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 …
the last of the Bactrian camels - between 730 to 880 - living in the sparse deserts of Gashun Gobi and Taklimakan along the Sino-Mongolian border, may soon have a sanctuary for themselves. A hairy creature with bald knees, large feet and two small humps, the Camelus bactrianus ferus is …
the Chinese giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), has become a symbol of international efforts at protecting endangered species. There are around a 1,000 of these 10 million-year-old 'living fossils' living in the wild, and about 100 more in 29 zoos and research centres within China. A five-year-project to produce the world's …
The days are certainly numbered for the northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita), one of the world's rarest birds. Their numbers dropped sharply by 17 per cent when 38 of them were struck down by a mysterious disease. The bald ibis once occupied the grasslands of North Africa and the Middle …
the Western Ghats, which bear the brunt of the monsoon rains, are blessed with an almost unbroken stretch of evergreen forest cover from the southern extremity of India up to the hills of Goa. The forests further north are smaller and gradually lose their evergreen character and become deciduous. In …
The much-hyped project to export natural gas from Burma's Yadana field to Thailand is under fire from Thai environmentalists. They are concerned about the negative impact of the project on wildlife in Thailand's already depleted forests. According to an environmental impact assessment undertaken on behalf of the project's Thai operators, …
Sri Lanka will play host to an international conference on the biology and conservation of south Asian amphibians and reptiles. The conference is to be jointly organised by the Amphibia and Reptile Research Organisation of Sri Lanka and the University of Peradeniya, Kandy, from August 1 to 5. Participants will …
THE latest addition to the endangered species list is not an exotic animal or bird, but the humble frog, albeit with red legs. After a year-long legal battle, the Californian red-legged frog (Rana aurora) has won a victory of sorts. It will enjoy 'the protection given to rare endangered species. …
The Save Coast Movement (SCM) of Orissa scored a major victory in its campaign to protect the habitat of the olive ridley turtles. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), bowing to pressure from the movement's leaders agreed to adopt measures to protect the endangered turtle. The DRDO is setting …
IN A move that has raised eyebrows among animal rights activists, Canada called off the seal hunt on its east coast a few weeks ago. The opponents of the hunt suspect that the decision was taken because hunters had exceeded their quotas. The official explanation is that hunters had shot …
FOR the past 10 years, a large number of moose are dying in southwest Sweden. The cause for this is acid rain. Acidification and the declining numbers of this warm-blooded animal are being linked because of a complex chain of events, arising from the occurrence of the former. According to …
Threatened with a crushing blow to its us $2 billion shrimp industry, Thailand is making belated efforts to save sea turtles which are fast disappearing from its waters. The Phuket Marine Biology Centre recently released 200 baby sea turtles into the Andaman Sea, though experts believe they would not survive …
Continued trade in the Spur-thighed tortoise Testudo graeca has sharply reduced the number of these creatures (by 86 per cent) in the country. Morocco has been the major supplier of these reptiles to the European pet market. Its exports peaked during the '50s and ' 60s, when several million tortoises …
INDIAN ornithologists are a worried lot these days. The departure of four Siberian cranes - before satellite transmitters could be fixed on them to monitor their return journey - is only one of their concerns (Down To Earth, Vol 4, No 23). The number of these rare visitors has been …
Given the pace of development and the concurrent c1cstructionofforests in Vietnam, the Indochina tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) could well be on the path of extinction. The dwindling numbers of these tigers could be attributed to con- tinned hunting, poaching and destruction of Vietnam's already denuded forests. Ali additional threat to …
SCIENTISTS from the Natural Environment Resource Council (NERC'S), Institute of Terrestrial Ecology at Banchory, and the department of zoology at the University of Aberdeen - both in Scotland - have embarked on a novel method to study population ecology. The programme called Molecular Genetics in Ecology (MGE) Initiative, Uses DNA …
A 1992 SURVEY carried out by the Vietnamese ministry of forestry and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in the Vu Quang Nature Reserve in central Vietnam,, led to the discovery of the unique creature. The animal could not be clearly identified as being either wild cattle or an …
Poaching of endangered animals has a lot in common with drug trafficking. It has added fillip to the international medicine trade based on animal parts -an organised crime stretching from North America to Asia. Policing the activity is difficult, although there have been seizures by IUCN/WWF supported TRAFFIC-international, and India's …
SERVING these lesser known, 'exotic', deep sea delights, restaurant owners are pocketing a neat sum, while fisherfolk too are receiving a handsome price for their catch. The craze for deep sea cuisine, according to scientists, is beginning to upset the delicate ecosystem of the dark oceanic world which covers more …
The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) population is declining fast. one of the most endangered large carnivores in the world, the wild dogs face constant threats in the form of loss of habitat, persecution by humans and disease. Whatever numbers remain are confined to six countries (Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, …
