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 …
In Uisiya village of Noamundi block, a group of young enthusiasts undertook the task of protecting the adjoining degraded sal forests in 1988. Laguri jee and Niranjan Bobonga, the traditional headpersons of the area, rallied the people into preventing cattle from trespassing into the region. They successfully convinced the people …
TWO large-scale forest projects slated to begin this year, aim to focus on Laos' forest resources more extensively. The projects - the World Bank's (WB) Forest Management and Conservation Project (FOMACOP), and the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) industrial tree plantations - are being criticised for posing serious ecological and social …
IT'S a bit less than a conspiracy, a bit more than a fetish. Five international organisations have made forest conservation their overriding priority. The gigantic United Nations bureaucracy based in New York, Washington, Tokyo and Rome is breathing in carbon dioxide, breathing out oxygen. First came the International Tropical Timber …
COLONIAL logic has often found it convenient to adopt and adapt "native" logic, and later drop it to suit its changing needs. Taungya is the name of a forestry game the British played in erstwhile Burma. The taungya system was first practiced here in the mid-19th century. Taung is "hill" …
WHILE Indians hotly debate whether common folk can be entrusted with the management and control of their forest resources, local communities in several other developing countries are already entrenched in their idyllic fortresses. The results have been, to say the least, positive, even dramatic. In Nepal, village communities have been …
AS A professional forester, I feel that the draft Forest Bill is a highly progressive document. The Act, which will come out after the Bill is passed, will greatly improve upon the existing Indian Forest Act of 1927. It is a comprehensive piece of legislation dealing with the preservation of …
IN THE face of mounting public criticism of the Union ministry of environment and forests' draft Forest Bill, environment minister Kamal Nath's quick sidestep to dismiss the document as a "non-paper" is nothing if not adroit strategy. Only this move could have saved his "green" ministry the embarrassment of getting …
OVER the past decade, "social forestry" has become a catchword among the policymakers, environmentalists and development professionals. However, it has not made much headway in becoming a people's programme and continues to be a government initiative. It is now recognised that apart from being an afforestation venture, it involves a …
AFTER dithering for 2 years, the West Bengal government has agreed to restructure its forest administration to increase people's participation in managing forests. The government decision has come under pressure from the World Bank, which in June withheld further disbursement of grants to the Bank-funded, $34-million West Bengal Forestry Project …
THIS book provides a good overall perspective on the world's forests and the political economy of forest management. Authors with broad experience in many fields present diverse views on key forestry issues and the solutions needed to accelerate the transition to sustainable use of forest resources. The book argues that …
IN THE desert state of Rajasthan, forests have always been managed by communities. Over the years, with "modernisation" and flawed official forest management systems, the practice faded. However, traditional forest management is making a comeback in Alwar district and the success of the revival is spreading. And, all this is …
THE INDIAN Forest Act (IFA) of 1927 is going to get a new look and name. The Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF) has distributed to all state governments the draft of a new act that provides for adequate community participation in forests and new concepts such as biodiversity …
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 …
THOUGH the State of Forest Report 1991 says India's forest cover increased from 6,40,134 sq km in 1989 to 6,40,694 sq km in 1991, the feat the report describes is impossible: Forest products are primarily used for human and livestock consumption, and as human and livestock population increased by about …
CONFUSION reigns in the hills of Uttar Pradesh (UP) where a decade-old ban on the felling of trees growing above 1,000 metres in the Garhwal Himalaya has been lifted by the state government. However, in the face of protests by environmentalists and the displeasure of the Union ministry of environment …
IN JUNE 1983, the ministry of agriculture recommended certain measures for the protection of the Himalayan ecology, on the basis of which the Uttar Pradesh government imposed a ban on felling of trees above 1,000 metres. The Centre's recommendations were: • Imposition of a complete moratorium, for one growth cycle …
DEVELOPING countries with vast forest reserves took a major step in coordinating a joint position on international cooperation in tropical forest management at the first ministerial conference of the forestry forum for developing countries (FFDC) in New Delhi in September. Indian environment minister Kamal Nath, who chaired the conference, told …
• Acknowledge that forests are an inalienable national resource and countries will choose uses of their forest resources according to national priorities and strategies; • assure access to technology through international cooperation to strengthen national capability; • increase financial assistance provided by developed countries and international organisations, including a restructured …
Tropical Forest Action Programme (TFAP) By far the biggest international body in tropical forest management, TFAP was formed on the 1983 decision of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's committee on forest development in the tropics, consisting of about 50 Northern and Southern governments. FAO and some aid agencies expected …
FOREST degradation around a Nepali mountain village has been reversed in a span of 10 years despite an annual population growth rate of 2.5 per cent. In 1980, grazing and fodder collection was a major cause of degradation in Bhogteni, a village in the hills of central Nepal. However, in …
