Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
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
This article examines interactions among climate change, political-economic interventions and technical progress, focusing on the impacts of biofuels in the Amazon and Cerrado regions in Brazil.
It's a simple strategy of protest with no pretensions of winning. The aim of the Polepally protesters: "That we get our land back, our lives back. Our one and only demand.' COMMON APPEAL: "Voting for the Jadcherla 13 means saluting with love our Mother Earth.' There are as many as …
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 …
International laws: Even as 1987 Montreal Protocol laid down rules to banish ozone depleting substances (ODS), several of the substitutes that came into use were GHGs. These were covered under the Climate Change Convention. The Kyoto Protocol included six GHGs and committed developed countries to mandatory emission reduction targets of …
We've all heard about the deforestation of the Amazon, but what's it like to be caught between the loggers and the people living in the forests? Mauricio Torres is employed by the Brazilian government to monitor this front line. He tells Adrian Barnett how he has come up against corruption …
The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has just two day ago given its in principle clearance for the Rs 4,000-crore Navi Mumbai international airport. MoEF, in March, had deferred environment clearance for the project on the grounds that the airport would involve reclamation of low-lying areas in an ecologically …
The Central Empowerment Committee of the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the State Government to probe into the Prafulla Hede mines at Collem, which is allegedly operating on forest land. The CEC today ordered a probe and in a letter to the Chief Secretary asked the State Government to respond …
As a recent policy adviser to the United Nations in a programme intended to address environmental threats in the Amazon, I would caution readers of your Special Report 'Brazil goes to war against logging' (Nature 452, 134
The Supreme Court today declined to stay the Calcutta High Court judgment upholding the acquisition of land in Singur by Tata Motors to manufacture Nano, the Rs 1 lakh car. Therefore, there is no court bar against continuing with the project. However, the apex court issued notices to the West …
The district authorities have proposed three more sites near Kavali for the proposed airport of Nellore. The new sites were proposed after an expert committee raised some objections over two sites recommended before because of the presence of water bodies. Sources said officials have identified 2,360 acres in north Rajupalem …
The Singareni Collieries Company Limited proposed to mechanise the new underground mines coming up soon while introducing machines in the existing ones. The SCCL encouraged open-cast mines by discouraging underground mines because productivity would be more in the former than the latter. But environmental problems, public opposition and hardships in …
If you thought utilising agricultural land - khazans - for fish farming is bad. Hold your breath... It may not be long before it is officially allowed. In order to facilitate the use of khazan land for pisciculture purpose, the Fisheries Department has recommended amendment to the Land Revenue Act. …
Even as the Kancheepuram district administration expects to complete land acquisition in a month to allow the airport expansion project to start in June, for the residents in the affected areas, many questions remain unanswered. Local registrar offices are still allowing the buying and selling of property and the registration …
Within a couple of years of the global rush to promote biofuels new questions are being asked about the claimed benefits of these fuels and serious negative impacts are coming to light. It is in this regard that the focus of the biofuel policy in India has been towards utilising …
Payments for environmental services (PES) have attracted increasing interest as a mechanism to translate external, non-market values of the environment into real financial incentives for local actors to provide environmental services (ES).
