The raging debate over viability of mega dams in the seismologically sensitive North-east notwithstanding, the Centre has clarified that no conclusive study on non-suitability of construction of large dams in Brahmaputra region has come to the notice. Altogether 165 power projects were granted environmental clearance and 143 power projects were granted forest clearance by the Ministry of Environment and Forests during the past three years.

JAIPUR: Even though a good two years have passed since the state government announced its first-ever forest policy in 2010, the notification is still awaiting active implementation.

The Rajasthan State Forest Policy 2010 had acknowledged the importance of Orans that are considered repositories of rich biodiversity and an excellent example of people's religious faith linked with conservation. The aim of the forest policy was to preserve ecological balance through increasing vegetal cover which would help in reducing soil erosion and consequently dust particle in upper stratosphere.

New Delhi: Have environment clearances become an impediment to setting up power projects in the country? Data submitted by environment and forests minister Jayanthi Natarajan to the Lok Sabha on Monday suggests otherwise. In the last three years, the environment ministry rejected environmental clearances to only two power projects.

The government should set up a 'green fund' by imposing 5% forest development tax on sale of forest products and 3% forest conservation tax on sale of petroleum products and coal mining, the 12th Five-Year Plan working group under Planning Commission on natural resources has recommended. Another sub group working on environment and forests has backed a similar approach, recommending an economy-wide green tax regime to blend in with the Goods and Services Tax that the government is pushing.

KOLKATA, 29 APRIL: In wanton destruction of trees along the VIP Road to facilitate the construction of a flyover between Teghoria and Lake Town by the state Public Works Department as many as 186 trees have so far been felled. And, needless to say, all this at a time when the chief minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee, has promised to usher in a cleaner and greener Kolkata.

At least 141 incidents of forest fires have taken place in Uttarakhand since the beginning of March which has affected about 200 hectares of forest land. However, unofficial sources claim that nearly 1,000 hectares forest land has been affected by forest fires. While Forest Department officials avert that all necessary measures are being taken to tackle forest fires, environmentalists complain that the efforts are not enough to mitigate this phenomenon.

New Delhi: Sunday Times had on April 1 reported about Assam man Jadav Payeng’s unparalleled feat of single-handedly growing a forest spread over 550 hectares on a sandbar in the Brahmaputra over 30 years. On Earth Day, Jawaharlal Nehru University honoured him for his remarkable achievement at a public function organized by the School of Environmental Sciences.

Jorhat, April 22: A lonely cowherd who spent lazy afternoons planting trees while his cattle grazed along a sandbar on the Brahmaputra and single-handedly grew a forest, was honoured by the Jawaharlal Nehru University with title of “Forest Man of Assam” on Earth Day today. Jadab Payeng, popularly called Molai, is a self-appointed keeper of a 300-hectare woodland, every plant of which he has painstakingly grown over the past three decades on the desolate chapori.

KOZHIKODE: Showing signs of improvement in the mangrove cover across the state, the Annual Report of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) 2011-12, which was released recently, notes that the mangrove cover in Kerala has increased for the first time since 2005.

According to the report, the total mangrove cover in the state is now spread across a total area of 6 km2. Though the mangrove was spread across an area of 8 km2 in the year 2003, it had declined to 5 km2 during the last survey conducted in 2009.