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 …
The Upper Tana River Basin is one of Kenya's most important natural resource bases. Its Masinga Reservoir supplies water and hydroelectric power for 65 percent of the nation. Unregulated deforestation and expansion of cultivation practices onto marginal soils has resulted in significant reservoir siltation, reduced ecosystem function, and more erratic …
In the recent past, most Asian countries have greatly improved their capacities to monitor hazards and to warn, evaluate and provide emergency relief to victims of disasters. As a result, the number of lives lost to disasters such as floods, storms and extreme temperature has decreased significantly. However, the vulnerability …
If soil quarrying is a threat in the terai, mining poses huge hazards in the hills of Kumaon. Soapstone or talc and magnesite quarries have been taking over commons for over two decades, depriving local people of large tracts of the forestland, pasture, watersheds and farming land. Eastern Bageshwar is …
In draught prone area, there are two critical factors: water and soil. So in such areas main objective is to conserve the soil and conserve water. Once soil and water conserved, vegetative growth sustain easily. For the same to satisfy this objective economically and efficiently, Refilled Continuous Contour Trenching (RCCT)Technology …
the Bogibeel road and rail bridge project on the Brahmaputra river in eastern Assam has run into inordinate delays. Conceived to connect National Highway (nh) 37 on the south bank and nh 52 on the north of Brahmaputra, the project has an anticipated cost of Rs 1,767 crore. It is …
decline of the alps: Scientists say that the Alps, spread over seven European nations, are now a mere shadow of what they were. A team led by Sean Willett of the University of Washington in the US, has found that the culprit is likely massive erosion, triggered by a sudden …
The island of Majuli on the river Brahmaputra has been under constant threat from floods as well as rising erosion levels. Tension has simmered between development agencies responsible for flood control and the local people who have opposed the structural measures. The proposed Bogibeel bridge has evoked concerns that the …
This report offers the vision of a different future - a revolution in development thinking that could see poor regions using renewable energy to power a new and clean era of prosperity. The report analysis focuses on sub-Saharan Africa - which has the highest concentration of the world's poorest people. …
India faces an acute problem of soil erosion. On an average, the country is losing soil at a rate of 16 tonnes per hectare (ha) annually, which is more than three times the acceptable limit of 4-5 tonnes. Even the Union agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, had raised concern over the …
At 6.29 am, on the morning of December 26, 2004 an undersea earthquake erupts in Sumatra, triggering off tidal waves called tsunami. A minute later, the India Meteorological Department (imd) gets the news. In 15 minutes, imd tracks the tsunami to the Indonesian coastline. But they make no attempt to …
The monitoring and management of the Indian coastline has come under sharp focus after the tsunami disaster. There is now a strong demand to implement the Coastal Regulatory Zone (crz) notification of 1991. Let us look at why protecting coastal ecology is so critical. Natural protectors, such as sand dunes …
The Indian ocean covers 73,556,000 sq km, or 20 per cent of the world’s surface. Aspects like oceanography, geophysical phenomena, undersea exploration and economic and military uses have a bearing on ocean behaviour. How cognisant are our experts with this large water body? Other than isolated research programmes associated with …
It would be naive to assume that disasters will stop. We cannot change the nature of disasters. What we can change, certainly control, is the scale that a disaster wreaks. This is precisely what disaster preparedness
Scientists believe that the Sumatra earthquake made the earth wobble on its axis and permanently accelerated the Earth's rotation, shortening a day by a fraction of second and permanently altering the regional map. The devastating undersea earthquake off Sumatra in Indonesia has brought about some striking changes in the Indian …
Disasters are not predictable. They follow no standard operating procedures. Disaster preparedness is about managing the unknown, not a science but a social behaviour that’s responsive, predictive and imaginative.• Effective disaster management depends on four factors: • Preparedness: knowing where and when disaster will hit • Mitigation: through measures like …
it's an annual pattern in Bangladesh. 10,117 hectares of land are washed away each year in devastating floods (Disaster Management Bureau report, 2003). The Jamuna erodes vast tracts along its course; the pattern of erosion along the banks of the Padma, Meghna and Teesta are equally destructive. If such points …
The paper describes the effect of rains on vegetal cover, different traditional practices and soil properties in the dry and monsoon period. Seven landuse systems i.e. open pine forests, tea plantation, rainfed agriculture, degraded land, grassland, recently restored site and a bare land were identified in the Bhetagad watershed of …
In Birahrua, Morena district, Madhya Pradesh, ravines are everywhere. They have swallowed up fields and are now ravaging hutments. Habitats are turning into devilish gullies. For Babulal Kewat, one resident of this village, this means another hunt for a refuge. Babulal and his family of eight are eternally on the …
Massive erosion along the southern bank of the Brahmaputra in its 150-kilometre course from Hatimura to Kapilimukh in Nagaon district in Assam has placed people's lives
Land-use changes are transforming land-cover at an accelerating pace. These changes in terrestrial ecosystems also affect essential parts of our natural capital
