Forest fires are not just confined to countries like the United States of America (California, 2020), Brazil (Amazon forest, 2019-2020) or Australia (2019-20); they happen every year across many states in India too. Media reports suggest that forest fires have taken place in the recent months in Odisha's Simlipal National Park, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, among other states. Forest fires have also been reported this year in Nagaland-Manipur border (Dzukou...
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No one needs the Ken-Betwa Link Project -Himanshu Thakkar
-The Indian Express The river linking project is based on a faulty premise, has not cleared legal challenges and will damage Bundelkhand. The people of Bundelkhand certainly need better water access and management. But the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP), estimated at a cost of Rs 38,000 crore, is not the solution. The project will, on the contrary, lead to huge adverse impacts in the region. The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC), in...
More »Explained: Why forest fires break out in the spring, and why they have been so frequent this year -Anjali Marar
-The Indian Express Since the start of 2021, there has been a series of forest fires in Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland-Manipur border, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, including in Wildlife sanctuaries. Uttarakhand has witnessed over 1,000 incidents of forest fire over the last six months, including 45 in the last 24 hours alone, and has reached out to the Centre for helicopters and personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). At least...
More »Centre to soon issue guidelines on ecotourism -Jayashree Nandi
-Hindustan Times The “Guidelines on Ecotourism in Forest and Wildlife Areas, 2021”, aimed at promoting better understanding of nature and Wildlife conservation while generating income and opportunities for local communities New Delhi: The Union environment ministry is set to issue, in around a month's time, guidelines that will open up Wildlife rich forest areas across the country to eco-tourism, a move that officials say targets positioning India as a global destination for...
More »NITI Aayog vision for Great Nicobar ignores tribal, ecological concerns -Pankaj Sekhsaria
-The Hindu Wildlife Board denotifies Galathea bay sanctuary to build port, trade zone. In what appears to a re-run of recent developments in Little Andaman Island (A bullet through an island’s heart, The Hindu, February 1), more than 150 sq. km. of land is being made available for Phase I of a NITI Aayog-piloted ‘holistic’ and ‘sustainable’ vision for Great Nicobar Island, the southernmost in the Andaman and Nicobar group. This amounts...
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