Gogoi's report card talks of reforms, forest management
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi has claimed that his Government has initiated a number of developmental programmes despite the fund crunch in Sasaram. He said that joint forest programme has already been initiated. Locals are being involved, eviction drives for encroachers done and also an expert committee was formed to examine …
Smoke from bushfires rolls into Sydney
Bushfire smoke enveloped Australia's biggest city, Sydney, on Friday as firefighters battled almost 100 fires across eastern Australia. As the smoke rolled over the city, residents said visibility was reduced to a few kilometers and in some areas the smoke was so thick it forced some indoors.
One held, sandal worth Rs 22,000 seized
The officials attached to the office of the Inspector General of Police, Forest Cell, Bangalore, arrested a person at Negalala Villager in Koratagere taluk in Tumkur district and seized 40 kgs of sandalwood pillets valued at Rs 22,000 from them.
Highway getaway for timber mafia
Lax security measures on and around National Highway 31 have led to a spurt in timber smuggling, mostly from the Dooars. The mafia has actually hit upon ingenious ways the smugglers know how to mark the illegally felled timber to give the "unsuspecting policeman the slip", said forest department officials. …
Shankar denies encroachment, demands survey of land
Legislative Council Chairman B L Shankar, who is among the 148 persons found guilty of encroaching Thatkola reserve forest land in Chikmagalur district by the Supreme Court, today while denying the encroachment, requested the Chief Secretary of Karnataka to get the disputed land surveyed by Survey of India immediately. The …
Rs 653 crore WB fund for vana samrakshana samitis
The World Bank has sanctioned Rs 653 crore for development of forests in the Andhra Pradesh state. The funds would be spent on formation of the vana samrakshana samitis in 14 districts. Disclosing this at Mannanuru village of Amrabad mandal in Mahabubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh.
Green face of a Chattisgarh village
"Save the trees" may now have become the mantra for environmentalists but villagers of Bohardi in Berla tehsil had banned felling trees way back in 1990. the result is that the village is surrounded by a thick jungle of over one lakh 'Babool' trees and numerous wild bushes. It has …
110-year-old Mahabodhi tree faces wipeout
The 110-year-old Mahabodhi tree, under which Buddha attained enlightenment 2,600 years ago, is being attacked by "a debilitating disease" every monsoon, giving the Mahabodhi society and Unesco, who declared the Mahabodhi Temple a world heritage site on June 27 this year, sleepless nights. The tree, which is the fourth descendant …
Forest land needed for paper industry
Kolkata, Nov. 6: The Indian paper industry will need about six lakh hectares of forest land from the Union government to meet the problem of raw materials, according to Mr. S.K. Bangur, president Indian Paper Manufacturers Association and chairman West Coast Paper. He said as a reciprocal gesture, the industry …
Chipko protests - II
Though the Chipko movement emerged out of protests against rampant deforestation in the Himalays, the agitation later influenced the environmental debate by putting people at the centre of the whole issue. It went beyond the immediate goal of saving trees to confront the complex interlinkages between environment and development. Chipko …
Trees chopped off to beautify building
Whereas on the one hand there are appeals and observances of days for conserving the environment and planting more trees, at the same time there are also instances when trees are being ruthlessly cut down. An incident of the kind took place at the State Bank of India premises in …
PM's intervention sought on eviction of forest dwellers
The National Commission on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other voluntary Organisation have demanded the intervention of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee against the move by the Ministry of Environment and Forests leading to the eviction of more than one crore forest dwellers including tribals from all over the …
Chipko protests - I
India, the birth place of Chipko activism, boasts the world's largest environmental movement. The Chipko movement of the Uttarakhand Himalaya is one of the frequently cited and much publicised environmental and social actions in India. Originating in the Garhwal region of the Western Himalaya as a grassroots-level conservation movement against …
Greens may derail Sunderbans project
Tourism will easily qualify as one of the least developed industries in West Bengal. but it looks as if it's set to change, thanks to a new tourism focus on one of the rarest eco-systems in the world the vast mangrove forest in the estuary of the river Ganga and …
Karbi Anglong NGO launches crusade against deforestation
The All Assam central Environment and Forest protection (AACEFP) an NGO is involved in social activities among the tribal population of Assam. Established in 1998 with it's operational headquarters at Diphu, this Organisation gave wild life protection top priority. Next came education and agriculture.
Lid blown off timber racket
For Rajen Das, Jiten Burman, Raghu Roy of Gajaldoba, army personnel are not new customers. "They often drop in to buy timber. Twelve army personnel were arrested on charges of smuggling timber in the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary near Siliguri, West Bengal. The Ninth Engineering Regiment personnel were based at Kanchrapara …
Alert as bushfires rage
Scores of bushfires were burning in three states because of dry weather and hot winds throughout Australia's drought ravaged southeast, fire authorities said on Sunday. Sydney was blanketed by a haze of brown smoke caused by bushfires raging around its parameter. But little serious damage or causalities were reported as …
Coir panels developed by Natura fibretech
A Bangalore based company has developed a process to produce timber grade paneling material from coir matrix as part of the clean development mechanism project being promoted to combat climate change. such non traditional usage of coir, a renewable biomass, helps save timber, obviating the need to cut down trees. …
Punjab runs for cover over forest issue
the first-ever National Forest Policy had envisaged that India needed at least 33% of the total land area under forest cover. However, right from the first 5 year plan to the Tenth, the Government of India has never given even 1% of the Budget of the Plan allocation to implement …
