Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Are missing palm trees causing more lighting deaths in Bihar appearing in ‘The Times of India’ dated 29.05.2025". The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Are missing palm trees causing …
Fig trees are pollinated by fig-wasps who in turn lay eggs in the flower so that wasp babies can grow there. This, however, does not tea to extinction of fig trees as man of the fig flowers that get poll nated escape oviposition. The reason: two kinds of styles, sho …
The Indian Gypsy Moth is slowly but surely munching its way through Bhutan's treasure of oaks. A study conducted by the Forestry Research Institute, based in Taba, reveals that the swarm has since April devoured the leaves of oak trees spread over 300 acres in the forests of Tashiyangtsi. Villagers …
BENIGN REGULATIONS: Go green and mint money: this is the message that Allied Colloids, a Bradford- based chemical company has been conveying to other industrial houses in the UK. In a joint study with the Inspectorate of Pollution, it endeavours to prove that regula@ons imposed on industry, to cut pollution …
A gigantic "tree-felling" scam has recently been unearthed in Indonesia. The government is furning against some forestry companies which, it claims, have used a e self-assessitrilent system to avoid paying the mandatory fees. This has resulted 3 in largescale fraud in the industry; the companies have used loopholes to cheat …
Teak is found in the tropical, moist regions with heavy rainfall, and are thickly forested. Felling of teak trees in this region results in a replacement by Xylia xylocarpa. And teak never reinvades this region. Whenever succession is obstructed, either by biotic or natural reasons, the pace is usually altered, …
EVERY epoch has its own pet causes. Ours in India is environment and liberalisation. Unfortunately, the two are often at war with each other and in the event of any real confrontation it is environment that loses out. Is it because people do not really care for the environment or …
An unique insurance policy linked to growing teak trees has been launched by Ceylinco Insurance, a Sri Lankan insurance company. A policyholder of Ruk Rekawaranaya (protection of trees) reaps several benefits: as a leaseholder of a plot with 25 teak trees; and as a profitsharer when the policy matures. Besides, …
Rajasthan villagers have taken to uprooting the eucalyptus trees, popularly known as safeda, which they had welcomed a decade ago as harbinger of greenery in the desert state. Residents of Samredpur Kalan Khurd, a village 60 km from Jaipur, have started an 'uproot the safeda campaign' after Rajasthan Mukti Panchayat, …
Does rural fuelwood use and more generally rural biomass use cause forest degradation? This question has been debated in scientific and policy circles. The author presents a framework for defining degradation and sustainable use of forests that might help clarify some of the confusion.
Trees in the cities of the UK are feeling the cutting edge of the latest communications boom. Tree roots are being severed as cable companies dig trenches along an estimated 80 km of streets a day to feed the insatiable public appetite for new television channels. Environmental groups like the …
An ornamental plant -- Eremostachys superba -- found only in India and Pakistan, is on the verge of extinction. A study conducted by researchers R R Rao and Arti Garg of the Lucknow-based National Botanical Research Institute reveals that E superba has vanished from one of its 2 Indian sites, …
Plants have long been known as air purifiers, but now Paul Jackson, a microbiologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, is using plant cells to purify liquids contaminated with heavy metals like barium and uranium, and with the residue of explosives like TNT. Jackson's "green filter" consists of a silica-based powder …
I WAS 14 when we moved out of the village. Though I do not remember much of 'the village, the tree that bore saffron flowers has a permanent place in my heart. My most playful years spent swaying in its arms and on its branches. As the sun shown its …
WRAPPED AND bound in red tape, the 276 obstinate deodars growing near Tutu village in Rampur sub-division of Himachal Pradesh's Shimla district were an uncomplaining target for freewheeling woodcutters roaming the area. This time round, they were saved from the axe by a bunch of gritty village women. The deodars …
Which is better: a forest where trees and plants grow wild and free or a plantation of one or two species of trees, lined up neatly? Forests in their natural state are generally regarded as useless and chaotic whereas orderly plantations are considered to be "sustainably yielding" for logging. The …
A tree testifying against a murder suspect? But that's exactly what happened recently in the US -- a "genetic fingerprint" from two seedpods found in the suspect's truck was found to be identical to that of a paloverde tree at the site of the murder (Science, Vol 260, No 5110). …
SOME HIMALAYAN species of Ficus -- the genus to which the pipal and the banyan belong -- yield fruit that have high nutritive value and are excellent for making into jams and jellies. Scientists say these species should be considered favourably for social and agroforestry programmes. P P Dhyani and …
Widespread damage to pine forests near Dharmsala in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh has prompted the Chaneta village panchayat to pass a resolution urging the government to halt resin tapping immediately. The villagers, concerned that trees are running dry because of indiscriminate tapping by the State Forest Corp (SFC), warned …
NUTRITIOUS biscuits made from the leaves of the fast-growing fodder tree subabul (Leucaena leucocephala) can be fed to cattle and increase milk yields, say animal husbandry and social forestry experts. Subabul, which originated in central America, is now grown widely as a fodder crop in India. Subabul biscuit production was …
Arms outstretched on the edge of the cliffs Stand a few trees Ready to fly away with the clouds. They say these deodars once Kissed the Koku nala And embraced the skies so tight That the stars were startled By the village glow-worms every night. Now when the corn touches …
