani took oath on January 1 as the New York City mayor, he acknowledged the task ahead, reports Associated Press. He will have to face the everyday responsibilities of running America’s largest city: Handling trash and snow and rats, while getting blamed for subway delays and potholes. Mamdani and other speakers hit on the theme that carried him to victory in the election – using government power to lift up the millions of people who struggle with the city’s high cost of living. “To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this: No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives,” he said. Later, he visited an apartment building in Brooklyn to announce he is revitalising a city office dedicated to protecting tenants and creating two task forces focused on housing construction.
Mayor Mamdani’s promise reflects essential role of buses in the US
The rising tide in voter enthusiasm for Zohran Mamdani may reflect a little-understood reality about just how essential buses are to most cities’ transportation systems, reports Bloomberg. Local buses provided 10.6 million trips across the US on the average day in 2024, according to the American Public Transportation Association, which is more than four times the number of people who fly in the US every day. Even in NYC, the subway hogs all the glory but the bus is the workhorse of the public transit system. About 1.1 million rides are taken every day on NYC buses. It’s the equivalent to the entire population of Boston commuting to and from work every day on the bus. If Mamdani achieves nothing else, he will have helped elevate the profile of these humble vehicles and demonstrated that they carry a powerful political message, especially when juxtaposed to the kind of “innovative” technologies politicians love to tout, from self-driving cars to flying taxis.