Activists Oppose BRAI Bill

WWF-India initiative in city

µCities for Forests,' a nation-wide campaign undertaken by the WWF-India to create awareness among city-dwellers and urban youth about the intrinsic link between forests and human well-being, will be launched in the city on Saturday.

Thiruvananthapuram is among the 20-odd cities selected for the campaign that aims to build environmental literacy through experiential learning and empower youth to influence change. The campaign has been launched at a time when the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests.

According to Renjan Mathew Varghese, State Director of the WWF-India, the campaign will help to identify threats to ur ban forests and educate the citizens on such threats and help in better management of the forests by involving key deci sion-makers and stakeholders.

AT MUSEUM COMPOUND

The campaign will be kicked off at the Museum compound at 4 p.m. on Saturday by unveiling four large hoardings on µValues of Forests and Trees.' Interactive and participatory events like putting up cut-outs, distribution of stickers, signature campaign, crossword puzzles, and quiz on trees in history, film names/ film songs with tree names, name the State trees, trees and stars, will be held on the occasion. Volunteers, general public and school students will attend the programme. A public campaign will also be conducted along the road stretch from VJT Hall to the Secretariat to effectively reach out to the city residents.

PARTICIPATION

For participating in the campaign, school students can visit any nearby forest areas and upload their experiences and inputs in the form of posters, photographs, essays, songs, stories, poems, mini dramas, multimedia powerpoint shows and local-level action programmes onto the official website of the campaign that will be hosted by WWF-India.

The entries from individual students and final winners will earn points to the school and the µSchool Champion of the International Year of Forests' will be announced.

The prizes will be given during the conclusion of the campaign during the Wildlife Week in the first week of October.

Wild Wisdom Quiz 2011, a three-day mega event which w ill bring together the exhibition of all sorts of entries and competitions, is also planned.

NEW DELHI, August 17, 2011 Activists oppose BRAI Bill

BRAI Bill proposes to create a new regulatory body

Even as the area around Parliament was swamped by crowds of Anna Haz are's supporters, demanding a stronger Lokpal Bill on Wednesday, a small group of environmental activists staged their own demonstration against a different bill, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, 2011.

Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was scheduled to introduce the controversial BRAI Bill i n the Lok Sabha, but the House did not conduct regular business due to the debate held on Mr. Hazare and the government's response to his agitat ion. The BRAI Bill proposes to create a new regulatory body which its opponents claim would be a single window clearance system for genetically modified crops.

³The BRAI Bill is a blatant attempt to bulldoze through the public resistance and genuine concerns about genetically modified crops, a nd to deny state governments their constitutional authority over Agriculture and Health,´ according to Kavitha K uruganti of the Coalition for a GM-Free India.

Environmemtal group Greenpeace said several of its volunteers were arrested by Delhi Police as they were attempting to u nfurl a banner just outside Parliament. The banner read: ³Don't Corrupt our Food, Stop BRAI Bill´.

Activists say that since the Science and Technology Ministry's Biotechnology Department is mandated to promote the technology, it would be a conflict of interest if it was al so responsible for regulating it and ensuring biotech safety. They want the BRAI to be a monitoring body under the Ministry of Health or Environment and Forests. COMMENTS:

BRAI & FDI in retail bills should be opposed as it will affect our self sustai ning nature of local business. Farmers, small businesses fundamentals will be damaged. And then our economy will be affected by western economy. from: V ikas

Posted on: Aug 18, 2011 at 00:15 IST

Encourage everyone to watch the documentary 'Food Inc.' to get a grip on what is the dark truth / reality behind companies that control, command and arm-twist national policies, especially around good / aggriculture / bio-technology. Watch that film to understand, why this bill opens the 'back-door' to pave way for entry of those evil giants into India, and then make sure that the corrupt Indian govt. does everything in their power to ensure that those companies stay, a nd get to do what they want to, without anybody being able to stop them. from: Sailesh Kante

Posted on: Aug 23, 2011 at 12:29 IST

This Bill will let the big guns in Multinational teams like the American 'M onsanto' specially which is looking at India for its big emergent market.It has already done damage to many other countries and Europe has said NO to it on many occasions.It is already in India but now it wants to be official and progress on big scale.If i t passes more farmers will end up committing suicide when they get sued for inadvertently allowing their seeds to find way in their fields. This is happening in many places. Do check out companies like this for more info.

BANGALORE, August 17, 2011 Northern and central parts of Western Ghats most vulnerable to climate change

N orthern and central portions are at the greatest risk, says research paper

Before the turn of the century no less than 56 per cent of India's forests will be transformed under global warming, and among the most vulnerable will be the Western Ghats, says a new study publi shed in the latest edition of C urrent Science.

The northern and central portions of the Western Ghats, primarily the most deciduous and evergreen forests of Karnataka, are at the greatest risk, says the research paper authored by scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). While open forests of the northern Western Ghats ³may drive up vulnerability´, the central part of the Western Ghats will experience temperature rise (projected at 3 degrees) that is disproportionately higher than the precipitation i ncrease.

Much of these forests are also fragmented, putting them at greater risk of forest fires and pest attacks, it adds. However, the southern part of the Western Ghats, dominated by tropical wet evergreen forests appears to be quite resilient to the climate change. The changes in ecology could occur over decades, N.H. Ramanathan, an author of the paper, told The Hindu.

³The changes could occur through forest die-back that u ndermines the physiological functions of the forest such as pollination and regeneration,´ he said.

For the study, the scientists created a digita l map of India that they divided into over 1,65,000 grids. Of these, 35,899 grids were classified as ³forest grids´, and the analysis was based on climate projections, atmospheric CO2 co ncentration and a dynamic vegetation model. It found that 30.3 per cent of the ³forested grids´ across the cou ntry are likely to undergo change by 2035, a nd 56.2 per cent by 2085. The largest concentration of ³vulnerable forested grids´ were found to be in the northern part of the Western Ghats , the Eastern Ghats, the upper Himalayan stretches and parts of Central India.

Climate change is only going to add to the multiple stresses that forests witness today, including o ver-extraction, pest outbreaks, livestock grazing and forest fires, caution the authors Ranjith Gopalakrishnan, Mathangi Jayaraman, Govindasamy Bala and Ravindranath representing Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and Divecha Centre for Climate Change at IISc.

The high-altitude mountainous forests of the Himalayas are also highl y susceptible to the adverse effects of cli mate change.

In contrast, the forests of northeast India are least vulnerable because the climate ³is predicted to get hotter and wetter there, which is conducive to the existing vegetation types.´ India must monitor the vegetation response to changing climate in the long term, the paper recommends.

COMMENTS:

Not only even Western Ghats but also rest of the ecological places are facing rise in temperature, everyone should realize the fact and make a move accordingly... this is the only solution left. COMMENTS:

Posted on: Aug 18, 2011 at 00:15 IST

Posted on: Aug 23, 2011 at 12:29 IST

BANGALORE, August 17, 2011 Northern and central parts of Western Ghats most vulnerable to climate change

N orthern and central portions are at the greatest risk, says research paper

³The changes could occur through forest die-back that u ndermines the physiological functions of the forest such as pollination and regeneration,´ he said.

The high-altitude mountainous forests of the Himalayas are also highl y susceptible to the adverse effects of cli mate change.

COMMENTS:

Posted on: Aug 17, 2011 at 10:40 IST

The climatic changes are the result of our own day to day acts ranging from use of cars for short distances to use of poly bags & ac's in our rooms.none can solve this problem other than us by adopting ecofriendly lifestyle.let's start the campaign against it as we have done against corruption. KOCHI, August 17, 2011 Glaciers melting, ecosystems changing in the Arctic

In the face of climate change, models being evolved for sustainable management of ecosystems

Arctic scientists are working to evolve models for future sustainable management of Arctic ecosystems. Th e efforts attain significance in the wake of glaring signals ² melting glaciers and climate c hange ² in the Arctic region, said Bijo y Nandan, Associate Professor (Marine Biology), Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), who wa s a member of a recent Indian contingent to the Arctic. The team returned last week after a summer expedition to the region.

Glacial levels are be receding at the Zeppelin Glacier Mountain, a virgin land in the arctic region, according to t he instruments of the Norwegian Polar Institute that measured annual glacial levels. The area could be accessed only through cable cars; the arctic climate had become more or less unpredictable with wide temperature variations, strong winds and frequent haziness, said Mr. Nandan. Studies on the impact of climate change and its reflection on the life have heightened worry among scientists across the world.

Impact evident

From glaciers melting to the changed lifecycles of some organisms, the impact of climate change, Mr. Nandan said, in the area was evident. ² the development and breeding cycle of sea butterflies, a mollusc variety, has undergone changes. Scientists reported that traces of metal and other residues derived from facial creams, body lotions and other sources from the main land, could be found in arctic sea ani mals. Snow- levels had receded, exposing ice slabs. The presence of persistent organic pollutants and an increase in the use of aerosols were also some of the worries, he said.

The focal area of the research of the CUSAT scientist was Kongsfjorden, a high-lat itude glacial fjord (a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley by glacial acti vity) that was influenced by Atlantic and Arctic water masses. Scientists from the Birbal Sah ni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, focused on palaeoclimatic changes.

³The glacial outflow of fresh melt-water containing minerals influences the salinity, water transparency, primary production and sedimentation rates of the fjord. It also induces large changes in community composition and an abundance of benthic organisms [that live in the sea bottom]. The study was to understand the community diversity and phylogeny [the evolutionary relatedness among groups of organisms] of selected benthic organisms in arctic systems,´ he said in a communication.

Attempts were made to evaluate the structural-functional ecology and abundance of macro and meiobenthic (soil-dwelling) communities inhabiting the glacial fjords. This study i s part of the long-term monitoring of the Kongsfjorden system of arctic region for climate change studies.

Studies on benthic organisms and its community composition can give i nsights into the structure and function of the soil ecosystem. A time- scale analysis would also be done to model community structure and diversity in the glacial fjord nematodes (roundworms) of the Arctic, he said.

Fieldwork was conducted in the Kongsfjorden arctic system and benthic samples were collected from seven selected transects from depths ranging from 70 m to 350 m. Detailed analysis of the samples for the community structure of benthic org anisms and its relation to climate change variability was progressing, he said.

ALAPPUZHA, August 16, 2011 Freeing a lake from plastic fetters

The rest of the world might have forgotten the Punnamada Lake as soon as its waters beca me calm after the Nehru Trophy Boat Race on Saturday. But a group of 60 students, assisted by their teachers, and other concerned citizens, went back to the venue of the boat race on Monday, joining hands on Independence Day, to remove whatever plastic they could from the lake. And by evening, they had a few boatloads full of what spectators had dumped in the waters during the daylong race.

The cleaning drive, which was inaugurated by district panchayat president Prathiba Hari, had students from the Jalapadam Wetland clubs of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Environment and the Ecology (ATRE E) and from the Government High School, Kuppapuram; St. Mi chael's School, Thathampally; and St. Thomas College, Alappuzha. A Kudumbasree team led by District Tourism Promotion Council officials too helped them in the arduous task. The heaps of plastic bottles were handed over to rag-pickers who would t ake them for recycling, according to ATREE Coordinator Latha Bhaskar.

Stir plan

Appreciating the spirit of all those who ca me forward to clean up the lake, Ms. Bhaskar said there was a need to keep the lake clean on a continuous basis for which houseboat operators too should be appropriately trained.

Pointing out that during recent public interactions of the ATR EE in several panchayats in the region, clam collectors were complaining about houseboats dumping waste in the lake, tying them up in plastic bags, Ms. Bhaskar said this waste settled in the lakebed and was getting entangled in the nets of the clam collectors.

The clam collectors were planning an agitation under the leadership of ATREE as part of which they would dig out the plastic waste and pile up the entire load on the shore to show the authorities so that the intensity of the situation would be k nown and something would be done about strictly enforcing a ban on dumping of plastic i n the lake, she said.

COIMBATORE, August 16, 2011 More industries go in for a green campus

Industries in Coimbatore, especially those with Rs. 5 crore or more i nvestment, are going in for a green belt on their premises, nearby locality or on the access roads.

Apart from the tree planting initiatives by several organisations in the c ity, more industries have started looking at a green campus.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board insists that medium and large-sca le industrial projects should develop greenery on 25 per cent of the total area of the unit. In the case of projects where land availability is a problem, the indu stries can develop the green cover on the road sides or on any other premises. The board asks for a photograph of the green effort to be attached to the application for consent for operation.

The objective is to increase the green belt a nd reduce pollution, explains K. Kamaraj, District Environmental Engineer of the board. Though it is not mandatory for the small-scale and tiny units, t hey too can adopt it if they have land, he says.

An official of the Southern India Mills' Association points out that usually mills go i n for a vast green space on their premises to co ntrol pollution. Adopting this is not a problem in textile m ills and even in the case of space shortage, the units now have the option to develop greenery on any other site.

N. Ramasamy, Chairman of the Institute of Indian Foundrymen, Coimbatore, says there are several units located on just 25 cents plot. They will not be able to develop a green cover in six cents. While the new units are able to develop the required area of greenery, the older ones are trying to.

M. Kandhaswami, President of Coimbatore District Small Industries' Association, says all industries should go i n for developing the green cover. The association has also appealed to the Pollution Control Board to extend, as incentive, other relaxations to those adopting this norm.

BEIJING, August 16, 2011 An enlightened hue to protests in China

For years, residents of small towns and villages in rural China have protested against polluting factories that threatened their livelihoods. Few have met with success, with most local governments turning a deaf ear to complaints against projects they are often invested in.

However, on Sunday, when 12,000 residents took to the streets of the a ffluent port city of Dalian to protest ag ainst a petrochemical plant, they achieved stunning results.

Within hours, the city's top Communist Party official appeared i n front of slogan-raising students and white-collar workers to ³appease´ the crowd, the official Xinhua news agency reported ² a response that both state media and environmental groups have described as unprecedented in China's recent history. By the end of the day, the official had even promised to close down the plant, which is less than 30 km from the city and manufactures paraxylene (PX), a chemical used in fabric production and is carcinogenic.

³This was a very, very rare case where the government made a very rapid response to public opinion,´ Ma Tianjie, who leads Greenpeace China's campaigns against toxics, told The Hindu.

³We have seen a similar official response before, in Xiamen [in 2007, against another PX plant]. But it was onl y after protests had ended, after a lot of internal considerations, and a few weeks, or e ven months, of waiting.´

The Communist Party-run Global Times newspaper, too, described the Dalian protest as an exception, in a country where authorities have little tolerance for ³mass incidents´ and usually deploy local police to disperse protests before they even begin.

³In recent years, some local governments would hesitate in the face of public in cidents. In this regard, Dalian is an exception,´ said the newspaper.

Environmental groups and scholars said the markedly different official response was, in part, driven by the u nusual nature of Monday's protesters. They were mostly young, educated, urban middle-class Chinese who had mobilised through social networks. ³Dalian has a lot of wealthy, upper-class people and their influence over the government is far greater than the ordinary people. It's no surprise that the project was cancelled amid public anger,´ Yang Yang, a political scientist at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, told the Associated Press.

Much of the media coverage on Sunday drew att ention to the social background of the protesters, and was also larg ely supportive of the protests, not often seen in the ³mass incidents´ that take place i n China's hinterland.

This trend was also evident in the coverage of la st week's bullet train collision in Wenzhou, which left at least 40 people dead and triggered widespread middle-class anger, largely fuelled online, at public safety standards.

³We are seeing more and more cases of middle-class urban residents saying no to polluting projects, and getting involved in such issues,´ said Mr. Ma of Greenpeace. ³In urban areas, people are increasingly more aware. With online t ools like microblogs, it is also becoming easier to communicate issues to the public.´

Following the Wenzhou accident, the Communist Party of China i ssued a circular calling on local government departments and central agencies to be more transparent, a move seen as an attempt to address ri sing expectations of more transparent governance from the middle- class.

C aixin a widely-read liberal magazine, said in an editorial this week that the Internet's ³information revolution´ was increasingly ³shaping the course of public affairs´.

³Civil rights awareness has grown« and a traditional subject-ruler mindset is giving way t o civic awareness,´ it said, adding that ³one of China's immediate needs is to establish channels for public participat ion in government and give the media more freedom´.

The response to Sunday's protest in the Communist Party's official Glo bal Times, which represents more conservative views in the party, suggested such a move remained far from likely.

The Dalian incident, it cautioned, should not be seen ³as a victory of a protest´. It warned against people taking to t he streets to have their voices heard, saying this was not ³the real attitude of Chinese society´.

Urban, educated youth leading protests

Media coverage supportive of protests

August 15, 2011 To revive the rivers«

Students of the Government Boys V ocational Higher Secondary School in Thrippunithura laboured for over six months to prepare an exhaustive report on the condition of two rivers.

Students and faculty of the Government Boys Vocational Higher Secondary School, Thrippunithura, can be proud of their achievement. For, their 65-page report split into 16 chapters complete with a nnexures based on a comprehensive study on two important rivers in the district would put even some research students to shame.

V aluable study

The status analysis study of Kadamprayar and Chitrapuzha River was the outcome of the painstaking research conducted for over six months from September last year. Three faculty members and ten students of the National Green Corps (NGC) unit in the school were engaged with it.

Students were ably assisted in the endeavour by Prof. S. Sitaraman, e nvironment activist and the district coordinator of NGC, K.S. Nafin of the Aluva-based Association for Environmental Protection, and K.K. Razak, coordinator of the NGC unit i n the school.

The school had won the award of the Central government for the best performing NGC unit during the 2009-10 academic year. ³We were told that the cash award of Rs. 50,000 could be used for doing a project on environment,´ said Mini V, one of the faculty members associated with the project, on how the project materialised.

The study was undertaken mainly on Saturdays and other free time to e nsure that it did not affect academics. Dr. Sitaraman said that the students had undertaken a comprehensive study within their limits.

He said that involving the youngsters in the conservation of environment was of immense value. ³It's a trend that needs to be e ncouraged. Many more schools have approached me evincing interest in similar projects,´ he said.

Before pollution

The students split into three groups under three faculty members went around the banks of the rivers, often travelling in country boats, extensively interviewing people who were familiar with the two rivers long before they had fallen victim to pollution in the wake of industrialisation. They came to know that there was a t ime when these waters provided livelihood to thousands by means of fishing and cultivation.

Gradually, the river was hit by unabated pollution and people who depended on it started moving away. Students collected samples of surface water and deep sediments and got them scientifically tested before reaching their conclusion.

Ms. Mini said that the students were enthusiastic as they could gain first- hand knowledge of the environmental issues like encroachments and pollution caused by effluents discharged straight from the industrial u nits into the rivers.

The school was now trying to get th e Thrippunithura municipality to clean at least a sectio n of the rivers so that students can further th e cause of their project by embarking on an awareness campaign agai nst pollution. The school also has plans to submit the report to the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment.

August 15, 2011 Flipping over flipper

Students from various schools and colleges participated to spread the message of marine conservation.

Models of huge Olive Ridleys greet you against the backdrop of a blue blue underwater scene with other fish and turtles brilliantly painted and a friendly dolphin perched cheekily on the screen.

TREE Foundation along with Roots & Shoots, I ndia and The Indian Coast Guard organised Flipper Fest µ11 ² ³A Marin e Biodiversity Conservation Awareness Mela´ for schools and colleges at Kumararani Meena Muthiah College, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar.

The competitions were based on conserving the ecosystem, specially low carbon emission initiatives, coral bleaching, ocean pollution, endangered marine species and the problems of marine litter and other phenomena which are affecting the ocea ns drastically. The competition, for schools were painting, quiz, making model, essay, eco drama and presenting papers. More than 1 021 students from 47 schools and six colleges in and around the cit y participated.

Students joined hands to spread the message of the ³Land Ocea n Connection´ and to be aware that they ³L ive with the Planet and Not Just On the Planet.´

While the many models graced the huge hall, eac h conveying a significant message to save the ocean and its delicate inhabitants, the walls were plastered with paintings the students had produced at the paining co mpetition. Power point presentations were going on, each school giving facts and figures on marine life and the pollution they ad the ocean face. Many of them spoke of the recent oil spills and the oceans being turned as dumping ground of lethal radio active waste.

Excitement was palpable as the kids got ready for the eco drama.

Bharathi Vidyalaya focused on Coral smuggling. Taking away the coral left the fish with no home or habitat and this caused the depletion of the species.

NSM, Chrompet had their drama in form of a series of interviews. Through these, the viewpoints of the people concerned brought a bout the message. The fisherman interviewed spoke in his colloquial dialect that had t he audience laughing yet listening intently.

Nsm, Girls School, Chittilapakkam, took off on ³Finding Nemo´ and portrayed how oil spills and ga rbage destroy their beautiful world. A strong point was made when they said that human think by throwing one empty packet of chips into the ocean is not going affect it, but they forget to think that it is going be be one global accumulation that's going to suffocate ocean life.

Another interesting perspective of the seven-minute eco drama was a fish classroom, and three student fish play truant and go to the forbidden human dumping ground. Here out of curiosity one of them eats a plastic bag (though the others warn him that it is dangerous) and falls severely ill due to food poisoning. At the fish hospital the fish doctor saves his life and warns them about the ³inhuman humans´ who are out to destroy their world.

With bluish green dupattas, graceful dance movements and background music, St. Dominics presented a powerful message about the ocean killers ² oil spills or noise pollution and more. They wound up t heir play saying ³We are the problem, we are the solution.´

After two days of activities and interactive sessions the children had a wider view of what was going under the great blue expanse of waters. And now they knew it was time for the m to repay the ocean with kindness and conservation.

OCHI, August 15, 2011 Development scheme for Mulavukad sought

Mulavukad grama panchayat has demanded exclusion of its area from the Coastal Regulation Zone Act and the Wetland Conservation Act. The panchayat authorities have submitted a representation to this effect t o Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

The demand was part of the charter of demands submitted by the civic body to the State government.

The State and the Central governments should formulate a development scheme for Mulavukad and Vallarpadam islands for the next two decades, considering the possible development activities that can take place in the area, said the representation made by A.K. Dinakaran, president, Mulavukad panchayat.

A ring-bund road should be constructed around the island. Existing roads that run through the island should be widened and linked to t he proposed ring-bund road.

The Cochin Port Trust should be directed to release a portion of the reclaimed land for the construction of educational institutions, a police station, play ground, an old age home and a day-care home.

Development fund

Corporate companies involved in Vallarpadom Transshipment Terminal and other major infrastructure projects in the area should be directed to form a Mulavukad Panchayat Development Fund for the development activities in the panchayat, the representation said.

Rehabilitation package

The panchayat has demanded a rehabilitation package for those who surrender their holdings for development activities, including the construction of roads. Building rules should be relaxed and Transfer of Building Right s should be implemented in the panchayat for those who surrender their land. The compensation for the reconstruction and repair of buildings demolished as part development programmes should be enhanced, the panchayat demanded. In the traffic sector, the c ivic authorities have demanded more bus and boat services and construction of a bus stand at the northern end of the island. Re-laying of the water supply pipelines a nd construction of water storage tanks are also among the demands.

The civic authorities have also demanded facilities for proper drainage. The other demands raised by the panchayat include i n-patient facility in the Mulavukad Public Health Centre and electrical sub-stations at Mulavukad and Vallarpadam areas.

NEW DELHI, August 15, 2011 Environmental assessment authority to be set up: Manmohan

Amid growing debate over environment protection and fate of mega projects, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monda y said government will constitute an environmental assessment and monitoring authority to streamline the process for giving green clearances.

³In the coming months, we will constitute an environmental assessment and monitoring authority to streamline the process of environmental clearances,´ he said in his Independence Day address to the nation.

Identifying climate change as a threat, he said th e challenge before India is to ³develop rapidly´ while preserving the environment.

³Preserving our environment even as we develop rapidly is a huge challenge for us. Climate change poses a threat to both our development processes and our natural resources. We have established eight missions on climate change and are working hard to implement these missions,´ he said.

The Prime Minister also said that government has already established the National Green Tribunal for quick disposal of cases involving environmental issues.

Giving account of efforts by the government to protect the e nvironment, Dr. Singh said government has set up the National Ganga River Basin Authority for the protection and cleaning of ri ver Ganga.

NEW DELHI, August 14, 2011 Pollution in Ganga claims more lives than bomb blasts: Advani

Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani on Sunday expressed concerns over the increasing level of pollution in the river Ganga, saying it was claiming more lives than those caused by bomb blasts.

In his latest blog posting, Mr. Advani quoted Swami C hidananda Saraswati of Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh, to argue that the pollution i n Ganga was a serious matter.

³Today most people do not realize that nearly a million people living along the banks of the Ganga die each year due to illnesses caused by its polluted water...´

³A few dozen people dying in bomb blasts in India becomes big news worldwide, and rightly so. But t he tragic deaths of many people, who are dependent on the Ganga, go unnoticed even in India. We must change t his,´ he said, quoting Swami Chidanand.

³Ganga is languishing in such polluted state that people he sitate to bathe in her waters even in Kashi. This is caused by reckless and ill- planned industrialization and urbanization, made worse by lack of elementary civic facilities in towns and villages along it ,´ Mr. Advani observed.

In the upper reaches of the river, hydro-electric projects have caused considerable damage to the Ganga and its natural ecology, leading to drying up of long stretches of the river-bed and depriving the nearby villagers of their main source of water, he said.

Suggesting measures to clean the river, the BJP leader quoted Swami Chid anand, ³We must launch a mission, which I call the 3-T Mission -- toilet in every home, tap in every home bringing clean wat er, and tree-plantation on a massive scale in every village and town.´

³Millions of Indians abroad would be inspired if India takes up this comprehensive Ganga Mission. They would even be willing to make generous contribution to this project,´ Mr. Advani said on his blog, quoting Swami Chidanand. KOCHI, August 13, 2011 Sewage treatment plant to be set up at General Hospital

A sewage treatment plant will be set up at th e Ernakulam General Hospital soon. The government has sanctioned Rs.1 crore for setting up t he plant, which will have the capacity to treat 0.5 million litres of waste water a day. Orders for civil works are awaited.

At present, the sewage from the General Hospital is discharged i nto the only sewerage system in the city . The new plant would discharge treated waste into the drainage, thus ensuring liquid-waste management at the source.

A new dietary kitchen will also start functioning a t the hospital soon. A modern kitchen is under construction for the same.

The idea of providing food to the patients wa s a new concept in government hospitals. The General Hospital would offer the facilit y from next month, thus becoming one of the first i nstitutions to do so in the country, said hospital Superintendent Junaid Rahman. The civil work for the new kitchen, estimated to cost Rs.30 lakh, will be completed soon. P. Rajiv, MP, has provided Rs.15 lakh from his Local Area Development Fund and the Kochi Refinery Limited has provided Rs.10 lakh for t he purpose.

Four dieticians would prepare the menu for the patients and the food wou ld be provided at their bedside three times a day free of cost.

As per estimates, the 783-bed hospital will have to pool in Rs.25,000 a day for providing food to the in-patients. ³We have managed to get a few sponsors, but more would be required,´ said Dr. Rahman.

Other programmes under which food is provided to bystanders will continue. Once the dietary kitchen starts functioning, outside food will not be allowed for in-patients.

DIALYSIS

Another facility that is coming up at the General Hospital is free dialysis f or renal failure patients, which will be implemented in association with Navajeevanam, a unit of the Satya Sai Orphanage Trust. The organisation has been providing free dialysis service at nine centres in six districts in the State for the last five years.

So far, 75,000 dialyses have been done at these ce ntres, which cost Rs.7 crore, said K.N. Anand K umar, executive director of the Trust, in a statement.

The government would provide space, electricity, medicines, and doctors for the service. The Trust would provide dialysis machine and technicians. The unit would function round-the-clock.

Navajeevanam was undertaking renovation works, estimated to cost Rs.17 lakh, at the space provided by the hospital, the statement said.

KOCHI, September 23, 2011 Freshwater fishes, plants struggle to survive in Western Ghats

P ollution, commercial development and modification of natural systems pose a threat, says study

Pollution, commercial development and modification of natural systems are posing serious threats to a large number of freshwater fishes, mollusc and odonates, including dragonflies and damselflies, of the Western Ghats, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

It was also found that the highest nu mber of threatened species is located within the southern Western Ghats hotspot in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and southern Karnataka.

The risks faced by these species were highlighted i n the assessment of the freshwater biodiversity of the regio n carried out by the IUCN Global Species Programme's Freshwater Biodiversity Unit, in association with the Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO), Coimbatore. The global conservation status and distribution of 1,146 freshwater species were assessed using the I UCN red list of threatened categories and criteria. Commercial fisheries, aquarium trade, construction of dams and alien invasive species too were found mounting pressure on the species.

It was also found that 180 taxa were threatened with extinction. However, no species was assessed as extinct or exti nct in the wild, the report said.

River systems of the Tapi, the Krishna, the Cauvery and the Godavari and species endemic to Gujarat, Mahara shtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu were reviewed. Andhra Pradesh and western and southern portions of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh were also included in the assessment as the drainages of the rivers originating in the Western Ghats flowed through these Stat es.

The species introduced to the region prior to 1500 A D were assessed and subsequent introductions were treated as non-native ones.

The southern Western Ghats region with catchments, including the Pamba, Meenachil, Muvattupuzha, Periyar, Karuvannur, Bharatapuzha, Chaliyar, Kuttyadi, and Valappattanam of Kerala; the Netravati, upper Kabini and Cauvery of Karnataka ; the upper Vaipar, Amaravati, Bhavani and Moyar of Tamil Nadu has the highest richness (260±312 species) and endemism (103±129 species) of freshwater species.

³The analysis informs the status of the freshwater systems in the Western Ghats on which more than 400 million people are dependent across peninsular India,´ said Sanjay Molur, Executive Director of ZOO.

A. Gopalakrishnan, scientist in-charge of the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Kochi, who participated in the evaluation, called for stock-specific rehabilitation of fishes in the river systems to overcome the risks. Protection of key habitats, prevention of flow modifications, and conservation of specialised ecosystems such as Myristica swamps, hig h altitude peat bogs, and lateritic plateaus and prevention of use of pesticide in upper catchments and regulation of tourism in critical habitat s have been suggested by the agency.

UDHGAMANDALAM, July 7, 2011 Final notification for Nilgiris elephant corridor

Nilgiris Collector Archana Patnaik, in a statement issued here on Wednesday, said the final public notice relating to the proposed elephant corridor in the Sigur plateau of the Nilgiris district has come into effect.

Accordingly, the resort owners and other private land owners within the area proposed to be declared as an Elephant Corridor should vacate and hand over possession of the land to the Collector immediately.

Necessary compensation will be given to the private land owners. Those living on government poromboke lands will be given alternative dwelling sites or compensation as per the Forest Dwellers Act, 2006. The details of survey numbers of private lands, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board lands and government lands which form part of the corridor are in the notice which can also be browsed in the official website of the Forest Department (www.forests.tn.nic.in).

The map of the final corridor falling within Sholur, Masinagudy, Hullathy and Kadanad Villages inside the Sigur plateau has also been published.

In compliance with the orders of the Madras High Court and the government, the District Forest Officer, the Nilgiris North Division had published details pertaining to the corridor with a cadastral map on January 7 and 8, 2010 in newspapers. A public hearing was also conducted in February, 2010.

The orders of the government had been passed to protect the area from fragmentation and obstruction by development activities like constructions, holiday resorts, solar energised electric fencing etc and also to ensure safe and undisturbed passage of elephants, genetic dispersal, long survival of the species and development of forests.

CHENNAI, July 5, 2011 Metrowater to earn carbon credits Chennai Metrowater will soon earn carbon credits for its efforts in reducing carbon dioxide emission in four of its sewage treatment plants.

The process of obtaining carbon credit has reached the final stage with the consultant set to register the project with the United Nations body.

According to officials of Chennai Metrowater, SGS India, the co nsultant has prepared an assessment certificate after validating the level of greenhouse gases emission and the efforts of generating electricity from sewage.

About 32 mega watts or 32,000 units of electricity is generated from a total of 264 million litres of sewage received in a day in the STPs. This meets the power requirement of the facilities. Nearly 61,200 tonnes of greenhouse gases is estimated to be reduced per annum through the initiative.

The project has been approved by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. The consultant would register with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change shortly by paying Rs.4.5 lakh to obtain emission reduction certificate. This would help earning carbon credits under the µClean Development Mechanism'. The water agency has saved electricity worth nearly Rs.23 crore si nce August 2005. It will generate a revenue of Rs.4.40 crore per year b y trading its credit in international market, said a senior official of Metrowater. The water agency expects to receive the incentive within six months.

³We will implement the eco-friendly project in four of the remaining five plants in a phased manner. A comprehensive package has been provided to install equipment to generate electricity in the upcoming STPs in Nesapakkam with a capacity to treat 54 mld and Perungudi (60 mld),´ the official said.

While the construction of the plant in Perungudi would be finished next month, the upcoming STP at Nesapakkam would be completed by February next.

ANGALORE, July 3, 2011 A day later, Sankey Tank road looks forlorn

Residents seek BBM P forest official's suspension

A day after 17 trees were felled and protesters briefly detained by the police, the Sankey Tank Bund Road was littered with logs and stumps on Saturday. Twigs and small branches lay scattered on the footpat h, posing a problem for pedestrians. Just two of the 19 trees are left standing on the stretch between Bhashyam Circle and Malleswaram 18th Cross jun ction.

Greens and residents opposed to the road-widening have now petitioned to Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Siddaiah and Principal Secretary, Department of Forests, Ecology and Environment, Kaushik Mukherjee against BBMP's Deputy Conservator of Forests Puttaswamy.

NIGHT FELLING

After days of protests, some 10 or 20 residents helplessly watched a s the contractors went about felling the trees, branch by branch, during the early hours on Friday. ³What was the need to take up the felling at night? If the BBMP has followed all procedures as per law, why were the trees felled in the [dark]?´ was their refrain.

The campaigners, in their petition against Mr. Puttaswamy, have sought his suspension.

Vinay Sreenivasa from Hasiru Usiru said the public auction was called of f after citizens objected to it. The demand drafts (DD) of the earnest money deposit (EMD) were also returned to the 13 bidders.

³We got to know later that the trees had been auctioned. There is no transparency. Also, the unwritten rule is that trees are not felled in the night, especially when it rains. This i s mainly in the interest of the workers' safety as they use power saws.´

On his part, Mr. Puttaswamy said there was no law that stated trees should not be felled in the night. He maintained that neither he nor the tree officer knew of the greens' appeal to the Tree Authorit y. ³The Tree Authority is headed by the Mayor. We did not receive any direction from the appellate authority to stop the felling.´

DUE PROCEDURES

He said the Assistant Conservator of Forests was authorised to carry out the auction. ³Syed Jaffer was the successful bidder. He must have anticipated opposition by citizens and taken up the felling at night. After the trees are sold, the BBM P is not involved in any way.´

Mr. Puttaswamy insisted all due procedures had been followed, and rubbished the allegations aga inst him. BANGALORE, July 3, 2011 A dangerous place to walk

Roads are turnings into death traps for pedestrians as statistics reveal that of the 900 road deaths reported every year in the city, over 500 are pedestrians. In the last 30 days, 12 pedestrians died on the city's roads, three of them in hit-and-runs. Statistics reveal that of the 900 road deaths reported every year in the city, over 500 are pedestrians. While t he police attribute this to their not following traffic rules, the public blames insufficient policing.

³At least 60 per cent of pedestrians come under the vehicles' wheels due to lack of awareness of traffic rules. Also , common traffic violations such as speeding, drunken driving and breaking one-way rules claim the lives of pedestrians,´ A. Nagappa, As sistant Commissioner of Police (Central Sub-Division), told The Hindu.

The most hazardous roads are the arterial roads, peripheral roads, outer and inner ring roads and State highways.

NOT FROM THE CITY

Mr. Nagappa said: ³At least 50 per cent of the victims are from neighbouring States and northern parts of the country. And of the victims from the State, a majority are from north Karnataka .´

Nearly 60 per cent of accidents involving pedestrians are caused by heavy t ransport vehicles (HTV) and light motor vehicles (LMV) while around 20 per cent are caused by motorcycles, he added. Most of those who died were men aged between 45 and 70. Most of the accidents were after dark.

SHRINKING FOOTPATHS

Pedestrians lay their lives on the line when there are no proper zebra crossings, footpaths, medians, road signs and barricades, besides poor lighting and hazardous maintenance works by public utilities.

Shrinking footpaths, lack of skywalks, pedestrian priority signals, endless digging of footpaths, potholes and footpat h encroachments also force pedestrians to walk on the road.

KOCHI, June 16, 2011 Improving lives on coastal zone tops MLA's priorities

Dominic P resentation reveals his plan of action for Kochi constituency Even for an MLA with as much experience as Dominic Presentation, his constituency remains a challenge. The newly-formed Kochi constituency covers a diverse population from the cosmopolitan urban crowd at Fort Kochi to t he backward fishermen community along the coast to slum-dwellers of Mattanchery.

³If there is one issue that affects all th ese people, it is shortage of drinking water. This is going to be first in my list of priorities. I a m trying to support the ongoing works that are progressing under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). It is believed that once these works are commissioned the water shortage of Kochi w ill be addressed to a great extent,´ he says.

Mr. Presentation is familiar with the issues of the coastal zone as he had represented Palluruthy constituency earlier.

The new constituency formed during delimitation has a 19-km-long coastline. ³The major i ssue faced by the coastal people is sea ero sion. I have given a request for Rs.3.2 crore for breakwaters ( pulimuttu)along the coast,´ he says.

A new design of a µT'-shaped breakwater has been tried out a t Kannamali and near INS Dronacharya, the Naval establishment. Mr. Presentation is demanding more such breakwaters along the coast as it is more effective in bringing down sea incursions.

³This is not enough. We need to build retaining walls parallel to the existing sea wall and also check the seeping in through walls. I have given a list of schemes estimated to cost around Rs.10 crore that need to be implemented in next couple of years.´ Mr. Presentation still remembers the suffering he witnessed among slum-dwellers during his election campaign.

His challenge is mounted by the fact that construction activities in Fort Ko chi and Mattanchery heritage zones are restricted by law and there are many stretches of land available where no one has any clear idea about ownership. ³I have seen nearly 10 families and their pet a nimals living in single room houses, which are already in dilapidated conditions.´

The condition of the fishermen community along the coa st, especially in Kannamali and Chellanam areas are also much the same. ³I am working on housing schemes for these people, where 50 per cent of the cost would be borne by the State government, rest by NGOs or voluntary organisations. The beneficiary will also have to add a nominal contribution or at least put in manual labour in this ,´ he said.

Mr. Presentation has also formed some grand plans to revive the lost glory of the heritage zone of Fort Kochi and Mattanchery.

³These areas, especially Mattanchery, used to be the co mmercial hub in the past. Now many of the se warehouses are lying unused. I am in the process of initiating discussions with all concerned to check whether these can be linked to the emerging container terminals at Vallarpadom. This will ensure job for the local crowd and a lso bring back life to the streets of Mattanchery.´

He is also working on proposals for boosting the tourism i ndustry. ³The work of the State Highway that goes along the coast is already on. The State government is also planning to bring in A C and non-AC low floor buses. Linking these two, I a m going to move a proposal like having non-stop tourist bus services connecting destinations like Munnar and Kovalam with Fort Kochi.´

DESKIT (J-K), June 30, 2011 Double-hump camel population dwindles in Ladakh

In this nondescript, small town of Jammu and Kashmir, Yuvraj, Yusuf and Harbhajan are on the verge of extinction!

Double-hump camels, usually named after cricket stars, are exclusively found in this region of L adakh and act as a major attraction for both domestic and international tourists, who come here to take a ride on them.

³We get at least 50 visitors everyday. The number increases in the peak season. But there is a shortage of basic amenities both for visitors and camels. Already some of them have died due to lack of care and shortage of fodder,´ said Rigzen, who owns five camels and runs a safari at a farm here for tourists.

He sought to blame the State government for not doi ng enough for the welfare of farm owners and the unique ani mals found in Deskit and Hunder areas in the Nubra valley.

According to the farm owners, there are approximately 150 camels with t wo humps in the Ladakh region but most of them live in wild.

³There are only 37 camels left in the farm, out of 50 we had a year ago. About 13 have died due to different reasons. There i s an urgent need to do something for their protection,´ said Mohammed Shafi, another camel owner.

³Just to ensure that sufficient tourists come, we raise money to attract them. We have named our camels after cricket stars Yuvraj, Yusuf and Harbhajan in a bid to invite some more visitors,´ he said.

Farm owners have demanded that the government make shelters for their animals and give financial as sistance to help them in their business. ³This camel safari is our only business. We need help from State administration in many ways. Nobody hears our co mplaints and demands,´ an upset Shafi said.

A 15-minute ride on the camel here costs around Rs. 200.

³I have heard a lot about it. It was really nice to ride on them. I enjoyed a lot,´ said Sakshi, who had come from Vadodara.

When asked, Leh Deputy Commissioner Tsering Angchok said, ³We are doing a lot to improve tourism and infrastructure in the region. Soon things will be alright. Already we have got g ood increase in footfalls of tourists. We expect more visitors during the year.´

Over 257 people had died and 1,400 households were damaged in a cloud burst that occurred in Leh on the intervening night of August 5-6 last year. Authorities are working hard to revamp the town and the neighbouring areas. NEW DELHI, June 30, 2011 Exploration of forests causing depletion of Himalayan medicinal wealth

Developmental pressure on forests and their unscrupulous exploitation ha ve caused ³severe depletion´ of Himalayan medicinal wealth, a government report said and warned that the situation would go worse if c orrective steps are not taken.

A report submitted to the Environment Ministry also said encouraging co mmercial cultivation is vital for the success of medicinal plants sector to meet the ever growing demand for ³temperate medicinal plants´.

This medicinal wealth, which occupies an important place in Vedic treatise, has been depleting continuously for the last two decades i n their natural habitat, said the report by the Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI), adding that the depletion of medicinal plants resource base is affecting the health and livelihood options of t he people.

North-western Himalayan region with its wide range of altitudes, topography and climatic conditions, is a rich repository of medicinal wealth.

According to the report, ³more than 800 valuable medicinal species found in t his part of India is extensively used by t he locals since time immemorial for curing various diseases of humankind.´

³It is now a well known fact that medicinal plants sector possesses great potential to uplift the economy of thi s part of India,´ it said.

³However, various developmental and anthropogenic pressures on the for ests, unscrupulous exploitation of medicinal plants in the wake of their increasing national and global trade, inadequacy of management inputs and lack of enabling legi slation have caused severe depletion of the medicinal plants resource base,´ it said.

WELLINGTON, June 27, 2011 Southern right whales make comeback to New Zealand waters

Southern right whales hunted to near-extinction in the 19th c entury appeared to be re-colonising waters off New Zealand¶s two main islands, scientists said Monday.

A study by Auckland University, Oregon State University and other i nstitutions found the whales were returning to their old New Zealand calving grounds as their numbers increase off the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands.

Southern right whales were hunted intensively off New Zealand and Australia in the 19th century. The species was gi ven legal protection by the League of Nations in 1935 but was subject to illegal whaling in the 1950s and 1960s.

The study published Monday concluded the mainland New Zealand population was wiped out and DNA samples taken from t he returning whales showed they come from the 1,000 left around Auckland Island.

CHENNAI, August 8, 2011 Evaluation lists major threats to three Tiger Reserves

Up and coming development projects, increasing pressure from tourism and pilgrimage, increasing number of hotels and conflicts with local communities are the major threats faced by the three tiger reserves in the State.

The weaknesses include inadequate trained and competent staff in the tiger reserves, disturbance due to hu man settlements inside the reserves and fringes, exotic plantations, invasive species, increasing human ± wildlife conflict in certain pockets a nd some corridors still falling outside the tiger reserves. The µManagement Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of Tiger Reserves in India: Process and Outcomes 2010 ± 2011,' brought out by the Wildlife Institute of India and National Tiger Conservation Authority, has listed the strengths of the tiger reserves as well.

Connectivity to adjoining areas, strong support of stakeholders, good scientific re search information and strong eco-development programme have been identified as strengths of Kalakad ± Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.

Sound protection strategies, adequate baseline information, adequate support of local people, co-ordination and contiguity with Kerala are the strong points for Anamalai.

At Mudumalai, the landscape adjoining Bandipur and Wayanad has provided space for migration of large mammals and integration into the ecosystem. Protection system, with anti-poaching strategies in place, has been termed good.

In all three reserves, the study has viewed the establishment of tiger foundations, growing interest of research among individuals and institutions and increasing government support as opportunities.

Prepared under the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) framework, the outcome of the MEE process has cat egorised the three tiger reserves in the State as very good. The Western Ghats landscape has been rated 75 on the M EE score, 10 points above the average of 65 per cent for all five clusters.

However, the team chaired by State's former head of Forest Department C.K. Sreedharan with Yogesh Dubey and E.A. Jayson as members which evaluated Cluster IV covering nine tiger reserves (TR) in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu has found several shortcomings in management.

Management plan

While all TRs have an approved management plan, none of them has approved tiger conservation plan, the report noted. The present system of beat, section and range as unit of management, has t o be evaluated to see if it was serving the twin major purposes of protection and implementation of developmental programmes.

While enforcing Acts, it was noticed that booking of wildlife offences, filing of charge sheets and taking them to logical conclusions i n a time bound manner was also absent in most TRs.

Apart from inadequately trained staff, the motivational level was not very high due to lack of adequate incentives. Besides, there was lack of arms and ammunitions and efficient communication systems and other equipment.

Most of the TRs lacked true research and development support to make th em sustainable, said the report. It has also found shortcomings in capacity building of staff in wildlife management, unorganised tourism management, lack of internal monitoring and evaluation systems, delayed release of funds. Another major drawback reported was the inadequate attention paid to local communities inside the TRs and in the immediate surroundings and failure to accept them as full partners in ma nagement practices.

Implementation of Forest Rights Act 2006 has been found to be quite tardy and poor in most of the TRs.

The report also emphasised the need for a comprehensive resettlement programme to reduce serious biotic interference, active management of animals straying into agricultural fields, steering of tiger foundations i n proper direction and participation of stakeholders in management which was only moderate now

HENNAI, August 8, 2011 Construction of fish landing centre threatens flamingo habitat

F orest department wants construction work stopped

Annamalaicheri, the only flamingo habitat in Pulicat Lake on the Tamil Nadu side, is facing a threat due to the construction of a fish landing centre, according to forest officials and environmentalists.

As part of setting up a series of fish landing centres along the east coast fo r the benefit of fishermen, the Fisheries Department authorities began work at the Annamalaicheri village, part of the Pulicat lake eco system, which was declared a bird sanctuary in 1980.

Taking note of the threat, the State Forest Department has written to the Fisheries Department and the Tiruvallur Collector to stop the work immediately as no construction work could be taken up inside the sanctuary limit s, forest officials said.

Once an area is declared a sanctuary, any development activity could be taken up only after prior permission from the National Board for Wildlife, the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980. However, fisheries officials claim that they have permission from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for the construction of the fish landing centre and that the y began work only after getting CRZ clearance from MoEF . However, they are tight-lipped about whether the National Board of Wildlife has also granted approval.

Construction work in the ecologically sensitive Annamalaicheri area would force thousands of migratory flamingos to look for alternative sites.

The shallow waters to the north of the village are the only known and recorded habitat of the flami ngos in the Tamil Nadu part of the Pulicat Birds Sanctuary.

Every year, thousands of flamingos congregate in these shallow waters ric h in food, especially prawns, between December and May.

³Rare birds such as godwit, curlew, whimbrel, a variety of plovers, and a large number of migratory ducks along with lesser flamingos visit the sanctuary during the migratory season,´ says T. Murugavel, project co-ordinator, Environmental Monitoring and Action Initiating.

³The place also acts as a major feeding ground for lakh s of birds breeding in the neighbouring Nellapattu bird sanctuary i n Andhra Pradesh. Any anthropogenic pressure will have a negative impact on the fragile ecosystem,´ he said.

Environmentalists like Prof. Sanjeeva Raj, a scientist working in the Pulica t lake eco-system for nearly 50 years, have been urging the State to declare Annamalaicheri as a separate bird sanctuary, foreseeing the dangers of development to this fragile habitat, which faces threat from the real estate sector as well.

Keywords: Pulicat Lake, flamingo habitat, habitat conservation, Annamalaicheri fish landing centre, ecologically sensitive area

HYDERABAD, August 4, 2011 Connecting with Nature

As an engineer turned eco-warrior, Abhinav Gangumalla talks about his experiences and his plans to ma ke Hyderabad greener. V ishnupriya Bhandaram listens in

³Who says nine pointers can't have fun? In fact, I would go on to say that we probably have the most fun!´ beams Abhinav Gangumalla, the man who brought green to Hyderabad.

S witching paths

This civil engineer is an alumnus of Gitam University in Vishakapatnam. ³Vizag was fun, right across our college was th e beach. What more could we ask for? Nature, waters and fun!´ says Abhinav.

He pursued an M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology in Mu mbai, where he studied Intelligence Transportation Platforms. Abhinav is a hardcore traveller; Kashmir and Kerala are the only places he has left to explore.

He has also lived in and travelled across Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and C hennai, but he describes himself as a hardcore Hyderabadi. "It's me, my bullet and the road," says a nomadic Abhina v.

³After working in almost all major cities in the country, I finally decided to come back to Hyderabad in June 2009. But the scene had completely changed by the time I came back. Hyderabad was more polluted, the environment had gone to dogs and I realised t hat it wasn't the city that I loved anymore,´ he reminisces. ´³I didn't like what I saw. Everybody says plant a tree, save the earth. The point is, the earth will save itself eventually, and the question is will you?´ he remarks.

It was then that he decided to ³be the change´ and actively work for a cleaner and greener Hyderabad. Santosh Banapuram, his old classmate in Little Flower Junior College and now COO of Hyderabad Goes Green, was instrumental in this move. ³It's our duty to lea ve some earth for our kids´ says Santosh.

A modest start

Leaving a well-paying job to save the environment cannot be easy. ³My mother didn't like it initially,´ says Ab hinav.

³I have had all the comforts in life, now I have to travel by cheaper means. But I guess she is happy now² she knows I am happy doing what I do now.´ Hyderabad Goes Green (HGG) is a unique initiative that promotes green living while mobilising employment by working with local N GOs. Its first, modest project, manufacture of organic holi colours, drew a huge res ponse.

Abhinav recalls, ³It was just a bench with organic colours in an empty room and one colour was leaking fro m the pack because of its fine texture. I had to explain to each customer, but they smiled back and said, µit's all right; you guys are doing something good.' If you look at it from my side, it's not like people don't want to be eco-friendly, it's just that they don't know how to.´

Now HGG conducts workshops for corporate offices on their Green Days or Impact Days. The team is often asked to deliver lectures and speeches at these corporate initiatives. To connect children with nature, H GG is installing square foot gardens. The team recently installed square foot gardens at Bhavans School to educate children on ur ban farming by growing organic vegetables on their school terrace.

Composting and urban gardening

³If you show a kid a potato and french fries, chances are that he would rec kon with the fries rather than the root!´ says Abhinav. ³It's time to get real. All our fruits are ripened using Capstan and Carbide. When people eat Wa shington apples, they are also paying for a wax f ilm around it... We need to get out of that shopping habit,´ he adds. Santosh B. chips i n, ³Urban gardening solutions are the need of the hour. You can grow your own veggies and it's a great way to keep in shape too!´

HGG also puts up stalls of eco-friendly products. Another area of focus for HGG is composting. The composting system originally designed by Punam Bir Kasturi of Daily Dump has been cloned by HGG member, Huda Masood.

Abhinav and Santosh say that many people write to t hem with suggestions and inputs. They are happy to know there are others out there feeling for their cause.

The way forward for a better environment, Abhinav and Santosh feel, is co llaboration between green entrepreneurs, so that jointly they can lobby and influence the government into taking real action.

Environment protection is about involving all the stakeholders in an environment²the people, society, and self-help groups.

Looking ahead

Abhinav is now working on a retirement plan that includes owning a place where nothing goes in and nothing comes out. He is also planning a trip to Kashmir on his Bullet. Meanwhile, Abhinav, Santosh and their team are happy t hat every day they save 250 kg of waste from getting dumped in the landfill; small beginnings for big ideas.

Recycling waste

What? Compost is a nutrient-rich material created by nature. Plant remains and other o nce-living materials break down into an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that enriches soil.

Why? Composting helps reduce emissions of methane, the greenhouse gas, and drastically cuts dow n what you send to a landfill.

How? Collect your garden and kitchen waste separately from plastic waste, cover it with soil and let it decompose in a clean, neat airy earthen container. Use the compost to fertilise your plants.

Own your veggies

What? A square foot garden is a small but intensively planted garden.

It is an open-bottomed box divided into small grids.

Why? When you grow your own vegetables and herbs you save transport costs.

The Urban Gardening soil mix also uses water much more efficiently than conventional backyard or pot gardens.

How? Urban Gardening solution provides a 4x4 foot box with 1x 1 foot partitions in it.

You grow a different herb or vegetable of your choice i n each square.

GUWAHATI, August 3, 2011 Guwahati institute to assist Indonesian rhino project To share its experience with the great one-horned pachyderm

Aaranyak, a wildlife research and bio-diversity conservation organisation based in the city will assist Indonesian authorities to undertake non-invasive genetics research on two critically endangered species ² the Javan and the Sumatran rhinos ² in Indonesia.

The Aaranyak under its Wildlife Genetics Programme will work with an Indonesian counterpart to initiate non-invasive DNA-based research to estimate the population size, male-female-calf ratio, rhino density and also study the i ssue of genetic bottleneck and inbreeding of the rhinos.

The global population of the Javan rhino is less t han 50 and found only in Ujung Kulon National Park (NP) cu m World Heritage Site in West Java.

Indonesia harbours about 60-70 per cent of total global population of the Sumatran rhino, whose population in the world is between 200- 250.

Head of Wildlife Genetics Programme at Aaranyak, Udayan Borthakur, recently visited Indonesia to prepare the line of action needed to undertake the research and interacted with park officials, officials at Yaya san Badak and Eijkman Institute, stated Aaranyak publicity secretary Dhrubajyoti Kalita in a release.

The Guwahati-based organisation decided to lend its technical support aft er discussion with the International Rhino Foundation (IRF). The IRF has been assisting conservation and protection in Indonesia through it s partner Yayasan Badak and in association with the Mi nistry of Forestry, Indonesia, Mr. Kalita added.

The lab-based work will be performed at the Eijkman Institute in Jakarta with technical assistance from Aaranyak, which will assist it to prepare the needed markers for DNA-based studies from dung and hair samples.

Mr. Borthakur claimed that the Wildlife Genetics Programme successfully prepared and tested the markers for the great one horned rhino to undertake non-invasive research.

The IRF has been actively assisting conservation and protection of the Javan rhino at the Ujung Kulon National Park and the Sumatran species at the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park and Way Ka mbas National Park of Indonesia by supporting the rhino protection units.

ONDON, July 8, 2011 All polar bears came from Ireland!

All polar bears came from Ireland, claim scientists who have revealed that the animals descended from a single female brown bear living in the European nation during last Ice Age, around 10,000 to 110,000 years ago.

An international team claims that although polar bears existed before that time having evolved from a different group of brown bears in Siberia 200,000 years ago, Irish bear is their earliest known common ancestor.

The scientists explained that climate changes affecting the North Atlantic ice sheet probably gave rise to periodic overlaps in bear habitats. These overlaps then led to hybridisation ² an event that cau sed maternal DNA from brown bears to be introduced into polar bears.

In their study, the scientists studied samples of DNA t aken from the bones and teeth of 242 brown bears and polar bears, including modern animals and fossilised bears that lived 120,000 years ago.

The analysis found that the mitochondrial DNA of li ving polar bears closely matches the genetic material taken from female brown bears living in Ireland 20,000 to 50,000 years ago, t he British media reported.

As well as the different skin and coat colours, polar bears are larger than brown bears, and have a different toot h structure. Polar bears live in the Arctic and are expert swimmers while brown bears are climbers that prefer mountain forests, say the scientists.

Lead scientist Prof. Mark Thomas said: ³Interbreeding between brown bears and polar bears is usually thought of as a dead end. But this shows it happened before and is part of the evolution of both species.´ He added: ³The odd thing is that although polar bears and brown bears have been around for a long time, and are clearly different, these Irish brown bear genes have swept through polar bears so quickly.´

During the last Ice Age, polar bears roamed much further south than the Arctic. At the time, Britain was connected to the rest of Europe by a land bridge, while ice sheets linked Britain with Ireland.

Scientists say the findings could help protect the polar bear which is an endangered species.

Dr. Beth Shapiro, a team member, added: ³We know that the two species have interbred opportunistically and probably on many occasions during the last 100,000 years. Generally, this seems to happen when climate changes force the bears to move i nto each other¶s habitats. When they come into contact, there seems to be little barrier to them mating.´

The findings have been published in the C urrent Biology journal.

KOLLAM, July 28, 2011 Protected areas alone cannot stem biodiversity loss: study

The continued reliance on a strategy of setting aside land and marine territories as ³protected areas´ is insufficient to stem global biodi versity loss, says a comprehensive study published in Marine Ecology P rogress Series, a journal of the Germany-based Inter-Research Science C entre, on Thursday.

Despite an impressively rapid growth of protected land and marine areas worldwide, totalling over 1,00,000 in number and covering 17 million sq.km of land and 2 million sq.km of oceans, biodiversity i s in a steep decline, it adds.

The authors of the study, Camilo Mora of th e University of Hawaii and Peter F. Sale of the United Nations University's International Network on Water, Health and Environment, says that in a country like India alone, about 4 million people can get displaced if protected areas are fully enforced.

While stating that protected areas are a valuable tool i n the fight to preserve biodiversity, the study sugge sts getting serious about addressing the growth in size of the global population and the consumption rate because protected areas alone cannot solve the biodiversity loss problems.

³Clearly, the biodiversity loss problem has been underestimated and the ability of protected areas to solve this problem overestimated,´ Dr. Mora says.

Expected scenarios of human population growth and consumption levels indicate that cumulative human demands will impose an unsustainable toll on the Earth's ecological resources and services, accelerating the rate at wh ich biodiversity is being lost. Current and future human requirements will worsen the challenge of effectively implementing protected areas, while suggesting at the same ti me that effective biodiversity conservation requires new approaches.

Dr. Mora says, ³Biodiversity is humanity's life support system delivering e verything from food to clean water and air to recreation, tourism and to novel chemicals that drive our advanced civilisation.´ Yet there is a n increasingly well-documented global trend in biodiversity loss triggered by a host of human activities.

Dr. Sale says, ³Protected areas have helped preserve some species at local scales, but promotion of thi s strategy as a global solution to biodiversity loss has occurred without adequate assessment of their potential effectiveness in achieving the goal.´

They warn that long-term failure of the protected areas strategy ca n erode public and political support for biodiversity conservation. The study also says that continuing heavy reliance on prot ected areas strategy has technical and practical limitations. These include slow growth in protected area coverage, inadequate size and connectivity of protected areas, underfunding, and conflicts with human development.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, September 16, 2011 Stench from Arabian sea due to geological factor, says Researcher

With a foul smell emanating from the sea i n some parts of Kerala in the la st few days, scientists have said there was no cause for anxiety but are divided on the reasons behind the phenomenon. Some scientists have attributed this to the large mass of marine algae killed by lowering of salinity owing to influx of fresh water from rivers and run-off but another state-based researcher disagrees with it and said the phenomenon was due t o seismic factors.

A team of researchers from Kerala University, which studied the phenomenon reported from coastal areas off K ollam and Thiruvananthapuram had held the foul smell was attributable to the bacterial decay of a possible algal bloom.

The researchers of the university¶s Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries led b y A Biju Kumar have recommended to the go vernment close monitoring of coastal waters to identify the presence of algal bloom that could produce toxins.

They said they reached the conclusion based on exami nation of various parameters like the colour of the sea, salinity, t emperature, pH nutrients, plankton, microbes and fish mortality.

However, Dr Sainudeen Pattazhy, Associate Professor of Zoology in SN College Kollam, said the ste nch was linked to seismic phenomena like tremors of moderate intensity that had been experienced in several districts of Kerala and ot her states recently.

Even though parameters like salinity and temperature were within the optimum levels, there was no chance of occurrence of algal blooming, massive death and decay of algae. If algal blooming occurred, a t hick scum would develop on the sea surface, which had not happened, Dr Pattazhy told PTI.

Anoxic conditions during the night, changes in water quality, pollution, upwelling, nutrient discharges, run-off from the land during the south west monsoon were all natural process but no foul smell had been fe lt, Dr Pattazhy said.

³If massive death of plankton was due to lowering of salinity, the n why did it not affect the fish fauna and other animals? No mortality of fish and other animals were observed during this period,´ Dr Pattazhy, also president of Kerala Environmental Researchers Association, said.

Stench event and ³red rain´ were observed in 2000, 2001 and 2011 in K erala. These events were preceded by low intensity tremors in several districts of Kerala, massive collapse of wells and land slips, he said .

The fundamental cause of stench from sea was attributable to geological c hanges under sea, he said. The December 12, 2000 quake and t he lesser intensive tremors that occurred in 2001 were causing several perceivable changes in the earth as well as the atmosphere. The epicentre was stated to be in Meenachil Taluk in Ko ttayam district, he said.

The earth¶s surface consisted of seven large rigid plates (continental plates). There were equal number of small plates.

These were moving at the rate of four centimetres per year and these plates move slowly past one another, he said.

When µfault¶ occurred under sea, hydrogen sulphide and other inert gases would escape from the sea surface, which was the reason for the foul smell and this had no connection with alga l blooming, salinity and nutrient variations, he said.

At times, following the emission of gases from u nder the sea, molten lava would ooze to the sea surface. Some fisherman had recently reported that they had seen oozing of black fluid from the bottom to the surface of sea, he said.

If the stench was due to algal blooming, death a nd decay of algae, the foul smell would not spread to several kilometers.

Here the situation was different that the foul s mell spread to several kms, he said. There was, however, no need for panic as these phenomena are temporary and when the fault under the sea corrects itself t his would stop, he said.

CHENNAI, August 8, 2011 Coastal management project to be extended to more States

Global meet on µMangroves for C oastal Area Management'

The Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project, now being implemented in Gujarat, Orissa and West B engal with World Bank assistance, would be extended to the other 10 coastal States al so, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan said here o n Sunday.

Under the project, hazard mapping is being carried out for the entire country with the help of the Survey of India. And to build capacity and undertake research in the area of coastal management, a National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management within Anna University, Chennai, is being established in collaboration with 11 identified State-level research institutions, including the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), she added. ³My ministry has accorded highest prior ity to sustainable management of coastal areas,´ she said. Inaugurating a four-day international conference on µMangroves for Coastal Area Management,' organised by the MSSRF, she lamented that over the past 30 years, India had lost about 1 2 per cent of its mangroves because of human pressure on coastal areas.

³This is a matter of serious concern to us ,´ she said. ³Our coastal ecosystems are a critical reservoir of our biodiversity. They provide protection from natural disasters and are a source of livelihood to millions of fa milies.´ Ms. Natarajan said.

Pointing out that India had ³remarkable biodiversity´ in its coastal and marine ecosystems, she said the country had the world's best and rarest coral reefs. Dense mangrove forests and delicate sea grass beds were just a few of the natural treasures to be found along India's coastline.

She said fisheries sector generated employment to more than six million p eople and accounted for 1.2 per cent of Indian GDP. Fish was also an important protein source for many people. Besides, coastal and marine environment was of importance to other major economic production sectors that included agriculture, tourism, ports, maritime shipping, other major transport and communication sectors and their related infrastructure.

Ms.Natarajan lauded the contribution of the MSSRF to the disadvantaged sections of society and described its chairman M. S.Swaminathan as a ³national treasure´ who deserved Bharat Ratna.

Earlier she released a volume on ³mangrove´.

Dr. Swaminathan, presiding, said mangroves acted as ³super speed breakers´ against ³super cyclones´. Calling them ³bio-shield´, he suggested that these could be raised near the atomic power plants as protection from natural disasters. People should realise the value of mangroves, he pleaded. Explaining the mission of the foundation, which is celebrating it s 22{+n}{+d} annual day, he said ³we are trying to blend traditional wisdom with modern science´ for the welfare of mankind.

J.R.Bhatt, Director, MoEF, promised to extend ³core support´ to the foundation's activities.

N.Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, and a trustee of the foundation, sai d this organisation was unique because it gave primacy to science and had made a difference to society.

Ajay Parida, executive director, MSSRF, outlined the activities of the foundation and how it had been helpful to various sections of society.

CHENNAI, August 8, 2011 Jayanthi Natarajan welcomes State's initiative to combat plastic menace

Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan has welcomed the Tamil Nadu gov ernment's initiative to combat the plastic menace. (The State Government has banned use of plastic bags below 60 microns).

Talking to presspersons on the sidelines of an international conference on mangroves and coastal area management here on Sunday, she described Chief Minister Jayalalithaa undertaking an aerial survey in this regard as a ³welcome approach´.

She promised to extend her ministry's co-operation to the State government in thi s endeavour.

Asked whether the Centre had any plans of banning plastic materials of a certain category on the lines of the State government's action, she said, µThis requires a detailed study.´

She said her first mission on taking over th e Ministry was to dispel the feeling that protection to environment was a stumbling block to growth.

³There is no conflict .There can be no growth without protecting the environment. Without sustainable environment there cannot be any holistic development.´

Referring to the oft-repeated criticism of delay in granting eco-clearance t o projects, she said 71 per cent of the projects (less than five hectares) came under the jurisdiction of the State governments.

As much as 17 per cent of the project s came under the jurisdiction of the R egional Office of her Ministry. Only nine per cent came directly under her Ministry and all the projects had been cleared withi n the mandatory period of one year. ³There is ab solutely no delay on our part´, she contended. Keywords: plastic ban

COMMENTS:

The Ministers are probably looking at only the urban a reas. A visit to the Rural areas (specially villages) will send shock waves. The plastic wastes would be found strewn around all over and no one would be bothered to keep the villages clean from this menace. I dont blame the residents but definitely the Panchayat Presidents/Ward councillors should be booked for allowing such practices. In the name of NREGA money is being swindled by such people. Please make the Panchayat t eam accountable and responsible in maintaining the Villages clean.

HENNAI, August 11, 2011 Forest Department makes first move to get Pallikaranai marsh declared Ramsar site

The State Forest Department has made the preliminary move to get the Pallikaranai marshland declared as a Ramsar site by submitting a compliance report to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

A detailed report has been prepared by the Forest Department, complying with various requirements of the Ra msar convention. The report was sent last week, a Forest official told The Hindu.

The department in its report stated that the topogr aphy of the marsh was such that it always retained some storage, thus forming an aquatic ecosystem. A study in 2007 showed that the marsh has been home for naturally occurring plants belonging to 6 0 species; more than 45 species of fishes; more than 100 species of bird s; 20 species of reptiles; nine species of a mphibians and seven species of butterflies, besides molluscs and crustaceans.

Added to that is the latest report on the sighting of white-spotted garden skink and Russell's Viper the most widespread Asian wipers, confirm its value to ecological status, the officer said .

The Pallikaranai marshland is among the few and last remaining natural wetlands of south India.

The place is a formation of a low lying fresh water marsh, adjacent to the Bay of Bengal, situated about 20 km south of Chennai city.

The Department had justified that as the marshland contained rare or e ndangered and threatened species, which acted as a forage and breeding ground for thousands of migratory birds from various places within and outside the country, the officer said.

The Ramsar Convention is an intergovernmental treaty that embodies the commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of their wetlands of international importance and to plan for the wise use or sustainable use of all the wetlands in their territories.

R.J. Ranjit Daniels, co-founder, Care Earth, a bio-diversity research organisation said according Ramsar Site status to Pallikaranai marsh would get an international recognition to the place, as it is considered as a globally important place.

Keywords: Pallikaranai marshland,

NEW DELHI, June 22, 2011 UNESCO lauds Manas¶ revival story, removes danger tag

Acknowledging the great revival story, UNESCO has removed the µdanger tag¶ imposed on the famous Manas National Park of Assam 19 years ago, following significant improvement in wildlife conservation.

The decision to remove the µdanger tag¶ was announced during the ongoing 35th session of UNESCO¶s World Heritage Committee in Paris.

³Significant improvements in the preservation of Manas Wildlife Sanctuary have allowed for its withdrawal from the World Heritage List in Danger,´ the Committee said.

Situated on the foothills of the Himalayas, the Manas sanctuary, home to a great variety of wildlife, including many endangered species, such as tiger, pygmy hog, one-horn rhinoceros and elephant, was inscribed in t he List of Danger in 1992, seven years after it had entered UNESCO¶s World Heritage List. The Committee noted that the outstanding universal value, for which Man as was inscribed in the World Heritage list, was ³recovering from damages sustained during ethnic unrest´ in the site.

It had decided to include this site in the danger when the park became a safe haven for militants and there was rampant poaching inside it , with damages estimated over USD two million.

³India scores a winning goal for Manas,´ said Jagdish Ki shwan, Additional Director General (Wildlife), who led the Indian delegation at the session.

³Inscription of a site in the List of World Heritage in Danger has two sides to it. One, it draws global attention to the problems faced by the site, which is beneficial; the second, it indicates a pending threat that the site could be deleted as a World Heritage completely if appropriate measures are not taken to restore it,´ said Vivek Menon, executive director of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), and another member of the delegation.

The turnaround in Manas¶ fate came about in early 2000s.

The political situation in the area began i mproving and culminated in the creation of the Autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) under the Bodo Accord (February 2003).

Since then, there have been concerted efforts by the go vernment and locals assisted by committed NGOs and individuals to revive Manas.

Under the µBringing Back Manas¶ initiative of the BTC and the Assam forest department in collaboration with t he International Fund for Animal Welfare and WTI, Greater Manas was declared, tripling its area.

The protection and management of Manas was enhanced through training of front line staff, provision of equipment and facilitating and encouraging involvement of local communities in conservation.

³Assam has been setting examples in wildlife conservation for the entire w orld to follow.

First, the biggest conservation success story of the century in Kaziranga National Park and now it is the revival of Manas,´ said Assam¶s Chief Wildlife Warden Suresh Chand who was also a member of the Indian delegation.

The decision on the World Heritage status of Ma nas was an outcome of voting by 22 member countries to the World Heritage Committee.

An independent review on the status was done by the IUCN to apprise the Committee on the present situation in Manas.

³We have seen Manas change over the past several years, and now the world knows it.

This will get better, but only if th e local people actively help authorities in conservation.

Without the continued support of the people, this could not have been possible and without their support this cannot be sustained,´ said Kampa Borgoyari, deputy chief of BTC.

KOLLAM, June 21, 2011 µExtinct¶ mangrove sighted after 150 years

KSS P activist stumbles upon yellow mangrove on a 40-acre island of Ashtamudi Lake

A mangrove species, long believed to have gone extinct in the State, was sighted on an isolated private i sland of Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam. 'Ceriops tagal' or the yellow mangrove has been listed by the Forest Department as a ³mangrove species that had disappeared from Kerala.´

But last week, Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad activist V.K. Madhusudhanan chanced upon the ³disappeared´ yellow mangroves, sporting a spectacular greenish yellow canopy of leaves on the 40-acre Puthenthuruthu island not far from the Neendakara estuary. He was at the island for an inspection on alleged mangrove destruction in the area.

A mother tree Mr. Madhusudhanan told The Hindu that he identified the yellow mangro ves from a dense collection of at least five other species of mangroves. He also noted a quite mature mother yellow mangrove there and believes that th e grove of yellow mangroves on the island could have germinated from the mother tree.

His finding has been confirmed by botanist N. Ra vi who also visited the site along with S. Sun, Assistant Conservator of Forests (Social Forestry) on Monday. Mr. Sun said that the sighting of yellow mangroves is exciting news for the Forest Department and the island will be seen as a botanical treasure. Yellow mangroves have great value as a fisheries ha bitat.

Next move

In the wake of the find, he will now send a proposal to the department's top brass to consider acquiring the entire island. Recognising the importance of mangroves, the State government has made substantial monetary allocations for acquiring and protecting private land with rich mangrove forests.

In addition to the greenish yellow leaves, another distinguishing feature of the yellow mangroves is their buttressed base. Prof. Ravi told The Hindu that it is after a gap of more than 150 years that yellow mangroves have been sighted and identified in Kerala. The sighting is the first since 1850s when the British botanical explorer R. Wight (1796-1872) noted in his accounts of sighting the yellow mangrove at Quilon (former name of Kollam).

J.S. Gamble, Conservator of Forests of the Madras Presidency under the British Raj duri ng the early 20th century, mentions in his book ³Flora of the Presidency of Madras´ about the yellow mangroves at Quilon quoting Wight though Gamble h imself had not seen them here, Prof. Ravi said. There is no record of yellow mangroves growing anywhere else in Kerala, he said.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, June 18, 2011 Athirappilly dam clearance: Balan flays Ramesh

The former Electricity Minister A.K. Balan has come down heavily on Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh for hi s stand that the Centre will not give environmental clearance to the Athirappilly hydel project.

At a news conference here on Friday, Mr. Balan de manded to know how the Minister could take such a decisio n at a time when the whole question was being studied by the Madhav Godbole Committee and after it had been given clearance three times by the Centre.

Referring to Mr. Ramesh's letter to the Prime Minister on Ju ne 15 on the subject stating that Kerala should be compensated for the loss it may sustain on account of denial of clearance for t he Athirappilly project, Mr. Balan demanded to know the rationale of the letter when it was clear that the Centre would do nothing of the kind .

The letter, he said, was yet another proof that the project was subverted by the Prime M inister's Office. Mr. Ramesh himself had written in the relevant file that Prime Minister's Principal Secretary T.K.A. Nair wa s against the project and that he was himself convinced that the project would create adverse environmental problems.

Mr. Ramesh's letter showed that there was outside i nterference in the whole affair. Mr. Ramesh should clarify why he had referred to Mr. Nair in the file and, on his part, Mr . Nair should say whether he had taken a stand against the project, the former Mini ster said.

The State government should show the political will to secure clearance for the Athirappilly project. It should take steps on a n emergency basis to implement the Cheemeni thermal power project which could be tak en up without causing any environmental problem.

The Cheemeni project was originally conceived as a coal-fired one with 2,400 MW capacity. Subsequently, it was con verted into an LNG project with 1,200 MW capacity. The draft of the environment impact assessment report prepared by Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited was also published on June 15.

Some environmental activists had come out against the project on the misunderstanding that it was still being sought to be implemented as a coal-fired project. This was not true.

However, there might be difficulties in importing the LN G required to run the project. The State government should get the C entre commit itself to steady supply of LNG for the project by taking up gas exploration i n the Krishna-Godavari basin on a war footing, Mr. Balan said.

Keywords: Athirappilly hydel project., environmental clearance, Godbole committee

LONDON, June 17, 2011 Two Indian firms win green energy awards

Two Indian firms have won the prestigious Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, considered as the ³Green Oscar³.

A cash prize of 20,000 pounds each was al so given to them at a ceremony held here la st night.

Pankaj Patel, Chief of the Abellon Clean Energy, Gujarat, received the International Award and ca sh prize of 20,000 pounds on behalf of the company for producing biomass pellets from crop waste to fuel Gujarat¶s industries and for giving farmers a market for their waste products.

Sarah Butler-Sloss, Founder director of the Ashden Awards and chair of t he judging panel said: ³Abellon has devised a system t hat relies on a local clean source of energy to reduce Co2, by replacing dirty industrial fuels, drive economic growth, improve crops yields and support farmers.´

³This is a showcase example of how the use of local, clean energy can provide effective and commercially viable solutions to local challenges. We hope others can learn from this exciting and successful initiative,´ Butler-Sloss said.

Abellon currently produces over 65,000 tonnes of biomass pellets a year and aims to open two more pellet plants in Gujarat in the next five years, trebling its production and expanding operations into international markets.

Gyanesh Pandey received the award and cash prize on behalf of Husk Power Systems, Bihar, which has built 65 power plants across the state fired by gasified rice husks, embedded local grids and hired local people to help run the operations.

They now supply electricity to around 180,000 people.

Pandey said that the company would expand its work i n other villages in India and later go abroad.

³There is bound to be great demand for our project a s our plant is the cheapest capital intensive plant,´ he said.

Asked whether it was getting any other support, he said the Ministry of New and Renewable energy is subsidising to the extent of 40 per ce nt of capital cost.

He said that ³more villages are clamouring to be con nected as the main grid only meets around 10 per ce nt of demand. The business is growing fast with 270 people trained and employed and HPS i s aiming for over 2,000 plants by the end of 2014.´

Ghanian firm Toyola Energy Ltd won the top prize of 40,000 pounds Gold Award for its success in making stoves that burn less charcoa l than traditional models and that are accessible to low-income families.

Pakistan¶s Aga Khan Planning and Building Service was also awarded for helping families i n mountain villages save energy and make their homes warmer through a range of locally-produced devices.

The Awards, started in 2001, aim to encourage the great er use of local clean energy and to address cli mate change and alleviate poverty.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, June 14, 2011 63 per cent of Kerala coast faces erosion About 63 per cent of the coastline of Kerala is eroding, shows the shoreline change a ssessment of Kerala cost released by Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh here on Monday. The coastline includes artificial coast built using seawalls, riprap revetments or groynes.

About 53 per cent of the State¶s coast now have artificial coast while 10.3 per cent a re eroding coastline; experiencing high, medium and low levels of erosion.

The assessment says that the artificial coasts are e ssentially eroding coasts and is managed by structures. It is therefore only appropriate to consider them as eroding coasts.

This indicates that only 37 per cent of Kerala's coast is "natural" (no intervention). Of this, accretion is dominant along 24 per cent of the coast, particularly in the Ernakulam District, which has a n intricate network of backwaters (Vembanad Lake). Only about eight per cent of t he 590 km coastline of Kerala is stable, without erosio n or accretion.

There are nine coastal districts in Kerala which have key infrastructure facilities such as ports and harbours and the intricate network of backwaters and wetlands along the coast. District wise statistics indicate t hat erosion is dominant in all the coastal districts of Kerala, with minimum erosion in Thrissur District (1.5%) and the maximum in Thiruvananthapuram (23%).

Artificial coasts are dominant at Kollam and Ernakulam (80%). Maximum accretion occurs at Thrissur (41 %) and the minimum at Kollam (5.5%).

It is possible therefore to correlate high accretion to le ss artificially managed coasts and vice versa. Stable coasts a re more prevalent along the coast of Thiruvananthapuram (17%).

The assessment represents shoreline change over 38 years from 1972 to 2010. The e valuations are based on comparing five historical shorelines extracted from satellite imageries. The recent shorelines were derived from Landsat-5 imageries for 1990, 2000, 2006 and LISS III (Live Internet Seismic Server) images for 2010 supported by limited field surveys.

The mapping of the coastline was undertaken by the Mi nistry of Environment and Forests in collaboration with the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management and Society of Integrated Coastal Management. It notes that att empts to halt the natural process with seawalls and other hard structures only shifts the problem subjecting downdrift coastal areas to similar loss of land. Besides, some of t he beaches, dunes, barrier beaches, salt marshes and estuaries are threatened and would disappear as the sand sources that feed and sustain them are eliminated.

EIN BOKEK, ISRAEL, June 13, 2011 Dead Sea threatened both by shrinking and flooding

The Dead Sea is dying, goes the conventional wisdom ² The water level of the fabled salty lake is dropping nearly 4 feet a year. Less well known ² Part of the lake is actually overflowing, threatening one of Israel¶s key tourism destinations.

Israel is feverishly campaigning to have the Dead Sea ² the lowe st point on earth and repository of precious minerals ² named o ne of the natural wonders of the world. At the same time, it¶s racing to stabilise what it calls ³the world¶s largest natural spa´ so hotels on it s southern end aren¶t swamped and tourists can continue to soak in the lake¶s therapeutic waters.

Without intervention, ³in five to 10 years, (the water) would flood the hotel lobbies, no question,´ said Alon Tal, one of the researchers the government has commissioned to find a solution.

The Dead Sea is divided into a northern and southern basin, which are located at different elevations, largely disconnected and kilometers apart. That means the rising waters of the southern basin cannot simply pour into the shrinking basin i n the north.

Heavy industrialisation is what¶s causing the waters on the southern basin to rise. Chemical companies have built evaporation pools there to extract lucrative minerals from the lake. Millions of tonnes of salt are left annually on the floor of these pools, causing the water to rise 8 inches a year.

Israel¶s tourism and environmental protection Ministers are endorsing Mr. Tal¶s most expensive proposal ² A complex $2 billion plan to chip off the salt build-up on the part of the lake that¶s rising and send it by co nveyor belt to the northern end that¶s dropping.

They¶re also demanding that Dead Sea Works ² the multibillion-dollar Israeli industry that mines the mineral-rich waters ² foot the bill.

³As the polluters, they should pay,´ said Roee Elisha, as sociate director of the Dead Sea Preservation Government Company, a branch of Israel¶s Tourism Ministry. The Dead Sea, which is linked to the sites of the biblical Sodom and Gomorra, runs more than 100 km through Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. Its minerals have been sought after since ancient times ² The pharaohs were embalmed with the lake¶s natural asphalt lumps, and Cleopatra is said to have used its skin-rejuvenating salts and mud.

Today, the lake is one of Israel¶s top tourism draws. Half of the 3.45 million tourists to I srael paid a stop there in 2010. Almost 200,000 stayed in the 4,000 hotel rooms along the lake. Locals flock there too, with more than 630,000 ² or almost one in 10 Israelis ² spending time at Dead Sea hotels last year.

Dead Sea tourism revenue totalled some $300 million last year, propping up an industry that accounts for t housands of jobs in a part of th e country that otherwise offers limited employment opportunities.

Current efforts to preserve the Dead Sea as a natural treasure shine a spotlight on how extensively the lake has been exploited by modern industry ² and how it paradoxically also depends on industry for its survival.

Israel¶s Dead Sea Works and Jordan¶s Arab Potash mine Dead Sea waters for potash and other minerals, exporting them worldwide for us e in fertilizers, cosmetics, cars and laptops.

The southern basin now in danger of flooding nearly dried up b efore the chemical companies intervened. In the 1960s, Dead Sea Works dug a 16-km canal to pump saltwater from the lake¶s northern basin into its nearly parched southern end, turning it into a network of evaporation pools.

That pool is where the bulk of the Israeli hotels lie, and where tourists bob in film y water so heavy with salt and minerals that they float.

But as the water rises, it encroaches o n hotel beaches, where blobs of salt st ick out near the shores and the salty floor sparkles in the turquoise waters. At one beach, stairs leading to the lake have become half-submerged, and a sun umbrella permanently affixed to the edge is now deep in the water.

Dead Sea Works says it will foot some of the bill to dredge the salt from the evaporation pools and send it north, but i s negotiating its share with the government, said Noam Goldstein, the company¶s vice-president of infrastructure.

Environmentalists accuse the company of profiting at the expense of the ecology. Its factory of smokestacks, pipes and levers looms at t he tip of the lake, and its tractors sit high atop snow-white piles of potash.

The company counters that without it, tourists i n Israeli hotels would have nothing to swim i n ² the hotels sit on the banks of their evaporation pools.

The salt dredging proposal still awaits a final government approval.

It¶s the exact opposite problem at the Dead Sea¶s northern basin, where the water level is dropping and a barren, pockmarked moonscape has replaced sandy beaches.

Old boardwalks that once led into the lake now stand in the middle of empty land. At one b each, bathers must ride a trolley to th e lake¶s edge.

Israel, Jordan and Syria are responsible for the northern Dead Sea¶s dramatic shrinkage ² They have redirected the Jordan Ri ver and its tributaries for drinking water, drastically reducing the amount that used t o flow into the Dead Sea. The Israeli and Jordanian industries also pump out water from the sea for their evaporation pools.

The World Bank is studying a decades-old proposal to replenish the north ern Dead Sea¶s waters by channelling water through a canal from the Red Sea, more than 160 km south. With costs estimated at up to $15 billion and the environmental side effects unpredictable, the Red- Dead canal is unlikely to be built any ti me soon.

In the meantime, Israel¶s cabinet recently announced it would invest $2.5 million to market the Dead Sea in the international New 7 Wonders of Nature competition, which ends in November.

Gura Berger, project manager for the Tourism Ministry¶s Dead Sea public relations campaign, says winning the contest could help revive the lake and be a major boost to area tourism.

³We want the Dead Sea to be considered a wonder of the world, so there will be an interest to protect it,´ Ms. Berger said.

PANAJI, June 10, 2011 Western Ghats panel to submit report by month-end The panel of experts on the Western Ghats (also known as Sahyadri range), constituted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), will give its final report by June 30.

Madhav Gadgil, who heads the panel, told PTI today that the draft would be ready soon, and the final report compiling all the sugge stions would be out by June 30.

Mr. Gadgil said that they had earlier aimed to finish writing the draft b y June 5, which they could not do as they were expecting more inputs from panel members.

The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) was formed in March 2010. Its job is to give recommendations for the preservation of this area, considered as one of the most i mportant biodiversity spots in the world.

Sources said that the panel has considered the grievance that provisions of Forest conservation Act and Forest Rights Act have not been applied fully in the Western Ghats.

In the earlier meetings, the panel had envisaged adoption of a graduated approach.

³The ecologically sensitive areas would be graded from highly sensitive to less sensitive, rather than adopting `go and no-go approach¶,´ sources said.

Selected areas would be notified as Ecologically Sensitive Areas. There would be different zones of ecologically sensitivity, which would range from zone of highest sensitivity to zone of low sensitivity - ESZ1, ESZ2 and ESZ3.

HHOTO MOLLAHKHALI (WB),, June 8, 2011 Post-Aila salinity defeats Sunderbans farmers

The soil usually turns more fertile after a flood but the stagnant waters have spelt disaster and increased salinity of the soil, so much so that paddy could not be grown for the past two years. For thousands of farmers at Gosaba in the Sundarbans the co ming monsoon does not hold out any hope as the y continue to battle the extreme salinity of the soil caused by cyclone Aila two years ago.

Adding to their agony is the lack of manpower as the area has experienced large scale migration since the natural calamity.

The island-dotted tidal region, which falls in the world¶s largest delta, has no industry and the people largely depend on agriculture, salt water pisci-culture and collection of forest produce as their livelihood given the area¶s unique topography of tropical rain forests and innumerable rivers.

A visit to Chhoto Mollahkahli and Kumirmari panchayat areas in coastal Gosaba block, which forms the southernmost tip of the Sundarbans, reveals the plight of people faced with the environmental wreck caused by the devastating cyclone in May, 2009.

The area had experienced devastating floods as the ill-maintained mud embankments gave way allowing saline water of Vidyadhari ri ver to gush in for miles and remain stagnant for over a mo nth. The saline water also flooded the sweet water ponds killing a large variety of fish thereby affecting the livelihood of a large number of people of th e riverine area.

The soil usually turns more fertile after a flood but t he stagnant waters have spelt disaster and increased salinity of the soil, so much so that paddy could not be grown for the past two years, i nhabitants of the area said. Paddy is grown twice a year in Sundarbans but the rabi crop this year was a failure as the yield was extremely low.

Efforts to control the salinity had been made by both government and civil society but the problem is still huge. South 24 Parganas District Magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam said the problem of salinity was bei ng sought to be tackled by promoting fresh water conservation. Small ponds to store rain water have been dug in villages of Basanti and Gosaba blocks.

³There have been efforts to restore the environment by the Sundarbans Development Board but in Gosaba coastal area t he problem of salinity exists,´ he said.

³Soil tests funded by European Commission Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) had found that the salinity had reached a depth of about fi ve feet in most areas. This has hit paddy cultivation in the Rabi season this year too,´ says Mr Subroto Biswas of Bagmari Mother and Child Development Mission (BMCDM). The organic and chemical anti-salinity treatment had, however, helped in a fair yield of winter vegetables this year for whi ch BMCDM provided seeds and pesticides. ³This was because roots of winter vegetables do not penetrate beyond two fe et but paddy cultivation needs stagnant water and this causes the salinity to resurface,´ says Mr Biswas.

The area presents a curious picture of flourishing trees which grow in tidal areas and totally dry and bleached mango, jackfruit and other trees, which died after the waters receded.

The situation can improve if there is heavy rai n this year. But even if there are heavy rains, paddy cultivation would be difficult as majority of the men of the area have migrated to far off cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and even the Andaman Islands to work as daily labourers, say the villagers.

³I wish to cultivate paddy in the field a djacent to my house but I cannot find anybody to till the land. It has become impossible to cut down a tree, prepare the ground for vegetables or repair a roof as there are simply no men to do it,´ says Sumitra Mondal, a housewife of a former zamindar family at Chhoto Mollahkhali.

The women who are left behind face tremendous hardship. The situation is pathetic at Kumirmari, where many of them still live under temporary shelters made of HDPE polythene sheets as the government grants to rebuild their houses are still to reach them.

The displacement and hardship has also led to trafficking of young women, though most of the villagers are not willing to speak openly about it. Mr Biswas, who has been working in the area since a week after the cyclone and is one of the most recognised faces, recounts that he had personally helped in rescuing four local girls from brothels in Pune, Bangalore, Pune and Patna with t he help of police.

³At least 20 girls were trafficked from the coastal Gosaba area which comprise 23 villages,´ he says.

Development projects which could have helped the people have been few and far between, says Shamsul Ala m Khan, BMCDM secretary.

Mr Biswas blames the lack of technical knowhow a nd the laid back attitude of the panchayat heads at Gosaba for the situation. ³In some areas there has been remarkable change but in the majority, t he panchayats have simply failed to take any i nitiative to get MGNREGA projects sanctioned.´

Keywords: Cyclone Aila, soil salinity , paddy farming, rural migration

GUWAHATI, June 10, 2011 Climate change to have large-scale effect on NE biodiversity

The impact of climate change is likely to result in large-scale changes in the biodiversity of the Northeast, a study has revealed.

The study, sponsored by The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), has w arned that change in temperature, quantum and intensity of rainfall coupled with extreme weather conditions would have a long-term impact, particularly on the structure and composition of forests in the region.

The impact is likely to be more severe in areas where other pressures are deemed to be high, including stabilit y of the natural systems affected due to socio-economic pressures such as encroachment on forest areas, over-grazing, felling of trees for jhum cultivation, etc.

With the impact not being uniform across the region , it is expected to be higher in certain areas and on certain communities because of various factors.

They include physio-geographic and topographic features, degree of association with climate-sensitive environments and ecosystems, socio- economic, political and cultural characteristics of the region and co mmunities, the study pointed out.

The study seeks to understand the factors that determine the vulnerability of the Northeast in terms of the effect of the climatic change and identify measures to reduce the impact.

The study asserted that despite its rich natural resources, the region lagged behind others in terms of social and economic development.

Comprising eight states - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim a nd Tripura, the area is unique due to its rich forest resources that account for nearly 25 per cent of the total f orest cover in India and covers nearly 66.8 per cent of its geographical area, much higher than the national average of 21 per cent. With a total population of about 38 million (3.8 per cent of the country¶s total population), the region has o bserved changes in its demographic and socio-economic profile, which have acted as important drivers for the alteration in it s resource base.

The last three decades have witnessed intense land use change with i ncrease in the demand for urbanisation, grazing, agricultural land and settlements, increased demand for fodder, fuel wood a nd timber production.

It is estimated that approximately 30 per cent of the to tal forest cover in the region is under pressure due to these factors, the TERI study said.

Besides pressures from natural hazards such as floods, forest fires and landslides, the study pointed out, seismic activity further exposed the region to the threats.

Lack of effective early warning systems and disaster management systems further intensify t he impact of natural hazards, it pointed out.

The incidence of poverty is high with the percentage of population living below the poverty line as high as 32 per cent, much high er than the all India average of 21.6 per cent.

The study further said that the region had a low level of industrialisation and lacked infrastructure facilities to be able to exploit its rich natural resources.

Though it is sparsely populated with an overall density of 149 persons per sq km compared to the country¶s average 313 per sq km (census, 2001), the region has, however, recorded a high population growth with the decadal growth higher than the national level of 21.5 per cent.

June 8, 2011 Greening India

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The National Mission for a Green India with a planned investment of $10.3 billion over the next 10 years can have a major developmental impact in more ways than one. Such a massive exercise can raise fresh natural capital tha t is so vital for the tens of millions of people who depend on degraded forests. It can meet the twin objectives of a ssigning forest land to tribal and other forest-dwelling communities to enable livelihoods, and relieving extractive pressures on core dense forests to aid conservation of wildlife and biodiversity. The overarching benefit to the environment will be in the form of carbon sequestration to combat climate change. The Mini stry of Environment and Forests, which has grasped the imperative to balance these concerns, aims to add an impressive five million hectares of forest cover, and also improve the quality of forests over a similar area. The experience gained from the Joi nt Forest Management (JFM) programmes of the past will be invaluable. The JFM measures did not live up to their promi se in most States and, in some cases, existed only on paper. In the main, they left forest communities feeling alienated. That nearly 40 per cent of open forest remains degraded today reinforces the need for a vastly improved management system.

A central role for local communities in forest restoration and expansion is envisaged under the new plan. This can help correct the historical imbalance in their role in managing the commons. It must be emphasised, however, that the whole exercise needs to be rooted in scientific practices. Several dedicated young scientists have been working in degraded areas of the Western Ghats to re-introduce endemic plants. These conservation groves, often sitting cheek-by-jowl with plantations and habitations, shelter a lot of e ndangered animals and birds. This shows that many more eroded ecosystems can harbour the biodiversity th at is under pressure. The potential to expand horticulture in these sites, including disused mines, through fruit tree cultivation is worth exploring. Local communities can also be involved in the campaign t o control invasive plant species that have been unthinkingly introduced into the environment. These plants suppress indigenous varieties and have overrun vast tracts of forests, reducing their productivity. Overall, the Green India plan, which is expected to provide a higher forest- based livelihood income to three million households, is significant for it s attempt to give people a central role in re storing forest health. The legacy of mistrust between the Forest departments and tribal communities must give way to a joint management framework that is grounded in good conservation science.

COMMENTS:

The rural livelyhoods generation can come from the 1.Forest resources collection , 2. Forest resources value addition, 3 establishment of market linkages as was done in M.P.Forest Departentfor the medicinal plants. Similar initiatives in case of endemic plants and animals through insitu and exsitu conservation initiaitves for sustainable production is the need of the hour from: Dr V .B.Ramanamurthy

Posted on: Jun 8, 2011 at 10:44 IST

All this type of programmes on paper stage and planning stage only, but not in executed. One live example for this is I started along with my friend Sh Bharat Reddy the event called 'GUINNESS EVENT FOR GREEN KAKINADA'_Noble Cause for Global Need, under this event we want to plant around 12Lck + tree saplings in one hour on 09.07.2011 in KAKINADA, EAST GODAVARI, ANDHRA PRADESH. But the pitiest thing is that non of them from District Administration, State Administration, Central Administration, Big big clubs, NGO's, societies, Public representatives even to our ex president Sh APJ Kalam those who are t alking, given speeches on the need of plantation were not supporting to our event. The most pitiest thing is the media asking money for bringing this event to public. Every day me and Bharat roaming entire city with pamplets distributed to each and o ne in the public. Here one greatest thing by us is we are not collecting from any one even singly NP, we seeking only sponsers for saplings, bring it t o public for participation and create awareness among public. Till now all of the m were doing plantation but never involve the public in plantation drive,thats why survival rate of saplings were not satisfactory. With the good intention & involving the public in plantation drive we started GEGK, by this it is possible to shown the strength of public u nity. I request all of the news viewrs & news paper readers, not only paper work sufficient to do execute the job, pls join hands at ground level to plant saplings. For further detailes about this programme of GEGK, pls visit GEGK.blog.com. from: BV K N ageswara Rao

Posted on: Jun 8, 2011 at 11:08 IST

The "Greening India" plan is as attractive as the amount of money to be spent on the plan.If the plan goes as per the expectations,the end results would be amazing and everlasting.The'catch' in the plan is the involvement of'elected Representatives'.Their role must be that of overseeing the implementation of the plan and getting things done at the Government level.The success of the plan depends to a large extent on the whole-hearted involvement of tribal and other beneficiaries who have been 'connected'with forest for ages. M SOMASEKHAR PRASAD LECTURER S B V R DEGREE COLLEGE BADVEL.A.P.516227. from: M SOMASEKHAR P RASA D

Posted on: Jun 8, 2011 at 17:20 IST

The project 'greening India' is a very good project for t he conservation of forest resources, but the success of the project lies in the lieu that how effectively the project is implemented.In india the condition is so worst that even the govt. representatives and beaurocrats are not paying much attention towards it.A massive population in country have not a ny idea about deforestation and it's impact on environment .So the project also includes the work of increasing awareness among people.This is worth i mperative. MUMBAI, June 7, 2011 Great Indian Bustard on brink of extinction

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The Great Indian Bustard is on the bri nk of extinction, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced on Tuesday.

The Great Indian Bustard has been up-listed to µcritically endangered,¶ the highe st level of threat, IUCN said in a release.

Hunting, disturbance, habitat loss and fragmentation have all conspired to reduce this magnificent species to perhaps as few as 250 individuals, IUCN said.

Standing a metre in height and weighing nearly 1 5 kg, the Great Indian Bustard was once fou nd in large number across the grasslands of India and Pakistan but is now restricted to small and i solated fragments of the remaining habitat.

³In an ever more crowded world, species that need lots of space, such a s the Great Indian Bustard, are losing out. However, we are the o nes who lose in the long run, as the services that nature provides us start to disappear,´ Leon Bennun, Director of Science a nd Policy at Bird Life International, which partners with IUCN in conservation effort said.

Meanwhile, Director of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) Asad Rahmani, who has been working on conservation of Great Indian Bustard for several years, told P TI that BNHS has been suggesting to th e government to maintain few undisturbed grasslands in the country for breeding of this large bird of India, on the same lines as Project Tiger.

This is a must to maintain delicate ecological and habitat balance. Centre should take up the conservation of Great Indian Bustard in a serious manner, he added

NEW DELHI, June 5, 2011 Developing forestry can create millions of jobs: U.N. report

Investing an additional $40 billion annually in the forestry sector can halve deforestation rates by 2030, increase rates of tree planting by about 140 per cent by the year 2050, and catalyse the creation of millions of new jobs, according to a report by t he UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Backed by the right kind of enabling policies, such an investment ± equivalent to about two-thirds more tha n what is spent on the sector at present ± could also remove an extra 28 per cent of carbon from the atmosphere, thus playing a key role in com bating climate change, says the UN report ³Forests in a Green Economy: A S ynthesis.¶¶

The report underlines that natural capital such as forests can represent up to 9 0 per cent of the GDP of the rural poor. India is among a dozen countries taking the global findings of the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity into national assessment that in turn could translate the value of nature and its services into national accounts. Carefully planned investments would also contribute to increased employment from 25 million now to 30 million by 2050 .

Green India Plan

Speaking at a function where the report was released to mark the World Environment Day, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said we must leverage forward-looking policies that conserve and improve the quality of our forests, while generating employment and socio-economic returns for local co mmunities.

Here, he cited Green India Plan launched by the go vernment wherein $10 billion would be spent over the next 10 years to improve the quality of forests and increase the green cover by involving the local co mmunities, the civil society and the elected representatives. The Forest Department would play only a technical role in the entire process. This, he said, would help in checking the declining carbon sequestration due to high economic growth. The Green India Plan aims to increase forest-based incomes for three million households.

Unhappy with the ³misuse´ of subsidies, Mr. Ramesh said su bsidies should be target like subsidising cooking gas for 1,72,000 villages that depend on forest wood for cooking. Cooking gas would not only empower women but also prevent degradation of forests and checking carbon emission. ³Instead we are giving subsidy on kerosene which is being u sed to run diesel generator sets for mobile towers. Sometimes hard, though unpopular, decisions have to be taken,¶¶ he said.

June 5, 2011 The V edic way to preserving environment

VAISHNAVI SANOJ SHARE · PRINT · T+

June 5, 2011 was decided to be celebrated as world environment day by t he United Nations General Assembly in 1972. And the number of NGOs and private organisations working for the cause of environment protection has dramatically increased in India too in the last two decades. With all these positive signs of awareness, let us exa mine our old cultures too.

India is the home of Vedic culture, which i s over 5,000 years old and the Panchamahayajna (the five great sacrifices), has been a vital part of this culture. The Panchamahayajna are Brahmayajna, Devayajna, Pitrayajna, Atithiyajna and Balivaishyadevayajna.

Brahmayajna relates to daily prayer to the Almighty, study of the Vedas and other spiritual scriptures. In today's context even if you're an atheist still finding some time for meditation on, say , the breath (which does not need any more proof of existence) and reading some positive, motivational scriptures can do a lot of good to the mental environment called mind.

Devayajna is about performing sacrifices to devas, in ancient terms it is calledhavan. Though this might sound like purely religious and pertaining to Hinduism, the positive effect of such havans on atmosphere and society in general is ample. Agnihotra is one such devayajna which has now come to the limelight of scientists and vari ous studies regarding its effect on atmosphere and the vegetation around is in progress. In short, devayajnas promised the purity of one's intellect, mind, body and most importantly the atmosphere.

Pitryajna is nothing but giving due respect and taking adequate care of one's parents and elders of the family. This also includes proper upbringing of one's progeny. Had this culture been upheld properly, then t here would have been no old-age homes and orphanages in India.

Atithiyajna, as the name suggests, pertains to respecting and serving one's visitors. The Vedic list of visitors included any truthful, pious soul. All saints, sages and learned people fell under this category. Forget the learned souls, today w e have degraded ourselves so much that Amir Khan along with µIncredible India' has to occasionally remind us about the slogan µAthithi devo bhava' and that our tourist visitors are a cause for huge income.

Balivaishyadevayajna requires that one be compassionate and responsible to all other fellow species. If we humans had executed this yajna dutifully then, words like extinct species a nd endangered species would not have entered our lexicon.

Speak of protecting the environment and the Vedic culture has listed fi ve y ajnas (sacrifices) which is to be performed dutifully and the result is enrichment of the absolute environment including one's mind, body, society, atmosphere, relationships and the fellow species. As Indians, we should always keep these five principles in our mind and mould our children such that they understand its importance, our culture and perform these five major duties without fail. The true celebration of the world environment day would be when the old -age homes, orphanages and welfare associations are shut down having no need to exist.

In conclusion, I would like to remind you of Dr. Abdul Ka lam's words: ³Ancient India was a knowledge society that contributed a g reat deal to civilization. We need to recover the status and become a knowledge power. Spirituality must be integrated with education. We should ignite our dormant inner energy and let it guide our lives. The radiance of such minds embarked on constructive endeavour will bring peace, prosperity, and bliss to the nation.´

( The writer's email is [email protected])

June 5, 2011 Ignore forests at your peril

PRAKASH NELLIYAT

AMBUJAM N. K.

SHARE · PRINT · T+ The theme of this year's World Environment Day (June 5) ² µForests: Nature at Your Service' ² underscores the intrinsic link between the quality of life and the health of forests and forest ecosystems. Forests cover one third of the earth' s land mass, performing vital functions and services which make our planet come alive with possibilities. Forests are t he most biologically diverse ecosystems on land and are home to more than half of the terrestrial species of animals a nd plants. Many of the worlds's most threatened and endangered animals live in the se forests, making them crucial to sustaining ecosystems.

Forests feed our rivers which is a major source for irrigation and domestic water supply. They create and maintain soil fertility and help regulate the devastating impact of storms and floods. As a result of the growing global pollution levels, forests are often referred to as the µlungs of the earth'. This is particularly because deforestation and forest deg radation account for nearly 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which forests would absorb if carefully managed.

They play a key role in climate regulations, releasing oxygen into the atmosphere while storing carbon dioxide. Forests also provide a home, security and livelihood to millions of people worldwide. Around 1.6 billion people depend on forest for t heir livelihoods. Important natural resources such as timber, fuel, rubber, paper and medicinal plants are forest products.

The benefits or positive impacts of forests reach even further. In many developing countries, over 80 per cent of the total energy co nsumed by people and industry derives from forests in the form of fuel wood and char coal. Trade in timber and other forest products is e stimated at $330 billion a year. Its value multiplies as it is processed into products used globally every day. Use of the genetic diversity within forests enables the development of new medicines; progress in healthcare and science.

MA NGRO V ES

Mangrove forests are the ultimate illustration of why humans need nature. As a major coastal resource, mangroves protect the coasts from erosion and cyclonic destructions. They also support coastal and inland fisheries, act as a breeding ground for numerous birds, control floods and are a source of fuel wood. In brief, beyond supporting the natural ha bitat, forests sustain economic growth. In 2004, trade i n forest products was estimated at $327 billion.

Despite all these innumerable ecological, economic, social and health benefits, we are destroying the forests. Global deforestation continues at an alarming rate and every year 13 million hectares of forests (equal to the size of Portugal) are destroyed. People who depend on forests for their livelihoods are struggling to survive. Many precious species face ex tinction and biodiversity is being eliminated. Continued and uncontrolled deforestation therefore not only has devastating consequences for the environment and the wildlife, but for economies around the world.

Mangroves are also disappearing, and about one-fifth have been lost since 1980. The g reatest drivers for mangrove forest loss are direct conversion to aquaculture, agriculture and urban land uses. Coastal zones are often densely populated and the pressure for land is intense. Where mangroves remain, they have often been degraded through over-harvesting.

But this trend is not irreversible. It's not too late t o transform life as we know it into a greener future where forests are at the heart of our sustainable development and green economies. Conserving forests need to be recognised as a business opportunity. An investment of $30 billion fighting deforestation and degradation could provide a return of $2.5 trillion in new products and services. Furthermore, forests need to become a universal political priority. Considering this the following ste ps should be urgently taken:

Governments should develop and implement policies that encourage a sustainable use of forests. They should protect the forest areas inhabited by endangered species and promote forest restoration where they have been depleted. In this regard, a strict enforcement of regulations and the application of incentive and disincentive mechanisms are needed.

Private companies have an opportunity to invest wisely into the new Green Economy while de veloping a socially responsible status with its consumers. They can develop procurement processes that buy only into sustainably managed forests, such as products certified by the forest authority/department concerned.

Like private companies, individuals can make wise/planned choices over the forest products and purchase those originate from sustainable sources. This means checking that furniture, wood, paper and other products you bu y are verified as coming from legal sources.

Civil society can play a significant role by monitoring all parties involved, raising awareness on forests and its critical services and supporting grassroots initiatives.

( This write-up is primarily based on the different U N E P reports on WE D )