Category: Environment

A Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur on December 11, 2018 directed the Union Ministry of Environment, forest and Climate Change to declare 10 km area around 21 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across the country as ‘eco-sensitive zones’. The Apex Court took the initiative after its amicus curiae informed the court that the State governments have hardly taken any effort to protect the area around these Read More …

By S Suresh Ramanan (Twitter handle: @sureshramanan01) Jammu, December 10 : India’s national bird, Peafowl, has been a part of mythical stories and is also considered sacred. Over centuries, they have been playing an important role in agricultural ecosystems by aiding in seed dispersal, scavenging, and for control of insects and rodents. However,of late, they are turning out to be a problem.The main issue is that their population is growing. While Read More …

By Dr T V Venkateswaran (Twitter handle: @TVVen)   New Delhi, December 7 : The sun has been acting weird for the past decade. The sunspot activity has been at its minimum since 1800 and the weakening of the Sun’s activity led to speculation that a mini-ice age is on the anvil and that disastrous effects of human-induced global warming could be partially offset by global cooling. A team of scientists Read More …

By Dinesh C Sharma (Twitter handle: @dineshcsharma) New Delhi, December 6 : One in every eight deaths in India is attributable to air pollution in India, making it a leading risk factor for death in the country. This makes air pollution a bigger contributor to the disease burden than tobacco, according to a new study released on December 6. In 2017, over 12 lakh deaths occurred due to air pollution, Read More …

By Kollegala Sharma (Twitter handle: @kollegala) Mysuru, December 4 : Plant scientists have sounded an alarm over a new weed that has been spotted in parts of Karnataka. The plant, identified as Ethuliagracilis Delile, is growing wildly as a weed in several places of Belagavi district of Karnataka and may have come from Africa. It was first collected near Nipani- Chikodi road in the late monsoon of 2017. During subsequent visits, researchers Read More …

The World Bank has unveiled 200 billion US Dollars in climate action investment for 2021 to 2025, adding that this amounts to a doubling of its current five-year funding. The move coincides with a UNFCCC COP-24 climate summit in Katowice, Poland. According to the World Bank, the move represents a significantly ramped up ambition to tackle climate change and sends an important signal to the wider global community to do Read More …

By Dinesh C Sharma (Twitter handle: @dineshcsharma)   New Delhi, November 27 : The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in India appears to be going up, as projected by various scientific assessments on climate change. But it may not be right to connect every such event with climate change, as pointed out by a new study on the recent Kerala floods. The study, done by researchers at the Water Read More …

According to a recent publication by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) titled ‘Faunal Diversity of Biogeographic Zones: Islands of India’, 11,009 faunal species are found on the Andman and Nicobar Islands. It has for the first time come up with a database of all faunal species found on the island. As per the report, the islands, comprising only 0.25% of India’s geographical area, are home to more than 10% of Read More …

Umashankar Mishra (Twitter handle: @usm_1984) New Delhi, November 26 : Indian scientists have discovered the presence of a sub-species of hog deer (Axis porcinus annamiticus) in India. This endangered sub-species was earlier believed to be confined to the eastern part of central Thailand. Researchers at Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun have reported presence of a small population of hog deer in Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP) in Manipur. The Read More …

The WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin 2018 shows that global concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide have been increasing steadily over the past years. In addition, the report notes a resurgence of a potent greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance called CFC-11, which is regulated under an international agreement to protect the ozone layer. The WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reports specifically on atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, which are Read More …

United Nation Environment has awarded Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India with Asia Environment Enforcement Awards, 2018 for excellent work done by the Bureau in combating transboundary environmental crime. Congratulating the Bureau Union Environment Minister said that the Asia Environmental Enforcement Award, recognizes the excellent work done by Government officials and teams from the bureau who are diligently involved in combating trans boundary environmental Read More …

The Union Government has delegated powers to local bodies to ensure compliance of environmental conditions for buildings, construction and area development projects measuring between 20,000 and 50,000 square metres. According to a notification of the Union Environment Ministry, local bodies have also been given the powers to ensure environmental conditions are followed at industrial sheds, educational institutions, hospitals and hostels. As per the notification, Local bodies such as Municipalities, Development Read More …

By Dinesh C Sharma (Twitter handle: @dineshcsharma) New Delhi, November 15 : Over-extraction of groundwater is a major environmental challenge in many parts of India. It is not only leading to rapid decline in groundwater reserves but also contributing to India’s carbon emissions, a new study has warned. Billions of liters of groundwater pumped out every year contributes to carbon emissions in two ways – emissions released due to the pumps Read More …