Public Participation

Affidavit on behalf of Union Territory of Puducherry on forest cover, 25/04/2025

Affidavit on behalf of Union Territory of Puducherry in the matter of a news item titled "India lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000 Global Forest Watch" which appeared in the Indian Express, April 13, 2024. The report dated April 25, 2025 said that there is no loss …

Miles apart

Community forestry has been identified as the only viable forest management strategy in many developing countries. To this effect, both India and Nepal have launched programmes. But while in Nepal forests are on the road to recovery, severe limitations come in the way of managing forests successfully in India. Some …

Policies with a difference

INDIA: A colonial system of forest management left behind by the British NEPAL: Forest regulation and management is hardly 50 years old. INDIA: Ninety-five per cent of forests is owned and managed by state forest departments NEPAL: There is a clear demarcation between various types of forests INDIA: Forestry is …

Hills vs terai

HILLS: Old, stable settlement TERAI: Scattered settlement, more scope for farming HILLS: Population is homogeneous TERAI: Heterogeneous population, ethnic diversity HILLS: Indigenous management practices TERAI: Limited indigenous practices HILLS: Widespread access to forests TERAI: Greatly variable access to forests HILLS: Farming systems dependent on TERAI: Farming systems less dependent forests …

CFM has changed the concept of community life

What is the greatest benefit you have derived from community forest management? There is a centuries-old monastery near our village. It was robbed of its sanctity after the forest around it was denuded. Once the community regenerated the forest, the spiritual splendour that is associated with a religious place was …

Reviving nature

an ardent follower of Gandhian principles, Narayan Hazary's work reflects the magnanimity and vision of his mentor. Born in Kesharpur, a small village situated in the foothills of Binhagiri in Nayagarh district, Orissa, Hazary, 63, has been working since his late teens to restore prosperity in his village. Today, thanks …

TEARS FOR CROCODILES

in the 1970s, crocodiles in India were on the verge of extinction. Surveys conducted with the support of the World Wide Fund for Nature ( wwf) , Bombay Natural History Society and the New York Zoological Society indicated that almost 90 per cent of these reptiles had been wiped out. …

Reaping the benefits

For 30 years, 60-year-old Gyan Bahadur Karki, along with his fellow villagers, has been protecting a 24-hectare (ha) patch of forest in the vicinity of his village Kahnu, near Pokhra. He has been sourcing his fodder and fuelwood needs from the forests since then. "But there is a big difference …

Words of wisdom

traditional knowledge refers to the unique local knowledge existing within and developed around the specific conditions of people indigenous to a particular geographic area. All members of a community have traditional knowledge about the ecology: elders, women, men and children. However, the quantity and quality of traditional knowledge possessed by …

Pollution of Hinduisim

Every Hindu worth his/her salt will recount the story to you. When Lord Krishna was born, his father put him in a basket and crossed the Yamuna to reach the avatar of Vishnu to safety in the house of Yashoda and Nand. This was to escape the cruelty of Kansa, …

Return of the green

when asked about the motivation behind his endeavours to plant trees and distribute free saplings to the locals, R S Jamir simply replies: "To fill the barren land and make people aware of the importance of trees." The first inspector general of police in Nagaland, now retired, Jamir is at …

Erosion of values

So, what is it that makes Hindus act against the philosophies of Hinduism? "Our minds have been polluted, so, how can the environment be in good shape? The values have suffered degradation," says Veer Bhadra Mishra. Although the fury of the flooded Ganga has not eroded the ghats of Varanasi, …

The beacon

People are becoming aware of the concepts of ecology and environment, though a little too late. Moreover, they have not learnt these from our traditions but because the West is talking a lot about environment now," says Swami Sevak Charan of the Sri Vrindavan Conservation Project. Yet some small results …

Defiling the sacred

It has been noted for aeons that Hinduism emphasises concern for nature. Yet Hindu festivals are considered incomplete now without blaring loudspeakers, a cacophony of voices and songs from Bollywood films, and fireworks that can easily turn one mad, if not deaf (see box: Voices suppressed in noise). After the …

Shades of green

it was an all-out attempt to paint a green picture of the auto industry. Close on the heels of a number of Supreme Court orders castigating the automobile industry for the growing air pollution in Delhi, the industry tried its best to put on an eco-friendly face at the Auto …

People s participation

madhya Pradesh has set a record by being the first state in the world to implement the new concept of People Protected Area (ppa). Introduced under the United Nations Development Programme (undp), the measure allows for sustainable and effective use of non-wood forest products (nwfp). A 32,000 hectare area land …

ABC of environment education

education generally denotes either the process or the system that a society uses to determine the path of learning of a child. It is primarily a preparation for the future. The child who receives primary education today will play a role in society for the coming half century. If the …

Bad environment makes the poor more susceptible to diseases

How are the poor more susceptible to diseases? The poor are more susceptible to diseases because they live in poor environmental conditions. Due to poor sanitation, incidence of gastrointestinal diseases and diarrhoea are very high. The rate of infant mortality is also high because they consume dirty water and fall …

A collector s item

THIS book contains all one would want to know about environmental management in the context of the existence of plenty alongside poverty. But for those not familiar with the dynamics of the symbiotic human-nature relationship, the elaborately worded theories may be a trifle difficult to understand. Replete with insights into …

Standing the test of drought

The story echoes the fable of the industrious ant that stocks foodstuff for winter and the lazy grasshopper that is left without food. Women and children dig the dry bed of the Sukhi river near Dahod town of Gujarat. Sitting aside one-metre-deep holes, they wait for life to seep into …

THUNTHI KANKASIYA DAHOD a turnaround

The people of this small village of Bhil tribals in Dahod district had been facing a serious water crisis. About 78 per cent of them used to migrate for at least 10 months. There were no wells in the village. The farmlands were of no use; there was no water. …

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