The National Biodiversity Authority has released a new set of rules to manage sharing of benefits generated through the use of biological resources. The Biological Diversity (Access to biological Resources and Knowledge Associated thereto and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits) Regulation 2025 was approved by the Central government and …
Ornamental fish breeding has expanded recently in Hanoi because of rising incomes. Increased incomes and a liberalised foreign trade is also taking a heavy toll of orchids and rhododendrons. Ethnic minorities collect rhododendron plants in large quantities in the high mountains and bring them regularly for sale in the cities, …
about 26 per cent of Vietnam was covered by natural forests in 1991, compared to 67 per cent in 1943. In the past 25 years, the total area of natural forests (both upland and coastal) has declined at an average rate of 350,000 ha per year. This has led to …
The 72 million litres of herbicides sprayed by US forces in Vietnam during the war will continue to plague several generations of post-war populations with a high rate of reproductive abnormalities. Some 40 million litres of Agent Orange were sprayed; the herbicide contained 170 kg of dioxin, which is the …
The threat to deforestation comes from several basic reasons: the nature of the country's economy; its high population growth rate; firewood demand; shifting cultivation and fire damage; economic liberalisation; and, the pressure on the country to earn foreign exchange through biomass exports like wood and rice. The per capita income …
Afforestation : In 1993, a 10-year programme was initiated to regreen the barren lands of Vietnam. But as one diplomat in Hanoi pointed out, the government went about the task of greening the land "in a militaristic manner', and planted eucalyptus and other exotic species over large stretches of the …
what makes Vietnam particularly worthy from a biodiversity point of view is also its very rich base of traditional medicine. This means Vietnam has the potential to make a worthwhile contribution to the global food and health sectors. Says Nguyen Duc Tao of the Vietnam Pharmaceutical Corporation, which is trying …
About 89 per cent of the Vietnamese population consists of lowland Kinhs and the Muong people, who occupy the two agricultural deltas of the Red River and the Mekong river, besides the narrow coastal strip. The remaining 11 per cent consists of ethnic minorities, most of whom live in the …
Vietnam has an Association of Herbal Traditional Doctors with a nationwide membership of about 20,000, which is recognised by the government. But the association is starved of funds. These traditional doctors often offer their services free and are usually very poor. Berit Richter, a Danish activist working in Hanoi, is …
DUNGLENA AIZAWAL Almost every house in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, has developed its independent water supply system to counter the acute scarcity of water. Water is harvested as it falls literally from the rooftop. Rainfall is rarely small in quantity in the hilltop town of Aizawl. But over the …
granny often knows best. Whenever there was a sore throat or a toothache we went to her and grandma obligingly pulled out a potion from her treasure trove of remedies. Many of them even worked. Perhaps the time has now come to go back to grandma for some other solutions. …
gondwanaland: supercontinent in geological history, of which India was a part. Gondwana ('Forest of the Gonds'): land of the Gond tribals and their powerful empire. A historic region which straddles the four states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. And famed for its traditional water harvesting structures. However, …
While a kata was a relatively big structure, there were several smaller systems like bandhs and mundas built all over western Orissa. A bandh is a four-sided tank excavated below the kata , from which it derives its water by percolation. Normally used for drinking purposes only, bandhs are invariably
"Development of modern, centralised system of irrigation is the main reason. Everywhere in the command area of the Hirakud dam, these structures lie defunct today,' says R S Rao, reader, department of economics, University of Sambalpur. His views are echoed in the villages. "When we get water, though not so …
THE vision that Rajasthan invokes in most is one of magnificent, awesome and impregnable medieval fortresses. in fact, the most attractive features of the Aravalli hills in the state are its fortified cities and palaces. Some forts have been built on a hill overlooking the city, as is the case …
The total area of Chittor fort is about 500 hectares (ha). The average depth of the reservoirs is about two metres, and with the total area of all reservoirs inside the fort being roughly 200 ha, they can owe about four billion litres (l) of water. Total rainwater that can …
Ranthambhore has five large water bodies - Jangali talab, Suksagar talab, Kalasagar, Padmala talab and Renee haud. There is also one perennial spring known as Gupt Ganga. All the talabs have a natural catchment. The biggest is the Jangali talab, Its bund (dam or embankment) is built in such a …
JODHPUR was founded in AD 1495. While selecting a site for locating the city, its builders must have given serious thought to its water potential and strategic situation. The Chonka- Daijar plateau, an important physical feature of this region, serves as a water catchment for 50 functional surface water bodies …
In 1985, Jodhpur experienced one of its worst droughts of the century. The city was on the verge of evacuation while its numerous baoris, instruments of its traditional self-sufficiency in water, lay neglected. The crisis served to bring forth a popular response. The Chand and Jalap baoris were cleaned up …
Wide variations exist in the annual sediment deposition under different physiographic settings. Nadis situated in older alluvial plains have the highest sedimentation rate, whereas those in the younger alluvial plains have the least. To take care of the capacity reduction of a nadi caused by sedimentation, villagers carry out dredging …
The present Water requirement of Jodhpur (estimated population in 1991: 900,000) it 27 million gallons per day (mgpd). The city gets 22.4 mgpd. Surface water reservoirs account for 55-60 per cent of the water supply. The major reservoirs, Jawai and Hemavas. in addition to supplying water to Jodhpur, also serve …
