Fading green cover
The making of four-lane-National Highways in India is no doubt laudable but we have to plan these four lanes in such a way that the valuable trees lining the roads are not cut indiscriminately. Unfortunately a
Is Delhi really green, asks survey
Notwithstanding the "tall green claims" of the Government, the city has only 151 sq km of forest cover, including the 40 sq km of tree cover. It is just 10.2 per cent of the total geographic area of the city, whereas it should ideally be 33 per cent. A study …
Bio file
The rich forest cover of Himachal Pradesh is dangerously reeling under pest and fungus attacks, say scientists. At least four species of trees are under severe pest attacks. Thousands of trees have been irreparably damaged across the hill state.
Award for TTD forest department
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam's Forest Department for the first time in the history has bagged the prestigious national award for its outstanding performance in the field of afforestation.
EU bids to cut down worldwide illegal timber trade
The European Union is to urge timber exporting countries to certify their wood does not come from illegal logging which is ravaging the world's priceless rainforests. The European Commission is to launch a voluntary timber certification system that might lead to a global agreement to clean up the $150 billion …
Forests, water resources under threat: minister
Natural resources especially water and forests in Pakistan are under threat and if these resources are not managed properly, there will be a serious crisis in future. This was stated by Minister of State for Environment Maj Tahir Iqbal (retired) while speaking at a panel discussion organized in connection with …
Hundreds of trees burnt in Solan fire
Hundreds of small and half grown green trees were destroyed in fire that broke out in the forest falling under the Army area and local Municipal Council in the Solan town in Himachal Pradesh.
House approves plan for thinning of forests
The House of Representatives has voted to hasten the burning of underbrush and thinning of trees on federal land, supporting what would be one of the most significant changes in forest policy in 100 years. The measure strongly supported by President George W. Bush as an effort to reduce catastrophic …
House passes controversial wildfire bill
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a controversial bill to increase forest thinning on 20 million acres of federal lands. Critics say the bill, which passed by a vote of 256 to 170, is a million dollar giveaway to the timber industry and has no chance of passing the U.S. …
Forest force to be equipped to combat poachers, smugglers
The Assam State Forest Department has prepared a scheme to increase the combat efficiency of the Assam Forest Protection Force in order to enable it to face the growing challenges in the reserve forest and wildlife sanctuaries, the final shape to which will be given soon, sources in the Department …
Master plan in the offing to develop Pong wetland
The Himachal Pradesh state government will soon put together a master plan to develop the Pong wetland of Kangra district declared as an international wetland recently economically. More than 1.15 lakh birds belonging to 56 species of waterfowls visit the wetland every year.
Smoother VVIP movement at the cost of 40 trees
As many as 40 full-grown trees may be axed in Lutyen's Delhi by the New Delhi Municipla Council to pave away for smoother VVIP movement. The majestic trees line up Imtiaz Khan Marg, which is located between Parliament Annexe and All India Radio. The road is being widened to accommodate …
DJB wants instant fine for wasting water
The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has requested the Union law ministry to empower its officers to challen those who waste water. As no magistrate has being spared to try water-related offences, a majority of the fines announced remain only on paper. Other civic agencies like Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), …
Officials geared up to fight forest fires
As fires have broken out in number of pine forests in Mandi, the conservator of Forest, Mandi Circle, Mr Avtar Singh, today issued a blanket ban on th leave of Divisional Forest Officers and the staff working under them during the summer season.In a statement, he said the fire-prone areas …
Karnataka lax in executing schemes
The Union Minister for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Ananth Kumar, has criticised the Krishna Government for "laxity" in implementing the Centrally sponsored schemes, especially the Sectoral Reforms Project on drinking water supply in rural areas and the Nirmal Abhiyaan on sanitation.The minister told presspersons on Sunday that Bellary, Mysore, …
Getting greener
India is officially getting greener. A new,more accurate, hi-tech digital image processing technique used to interpret satellite data has revealed that almost one-fourth of the land in the country is covered with trees.According to the new State of the Forest Report, released by Union Environment and Forests Minister T.R. Baalu …
Life & Times of a treedom fighter
The play of names has almost a touch of fable here-Nirakar, the formless one, regenerating the primal form of a forest that had passed into the mist. For the last 20 years Nirakar Mallick, a small farmer in Orissa's Kendrapara district, has been greening a coastal landscape that had of …
Learning to reason with the wildfire season
Wildfire is something that most people who live in remote areas are still coming to grips with. The devastating fires of 2002, which consumed more than seven million acres of U.S. land, brought the issue ever closer, literally, to the homes of thousands of mountain and foothill residents here and …
Where the green cover is a casualty
Environmentalists are concerned over the indiscriminate exploitation of the forest range through which the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway runs. The highway is the only link between the remote regions of Jammu and the Kashmir valley. The forest cover has come down with a spate of illegal constructions coming up along the …
