The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
function table() { var popurl="files/images/20051031/36.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=420,height=430,scrollbars=yes") } India has a stock of 80.40 million tonnes of bamboo in its forests, as reported by the Planning Commission in 2003. Northeastern states account for 66 per cent of the total stock (see: Pole position). inbar estimates domestic trade in bamboo involves 20.30 …
Following market reforms, the Chinese bamboo sector has been transformed over the last 20 years. Bamboo land* which used to be collectively owned by communities has been largely contracted out to farmers for 30-50 years on a family basis. State monopoly in purchase and marketing of bamboo products was abolished …
A forest guard sets out on his nightly patrol in the Periyar Tiger Reserve (ptr) in Kerala's Idukki district with the most unlikely companion: a former smuggler of vayana, the bark of the cinnamon tree. The two appear to get along well especially that now both are on the same …
Melghat's management plan has a separate chapter on the multiple-use area (MUA). Different zones within the area are set aside for activities such as soil and moisture conservation, meadow development and weed eradication. A plan is also in place for bamboo harvesting in the MUA, Working scheme for bamboo bearing …
India has emerged as one of the biggest consumers of tropical timber in the world, with sizeable imports from Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, New Zealand, and lately from Africa and Latin America. The resurgent economy, expanding middle class and burgeoning infrastructure, spurred by lucrative housing schemes, commercial constructions and rapid urbanisation …
Looking at the verdant landscape, you'd agree with the spirited voices chanting, " Brikshyo bina jeevan nahi, brikshyo aamaro jeevan bhai '. Around 100 kinds of trees, shrubs, herbs and climbers thrive here and major species include sal, piashal, asana, bandhana, amla, mahua, kendu and satabari. This has also revived …
the Schedule Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2005, re-asserting the rights of tribal people over land and forest produce, has been stalled. In a last minute change, the bill was dropped from the agenda of the cabinet committee meeting, held on May 4, 2005. Consequently, it was not tabled …
the draft Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights Bill) 2005 is now an endangered idea. The bill is meant to hand back rights to tribals over land and forest produce that they have traditionally inhabited and used for sustenance and continue to do so even today. But a campaign, more …
India's heritage of natural habitats and wild species is under growing threat from its biomass-dependent rural peoples and its consumeristic urban economy. As the mainstay of its wildlife conservation effort, then, India's wildlife reserves continue to face a range of extractive uses. The Indian conservation/development discourse has, however, drawn a …
Forest histories have more often than not remained aloof from more broad-based economic histories of agrarian communities. As a result, narratives of the forest economy have focused almost entirely on the process offorest settlement. This article focuses on regional processes of territorialisation associated with revenue and forest settlement in the …
In the last week of February this year, the Election Commission office in Delhi sent an urgent request for 30 tonnes of lac for use as sealant during the coming general elections. The request sent officials in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand
in the wake of strong protests by community forest user groups (cfugs) and conservationists, the Nepal government has reduced the controversial forest product fee
The Bankariyas, a forest-dweller community of central Nepal, have been uprooted from their traditional habitat and are living like refugees in their own country. Several other indigenous groups have suffered the same fate. The eight-year-old war between the Royal Nepal Army (rna) and Maoist rebels that has ravaged the country's …
the community forest user groups (cfugs) of Nepal will now be required to cough up a steep 40 per cent fee on their total income from sale of forest products. The Nepal government brought in the levy through an ordinance promulgated on July 18. It goes against the grain of …
• India has 16,000 recorded plant species. About 3,000 of these yield minor forest produce (MFP). • Nearly 500 million people living in and around forests in India depend on MFP for sustenance and as a supplement to their income • Studies in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar …
"Is environmental history merely the recording of loss and decline, a narrative about the sinking of the Titanic as it were?' asked Richard Grove at the concluding session of the
What if Phulmai did not exist. You can meet her in the forest; follow her for a day; listen to what she says and so complete half an assignment. The other half lies in accounting for her, and all those like her who spend their lives headloading. Step out of …
It is five o'clock in the morning. I am inside Jharkhand's Khellari forest, on assignment. In the first light of morning, the forest looks lush and dark green. Suddenly, a frail frame
On World Environment Day this year, the Gas Authority of India Limited (gail) spent a small fortune issuing a colour advertisement in newspapers urging us to use plastic. gail wanted us to know this: by using plastic, we would save 20 million trees matured over 10 years especially for packaging …
The Supreme Court has suggested that the forested states, which lose revenue because of the ban on felling of trees should be compensated for keeping their forests intact. Protection of the biological hotspots should be the responsibility of the country, says the court, and therefore, if the state protects its …
