Environment Current Affairs July 2026

Rajasthan's tiger population reached 149 across its five tiger reserves as of 28 July 2026, up from 135 in 2025. Rajasthan's tiger reserves include Ranthambhore, Sariska, Mukundra Hills, Ramgarh Vishdhari and Dholpur-Karauli (India's newest, notified in 2023). Project Tiger, India's flagship tiger conservation programme, was launched in 1973; tiger monitoring is coordinated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

Indian odonatologists discovered a new spreadwing damselfly, Lestes paloti, from the Western Ghats in Kerala (family Lestidae, order Odonata), published in the International Journal of Odonatology. It is the first new Lestes species found in the Western Ghats in 97 years, raising Kerala's odonate count to 192. Named after Dr. Muhamed Jafer Palot of the Zoological Survey of India, it was recorded across six Kerala districts and turns brown in the dry season and bluish in the monsoon.

A team of Indian odonatologists discovered a new species of spreadwing damselfly, 'Lestes paloti', from the Western Ghats in Kerala in July 2026. The species belongs to the family Lestidae under the order Odonata. The discovery was published in the International Journal of Odonatology. Naming: The species is named in honour of Dr. Muhamed Jafer Palot of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kozhikode, for his contributions to Indian odonatology. Distribution: Recorded across six districts in Kerala — Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Palakkad and Ernakulam. Habitat & characteristics: Unlike most related damselflies that stay near open water, *Lestes paloti* prefers scrub vegetation around homesteads and laterite hillocks, often far from visible water bodies. It is brown in the dry season and bluish in the monsoon, and was validated as a distinct species through detailed male genital examination. Significance: The find resolves a decades-long misidentification with Lestes nodalis and is the first new Lestes species discovered in the Western Ghats in 97 years, taking Kerala's odonate species count to 192.

Researchers from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, discovered two new species of rare solitary bees — Elaphropoda triangulata and Habropoda adi — during the Siang Expedition in Siang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh. Published in the European Journal of Taxonomy, the find highlights the biodiversity of the Eastern Himalayas. Elaphropoda triangulata is named for its triangular abdominal markings; Habropoda adi honours the indigenous Adi community. Both are solitary ground-nesting bees and key pollinators, each currently known from a single male specimen.

On 17 July 2026, Ladakh Lieutenant Governor V. K. Saxena commissioned India's first and deepest geothermal wells at Puga Valley in eastern Ladakh. The two production wells, drilled by the ONGC Energy Centre, each reach a depth of 1,000 metres at an altitude above 14,000 feet. A maximum temperature of 135 degrees C was recorded at 400 metres depth. The wells pave the way for India's first demonstration-scale 1 MW geothermal pilot power project at Puga.