-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The forests and environment department has started a Plantation audit to find out the survival rate of saplings planted over the years within the city limits. A total of 9,67,362 saplings were planted in past three years but no one knows the survival rate of the saplings. Forest officials say a survival rate of 70 to 75 per cent is a healthy sign for any Plantation drive. But the numbers...

-IPS News ROME: The growing consensus, momentum and commitment to eradicate world hunger may seem overly ambitious in view of the slow progress in reducing the number of hungry people in the world in recent decades. After all, declining food prices in the second half of the 20th century, thanks to increasing production, were not enough to eliminate poverty and hunger in the world. In the 1960s and 1970s, many governments invested a...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Union environment ministry is expected to approve the K Kasturirangan panel report on Western Ghats and declare around 60,000 square kilometers of the southern hills - spanning across six states - as no-go area for mining, thermal power plants and heavily polluting industries. Sources in the ministry said, the process has begun to finalize the decision after receiving comments from public and state governments on...

-PTI PUNE: A unique concept of "urban agriculture" is taking shape on a massive stretch of land in a mega township which is part of the burgeoning metropolis. Spread across 700 acres, 'Nanded city', which houses a population of about 10,000 residents, launched a green project coinciding with the World Environment Day on June 5. The venture envisages growing vegetables, fruits, medicinal and aromatic plants and flowers to cater the needs of the...

-The Hindu Caterpillar infestation and continuous drought have hit yield Ramanagaram: The precarious groundwater situation and the black-headed caterpillar infestation have hit coconut growers in Ramanagaram district. Coconut is grown on nearly 12,000 hectares in the district, with growers here supplying at least four crore tender coconuts annually to various parts of the country. This year, however, they have been forced to axe thousands of dying trees over the past two months. Along...