Forests

Changing climate, loss of native forests, disappearance of biodiversity, water shortages, desertification, the reduction of natural soil fertility — all add to the scenario of a world with increasingly complex environmental challenges.

The concept of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) has emerged as a challenge to the all-too-prevalent tradition of taking the Earth’s natural resources for granted. PES highlights a global continuum, illustrating the relationship between our lifestyles, the demands associated with our production and consumption patterns, and the effects those demands have on close or distant ecosystems.

This report by the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) for the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) deals with the scope, structure and processes of the proposed National Environment Assessment and Monitoring Authority (NEAMA). The findings and recommendations of the project are based on an analysis of various research and committee reports, a critical review of the implementation of EIA notification 2006, CRZ notification 1991 & CZM Notification 2010, and a review of the international practices.

Agriculture is the main occupation of the tribe and they have a unique way of knowing plantation season for different crops by observing the flowering of some plants. The indicator plants are peach, wild cherry, camel foot and dancing girl.

This paper published in the Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge highlights the findings of a study that correlates the indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge in assessing the nutrient availability status of agricultural soil as practised by the Nyishi tribes who use visual properties such as colour, texture and topographic positioning of land/terrain.

Guest post by: Amita Bhaduri

The drafting of a new legislation on these issues was taken up by a Group of Ministers in May 2007 and this is the second draft bill presented by the UPA Government.

 The Committee took evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in January, 2011.

The initiative on hill wetlands in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve is supported through this. The area is located at the junction of the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats, or Sahyadris, the two prominent mountain ranges that run almost parallel to the coastlines of Peninsular India and is home to indigenous forest people and is a rare repository of mountain biodiversity.

The Nilgiris is home to unique wetlands that are the source of sustenance of numerous animals and human communities. Wetlands are among the more important reservoirs of biodiversity that nature has painstakingly crafted over millions of years.

This document  on the Ministry of Environment and Forests site includes the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules replaces the earlier Recycled Plastics Manufacture and Usage Rules,1999 (amended in 2003).

This Comprehensive Management Action Plan by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) deals with the various conservation and management interventions that can be taken up for long-term sustainability of Ousteri lake, the largest lake in Puducherry.

Wetlands in urban areas have always been exploited for several purposes due to anthropogenic activities. However, such activities may lead to alteration of wetland characteristics and thus cause changes in species composition and density. The Ousteri Lake (Oussudu Eri in Tamil) is rich in flora and fauna and is known to provide several ecological services including recharging underground aquifers and providing several livelihood options for the local community.

This publication by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) deals with Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation Initiative (KSLCI), a project that seeks to conserve and sustainably manage a highly unique and special landscape through the application of trans-boundary ecosystem management approaches.

This region, like much of the rest of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, faces many challenges, not the least of which are global warming, globalisation and environmental degradation. The Kailash region is considered sacred to five major religions and to a large number of people in Asia and throughout the world. This area is historically, ecologically, and culturally interconnected and is the source of four of Asia’s most important rivers.

The KSLCI is an attempt on the part of the three neighbouring countries of India, China and Nepal to join hands to help preserve the unique biological diversity, the many ecosystem goods and services, and the value-based cultural heritage of one of the most revered and sacred landscapes in the world.