Europe is the fastest-warming continent, and the impacts of climate change are clear. 2024 was the warmest year on record for Europe. Storms were often severe and flooding widespread, claiming at least 335 lives and affecting an estimated 413 000 people. During the year, there was a striking east-west contrast …
WHEN the Himalaya mountains rose to replace the Sea of Tethys it seems they made a pact with nature. The Himalaya, the world's youngest fold-mountain range made up of friable rock, due to the very nature of their being contribute to the flooding of the Indo-gangetic plain. This year the …
High intensity earthquakes may rock some parts of northeastern India between 2030 and 2040, say scientists at the University of Roorkee, Uttar Pradesh. They have analysed seismicity data of the region for the last 200 years. The researchers say that the Arakan Yoma and Naga thrust belt in Northeast India …
the prime minister, A B Vajpayee, has said that his government will approach the Supreme Court to lift the interim ban on tree felling and the movement of already cut timber in the forests. Speaking at a meeting with northeastern chief ministers in Delhi on May 8, Vajpayee told the …
THE book is a compilation of 42 papers contributed by social, physical and environment scientists who are working with issues that confront the Himalayas. The first three papers deal with the conceptual aspects of human ecology in relation to the environment, from the past to the present, and the effects …
Following the Supreme Court interim ban on transportation of forest produce from the north-east, Assam has lost around Rs 78 crore and Arunachal Pradesh, Rs 85 crore. For Assam, the revenue in territorial forest alone has come down from Rs 161,772,000 in 1995-96 to Rs 118,211,000 in 1996-97. In their …
ON DECEMBER 12, 1996, a far-reaching interim order of the Supreme Court (SC) changed the nature and extent of conservation in India at one stroke. While giving its ruling in a 1995 case filed against the Union of India by one T N Godavarman Thirumulkpad, the SC pointed out that …
A panel committee, formed under the Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF), and headed by former MEF secretary R Rajamani, has reportedly conducted an indLpth survey on forest conservation, reasons for the loss of forest cover and the levels of degradation of forests in the northeastern states. The committee …
Althoughetrict checking is reportecilly done on every mode of transportation from northeastern states to admit parts of the country, the forest amfla operating In the region has been reporting to various plays to dety'the Supreme Caurts ban. For instance, in order to es;cape checking, wood Is smuggled out after being …
The Supreme Court order was issued by Justices J S Verma and B N Kripal. It stated that: • prior approval of the Centre will be required for any non-forest activity within the area of everyforest. All ongoing activity, including mining and running saw and veneer mills, within any forest …
Indigenous is the byword in the water harvesting techniques followed in India's northeast. In Meghalaya, an intricate network of bamboo pipes is used to irrigate betel leaf or black pepper crops in rocky areas where no channels can be built, a practice which has been raised to a sublime level. …
about 26 per cent of Vietnam was covered by natural forests in 1991, compared to 67 per cent in 1943. In the past 25 years, the total area of natural forests (both upland and coastal) has declined at an average rate of 350,000 ha per year. This has led to …
DUNGLENA AIZAWAL Almost every house in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, has developed its independent water supply system to counter the acute scarcity of water. Water is harvested as it falls literally from the rooftop. Rainfall is rarely small in quantity in the hilltop town of Aizawl. But over the …
the recent ruling by the Supreme Court (sc), based on the assessment of timber and forest produce and forest mining in the northeastern states, has left the timber and affiliated industries in the region in a limbo. The impor-tance of preserving the forest wealth of the states seems to have …
The Central government's recent announcement that an action plan has been formulated to safeguard the pristine forests in the north-east -- in collaboration with the states of the region -- has not made any dent in the ongoing devastation in the picturesque valley of Barak near Silchar in Assam. Deforestation, …
