-IANS SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh's forest department is engaged in a massive project to remove lantana, an exotic flowering shrub that threatens the state's biodiversity, and re-greening the hills with fast-growing native flora, foresters said. Lantana's tentacles are threatening the natural regeneration of native species. It is estimated to be spread over 1,850 sq km of forests and wastelands, especially in the subtropical belt of Sirmaur, Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Solan and Kangra districts....

-The Business Standard Odisha, the first state to have formulated the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) in the country seems to have dug its feet over the implementation of the ambitious plan aimed at fine tuning the balance between industrial growth and environment protection. Delay in preparation of reports by concerned departments, delineating action points and strategies for implementation coupled with lack of inter-departmental coordination has held up the plan implementation envisaging...

ZAVOORA, India (AlertNet) – Amid thousands of tree stumps stretching over almost 60 hectares (150 acres) of bare plateau, there are signs of life. Delicate saplings of kail and deodar conifers are growing between other newly planted deciduous trees.  The woodland had been cut down illegally by loggers and encroached upon for farming. But forestry officials here in Shopian district, a two-hour drive south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s...

The Union Environment Ministry plans to review its compensatory afforestation scheme next month, with Minister Jairam Ramesh saying he is “horrified” by reports on the implementation of the scheme in some States. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, better known as CAMPA, has over Rs. 11,000 crore, including accrued interest. The money, which had been lying in CAMPA's bank accounts since 2002, was finally released for partial distribution to...

Then Clive Lloyd took over the West Indies cricket team, he knew he was no Garfield Sobers. Lloyd focused on infusing discipline and strategy sessions with the team. "Both exceptional leaders, Sobers led by example, while Lloyd built a team. I suspect Jairam Ramesh is more like Sobers," an environment analyst sums up his assessment of the minister. The Sobers analogy crops up, in explicit and implicit ways, in any...