Pests kill Lahaul valley willows
Vast stretches of willow forests in the Lahaul valley are drying up as the trees planted more than a century ago are being destroyed by pests and the damage may be irreversible. The willow trees started degenerating rapidly five years ago and sicne then the experts have been stressing the …
Health officials lift Coke samples
A team of Health Department officials, led by District Food Inspector, Ms Virindra Chauhan, today lifted samples of bottled Coca Cola from the premises of its authorised bottling plant at Baddi in Solan district as well as from the manufacturer's godown at Parwanoo today.
`Green Kurukshetra` drive launched
The first phase of the 'Green Kurukshetra' campaign, launched by the local Geeta Niketan residential Senior Secondary School, was inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Abhilaksh Likhi, by planting a bourgainvillea sapling near Surya Gate, Sannihit Sarovar, here today.
Single-window clearance for hydel projects
A single-window system for speedy clearance of hydel power projects will soon be set up in Himachal where the mandatory clearance required from different departments will be given on the spot.
Go green to avoid seeing red
The thick green cover of the upland forests - said to be the water towers - of the North-Eastern states is disappearing at a faster pace than ever before, a phenomenon that has stirred global concerns and activism. Last year marked the International Year of the Mountain. Noted Jawaharlal Nehru …
Ambitious afforestation project by Nagaon Paper Mill
An ambitious afforestation project of Nagaon Paper Mill in Assam for the coming year, is expected to play a great role in building up the environment of Jagiroad and adjoining areas. According to the project, 50 lakh saplings of bamboo and other plants used in preparing the pulp of paper …
Gujarats town have fewer trees: Study
This is the first time that the Forest Survey of India (FSI) has tried to understand tree cover outside designated forests called the culturable non-forest area (CNFA) as part of the Gujarat's State of Forest Report 2001. Until now, only forest land was surveyed using digital imagery, but FSI felt …
Justice Kirpal to head national forests panel
Former chief justice of the Supreme Court Justice B N Kirpal will head the country's first national forest commission to review, reform and strengthen the entire forest management set-up. The commission, which has been given a two-year timeframe, will have as members director-general (forests) M K Sharma, environmentalists Chandi Prasad …
Self-employed keen to harness forest resources
Self-employed technical graduates in Nagaon district, Assam, are showing keen interest in harnessing the forest resources of the state rich in various species. Spices, herbs, shrubs and medicinal plants keeping in mind its vast export potentiality and international acceptance and usage. The North East rich in bio-diversity of which not …
Nepal starts testing soft drink samples
Following the cola controversy in India, Nepal has begun testing samples of five major brands of soft drinks, including Coke and Pepsi, to check for hazardous ingredients. Nepal's department of food technology and quality control has started testing samples of five major soft drinks to investigate if they contained any …
More areas come under forest cover
The European Union aided Haryana Community Forestry Project has achieved a significant success with 16,700 hectares of plantation during the last five years. The 10 year Rs 126 crore project, funded by the European Union Commission in India, covers 300 villages in 10 districts of the State, according to the …
Stark reality : No forests, no future!
According to a recent report available with the Tata Environmental Research Institute (TERI), global deforestation over the past 15 years has resulted in the loss of nearly 200 million hectares of forest
Fire shuts National Park
One week after it reopened, the west entrance to Glacier National Park was closed again to visitors because of a spreading wildfire. Another round of evacuations was ordered. High winds and hot temperatures have pushed thefire to more than 36,600 acres, or 14,640 hectares.
Fires displace villagers
Forest fies in the mountains of southern Portugal raged out of control Tuesday, as more villagers were evacuated. Hundreds of people have already been evacuated from homes threatened by fast-moving flames in the Monchique mountains, which rise above the province of Algarve, just south of Lisbon.
GM and Daimler yield to California clean-air law
General Motors and daimlerChrysler were set to announce Tuesday that they werre dropping law-suits against the state of California over a landmark clean-air regulation that required the production of millions of low-emission cars and trucks over the next decade and a half. The move is a temporary but momentous environmental …
Census in all wards to count green heads
In a bid to improve the City's green cover, the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike will conduct a tree census in all the wards through a private agency and undertake comprehensive tree planting in a planned manner. Commissioner M R Sreenivasa Murthy told the BMP Council that an inspection has been carried …
State losing out on forest revenue
The fund starved Assam Government is losing huge amounts of money because of the failure of the Forest Department to realise the royalty due to it from various agencies for using forest produce in construction works. Though the Bureau of Investigation of Economic Offences (BIEO) of the Assam Police detected …
Bush moves on plan to thin nation's forests
The Bush administration said it would accelerate projects designed to thin the nation's forests in the absence of congressional action to reduce the risk of wildfires. About 7.1 million acres of forest and rangeland burned this year, nearly double the 10-year average. Administration officials called the situation a crisis. Because …
National forest commission to be constituted soon
The government decided to constitute a National Forest Commission which will review adequacy of the existing policies and institutional framework associated with forests and wildlife. Union environment and forest minister TR Balu said that the commission will submit its report on restructuring, reform and strengthening of the entire forest management …
