-The Indian Express A forest fire which started in Simlipal in February and has been raging for nearly a week now, was finally brought under control. How fire prone is the forest? What caused the fire, and how intense was it? Bhubaneswar: The Simlipal forest reserve area frequently witnesses forest fires during dry weather conditions. A fire which started in the biosphere reserve area in February and has been raging for nearly...

-Down to Earth Ranthambhore tigers, Chambal gharials and a host of other species could be in trouble due to the clearance given to the highway proposals The Union government has approved forest land diversion for three highway proposals in Rajasthan’s Ranthambhore and Mukundara Tiger Reserves, disregarding the Wildlife Institute of India (WII)’s views, a Right to Information (RTI) application by Down To Earth has revealed. The proposals were approved October 5 last year...

-The New Indian Express According to sources, road widening, upgradation or construction projects proposals are through the forests where the tigers were recently sighted. HYDERABAD: There have been many tiger sightings in different forest areas of Telangana in the past few months, boosting hopes for revival of State’s forests which form an important part of central Indian tiger landscape. However, The New Indian Express has found that there are 24 road widening, upgradation...

-GaonConnection.com Recently the Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the auction of 41 coal mines for commercial mining in the country. Jharkand has already approached the Supreme Court opposing this move. Now, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra governments have written to the Union environment minister opposing the auction to protect its forests, a Tiger Reserve and a proposed elephant reserve Three days after the Jharkhand government approached the Supreme Court of India challenging the Centre’s...

-The Hindu The projects, including mining and a highway, were brought up during virtual conferences; but site inspections are ‘a crucial component’ of project evaluation, say scientists Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh has a decidedly other-worldly feel. “Yeh kaunsi duniya hai,” my colleague exclaimed as we climbed the towering mountains — home to the endemic goat-antelope Mishmi takin, the ‘bright-eyed’ butterfly Callerebia dibangensis, and the Mishmi wren-babbler. I had read about the...