Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
This time, there are no excuses. It was not climate change, not a meteor and not global warming. Humans, and not any other agent, may have pushed Genyornis , an ostrich-sized Australian bird, into extinction some 50,000 years ago, recent research has revealed. More than 40 of Australia's animals disappeared …
THE Centre For Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad will adopt cloning techniques to preserve endangered species like lions and tigers. A centre comprising scientifically designed enclosures will house lions and tigers, to begin with. It will be set up near the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad. The Andhra …
T he pesticide threat first emerged in the West, the us in particular. In the early 1930s, the Dutch elm disease spread across the us. A fungus disease spread by beetles, it proved fatal to trees, blocking their water-conducting vessels. In 1954, us farmers began spraying ddt to kill the …
More studies are required to confirm the number of vulture/bird death reports in India. However, it has been known that urbanisation and deforestation have been responsible for a gradual decrease in several species of birds of prey. Scientists and ornithologists say that in southern India, where domestic livestock carcasses are …
When noted British author Aldous Huxley finished reading Silent Spring , he was distraught. "We are losing half the subject matter of poetry,' he remarked. He was not quite right. The chemicals have found their way up the food chain and after the birds, humans could be next. Huxley might …
A survey conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, in December 1998 confirms the presence of high levels of pesticides such as HCH and DDT in cattle and pig carcasses collected from areas surrounding the Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur : Vulture cuisine). Eight samples were collected, …
Flight into obllivion The vulture is disappearing in India. Nobody knows why. Some experts blame pesticides O n october 3, 1998, the Centre For Science and Environment ( cse ), New Delhi, received a letter from Asad R Rahmani, director, Bombay Natural History Society ( bnhs ), Mumbai, mentioning a …
WE HAVE met the enemy, and he is us." This line, from the well-known 1960s US comic strip Pogo by Walt Kelly, still retains its topicality today as a comment on our contribution to environmental degradation. Our insatiable appetite for 'progress' has ensured the extinction of countless life forms, and …
Hunting of brown and black partridges, and urial continues in the Salt Range of the Chakwal region in Pakistan, despite a ban imposed by the provincial government. These species, which are on the verge of extinction, fall regular victim to feudal lords. The Wildlife Department Chakwal, has been accused of …
As gray whales face new threats along the Baja Californian coast in the US, their rarer cousins in the Western Pacific are facing greater peril, owing to a consortium of profit-hungry Japanese and western oil companies, in collusion with the Russian government. The Western Pacific's 200 surviving gray whales migrate …
INDIA is a country where legislators feast on endangered species and the favourite pastime of actors is hunting. Here the story of a marginalised community ready to lay down their lives to protect animals sounds like a fairy tale. But nothing surprises "mystic" India. Here, a religion that espouses animal …
FRIUILI VENEZA GIULIA or Friends of Earth (FOE) an Italian environmental group, is opposing the Tarvisio town, the venue for the 2006 Winter Olympics. They fear that the games would pose a threat to the rich biodiversity around the town. Valcanale, a suburban area, contains one of the last ancient …
ERUPTIONS of the Galdpagos volcano Cerro Azul have forced conservationists to speed the capture of 20 endangered giant tortoises for a captive breeding programme. Recently a helicopter was hired for two days to airlift some 11 tortoises from the island of Isabela, the largest in the Galdpagos archipelago. The remaining …
The world's largest rookery in Gahirmatha, Orissa, has not witnessed mass nesting of Olive Ridley Turtles for the last two years. The coast once again wafts for the turtle boards with the nesting season in December. This year, between January and May, over 15,000 turtles were killed by fishing trawlers. …
The Union government has fmally woken-up to the danger being faced by Orissa's Olive Ridley Turtles, an endangered species. It will launch a programme, "Sea Turtle Project", on the lines of Project Tiger. Since the beginning of the year, thousands of turtles have died on the Gahirmatha beach of Orissa, …
MANY plant species the world over are on the verge of extinction. And the rate of extinction of species in India is perhaps the highest in the world. About 150 species, which were collected a 100 years ago, have not been spotted in the recent past. Around 600 to 700 …
FILM star Salman Khan's arrest in Jodhpur for killing a chinkara, an endangered animal, and Sahib Singh Verma's resignation as chief minister of Delhi are both developments that hold a message for environmentalists and all those engaged in environmental management. First let us look into the unprecedented action that has …
A MALAYSIAN national, Keng Liang Wong, was arrested in Mexico for smuggling exotic reptiles into the US and was charged for helping smuggle hundreds of live Komodo dragons, Timor pythons, Chinese alligators, and other endangered species. Wong was first indicted in 1992 for smuggling iguanas, lizards and turtles into Florida. …
