Affidavit filed by the Chief Wildlife Warden, Assam in the matter of news item titled "the last feral horses in India" appearing in Mongabay, November 5, 2024. The matter relates to the critically endangered status of feral horses in the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park as well as of smuggling of these …
What is your concept of conservation when the state is facing severe degradation of the forests and other environmental problems? My concept is very clear: there has to be a fine balance between development and ecology. But whatever policies we formulate must be accepted by the people. We need development …
A poll issue Villagers put forward a charter of six demands to political leaders, from village to state-level, seeking rights over the forests they have created it's a battle between the haves and the have-nots. At stake is 400,000 hectares (ha) of forest land in Orissa
1920s: The British introduced railway lines in Orissa. Commercial exploitation of forests began in a big way. 1930s: In Dhenkanal, people revolted against the king for rights over the forests they traditionally protected. Lapanga village in Sambalpur became the first recorded village to protect forests.The king of Mayurbhanj initiated JFM …
The Brazilian government has launched a campaign to monitor illegal logging and fires that are destroying the Amazonian rainforests. The government's environment agency, ibama, has joined hands with the army to save the precious reserve. Six army helicopters will assist ibama in surveying the major deforestation zones in central Brazil, …
In a bid to end illegal import of wood, customs and forest officials in Thailand will work together to monitor log movements. They will supervise import and transport of logs and will identify areas where logs can be processed, a customs department official said. Illegal Thai logs have often been …
to check timber smuggling in Jammu and Kashmir, the state government has launched a drive to retrieve forest area in the state. M Ramzan, the state environment and forest minister, has said that around 8,000 hectares of forest land has been reclaimed from encroaches. As many as 400 cases have …
Before bowing out of power, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre lifted a seven-year-old ban on the export of sandalwood from Tamil Nadu. The Centre's decision followed an appeal by Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on January 16. The Centre had …
Brata Kumar Reang, a farmer from Gachhimpara village of Dashda block in the extremist-dominated Dhalai district of north Tripura has had to barter his son in exchange for just 10 kg of rice. Unable to feed his family, Reang first sold his cattle and when the situation got worse, he …
palamu Tiger Reserve in the Daltanganj district of Bihar has lately become haven for smugglers trading in precious teak ( sagwan ) trees. On an average, trees worth Rs 30 lakh are felled every month and smuggled out of Palamu to places like Delhi, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Calcutta and Ranchi. Officials …
corrupt forest officials, timber mafia, and poor government planning have led to extensive destruction of the only remaining natural forests in northern Bihar. The 91,000-hectare (ha) Valmiki Tiger Reserve ( vtr ) in the district of West Champaran on the Indo-Nepal border is fast losing its forest cover due to …
timber products from precious high altitude Nepalese forests continue to meet the timber demand of homes and monasteries in Tibet. Finished timber products smuggled by the Nepalese traffickers into Tibet is depleting the precious forests in the northern Himalaya. It has also become a source of revenue for the Chinese …
political and military leaders from Cambodia and Vietnam are involved in large-scale illegal logging, according to an environmental group in Britain. If the government policies are not changed, Cambodia's forests will be logged out in three to five years, the group notes. Members of the environmental group Global Witness, say …
The Brazilian government is opening its timber reserves in the Amazon rain forest to commercial loggers. Unable to stop the rampant illegal logging, Brazil hopes to combine economic potential with controlled development. While Brazil has in the past opened reserves to logging, the new concessions are the first that will …
a high-level committee formed by the Lok Ayukta of Madhya Pradesh, began probing the felling of Malik Makbooja trees in Bastar district in early May, said state government sources. The move came following a public interest litigation moved by S R Hiremath, coordinator of Samaj Parivartan Samudaya, a Karnataka-based social …
a recent report of the us state department has turned a blind eye to the illegal timber trade across the border of Thailand and Cambodia. In order to preserve its cordial relations with Thailand, the department has notified the us Congress that Thailand has effectively sealed its border with Cambodia …
Woodcutters operating in the Apyterewa indigenous area in the Para state are luring local Parakana Indians into facilitating smuggling mahogany. Carlos Fausto, an expert from the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, said that the crisis has been denied by the ministry of justice which has done nothing to mitigate …
Of late, the public and the private sectors saw a great deal of activism by the Supreme Court (SC) and high courts (HC). The injunctions were aimed at making procedural operations transparent and curbing environmental degradation. Some of the recent court orders are enlisted below: • Following an SC ruling …
the forests in the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh may soon be turned into a graveyard of stumps if immediate steps are not taken to contain the illegal felling of trees. It has come to the notice of the state government that organised mafia gangs were operating on a large …
Parents in the Paonta valley villages (Himachal Pradesh), are loaded with worries about the ways of their children, as parents anywhere are wont to do. The kids have apparently become willing accomplices in the smuggling of khair wood from the region. Groups of school children trudging with their satchels heavily …
VEERAPPAN, the legendary sandalwood smuggler, may be nabbed shortly, but putting an end to rampant sandalwood smuggling in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu may prove considerably more difficult. The ban on sandalwood export, in conjunction with anti-people conservation measures, have seen more and more people turn to sandalwood smuggling, with the …
