-IANS Bhubaneswar: The status of "National Heritage Animal" to elephants has done little to save them, and at least 427 jumbos have perished in the last seven years in Odisha. Though the state claims it has taken steps to protect the animal, experts say industrialisation and urbanisation are the main reasons for elephant deaths. Elephants are continuously barging into human habitations, triggering a conflict. At least 23 people and 26 elephants have died...

-The Hindu To address climate change, India has committed itself to a 20-25 per cent reduction in intensity of carbon emissions by 2020, but the international community will want more U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping have just signed a historic bilateral accord on climate change and clean energy cooperation in Beijing. This accord will have impacts in the run-up to the Paris Conference in December 2015 when the...

-The Third Pole Cities and villages in India will soon run out of potable water if current trends continue, warns senior water official India's groundwater tables are plunging at an alarming rate with reserves in some states dwindling to critical levels, according to the latest report from the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) - the apex body under the Ministry of Water Resources. Over 16% of the country's groundwater resources are ‘over-exploited' -...

-Down to Earth Sivasankaran's land grabbing spree has threatened millions of livelihoods, says report Indian origin businessman Chinnakannan Sivasankaran has engaged in aggressive land grabbing of more than half a million hectares across Africa, Asia and South America, putting millions of livelihoods at risk. This was revealed in a detailed report released by Barcelona-based non-profit GRAIN on Tuesday. The report says Sivasankaran diverted 0.56 million hectares of food-producing land to production of palm...

-Tehelka The Centre must empower forest-dwellers and strengthen legislation instead of bypassing the Forest Rights Act and playing into increased conflict What did not raise much chatter last week was a hint that the ‘development' juggernaut was considering scrapping the Forest Rights Act, using one of many backdoor methods available to bypass legislation. It will force the country back to intense mineral-based conflict and also the never-ending struggle for land, which fill over-crowded...