Conducted over the course of a year in 2017-18, the All Kerala Tiger Monitoring Programme identified a total of 176 individuals, 75 of them within the confines of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) alone, based on camera-trap images. Kerala’s forest cover may be extremely fragmented and prone to recurrent human-animal …
While the government is seeking world heritage status for the Edakkal Caves on the Ambukuthy hills in Wayanad district, famous for its Neolithic petroglyphs, illegal granite quarrying and fast urbanisation in the vicinity of the caves are posing a serious threat to the rock engravings. The government had banned all …
Stating in unequivocal terms that no forest conservation activity would be possible without community participation, over 19 organisations representing traditional forest dwellers and other aborigines living within the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve (NBR) met in Gudalur near Ootty on Saturday and adopted a declaration terming the proposed tiger reserves in Wayanad …
The Kerala high court on Friday asked the Union ministry of environment and forests to explain its stand on a petition seeking a CBI enquiry into the killing of a tiger at Wayanad recently. The petition alleges that killing has brought dishonour to the nation, tiger being India's national animal. …
Alarmed by this year’s scanty rainfall and the drying up of water reserves in several parts of the State, the office of the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has forwarded a recommendation to the State government to this effect. The scarce northeast monsoon has failed to make up for the …
Man-animal conflict has led to the killing of a male tiger near the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in north Kerala on Sunday. The forest officials shot dead the beast which apparently had been attacking domestic animals of the human settlement near the sanctuary. Although the issue has been a routine affair …
The Karnataka Forest and Health authorities have alerted their counterparts in Kerala on a suspected outbreak of Kyasanoor Forest Disease (KFD), commonly known as monkey fever, in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve lying contiguous to the Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary (WWLS) in northern Wayanad district of the State. With the Karnataka …
India’s top bureaucrats managing forests and elephants, and the wildlife conservation NGO community on Wednesday showcased public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives that promise to connect more of the 88 identified elephant corridors with forests, potentially reducing the stress on the species. On its part, the Centre is considering hiking compensation for …
Two projects to be implemented at a cost of Rs.149 crore The Water Resources Department is gearing up to launch two comprehensive drinking water projects in the district at a cost of Rs.149 crore by utilising water from the Karapuzha reservoir. The first project, to be implemented at a cost …
Eight small hydro power schemes mooted In a bid to enhance power generation, the Small Hydro Promotion Cell of the Energy Management Centre, attached to the Department of Power, has proposed eight small hydro-power schemes in Kozhikode district. Some of these projects, already showcased at Emerging Kerala, which concluded in …
In a major step towards adopting a scientific approach in the maintenance of forests in state, the Forests and Wildlife Department has prepared GIS atlases on three wildlife divisions in the state. The scheme to provide a single mapping platform to the five other wildlife divisions will be completed by …
‘Lack of infrastructure hampering economic growth’ The government’s policy is to usher in development in the State without trampling on the environment and integrate both, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said. He was inaugurating a two-day national seminar on ‘Transport Vision Kerala 2030’ organised by the National Transportation Planning and …
The increased tiger population in the three states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the last census is seen as the result of better conservation efforts. But now, some of the tiger reserves and sanctuaries in these regions are facing increased threat from the poacher gangs, which were until …
The area around forests has had several human-animal conflicts Solar fences will henceforth secure human settlements and farmlands in the three forest divisions of Wayanad from wild animal raids that have lead to several man-animal conflicts in recent years. Solar fences will be installed along a length of 300 km …
Report of Madhav Gadgil-headed Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel The report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by Madhav Gadgil has generated much heat and dust in Kerala, with environmental activists and pro-development experts adopting diametrically opposing views. But meaningful debate on the issue has been hampered …
Solar fences will henceforth secure human settlements and farmlands in the three forest divisions of Wayanad from wild animal raids that have lead to several man-animal conflicts in recent years. Solar fences will be installed along a length of 300 km in the forest divisions of Wayanad North and South …
The Forest and Wildlife Department is gearing up to implement a Rs.6-crore project to curb the increasing man-animal conflict in the district. As a part of the project, the department would install 300 km of solar power fence around human settlements adjacent to forests, P. Dhaneshkumar, Divisional Forest Officer, South …
Traditional rice varieties of Kerala appeared to be vanishing as a study has found as many 55 species of paddy seeds extinct in Wayanad district in northern part of the state due to various reasons. Nearly 160 varieties of paddy varieties, including 78 traditional ones, were being cultivated in Waynad …
Little hope of crop revival as rains to weaken further in Aug Hopes of reviving wilting crops have receded further and lakhs of hectares will remain fallow in western and southern India as the erratic monsoon is forecast to weaken further in August, sparking fears that prices of farm products …
Minister for Forests, Sports and Cinema K. B. Ganesh Kumar told the Assembly on Tuesday that the government proposed to take up programmes to regenerate forest cover. Replying to the debate on the demand for grants for forest, the Minister said that the Department was undertaking regeneration of natural vegetation …
The personnel of the Forest Department and the Police on Friday evicted a group of tribespeople, owing allegiance to the pro-Bharatiya Janata Party Kerala Adivasi Sangh (KAS), who had encroached upon 5 hectares of vested forests at Vattoli in the Periya Forest range under the North Wayanad Forest Division. 52 …
