-Outlook The death of 39 rhinos in and around the world-famous Kaziranga National Park in less than 10 months has brought to the fore the threat faced by the endangered animal. The threat comes from poachers, who kill the rare one-horned rhinoceros for its prized horn whose price in the international market varies from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 90 lakh, and flood which is an annual occurrence in Assam. Early last month,...

-The Hindu “Environmental impact assessment tends to ignore wider impact on biodiversity” In a move that will bring cheer to wildlife lovers but could dismay industry lobbyists already complaining about the difficulty in obtaining green clearances, the government plans to add biodiversity conservation as a new criterion to grant environmental and forest clearances. “There is no biodiversity clearance till now,” admitted Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, speaking ahead of the United Nations summit...

-The Hindu Efforts of Jairam and Jyotiraditya to talk them out of it fail Dhanalakshmi, a 22-year-old from the Paliyar hill tribe of Tamil Nadu, is a long way from home. At 7 a.m. on Wednesday, she will join about 60,000 other landless poor, Adivasis and Dalits who have streamed into Gwalior from all parts of the country for a padayatra to the national capital, to present the demand that each of...

-The Times of India A three-day programme for a headcount of river dolphins in the Ganges river will be carried out October 5-7 in and around Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Wednesday. The programme is also aimed at spreading awareness about the endangered mammal. "My Ganga, My Dolphin" is a joint effort between World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-India and the Uttar Pradesh forest department under the aegis of HSBC Bank. The...

-Outlook A dolphin census will be carried out in all major rivers of Uttar Pradesh to estimate the population of the species. The census will be carried out for three days from October 5 by WWF India in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Forest department. The survey would be carried out in all major rivers in the state, including Ganga, Ken, Betwa, Yamuna, Chambal, Geruwa, Ghaghra and Son, covering a distance of approximately...