Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
As gray whales face new threats along the Baja Californian coast in the US, their rarer cousins in the Western Pacific are facing greater peril, owing to a consortium of profit-hungry Japanese and western oil companies, in collusion with the Russian government. The Western Pacific's 200 surviving gray whales migrate …
WE HAVE met the enemy, and he is us." This line, from the well-known 1960s US comic strip Pogo by Walt Kelly, still retains its topicality today as a comment on our contribution to environmental degradation. Our insatiable appetite for 'progress' has ensured the extinction of countless life forms, and …
Hunting of brown and black partridges, and urial continues in the Salt Range of the Chakwal region in Pakistan, despite a ban imposed by the provincial government. These species, which are on the verge of extinction, fall regular victim to feudal lords. The Wildlife Department Chakwal, has been accused of …
INDIA is a country where legislators feast on endangered species and the favourite pastime of actors is hunting. Here the story of a marginalised community ready to lay down their lives to protect animals sounds like a fairy tale. But nothing surprises "mystic" India. Here, a religion that espouses animal …
FRIUILI VENEZA GIULIA or Friends of Earth (FOE) an Italian environmental group, is opposing the Tarvisio town, the venue for the 2006 Winter Olympics. They fear that the games would pose a threat to the rich biodiversity around the town. Valcanale, a suburban area, contains one of the last ancient …
ERUPTIONS of the Galdpagos volcano Cerro Azul have forced conservationists to speed the capture of 20 endangered giant tortoises for a captive breeding programme. Recently a helicopter was hired for two days to airlift some 11 tortoises from the island of Isabela, the largest in the Galdpagos archipelago. The remaining …
The world's largest rookery in Gahirmatha, Orissa, has not witnessed mass nesting of Olive Ridley Turtles for the last two years. The coast once again wafts for the turtle boards with the nesting season in December. This year, between January and May, over 15,000 turtles were killed by fishing trawlers. …
The Union government has fmally woken-up to the danger being faced by Orissa's Olive Ridley Turtles, an endangered species. It will launch a programme, "Sea Turtle Project", on the lines of Project Tiger. Since the beginning of the year, thousands of turtles have died on the Gahirmatha beach of Orissa, …
MANY plant species the world over are on the verge of extinction. And the rate of extinction of species in India is perhaps the highest in the world. About 150 species, which were collected a 100 years ago, have not been spotted in the recent past. Around 600 to 700 …
FILM star Salman Khan's arrest in Jodhpur for killing a chinkara, an endangered animal, and Sahib Singh Verma's resignation as chief minister of Delhi are both developments that hold a message for environmentalists and all those engaged in environmental management. First let us look into the unprecedented action that has …
A MALAYSIAN national, Keng Liang Wong, was arrested in Mexico for smuggling exotic reptiles into the US and was charged for helping smuggle hundreds of live Komodo dragons, Timor pythons, Chinese alligators, and other endangered species. Wong was first indicted in 1992 for smuggling iguanas, lizards and turtles into Florida. …
A TENTH of the world's known tree species face extinction, according to a recently published global survey called the "World List of Threatened Trees". The three-year survey found that more than 8,750 of the 80,000-100,000 identified tree species are on the brink of extinction. This is mainly due to the …
THE bandicoots living in a predator-proof section of the Woodlands Historic Reserve north of Melbourne, Australia, have declined from 600 to about 20 over the past two years, largely due to over-grazing by an out-of-control population of kangaroos. Animal Hberationists and the state government have been blamed for causing the …
Malaysia's Sea Turtle Research Unit (SEATRU) has come up with a novel concept to stabilise the dwindling turtle population: adopt a nest for a fee of rm 200, or a turtle for rm 100. If the proposal sounds appetising, turtle lovers can contact SEATRU at Pulau Redang, Terengganu, in Malaysia …
Some fish species are on the verge of extinction at Natore district in Bangladesh. Defying a government ban, fry are being caught indiscriminately from different rivers. The catching of fry varieties like Kalibaush, Ruhi and Katla up to 23 cm is strictly prohibited by law. But catching of these fishes …
The Rhinoceros sonda'icus annami-ticus, a rare and threatened sub-species of Javan rhinos unique to Vietnam, are facing certain extinc-tion. A recently-conducted census of the animals' footprints suggests that their population in Vietnam is down to the last five . "They can survive for only two or three more years unless …
SOME 10 kilometres from the din of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, India, the gharial - a member of the reptile fam-ily - is getting a second lease of life. More than two decades ago, the Gharial Rehabilitation Centre was set up here in the Kukrail reserve forest area. Its aim: …
The malbhog, considered to be the finest variety of banana found in Vaishali district of Bihar, is on the road to extinction. Soil infertility, fungal diseases, unscientific farming practices have takes their toll on the quality, and even quantities are down. Currently, only 10 hectares (ha) of land are under …
One of the most popular fruits of Mizoram is sapthei, or passion fruit, which looks more like a small mauve brinjal from the outside. The fruit is yellowish in the inside and is scooped out and eaten, seeds et al. People talk about the late Rajiv Gandhi's partiality towards the …
