Forest depts mindless policy behind siltation
Besides melting snow, heavy rainfall and opened dams in hilly states, one of main reasons behind floods in Assam is the increasing amount of silt carried down into the lower Assam by the Brahmaputra. However, despite expert recommendation that silt deposited in winter in upper Assam be carried off for …
V V Nagar a haven for flora diversity: Study
A recent tree census by the Gujarat forest department's showed that Anand was perhaps the greenest district in Gujarat with the maximum per hectare trees. It says that there were 65 trees per hectare, even more than Gandhinagar. The bio-sciences department of S P University, however, says there is more …
Making life easier!
Over 7,000 trees in Mumbai are facing the axe to make way for widening of roads or infrastructure projects.
Saving jungles may aid nearby coffee plantations
Conserving tropical forests may benefit nearby coffee plantations, researchers reported. Bees can cross over from the jungle to pollinate the coffee trees, resulting in greater yields and healthier coffee beans, the U.S. researchers found. "Policies that allow landowners to capture the value of pollination and other services could provide powerful …
Hospitals move toward paperless age
Hospitals are trading their once-scattered medical charts, file folders, X-rays, and other documents for a unified electronic records system accessible with a few keystrokes. Federal officials who are trying to convince more hospital executives to go "paperless" say electronic records can make hospitals more efficient, reduce medical errors, and lower …
Remote Alaska island is home to petrified forest
If you want to stroll through the only forest on Alaska's remote Shumagin Islands, you have to wear rubber boots and wait until the tide goes out. In the Shumagins, an island chain that jabs into the north Pacific, the few live trees were planted by people. But along a …
Orissa tribals clash with forest guards
Clashes between forest guards and tribals living in and around Similipal biosphere reserve in Orissa are becoming more and more frequent. The stand-off between the two over the issue of alleged encroachment of forest land reached a flashpoint when armed tribals injured six forest officials, sending shockwaves through the officialdom …
Karnataka opens Almatti gates for Andhra
Andhra's long and agonising wait for the Krishna river waters is over. Nature has overcome political factors, forcing the Karnataka Government to open the gates of the massive Almatti Dam. It is almost after a gap of three years that Krishna water has crossed the Almatti and Narayanpur dams of …
Give us back green belt, South City tells builder
Many people paid money as preferential location charges in 1988 for their Unitech South City plot because it bordered a green area spread over five acres. Today, they are fighting to save it. Residents of Block D and E in South City are protesting against Unitech's move to construct a …
Deep fried end to caterpillar plague
A city in north eastern China has come up with a novel way to get rid of caterpillars that destroy its pine trees -eat them. Every year the pests destroy more than 10 percent of the nearly 67,000 ha of pine trees in Liaoning province's Hludao city , according to …
Nasa sends Messanger to Mercury
Nasa launched a Messanger to Mercury the first spacecraft in 30 years to head to the sun's closest plant. The probe, named Messenger, rocketed away in the pre-dawn moonlight on what will be a 8 billion km, 61/2
NHRC panel submits Veerappan STF report
Four years after it was set up, a national Human Rights Commission panel has submitted its findings on complaints that the task force hunting for Veerappan had been harassing tribals who shared the forest with the sandalwood smuggler.
Demand for strict action against forest mafia in Orissa
Anguished over the rapid depletion of the Orissa's forest wealth, The Orissa Krushal Mahasangh has demanded that the timber mafia be booked under the National Security Act (NSA) and ex-servicemen be entrusted with the job of guarding the forests. The Mahasangh is the biggest organisation of its kind, looking after …
Thirsting for trouble?
Ever since former World Bank Vice-President Ismail Serageldin famously declared that the next world war would be fought over water rather than oil, the impending scarcity of this precious resource has gripped public imagination. In reality, Serageldin was guilty of exaggeration since conflicts over water, typically, build up over a …
China city fights environmental trouble with trees
It took $80 million, five years, and enough trees to circle the world five times. But Lanzhou, a gritty industrial city on the Yellow River in northern China, says it is stopping erosion that is clogging one of the country's main waterways with silt and making it more prone to …
NWFP yet to formulate new forest rules
The NWFP government (Pakistan) has not been able to notify draft rules of the Forest Ordinance, 2002, even after two years of the promulgation of the new law, official sources said. The new law that repealed four of the previous legislative pieces governing forest areas in the NWFP was promulgated …
Victims of development
Six years ago, the Bagur-Navile canal evacuees were as happy as they could be, growing ragi, paddy and other crop. Their source of water was local tanks and lakes. The fact that the Hemavathy river in Karnataka flowed right beside also helped. Big trouble came in the form of the …
Farmers for survey of cultivable land, forest areas
Farmers in the Balh valley have demanded that the state government should conduct a time-bound fresh survey of the cultivable land and forest areas destroyed by the silt ejected by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB)-run Beas-Satluj (BSL) link project, along the Suketi and Luhari khuds in the Sundernagar subdivision. …
Ganja plants destroyed
Narcotics Intelligence Bureau officials destroyed nearly 5,000 ganja plants during a surprise check yesterday in the Amaravati reserve forest area. NIB officials said the team found ganja cultivated on five acres at Paniyaraparai during the search. The plants, 80 per cent of which were full grown, and weighing close to …
