The Goa government’s reluctance to scrap a controversial shipyard project has left the 200-odd families of Chicalim village distraught. In 2005, Bharti Shipyard Limited proposed to construct a Rs 250-crore shipyard on about 0.8 hectare of mudflats in the ecologically fragile Chicalim Bay in Mormugao taluka. The Goa Coastal Zone …
MANGROVES are known to be reservoirs of carbon. While it is known that widespread degradation of the mangroves by 30-50 per cent over the past half century due to coastal development, aquaculture expansion and over-harvesting may be responsible for an increase in carbon in the atmosphere, nobody has been able …
The paper examines whether the mangrove forests in Kendrapada district of Orissa played any protective role during the severe cyclone that hit the state in October 1999. Using data on human casualties and damages suffered by the houses as dependent variables, and different meteorological, geophysical and socio-economic factors as independent …
The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has issued showcause notices to the Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ) located in Mundra taluka of Kutch district for violating the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 1991. The ministry has also simultaneously issued showcause notices to OPG Power Gujarat, which is planning …
The Union environment ministry is all set to approve the Navi Mumbai international airport. The ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) recommended clearance to the airport on November 10 subject to conditions. It cleared only the aeronautical area (see map) spread over 1,160 hectares (ha) and identified a number of land …
Sand dredgers will soon be back in business along the Bankot creek bordering coastal Raigad and Ratnagiri districts in Maharashtra. They had been silent for over a month after the Bombay High Court banned sand mining in the state on September 24, after people who mine sand manually filed a …
CONSTRUCTION activities at Mundra special economic zone (SEZ) in Gujarat’s Kachchh district had begun even before the project’s public hearing, the procedural step towards environmental clearance for a project where affected people give their verdict. More than 1,000 hectares (ha) of mangrove have been destroyed by the Mundra SEZ, which …
PUBLIC hearing for two projects promoted by the Adani group in Gujarat’s Kachchh district were held amid loud protests. Villagers and fishers were angry about the scheduling of the hearings for the Mundra Port and its special economic zone and a power plant on two consecutive days—October 5 and 6. …
THE Kerala Cricket Association’s plan to build a stadium designed to international specifications at Edakochi has run afoul of environmental laws. The state forest department has filed a first information report in a magistrate’s court saying the cricket association (KCA) has destroyed mangrove trees in preparation for the construction work. …
THE Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has cleared the way for Dhamra port in Odisha. It did so by overruling a site inspection report of the eastern regional office of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on August 17. Interpreting a state government notification in favour of the …
The conservation broth has got eager hands to stir it. Some throw in extra spices to experiment with the taste. But that sometimes spoils the broth. For instance, the forest department’s prescription to tackle the dearth of prey base for tigers in the Sunderbans: release deer in the mangroves. The …
AS MAHARASHTRA government pushes for Navi Mumbai as the only site for Mumbai's second airport, the environment ministry has asked for re-examination of three alternative sites. The ministry's expert appraisal committee (EAC) had expressed concerns over the project, saying it would lead to destruction of 121 hectares (ha) of mangroves, …
The draft action plan on climate change by Union Territory of Puducherry. It highlights various approaches and activities formulated for adopting six missions under NAPCC to mitigate the climate impacts. See also: State and National Climate Change Action Plans of India West Bengal state action plan on climate change Orissa …
A CPI(M)-backed non-profit organisation in Kannur has approached the Kerala High Court, challenging the Union environment ministry’s decision to close a mangrove theme park. On July 21, Justice S Sirijagan directed Pappinissery Eco-Tourism Society to implead state of Kerala and make it the respondent. The Ministry of Environment and Forests …
Sadanand Tandel’s house is the dream of every tourist. A terrific sea view, waving coconut fronds and in a few dozen steps one can walk into the sea waves. Through Tandel’s eyes, however, the view is somber. Till 1991, 30 of his coconut trees stood where the sea is now. …
This latest report focuses on the threats to biodiversity, status of implementation of the National Biodiversity Action Plan and progress achieved towards meeting the 2010 biodiversity target. India takes its commitment to preserving biodiversity very seriously. This is not only because of India
BS Reporter / New Delhi July 10, 2008, 0:55 IST The Supreme Court today vacated its own stay order against the development of Mundra Port and special economic zone (SEZ), granting a major relief to the Adani Group, the developers of the SEZ. The multi-product SEZ in Gujarat was stalled …
At a building site in Lokhandwala complex, Andheri, Sheetal Jhondale (11), daughter of a construction worker, wonders aloud, "Hong Kong kya hota hai?' In a little more than a month, three children from Sheetal's mobile cr
A parliamentary panel has asked the Environment and Forests Ministry to sensitise villagers to man-animal co-existence and also involve them in wildlife conservation. In many cases villagers are protecting poachers, says the committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, in its report submitted in both Houses on Tuesday. Relocation …
Inauguration of Sunderban Wetlands in Kolkata Bookfair 2008 is a prelude to the predicament of the mangrove treasure trove, threatened by the phenomena of global warming. Mr Kiranmoy Nanda, fishery minister of West Bengal, Mr Tushar Kanjilal and other dignitaries attended the inaugural ceremony. The price tag for Sunderban Wetlands …
