Tutikandi kail sick
Kail trees in the Tutikandi belt in Shimla forest range have started drying up. The needles have turned brown. The Himalayan Forest Research Institute, Panthaghati, found frasses coming out of holes in the stems. This disease has been caused by fityogenes scitus.
New policy trap for encroachers
The much publicised policy to regularise encroachments on government land has virtually proved to be a trap for those who have illegally occupied forest land and applied for its regularisation. While their encroachments will not be regularised in any eventuality, given the stringent provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, they …
Bordoloi suggests joint forest management to preserve forests
"Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon are the most important forest districts of Assam," observed State Minister of Forests, Mr. Pradyut Bordoloi, while attending the People's participation in forest management programme held at the Pragati Bhavan in Kokrajhar recently. Stressing the growing need for preserving the forest, the Minsiter said that time has …
Army intervention stalls KMC drive
The Kolkatta Municipal Corporation had to stop uprooting trees along Manohar Das Tarang at Esplanade following the intervention of the Army, theM-MIC, Mr Hridayananda Gupta said. A portion of the area from where the trees were being uprooted falls under the Army's blue zone.
Pocharam : Rs 4,000 crore for wasteland development
The Andhra Pradesh government is investing about Rs 4,000 crore in various watershed schemes to develop one crore hectares of waste and drylands in the state, minister for panchayat Raj and rural development P Srinivas Reddy said on Thursday.
New set of rules on felling trees
Concerned over increasing legal hazards over felling trees, the West Bengal state government is framing a new set of rules, giving specific directions on the matter. The new rules, according to environment officials, will lay down clear guidelines on which trees can be felled, which cannot be touched and which …
Air quality hits record low
Air quality in parts of Indonesia's Borneo island hit record lows on Thursday as bush fires continued to belch out thick smoke, weather officials said. Forest and brush fires set by farmers, plantation owners and loggers to clear land have burned on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra since the …
Sandalwood seizure: high-level probe on
The Kerala Forest Department has begun a high-level inquiry into the seizure of more than a tonne of sandalwood from a Kolenchery-based private oil extraction unit. While officials maintain that the sandalwood may have been "obtained from illegal sources", the company sources said they had procured it from a person …
For Canada, timber war leaves scars
Thousands of logs float idly in rivers in British Columbia, where sawmills have gone quiet, workers have been laid off and the scent of wood being cut has subsided. This is what it looks like on the other side of the timber war being waged between the United States and …
For Canada, timber war leaves scars
Thousands of logs float idly in rivers in British Columbia, where sawmills have gone quiet, workers have been laid off and the scent of wood being cut has subsided. This is what it looks like on the other side of the timber war being waged between the United States and …
Bushfire burn out of control
Bushfires burned out of control around Australia's main city Sydney even as the weather forecast pointed to a problem weakened. Weary firefighters raced against time to create firebreaks ahead of Sunday when temperatures are forecast to soar to 39 or 40 degrees Celsius coupled with strong southerly winds.
Government charged with sabotaging ordinance
The Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, V.S. Achuthanandan, has alleged that two Ministers of the Cabinet sub-committee to examine the Sandal Ordinance given assent by the President have direct or indirect connections with certain illicit sandal oil factories in Palakkad and Kasaragod. Addressing a press conference after …
Bush proposals fuels debate on wildfires
Even as President George W. Bush urges increased thinning of U.S. forests, some scientists caution that there is little evidence to show that thinning will prevent fires on the catastrophic scales seen in the West this summer.
Residents protest felling of 70-yr-old tree
At a time when the Mumbai city should be addressing a problem of depleting greenery, the BMC's Tree Authority has granted permission to Piramal Holdings Limited to fell a peepal tree that is more than 70 years old, to make way for a car park proposed to be built at …
Japan, U.S. hope to save rain forests
Japan and the United States plan to launch a project to preserve rain forests in Africa and Asia, sources at the summit on sustainable development said. The governments of developing African and Asian countries, environmental organizations and international institutions are to take part in the project, the sources said.
Drive for 'van samitis' in M.P.
The Madhya Pradesh Forests Minister, Mr. Harvansh Singh, has directed to carry out a campaign for constituting 'van samitis' under joint forest management in the State and said the constitution and registration of the committees should be ensured by December 30 this year. A total of 22,000 'van samitis' are …
Bamboo, cane production decreasing in Jhenidah
Bamboo and cane production is decreasing day by day in different areas of all the six upazilas including Jhenisah Sadar, Shailkupa, Harinakundu, Kaligonj, Kotchandpur and Moheshpur of the district. (Bangladesh).
Hike in lease rent to affect forest body
The 10 time increase in the lease of the forest land to Rs 100 from Rs 10 per hectare per annum would adversely affect the functioning of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation, its chairman Arigela Nageshwar Rao said.
Logging ban backed for Sierra Nvada
The Bush adminstration said that it would put into effect a Clinton- era plan offering greater protection to old-growth woodlands in 11.5 million acres of national forests in the Sierra Nevada. The news cheered environmentalists and disappointed loggers and others who hoped the Republican administration would throw out the management …
Amazon forests in peril
At a recent climate conference in Panama, It was learnt that the world may be seriously underestimating the damage that deforesting the Amazon can cause. Five million square kilometres of this vast ecosystem are found in Brazil. Now, aggressive development plans by the Brazilian Government are putting them at risk.
