-The Times of India   JAIPUR: The National Green Tribunal's central zone bench in Bhopal has banned mining activities in 84 stone and marble quarries located inside and within 1 km radius of the Sariska tiger reserve and adjoining Jamuaramgarh sanctuary. While criticizing the Rajasthan government for unabated illegal mining in the Aravalli hills, including Sariska, the NGT also flayed Haryana for using illegally mined stones. Friday's order followed written submissions by the...

-PTI   NEW DELHI: The Centre is planning to conduct an exclusive socio-economic survey of the people living in and around Forest areas to bring forth the role of Forest products and ecosystem in their lifestyle. The Union environment and Forests ministry says the exercise is necessary to assess the dependence of villagers on Forests for livelihood, especially in the perspective of lifestyle change. "The survey shall entail collecting information on socio-economic status of...

-Economic and Political Weekly   The case of the local people's grievance against the mining of iron ore for the Bhilai steel plant from Rowghat in the reserved Forest area of Chhattisgarh, a Fifth Schedule Area, is just one more example of the infringement of constitutional rights and guarantees. It also portends what is to come with the polity poised to take a decisive right-wing turn. Ajay Dandekar (ajayd16@gmail.com) is a faculty member,...

-Down to Earth MoEF’s draft policy aims to create the framework for transferring financial benefits from REDD+ to local communities involved in protecting and nurturing Forests The Indian government is finally making official the mechanism for reducing emissions from deForestation and Forest degradation, popularly known as REDD+. On April 28, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has made public its draft policy to implement the mechanism that aims to provide...

-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...