Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
The hilly tract of Uttara Kannada district in the Western Ghats of India has been famous for its arecanut and spice orchards for several centuries. The cultivators have evolved complex horticultural practices to maintain productivity under conditions of high rainfall, hilly terrain and leached soils.
WHENEVER a dictionary of green terms is written, even if it is in English, it will contain at least one Hindi word. And that word is Chipko. The idea that people are prepared to hug trees to save them from being felled excited and enthused so many people across the …
AFTER two decades of Project Tiger, conservationists concede it is impossible to protect simultaneously tigers, trees and people"s livelihood. This was the major conclusion of an international seminar in New Delhi in February to assess the highly publicised project. Seminar participants identified the lack of local community involvement in protecting …
THE BOMBAY High Court has ruled that bamboo mats are forest produce, thereby contradicting the rulings of both the Gujarat High Court and the additional sessions judge. The pro-forest department ruling came in response to a criminal writ petition filed by the Maharashtra forest department, challenging a lower court judgement …
THE FOREST Conservation Act (FCA) was enacted in 1980 to check the widespread and wanton felling of trees on developmental project sites. But the act's stringent provisions -- especially one requiring central clearance for all projects -- took away control of forest land from state governments and left people who …
1992 (yet to be announced): 1. Compensatory afforestation for plantation along rail, road canal: The revised guidelines would permit the use of protected forest for linear plantation without insisting upon non-forest land for compensatory afforestation. 2. Transmission towers and lines: There will be no need for compensatory afforestation on non-forest …
THE GENERAL reaction to the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) in the UP hill region of Uttarakhand is, "Hum paryavaran shabd se hi tang aa gaye hai." (We are fed up of the word environment.) The cry "Paryavaran murdabad" (Down with environment) first rang across the Uttarakhand hills in 1989, setting …
THAILAND'S war against communist insurgency ended early in the 1980s. But now, villagers in Buriram province are battling to save the area's last rain forest - ravaged during operations to flush out rebels - from government agencies and private businesses looking for profit. The efforts of the villagers of Pakham …
SUSTAINABLE development has become the new catch phrase. Every international agency -- from the World Bank to UNICEF -- and almost every country is talking about it. But what does this mean? For environmentalists, sustainable development denotes a radical change from the past. But as a Western joke now goes, …
RULERS, universally, create beliefs to justify their rule. The British, certainly, were convinced that the lazy, hungry Indians were incapable of ruling them- selves. In this book, Famines, David Arnold, a British historian working at the London School of Oriental and African studies, has placed the subject of famines on …
The traditional Indian strategy of resolving conflict by non-cooperation, the satyagraha, has been revived in the Chipko, or "Embrace the Tree", the movement to protect trees from commercial felling. This paper traces the development of the philosophy and the non-violent resistance activities from the beginnings of Chipko in the early …
In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (i) of section 4 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (69 of 1980), the Central Government hereby makes the Rules to implement provisions of that Act relating to the composition and conduct of business of an Advisory Committee constituted under section 3 …
An Act to provide for the conservation of forests and for matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto. This Act may be called the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
From Kashmir to Burma, where tigers once lived amid lush forests, a vast tract of land has been laid bare by the timber industry. In its wake have come landslides, drought and yet further poverty. The only hope for the hill people is a Ghandian like movement which villagers have …
Chandi Prasad Bhatt is an Indian Gandhian environmentalist and social activist, who founded Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in Gopeshwar in 1964, which later became a mother-organization to the Chipko Movement, in which he was one of the pioneers, and for which he has been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award …
Vasundhara is a research and policy advocacy group that works on environment conservation and sustainable livelihood issues. The organisation was initially conceived to support and strengthen community-based initiatives to protect and conserve forests in the state of Orissa. Over the years, while working and retaining its focus on community forestry, …
