-Down to Earth NTFPS-EP is a network working with adivasis on ecosystem conservation, advocacy and livelihoods When we shift the focus from the timber a forest is usually valued for to the non-timber products it offers, a very different world opens up. Wild fruit, honey, gums and resin, fish and crab, fibre and flowers, birds' eggs and bush meat, and medicinal barks are only some of the products that a forest may...

-The Hindu The Polavaram multipurpose project has faced rough weather with non-compliance of environmental assessment and large-scale displacement The Union Cabinet's resolution last week - to clear the proposal for constituting the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) - has attracted cautious criticism from the Odisha government. With the general election in full swing and Telangana set to come into being, it is obvious that political parties would leave no stone unturned to gain...

-Reuters   The panel says hydro-power plants has led to the build up of huge volumes of sediment in rivers that is not managed properly New Delhi: Badly managed hydro-power projects in northern India were partly to blame for devastating floods last year that killed thousands of people and caused extensive damage, an environment ministry panel said in a report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.   The panel findings highlight the problem facing India, one...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: Taking forward an agreed framework of the 2013 Warsaw climate conference, India has come out with a draft national policy on 'reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation' (popularly known as REDD+ initiative) which will enable local communities to get financial incentives for increasing forest cover. The REDD+ initiative is a global mitigation mechanism under a UN body, linking deforestation, degradation, conservation of forest carbon...

-The Telegraph   Paddy may not be the climate culprit that the world is making it out to be Agricultural scientist Pratap Bhattacharyya may have found a remarkable piece of evidence that absolves swathes of paddy fields stretching over millions of hectares of a climate crime. On the contrary, he believes that rice is doing its bit for the environment. A study by Bhattacharyya and his colleagues at the Cuttack-based Central Rice Research Institute...