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Forests
Tearing through the water landscape: Evaluating the environmental and social consequences of POSCO project in Odisha, India - Release of a study by ESG
Posted on 09 Jun, 2011 08:03 PMArticle courtesy: Environment Support Group
On 2nd May 2011, Indian Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh finally approved the diversion of over 3,000 acres of forest land, of the 4,000 acres demanded, for a steel-power-port complex of the POSCO India project.
Earlier, on 31 January 2011, Ramesh had approved the environmental and coastal regulation zone clearances that the project had secured in 2007, even though all these clearances were obtained by fraud, and thus illegal, as proved by two independent investigative committees that he appointed last year.
First-of-its-kind map depicts global forest heights - Update from NASA
Posted on 08 Jun, 2011 10:54 AMEuropean Beech
Photo: Forestryimages.org/University of West Hungary/Norbert Frank
Although there are other local-and regional-scale forest canopy maps, the new map is the first that spans the entire globe based on one uniform method.
The work - based on data collected by NASA's ICESat, Terra, and Aqua satellites - should help scientists build an inventory of how much carbon the world’s forests store and how fast that carbon cycles through ecosystems and back into the atmosphere. Michael Lefsky of the Colorado State University described his results in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Workshop on journalism and the environment, United Nations Environment Programme, 2nd June, 2011, New Delhi
Posted on 28 May, 2011 10:05 AMOrganizer: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Venue: The Leela Palace, New Delhi
Topics:
- Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature– case studies from India and the world
- The Value and Sustainability of Forests Ecosystems: The role of forests in combating climate change , conserving biodiversity and catalysing transformation to Green Economy
- Climate Change Adaptation in High Mountain Areas
Soil respiration under different forest species in the riparian buffer of the semi-arid region of northwest India – A paper in Current Science
Posted on 21 May, 2011 09:44 AMSoil respiration is a major process affecting the global carbon cycle and nutrient flux in the terrestrial ecosystem. It is the major pathway for exchange of gases from soil to atmosphere, influencing atmospheric temperature and ultimately contributing to global warming.
Sunderbans - A climate adaptation report by World Wildlife Fund India
Posted on 09 May, 2011 09:23 PM Beginning in 2005, WWF-India has conducted dozens of personal interviews to record how climate change impacts people's lives here and now. These perceptions demanded that s
Ministry of Environment and Forests invites nominations for Indira Priyadarshini Vrikhshamitra Awards for the year 2011
Posted on 09 May, 2011 09:36 AMThe Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) is the nodal agency in the administrative structure of the Central Government for the planning, promotion, co-ordination and overseeing the implementation of India's environmental and forestry policies and programmes.
Nominations are invited for Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra (IPVM) Awards for the years 2011 from individuals and institutions that have done pioneering and exemplary work in the field of afforestation and wasteland development. Awards will be given to persons/institutions in seven categories that are listed below:
Polavaram fraud - The Polavaram dam on the Godavari could displace 400,000 people and submerge nearly 4,000 hectares of forest land - Article from Down To Earth
Posted on 06 May, 2011 08:33 PMMost of the people threatened to be displaced cannot be relocated until their rights over forestland are recognized under the Forest Rights Act. How did the Andhra Pradesh government meet this immense challenge? It quietly told the Union environment and forests ministry that all claims have been settled.
The ministry gave forest clearance to the project last year. Now over 50 villages have written to the ministry, saying their forest rights have not been settled. Richard Mahapatra visited the villages and found the state had indeed lied.
Following similar complaints, the ministry had scrapped Vedanta’s proposal to mine Niyamgiri hills and withheld forest clearance to the POSCO steel plant in Odisha. Will it apply the same yardstick to Polavaram?
Residents of Teladibbalu did not know they had forest rights. The village is in the dam’s submergence zone and accessible only by boat. (Photo: G Srinivas).
India's forests and REDD+ - A factsheet prepared by Ministry of Environment and Forests
Posted on 28 Apr, 2011 04:29 PMThe benefits of working with REDD and the need and benefits of getting more ambitious by accepting REDD+, which is about finding financial value for carbon stored in standing forests which therefore incentivises the positive elements of conservation is also elaborated here.
A structure for environment governance: A perspective on proposed National Environmental Protection Agency – A commentary in Economic and Political Weekly
Posted on 27 Apr, 2011 07:46 PMThis report on a round table held in November 2009 by a cross section of activists, policy analysts and academics deals with a move by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to restructure the environmental governance structure of the country through the proposed National Environmental Protection Agency.
Role of indigenous knowledge system in conservation of forest resources – A case study of the Aka tribes of Arunachal Pradesh – A paper in the Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge
Posted on 23 Apr, 2011 09:01 PMIndigenous knowledge is the basis for local level decision making in agriculture, healthcare, food preparation, education, natural resource management, and a host of other activities in rural communities.