<p>The National Green Tribunal (NGT), October 20, 2023 dismissed the appeal filed against the environmental clearance (EC) dated March 9, 2020 granted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
The erratic and heavy rainfall last year has turned a large part of the deep desert country into a vast submerged landscape. Barmer District, Thar Desert, Rajasthan has an average rainfall of 280 mm annually, but during the monsoon of 2006 it received about 600 mm of rain within 2
Jayanti Roy Ecology and Human Well-Being Eds. Pushpam Kumar and B. Sudhakar Reddy. Sage publications. Pages 404. Rs 1,100. Ecology and Human Well-BeingTO put a value tag on the goods and services that we get from the ecosystem has been on the agenda of economists and ecologists alike, as this can be of great relevance in the execution and implementation of plans for the welfare of human beings. However, to calculate how much our wetlands, forests, mangroves, coastal areas and other ecosystems are worth in monetary terms is not an easy task due to inadequacy of our tools as well as due to the ever-changing nature of ecosystems. The researchers are constantly striving to find out ways through which informed choices can be made in taking decisions regarding natural resources. We need to have a holistic scientific basis to judge the pros and cons of preserving and sustaining our ecology. The book is an effort in this direction and consists of a selection of articles presented in the Fourth Biennial Conference of Indian Society for Ecological Economics in 2005. The theme of the conference is the title of the book. The objective of the conference as well as the book is to explore ecology and to develop an understanding of its relevance to human well-being to work towards ecological sustainability. This book through its 21 chapters has covered a wide spectrum of issues starting from ecological and social resilience to ecosystem services, their valuation, management and policy reforms and sustainable development. There is no doubt that it can be of interest and use to students, researchers, policy makers and professionals working in the field. There are valuation studies of urban wetlands in Kolkata, mangroves in coastal Orissa, the potential of voluntary participation in management of common property resources and forests in Karnataka, food security issues in Tamil Nadu. A chapter on environmental protection evaluates the functioning of the regulatory system in India. Some other significant studies examine ecosystem changes in coastal Gujarat and environmental degradation in Andhra Pradesh, thus picking up local issues and developing indigenous data and knowledge base. Many of the studies give policy implications, recommendations and suggestions All the studies are detailed, accompanied with figures, tables and exhaustive references which make them reliable basis for policy making and implementation of various schemes. The contributors are mainly researchers from the universities or institutes of repute. There is a smooth consistency in the themes chosen and uniformity in the format of chapters. With a detailed list of abbreviations and a comprehensive index, the book gives a glimpse into the hard work the editors have put in.
Political parties and tribals who have been agitating against bauxite mining are planning to block scientists of the Indian Council of Forest Research and Environment when they come for a survey. It is learnt that the scientists would visit the Agency areas soon to undertake a mining impact survey. This is mandatory to get permission for mining in a forest area from the ministry of environment and forests. The proposed mining project would displace tribals in large numbers and has also evoked sharp protests from environmentalists who warn that it would have a negative ecological impact.
Environmental experts on Sunday emphasised the need for taking concerted measures against the adverse effects of climate change and other ecological disasters for protecting the people as well as for ensuring sustainable development.
Villagers in Kinnanore in Kerala's Kasaragod district called off a month-long agitation against bauxite mining. They relented on January 12 after Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan assured them that the sanction to the mines would be revoked. "The people, the panchayat and the political parties do not want this project,' said Achuthanandan. <br>
Demanding to be heard
the Vedanta controversy has acquired yet another twist, with the Orissa government trying to acquire more land in Kalahandi district's Lanjigarh block, the place where the company's one million
Global warming is not a uniform process. Mongolia, particularly at the high altitudes around Lake Hovsgol, has been warming more than twice as fast as the global average. Unique ecosystems are feeling the heat. Here at the transition between the steppe grassland and taiga, plants and animals are confronted with a changing environment-and the outlook is not good for the herders who are crowding up from the south.
>> Journalists were killed in unusually high numbers in 2007, making it the deadliest year for the press in more than a decade, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists' end-of-year
Ever since the 2004 tsunami flattened coastal villages, the Tamil Nadu government has been raising sea walls and protective plantations on a priority basis to blunt the impact of sea waves. It
