Government makes re-grassing of mined-out areas mandatory
Mining companies will be required to carry out re-grassing in the mined-out areas to make them suitable for the growth of flora and fauna once the mining activity is complete,…
Most forest fires in India on account of human activity
The fires raging across Australia from September 2019 and the ones in California in 2018 have brought global attention to wildfires in the recent years. Around 6.3 million hectares of…
Environment ministry releases standard procedure to deal with anthrax deaths in elephants
On January 19, 2020, a four-year-old elephant suspected to have died due to anthrax was found in Sambalpur in Odisha. According to a news report, a post-mortem was conducted on…
Forest-dependent communities of Odisha find LPG an unnecessary, unaffordable luxury
Cooking gas is an unnecessary luxury, said Simaru Kandi from Musapada village in Odisha’s Puri district. “Nature has given us all resources to lead a bountiful life,” explained Simaru. “Whenever…
Tribal population of Jammu and Kashmir cries foul about non-implementation of Forest Rights Act
Before the semi-autonomous status of the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir was abolished by the Union Government on August 5, 2019, the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest…
[Analysis] The world’s primates face extinction, fuelled by global consumer demands
A ceaselessly growing human population and an ever-expanding world economy based on the unsustainable demands of a few over-consuming nations, have already caused habitat degradation, forest fragmentation, and forest loss…
The curious case of India’s missing forest policy
How do you define a ‘forest’? What are the rules regarding inviolate forests? And when will India get its new national forest policy? Many questions loom even as India pursues…
Two new termite species discovered from the Western Ghats
Researchers have discovered two new species of soil-dwelling termites in the biologically rich and biogeographically unique Western Ghats. The identification of the two new termite species from the Western Ghats…
Is the proposed Pamba-Achankovil-Vaippar project an environmental disaster in making?
Effluent carrier of the Sivakasi-Virudhunagar-Toothukudi industrial belt in southern Tamil Nadu, Vaippar now looks almost like a river on a deathbed. Numerous chemical factories dot both banks of the east-flowing…
Forest land identified for development after reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir
After August 6, 2019, when the Government of India scrapped the semi-autonomous status of the former Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into two union territories, recent…
