-Down to Earth With sustainable development goals in place, increasing democratisation and connectivity of the world, ecologisation of politics and vice-versa will become the new norm Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai wrote: In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem so obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace. Decreasing resource base and the struggle for control and power leads to politicising ecological issues...
More »SEARCH RESULT
A Dalit Women’s Collective Is Fighting For The Land It Toils On, In Gujarat -Aarefa Johari
-Behanbox.com Mumbai: Around 400 metres off the Gujarat state highway near Vautha village, along the snake-like curves of the Sabarmati river, lie nearly a hundred acres of land that government records describe as “non-useful riverside land”. But on the ground, in early April, Baluben Makwana led me through a dirt path to an unexpected scene. On one side was a sprawling expanse of wheat fields, ripe stalks swaying gently in the wind...
More »Tanks in Karnataka: Sharing land, water at a time of scarcity -Vishwanath S
-Down to Earth Tanks have fallen into disrepair for lack of a clear community ownership; but farmers, mostly women, are now being paid for its upkeep There is a reason why tanks — water bodies that store rainwater for irrigation — are in abundance in Karnataka. The state does not have many rivers; nor does it receive a lot of rainfall. Karnataka’s Kolar district is dotted by these tanks, which have assumed...
More »Oil palm plan for northeast, Andamans a recipe for disaster, say activists -Priscilla Jebaraj
-The Hindu Environmental experts and politicians raise concern over Centre’s proposal. Given the widespread destruction of rainforests and native biodiversity caused by oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia, environmental experts and politicians are warning that the Centre’s move to promote their cultivation in India’s northeastern States and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands could be disastrous. Other concerns include the impact on community ownership of tribal lands, as well as the fact that...
More »Ambiguous definition means oil-palm plantations will count as forest cover -Jayashree Nandi
-Hindustan Times The Forest Survey of India defines forest cover thus: “All lands, more than 1 ha in area with a tree canopy density of 10% irrespective of ownership and legal status. The National Mission on Edible Oils- Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), approved by the Union Cabinet last week, will increase the area under oil palm cultivation by an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectare (ha) by 2025-26, bringing a total area of...
More »