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 …
Sikkim has three types of forests: temperate broad-leaved (1,829-2,730 m), mixed coniferous (2,730-3,650 m), and alpine scrub and grasslands (above 3,650 m). These forests support a wide range of vegetation. Temperate broad-leaved forests in the state are dominated by oak species like Quercus lineata and Q lamellosa. There are 11 …
Sikkim has a number of rare animal species. Poor conservation practices have resulted in decimation of their populations. Of the 144 mammals known to exist in the state, 39 are regarded as endangered or rare. These include the red panda, east Himalayan tahr, musk deer, snow leopard, jungle cat, marbled …
The 'shapi' or east Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus schaeferi) is a very rare animal inhabiting the alpine region and considered sacred by the Lepchas. Shapi was discovered by Ernst Schaefer, a German doctor, on an expedition in 1938 in Fimphu. It was sighted after a gap of 39 years in …
Sikkim is known for its orchids. The state is home to about 600 species of orchids, including the famous 'lost orchid' - Paphiopedilum fairaeanum (Asian lady's slipper orchid). There are about 80 species considered important by botanists. These are classified into five groups - Cymbidium, Pleione, Coelogynes and Dendrobium species, …
Unplanned domestic - rather than international - tourism is largely to blame for degradation of the environment, as the case of Sikkim shows. According to observers, while foreign tourists - accounting for only 6-7 per cent of the arrivals - are usually highly environmentally conscious, domestic tourists behave irresponsibly. They …
india has the dubious distinction of being in the top 10 countries where there is maximum loss in species. According to a latest report of the Worldwatch Institute, twenty four per cent of India's 316 mammals species are threatened and six per cent of its 1,219 bird species face extinction. …
in late 1996, the us government imposed trade restrictions on import of shrimp and shrimp products on India, Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia. This was done as a part of measures undertaken by the country to protect and conserve sea turtles, an endangered natural resource. This was based on the contention …
If wildlife research and management in India was indeed a cartoon film, this would be about time when antics of the scientific community and the wildlife bureaucracy, just stopped being funny. So far they have been going around in circles, falling over and bumping into each other without one paying …
Thousands of Olive Ridleys, an endangered species of sea turtles, are being swept up dead on the Gahirmatha coast since the beginning of the year. This has set alarm bells ringing in the environment community and experts the world over have voiced concern over the issue. Gahirmatha has emerged in …
Orissa chief minister J B Patnaik announced on May 22 that the Gahirmatha beach stretching up to Hukitola in Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary will soon be declared the "core area' where poaching and entry of mechanised trawlers will be strictly prohibited. Expressing concern over the large-scale death of sea turtles, he …
Of all things, sea turtles have become the substance of trade news these days. In March 1998, the US slapped a ban on the import of shrimp from India on the plea that trawlers which fish for shrimp in Indian waters do not use the turtle excluder device. India challenged …
IN 1975, when she was prime minister, Indira Gandhi had suggested deploying Coast Guards to check illegal trawling with a view to leave the Olive Ridleys unmolested in the Orissa area. Gahirmatha had just been brought to the attention of the world by Bustard. Over the years, however, there was …
The tigers in Nepal may be extinct in the wild by 1999 unless India and the other range states declare an open war on poachers and illegal traders and throw in all the resources required into the battle, says Peter Jackson, a cat specialist. Deforestation, loss of habitat and a …
increasing pollution in rivers and indiscriminate use of gillnets are pushing dolphins on the brink of extinction in India. These findings have been reported by Brian Smith of the Geneva-based International Union for Conservation of Nature and S Lalmohan, marine scientist and chairperson of the Conservation of Nature Trust. Gillnets …
India, Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia have won the shrimp-turtle case in the World Trade Organisation (wto) against the us government. The us had imposed a unilateral ban on the import of shrimp caught in a way that killed endangered turtles. The us government had taken the action under its own …
Brazil has planned to conserve 2.51 million hectares (ha) of Amazon rain forest. This shows the government's commitment to the faltering preservation of the endangered tropical wilderness. The country would take financial and technical assistance from the World Bank and a conservation group, wwf International. This step would put 10 …
in front of a poultry firm in district Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh ( mp ), a board catches the eye. With a furious looking photograph of a black chicken, it declares: "Kadaknath, pride of Madhya Pradesh.' It is, literally. Even the flesh, bone and skin of the species known as Kadaknath …
The Great-One-Horned Rhinoceros have been driven into a few pockets of Nepal and eastern India because of dwindling forests, where poachers are hunting them to extinction. A variety of other animals, like the horned owls, Himalayan black bears, tigers and snow leopards are suffering the same fate. They are victims …
