Timber growers losing
The actual farmers of the Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) presently earns much less compared to what larger companies earn by producing products from them, said forestry experts today in Kathmandu. Speaking at the inaugural function of a two-day workshop on Community based NTFP Management, Secretary at Ministry of Forest and …
Joint strategy to curb smuggling of timber
The forest department officials of four north Telangana districts have formulated a joint strategy to curb timber smuggling which is on the rise for the past few years making a major dent in forest wealth of the region. Valuable woods are being cut down in Adilabad, Nizamabad , Karimnagar and …
Govt urged to involve people in protection of forests
Andhra Pradesh non-governmental organisation's committee on joint forest management has called for involving local people protection and management of forests. Voicing its concern over people living around the notified protected areas being deprived of their livelihood, the committee decided to launch an awareness campaign so as to mobilise affected people …
Timber mafia running amok in North-East
Endowed with rich bio-diversity, the North-East is facing the prospect of being stripped of its forest cover in a systematic manner by the powerful and well-connected timber mafia. It is learnt that smuggling of illegal timber over the past year in the North-East could run to over Rs. 100 crores.
Interest grows in forestry work
Seminars and consultation services to promote jobs in the forestry industry in Japan have been gaining popularity due to efforts of the government and relevant organizations to recruit workers into the industry, whose workforce has been decreasing rapidly. The demand for forestry-related jobs is also linked to an increase in …
Sumatra fires spark fears of repeat smog pollution disaster
Forest fires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra threaten to repeat a 1997 disaster, with choking smoke blanketing three million square kilometres across South-East Asia. Satellite images show that 200 to 300 fires are burning in the Indonesian province of Riau, creating smog levels of more than 300 on the …
Army corps unveils stricter wetlands rules
: The Clinton administration has unveiled new regulations to protect thousands of acres of wetlands from development, an effort aimed at slowing the disappearance of the fragile areas nationwide. The new rules will make it more difficult for U.S. companies to build homes and roads near small creeks and streams. …
Indonesia faces fire disaster
Indonesia is facing a disaster with forest fires on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo and will shut down logging or plantation companies found guilty of starting them, the country's environment minister said ywsterday. "It's a national disaster," said Sonny Karaf, environment minister, as neighbouring Singapore raised its concern over …
Sumatra fires may blanket region in haze
Visibility was down to a few hundred metres and government officials yesterday described the air quality over parts of Sumatra island as "dangerous," as up to 500 brush fires raged out of control. In Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province on central Sumatra, a dark grey cloud hung low over …
Steps to protect Kerala forest lands
The Kerala government has initiated steps to come out with a legislation aimed at acquiring and protecting forest lands which are important in terms of ecology and bio-diversity. The Minister for Forests, Mr. C.K. Nanu, told the Assembly that the proposed Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Senstive Areas) …
Ethiopia deploys 70,000 people to fight forest fire
Ethiopia said yesterday it had deployed some 70,000 people to fight a raging forest fire in the south of the country but international assistance was still needed. Kuma Demeksa, head of a government committee set up to deal with the blaze, said soldiers, local farmers and university students had been …
Indonesia labels forest fires an emergency
Hundreds of fires scorching forests in Indonesia's Sumatra and West Kalimantan regions have reached emergency proportions, officials said yesterday. Huge clouds of smoke are billowing over Sumatra's Riau province and there are fears of a repeat of the 1997 jungle blazes which engulfed neighbouring Singapore and parts of Malaysia in …
Kerala to implement forest project
The Kerala government would implement a Rs 151.1 crore World Bank aided comprehensive forest developmnt project over a four-year period, starting from 2002, the forest minister, C K Nanu told the Assembly yesterday. Under the project, 12400 hectares of denuded forests would be revived.
Steps to protect M.P. forests
The Madhya Pradesh Government has taken various corrective steps to strengthen forest protection and efficient management of forests, even while admitting that there has been large scale illegal mining and felling of trees on land belonging to private individuals.
Forest fires
Jakarta warns plantation, logging firms : Indonesia called the forest fires raging in Sumatra island a national disaster and warned logging firms could lose their licenses if they had deliberately started the burning.
British green group to monitor Cambodian forests
A British environmental group that for years has campaigned against illegal logging in Cambodia has been appointed an independent monitor of the country's forestry sector, a group representative said yesterday. "We've been a thorn in the side of the government for years so it's extraordinary they're taking this step," Patrick …
Felling may hit eco-system
The Himachal Pradesh government's change in its forest policy which allows felling in the state on a commercial basis, will drastically affect the fragile eco-system. Before lifting the ban on felling, the government had failed to understand that the growing population has led to disastrous over-use of forests for fuel-wood, …
Mafia timber worth crores seized
Ninety three wagons allegedly containing illegal timber worth several crores, brought from the North East, have been detained by the Forest Department authorities at various railway stations, including Rajpura (Patiala), Nangloi in Delhi and Tinsukhia Railway Station in Assam.
NGO speaks out against frenzied dam construction
The worldwide "frenzied" construction of large dams this century has led to "impoverishing and demoralizing" relocations of residents and severe environmental damage, an anti-dam activist said yesterday. "Dams have forced people off their land," said Susanne Wong of the International Rivers Network, a Berkeley, California-based non-governmental organization (NGO). She said …
