Goats give good returns only as long as fodder is free. Unlike cattle that are fed crop and crop residue, goats and sheep graze in wasteland, common grazing land and forests. In western Rajasthan, where degrading farm land and feed shortage forced people to abandon farming and cattle and turn …
Setting aside environmental concerns and ignoring the threat to one of the most fertile belts in India, Uttar Pradesh government is set to start work on the eight-lane expressway along the Upper Ganga Canal. The 147.8 km expressway will connect Greater Noida in Gautam Budh Nagar district and the Uttar …
Land for industries is acquired either through the government or through private negotiations with land owners. The government categorises agricultural land as single crop, double crop or barren. Compensation is determined depending on the category. After the government rates were revised in March, the compensation for doublecrop irrigated land went …
This study of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 in the Western Ghats of Kerala identifies the main constraints to the working of the legislation. Community rights and conservation provisions seem to be ignored. The paper also highlights the importance of integrating the implementation of the fra with …
The governments of the Himalayan hill-states and the international donor agencies have consistently advocated disbursal of funds for improvement of road connectivity in keeping with the mandates of a
Despite its rich resources like forests and minerals, Bundelkhand is a region of distress and crisis. A study fi nds that the distress of the region simply cannot be explained by the absence or irregularity of rainfall. There are long-term structural problems which have had a cumulative effect over the …
Uncontrolled fires across Indonesia burn large areas of peatland and create vast palls of smoke on an almost annual basis. This has devastating effect on wildlife, human health, the economy and climate. Yet, more than 10 years after the massive fires of 1997-98 grabbed international headlines, the problem is still …
This report presents an assessment of the trade in gibbons and orang-utans in Sumatra, Indonesia, including the islands off Sumatra’s west coast (most notably, the Mentawai Islands). Until recently Sumatra and its off-lying islands harboured one of the largest expanses of lowland evergreen rainforest in Southeast Asia. Most of the …
Built on the logic of "development', big dams have wreaked havoc on indigenous communities in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with regular flooding. By pursuing predatory development the central and state governments are equally culpable of visiting disaster on the region.
Understanding the interplay between climate and land-use dynamics is a fundamental concern for assessing the vulnerability of Amazonia to climate change. In this study, we analyse satellite-derived monthly and annual time series of rainfall, fires and deforestation to explicitly quantify the seasonal patterns and relationships between these three variables, with …
Loss of large areas of Amazonian forest, through either direct human impact or climate change, could exert a number of influences on the regional and global climates. In the Met Office Hadley Centre coupled climate
Some model experiments predict a large-scale substitution of Amazon forest by savannah-like vegetation by the end of the twenty-first century. Expanding global demands for biofuels and grains, positive feedbacks in the Amazon forest fire regime and drought may drive a faster process of forest degradation that could lead to a …
Mexico faces both high deforestation and severe water scarcity. The Payment for Hydrological Environmental Services (PSAH) Program was designed to complement other policy responses to the crisis at the interface of these problems. Through the PSAH, the Mexican federal government pays participating forest owners for the benefits of watershed protection …
Fifteen notorious wildlife poachers, who were creating havoc in Manas Biosphere area, surrendered before the Assam Forest and Wildlife Department officials in Chirang district of the state. Divisional forest officer of Chirang district, B N Patiri informed that the poachers surrendered at Kuklung Range of Manas Biosphere Reserve area and …
The garden department of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has booked a builder from Ghodbunder Road for felling two major trees on his plot of land to pave the way for his upcoming building complex. The builder has been fined Rs 50,000 for the offence and he has complied with …
The British Government, in 1905, had recommended the protection of Laokhowa along with Kaziranga, and had made special provisions for the same. Nagaon district is among a few regions in Asom which is rich in flora and fauna, having nine forest reserves including the famous Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary (LWS). However, …
Despite massive investments in plantations for the past more than 10 years, Punjab continues to have one of the lowest forest cover in the country in terms of percentage. It has just 3.09 per cent area under forest as per the latest report of the Forest Survey of India. As …
The Rain Forest Research Institute (RFRI) here has launched a concerted effort to tackle the menace of jhum cultivation in the region. RFRI official Girindra Thakuria said that jhum cultivation resulted in serious depletion of the top soil and the cutting of trees on the hill sides led to an …
