-AFP GENEVA: A freshwater shrimp, an island-dwelling lizard and a pupfish from Arizona have been declared extinct, while nearly 21,000 species are at risk of dying out, an updated "Red List" released on Tuesday showed. "The overall picture is alarming," said Jane Smart of the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN), which is behind the Red List of Threatened Species that to date has assessed 70,294 of the world's 1.82...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Basmati rice exports to the US have plunged because many Indian firms are under an import alert by the US authorities, leading to a detailed scrutiny for pesticide residue in every grain being shipped out. This has raised costs, upset schedules and obstructed sales, prompting exporters to seek government intervention. In the first quarter of calendar year 2013, exports were down to 19,583 tonne. With 31 Indian...

-Outlook The legendary environmentalist and Chipko visionary on the recent floods in Uttarakhand In the more than eight decades of his existence, legendary environmentalist and Chipko visionary Sunderlal Bahuguna has never been witness to the kind of devastation that Uttarakhand has seen recently. In an interview, he explains why the government can no longer ignore the environmental concerns of the locals. * Tell us about your escape. We heard that you had...

-PTI   Chennai: With environmentalists citing ecological degradation as the reason for the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, the Centre on Sunday said it would take stock of the situation and study such concerns once rescue operations were completed. "We have to wait till the rescue operations are over and then we have to take stock of the situation before we decide on anything," the Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters in Chennai. She...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: It's clear that the devastation caused by the flash floods and landslides in Uttarakhand was at least in part due to environmental degradation of fragile mountain slopes and reckless commercialization. Yet, weeks before the calamity state CM Vijay Bahuguna had railed against "environmentalists" and "Green Statutes" for hampering development work during a May 23 meeting in Delhi with Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Plan deputy chair, to finalize...