-The Hindu * Why has it stayed away from both the methane pledge and the forest conservation declaration at Glasgow? The story so far: At the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference (the 26th Conference of Parties-COP26) in Glasgow, the United States and the European Union have jointly pledged to cut emissions of the greenhouse gas methane by 2030. They plan to cut down emissions by 30% compared with the 2020 levels. At...

-Down to Earth India not happy with the effort to link infrastructure development and related activities with forest conservation in the Glasgow Declaration’s final text India, one of the 10 most forest-rich countries of the world, chose to stay away November 2, 2021, as more than 100 world leaders committed to saving the world’s forests at the 26th Conference of Parties (CoP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in...

-Newsclick.in The move, paving the way for rampant hydrocarbon exploitation in and around some of the densest forests, will potentially benefit corporate bigwigs in the oil and natural gas sector. New Delhi: A wildlife conservation body under the Narendra Modi government has exempted oil and natural gas extraction from the definition of ‘mining’ activity, paving the way for rampant hydrocarbon exploitation in and around some of the densest forests of India which...

-Junputh.com The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has recently released a Consultation Paper on proposed changes in the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 with reference to the amendments carried out in 1988. Despite being a routine job, the date chosen for the purpose was 126th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi i.e., October 2nd 2021 although it had nothing to do with the occasion. In hindsight this very act...

-Hindustan Times The Union environment ministry has come out with a consultation paper on amending the Forest Conservation Act 1980 to bring significant changes to forest governance in India including facilitating private plantations for harvesting and exploration or extraction of oil and natural gas deep beneath forest land by drilling holes from outside the forest areas. Here are the highlights of the environment ministry’s proposal: Forests on private land Until December 1996, provisions of...