-The Hindu Interim ban on tourism activities in reserves will continue Even as it extended its interim order banning tourist activities in the core areas of tiger reserves, the Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre for inaction on protecting the tiger population. A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar extended the ban when Wasim A. Qadri, counsel for the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) under the Ministry of Environment...

-The Hindu Communist Party of India MP D. Raja has expressed concern at the State governments notifying buffer zones in tiger reserves. He argued that the move would violate the livelihood rights of lakhs of people. In a letter, he asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to halt the exercise and ensure that the Supreme Court is informed of the actual legal and ground positions. Failure to do so will amount to violation...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today banned tourism in the core areas of India’s tiger reserves till further orders, fuelling fears among tour operators and some conservationists that people would lose the chance to watch the animals in the wild, local economies would bleed and poaching would increase. The court, responding to a petition by a non-government environment organisation, acknowledged concerns expressed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority that tourism may be...

-The Times of India All tourist operations within 5km of all 600 plus tiger reserves, national parks, sanctuaries and wildlife corridors in the country will soon have to fork out a minimum of 10% of their turnover as " local conservation fee", which will be used not only to protect wildlife areas but also provide financial assistance to communities and people living around these green patches.  The Union environment and forests ministry...

The environment ministry is on an industrial overdrive, with rules being changed for faster clearance of projects at the cost of the environment. While the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife will lose its power to examine projects in tiger and elephant corridors, a sectoral forest advisory committee will be allowed to decide on diversion of forest land and projects even in dense forests. These are some of the...