The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
The designation of Protected Areas (PAs) for biodiversity conservation had had negative implications for communities that derive their sustenance from such areas. Apart from restrictions on resource use, there have also been instances of people being displaced from areas that they had inhabited and that had been designated subsequently as …
Background of the study is the multi-State India Eco-development Project sponsored by IDA/GEF at the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala, one of the seven Protected Areas (PAs) with the central objective of conserving biodiversity in and around PAs over 5 years (1996-97 to 2000-2001). The Village Eco Development Component (VEC) …
In a move that may render nearly half a million families homeless, Thailand's senate recently withheld the passage of the much-awaited community forestry bill (cfb). The proposed legislation that has been blocked was meant to hand over control of forests to the people residing in them. Instead, the country's upper …
Most protected areas in Bhutan are threatened. A major risk is being posed by poaching and fire. The poachers mainly prey on musk deer, blood pheasant and black bear. Musk pod, musk skin, bear bile, rhino horn and snow leopard skin have huge markets in Nepal and India, states a …
This book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the joint forest management (JFM) programme. The beginnings of this initiative can be dated to the early 1970s, when people had just begun to question the 'industrialise at all costs' policy. However, it took another decade and a half …
two incidents of recent deer deaths have brought home the stark reality that so-called protected areas are no longer safe havens for these animals. Official apathy is to be blamed in both the incidents, though they took place in two ends of the country. The first incident occured in Jammu …
To conserve unprotected land as national parks and ecological reserves, Brazil recently cancelled thousands of false and undocumented land ownership claims in the Amazon region. The strictly protected lands will be used to implement the first phase of the Amazon Region Protected Areas project, aiming to create 28.5 million hectares …
Crop raiding is a cause of much conflict between farmers and wildlife throughout the world. In Africa the great dependence of a large proportion of the human population for their survival on the land, coupled with the presence of many species of large mammal leads to many sources of conflict …
China will soon set up a reserve for the endangered Siberian tigers. According to the us -based Wildlife Conservation Society (wcs), the protected area called Hunchun Reserve will be set up along China's border with Russia. The wcs , which is helping China to establish the reserve, recently marked the …
Rejecting the pleas of conservationists, the constitutional tribunal of Ecuador has taken a decision which would cause irreparable damage to the Mindo ecological reserve (see Down To Earth , Vol 10, No 3, June 30, p13). It has permitted multinational consortium ocp Ecuador sa to complete the construction of a …
Tucked away between the Indian state of Sikkim on the east and the high mountains of the Makalu Barun range in the west, the Kanchenjunga area shares its northern boundary with that of Tibet. Hinduism and Buddhism, tropical and alpine, all meet and merge giving rise to a rich biodiversity …
multinational oil giant Shell has withdrawn from a project to explore gas in Pakistan's Kirthar National Park. The move has been hailed by environmental organisations like Friends of the Earth International ( foei ), which had filed a lawsuit in the Pakistani courts against the project. Premier Oil of Pakistan …
The boundary of Kanchenjunga Conservation Area in Nepal is being expanded. This will make the whole belt of northeastern Nepal a protected area for flora and fauna. At present the area covers 1,650 square kilometres. To expand the area Milke Hill will be included. "After 30 years, the local people …
The United Nations has announced a new biosphere reserve in Brazil's Pantanal region, the largest tropical wetland ecosystem in the world. The country's biologists are hoping that Pantanal's new status will attract fresh funding and investment. The funds will help in conducting more extensive research on one of the Earth's …
in the wake of Madhya Pradesh ( mp ) government's controversial decision to denotify parts of its reserve forests, the Supreme Court ( sc ) recently directed all state governments and Union territories not to denotify any area inside the 526 national parks and sanctuaries till further orders. The mp …
the indigenous community of 61 villages in Melghat of Amravati district, Maharashtra, are in constant fear of being evicted from their homes and losing standing crops due to Project Tiger. Two villages falling under the Project Tiger in Dharni and Chikhaldara districts have already faced the wrath of project officials, …
every year, a series of conflicts between the villagers and the forest officials disturbs the tranquillity of the Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan. This year, on 21st July the forest guards even resorted to firing 17 rounds during a clash with 10 villagers of the Uliana village, who were found …
the lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) enjoys a unique place among the Indian non-human primates. But it may not enjoy this distinction for long as it has been placed very high on the endangered species list in the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red Data Book. The international concern about its conservation …
The Lacandon forest, the land of the Mayans, is fast disappearing. Only about one third of the area is still intact. The forests may last only for 15 years if crop burning, forest fires, insufficient environmental protection and invasion by displaced indigenous people continues. In 1998, forest fires destroyed around …
