Panel reviewing green laws gets one-month extension

NEW DELHI: A high level committee, which has been reviewing green laws to suggest appropriate amendments to bring them in sync with the government's development goals, has got another month to finalize its report. The move comes even as the Centre is keen to change couple of key legislations during the winter session of Parliament.

It is learnt that the committee, headed by former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian, has been sounded out to finish its work by November 28 so that the government can bring certain amendments during the remaining 17 sittings of the winter session.

The month-long session, beginning on November 24, will have 22 sittings till December 23.

"After getting suggestions of the panel, the government will need a few days to draft the required amendments. That's why the committee was initially asked to submit its report by October 28," said a senior official.

The panel was set up on August 29 and asked to submit its report in two months. The panel is examining laws pertaining to environment protection, forest conservation, wildlife protection and prevention of air and water pollution.

Though the government has not elaborated on its objectives in the terms of reference (ToR) of the four-member panel, the committee chairman is learnt to have clarified its mandate during one of its public consultations.

Quoting the panel chief from his speech at a public consultation in Bangalore last month, the Environment Support Group (ESG), which works with a variety of environmental and social justice initiatives, said the former cabinet secretary had explained that the primary goal was to suggest changes which would ensure development.

The ESG quoted Subramanian as saying that the country was very poor and it was "essential to streamline environmental clearance process that thwarted (economic) growth".

"Subramanian also shared that it was a matter of concern to the government that several development projects were getting mired in litigation on environmental grounds, leading to needless delays," the ESG said in a statement.

Subramanian, at the same time, insisted that the committee had the mandate to "propose necessary changes that would help improve the quality of life and environment".

The ESG also referred to the committee's chairman remarks in which he said that the ministry of environment and forests had never proposed a public consultation exercise but he had suggested that this should take place.

Former environment secretary Viswanath Anand, retired judge of Delhi High Court Justice A K Srivastav and senior advocate and former additional solicitor general K N Bhat are the other three members of the committee.

The ESG and various other members of civil society have put a list of demands before the environment ministry to make this process more representative, keeping in mind concerns of people. They demanded that the "ministry must first come out with a white paper discussing the nature of the reforms that it proposes in environmental, forest conservation and pollution control laws".

Referring to the consultation mechanism, they said, "Adequate facilities must be made to ensure that anyone interested can participate with dignity and without being inhibited by language or geographical location. To ensure this, the process must be devolved by enlisting the support of state and local governments."

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Kolkata most polluted metro; India has highest PAH level: Study

PANAJI: Kolkata is the most polluted metropolis in the country with its pollution levels recorded highest among eight tropical Asian countries, according to study.

The study, on distribution and identification of source of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) was conducted in eight countries - Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Japan.

According to the study, India has highest PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), a carcinogenic persistent organic pollutants (POPs) as compared to cities of other countries, the research paper published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, an international scientific journal, said.

Among major metropolis in India, Kolkata was found to be the most polluted city with its pollution levels recorded highest among the eight tropical Asian countries, the research paper added.

The research was undertaken by Indian scientist Dr Mahua Saha at Japan-based Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

"In urban areas, the highest PAHs were found in India with an average of 11300 nano grams per gram and the lowest in Malaysia which was 206 nano grams per gram," it said.

According to the researcher, results were alarming for a country like India as its pollution levels were high compared to other tropical Asian countries.

POPs are organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes.

"Public concern about contamination by POPs exists due to the multitude of evidence showing the negative effects of POPs on human health and the environment. Several compounds have been identified as hormone disruptors which can alter normal function of endocrine and reproductive systems in humans and wildlife. Cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, and diabetes have also been linked to POPs," she said.

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DU professor discovers 7 frog species

NEW DELHI: The frogman of India, Delhi University professor S D Biju, has another feather in his cap. Biju and his team have discovered seven new species of golden-backed frogs (Genus hylarana) from the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka global biodiversity hotspot. With this discovery, Biju has managed to clear the air on the century-old misidentification of this species of frogs. Biju is now among the top three discoverers of vertebrates of this century.

It was widely accepted that some of the golden-backed frogs found in India and Sri Lanka belonged to the same species. Using integrated methodologies, the research team has conclusively shown that the frogs on the Indian and Sri Lankan sides are distinctly different species. The frogs have finally received taxonomic justice.

According to experts, this discovery has solved a long-standing problem in amphibian systematics. Franky Bossuyt, Amphibian Evolution Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium said, "Golden-backed frogs of the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot had not been studied in a rigorous and systematic way for long. As a consequence, only a handful of species were known and there were many obvious confusions about Indian and Sri Lankan frogs in the literature. By combining detailed morphological and genetic studies, Dr Biju and his colleagues have now solved this long-standing problem. This study once more confirms that both the mainland and the island have distinct fauna, and that both should be preserved."

Albert Gunther, a German-born British zoologist, described the first species of golden-backed frog from the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot. Commonly known as Gunther's golden-backed frog, Hylarana temporalis was originally spotted in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) in 1864. Subsequently, it was sighted in the entire Western Ghats (right from the southern tip of India, up to Maharashtra). This species was believed to be common and widely distributed in India.

"Using DNA evidence and morphological studies, our study has revealed that this species was actually misidentified in India for over 150 years. This means that the Indian populations (identified as Hylarana temporalis) are actually morphologically and genetically different from the original form described by Gunther. In fact, the Indian populations of the so-called 'Hylarana temporalis' belong to several distinct new species. Our study shows that Hylarana temporalis was believed to occur in India simply because of misidentification and lack of detailed studies," said Biju.

Biju added, "Scientists usually search for and explore amphibians in natural forest areas. Though golden-backed frogs are predominantly a forest species, one of the new species was discovered in urban areas in and around Cochin. This clearly shows unrecognized species diversity can be found not just in the forest areas of Western Ghats but is sometimes close to our homes. This is very important from the point of view of conservation. For example, the species that we have discovered from urban areas is found in highly disturbed habitats. They face higher risk due to their proximity to human activities and require attention."

Asad Rahmani, director, Bombay Natural History Society-India said, "Biju's discoveries and other recent finds from India further proves how much we do not know about our biodiversity. In the race for saving 'sexy' mega-vertebrates, we are losing sight of other fauna and flora that are important for the health of our ecosystems. The government and conservationists should give more attention to the protection of all wildlife, particularly globally threatened and endemic species, not only tiger, elephant, rhinos, etc."

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Land, water management resources are need of the hour: Javadekar

BHOPAL: Union minister for environment and forests Prakash Javadekar on Thursday stressed on the importance of land and water management resources and called for new perspectives to protect the environment.

"Land and water management resources are the need of the hour," Javdekar said addressing a workshop on 'Studying the Rural' at the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) here, according to an official release.

The minister said that changes and new perspectives are required for environmental protection.

The implementation of watershed management projects has resulted in creating facilities for irrigation and also benefited the farmers, he said.

"New crops, new patterns and new technologies like internet have reduced the middlemen interference in marketing agriculture produce," he said.

Javadekar expressed concern over excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides which had resulted in contamination of water.

"In the backdrop of climatic change there is a need for increasing forest cover for environmental protection," he said.

IIFM Director Dr Giridhar Kinhal also spoke during the workshop, which is a three-day event jointly organised by IIFM and Network of Rural and Agrarian Studies (NRAS).

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Growth should not be at the cost of environment: Jairam Ramesh

CHENNAI: While India venerates and respects its biodiversity on one hand, the other hand it treats it with neglect and disdain by destroying it, said former environment minister Jairam Ramesh. Speaking at the silver jubilee celebrations of the CP Ramasami Aiyar Foundation, he said there was an urgent need to set the paradox right and conserve the biodiversity of the country.

"Environment education will play a crucial role in the coming days and teachers should be an active part of it, encouraging children to conserve nature," he said."There certainly needs to be development but never at the cost of our environment. If we do not protect our ecosystem, our entire existence will be at risk," he said.

The foundation gave the 'Green Teacher' award to G Prabhakar of Keshav Memorial Boys High School, Hyderabad, for encouraging students of the school to take up civic issue around their house, immediate neighbourhood and brainstorm for solutions. The 'Green School' award was given to NSN Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Chitlapakkam as the school was known for striving to become a zero-waste campus and has compost pits set up in the premises. The students are encouraged to plant trees, save water and promote rainwater harvesting.

Ministry of environment secretary Ashok Lavasa, said that keeping the environment clean should not viewed as a challenge. "There needs to be a balance in achieving growth and protecting nature," he said.

There is a significant need to start environmental education at school level, said Dr M S Swaminathan. 'We need to catch them young teach them about sustainable development," he said.

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Global meet on climate change in Kerala in February

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tackling climate change, disaster management are among the issues set to be discussed at an international conference to be held here in February next year.

Nearly 500 scientists and policy makers, including 200 from abroad, would attend the three-day conference being hosted by Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) from February 26.

The event is being held in association with International Academy of Astronautics and the International Institute of Space Law, KSCSTE Executive Vice-President V N Rajasekharan Pillai and former chairman of ISRO G Madhavan Nair told reporters here on Wednesday.

The conference proposes to address issues related to sharing of knowledge and data between countries with advanced resources and the emerging countries, Nair said.

Though India had a strong mechanism for disaster management using space technology in predicting natural calamities like cyclone, more studies were required for landslide and earthquake, he said.

"One of the objectives of the conference is to help narrow the knowledge and resource gap between developed and developing nations," he added.

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'Salt invasion in Indo-Gangetic basin has led to more health problems'

LONDON: Large areas of rich irrigated and fertile land in the Indo-Gangetic basin is being lost daily to salt damage, confirms the UN.

Crop yield losses on salt-affected lands for wheat, rice, sugarcane and cotton grown on salt-affected lands could be 40%, 45%, 48%, and 63%, respectively.
Employment losses could be 50-80 man-days per hectare, with an estimate 20-40% increase in human health problems and 15-50% increase in animal health problems in India's Indo-Gangetic Basin.

Scientists have now confirmed that salt-spoiled soils worldwide is 20% of all irrigated lands, an area equal to France.

According to the UN University's Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health, every day for more than 20 years, an average of 2,000 hectares of irrigated land in arid and semi-arid areas across 75 countries have been degraded by salt.

Today an area the size of France is affected, about 62 million hectares (20%) of the world's irrigated lands, up from 45 million hectares in the early 1990s.

Salt-degradation occurs in arid and semi-arid regions where rainfall is too low to maintain regular percolation of rainwater through the soil and where irrigation is practiced without a natural or artificial drainage system.

Irrigation practices without drainage management trigger the accumulation of salts in the root zone, affecting several soil properties and reducing productivity.

"To feed the world's anticipated nine billion people by 2050, and with little new productive land available, it's a case of all lands needed on deck," says principal author Manzoor Qadir, assistant director at the Institute. "We can't afford not to restore the productivity of salt-affected lands".

Zafar Adeel, director of UNU-INWEH, notes the UN Food and Agriculture Organization projects a need to produce 70% more food by 2050, including a 50% rise in annual cereal production to about 3 billion tonnes.

"Each week the world loses an area larger than Manhattan to salt-degradation. A large portion of the affected areas in developing countries have seen investments made in irrigation and drainage but the infrastructure is not properly maintained or managed. Efforts to restore those lands to full productivity are essential as world population and food needs grow, especially in the developing world". Well known salt-degraded land areas include Aral Sea Basin, Indus Basin, Yellow River Basin, Euphrates Basin, Murray-Darling Basin, Indo Gangetic Plain and San Joaquin Valley.

The estimated cost of crop losses was drawn from a review of more than 20 studies over the last 20 years in Australia, India, Pakistan, Spain, Central Asia and the USA.

Globally, irrigated lands cover some 310 million ha, an estimated 20% of it salt-affected (62 million ha). The inflation-adjusted cost of salt-induced land degradation in 2013 was estimated at $441 per hectare, yielding an estimate of global economic losses at $27.3 billion per year.

In the Indus Basin in Pakistan, wheat grain yield losses from salt-affected lands ranged 20-43% with an overall average loss of 32%. For rice, the crop yield losses from salt-affected lands ranged 36-69% with an overall average loss of 48%.

"These costs are expected to be even higher when other cost components such as infrastructure deterioration (including roads, railways, and buildings), losses in property values of farms with degraded land, and the social cost of farm businesses are taken into consideration. In addition, there could be additional environmental costs associated with salt-affected degraded lands as these lands emit more greenhouse gases, thus contributing to global warming".

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Chimps plan for a good early breakfast

WASHINGTON: Chimpanzees plan ahead, and sometimes take dangerous risks, to get a good breakfast, scientists say.

Researchers found that chimpanzees will find a place to sleep en route to breakfast sites and risk travel in the dark when predators are active to obtain more desired, less abundant fruits such as figs.

"As humans we are familiar with the race against birds for our cherries, or against squirrels for our walnuts and pecans but this race is carried out amongst competitors of all kinds of species in locations all over the world," said study co-author Leo Polansky, an associate researcher in the University of California, Davis.

The study provides evidence that chimpanzees flexibly plan their breakfast time, type and location after weighing multiple disparate pieces of information.

"Being able to reveal the role of environmental complexity in shaping cognitive-based behaviour is especially exciting," Polansky said.

"Long-term, detailed information from the field can reveal the value of high levels of cognition and behavioural flexibility for efficiently obtaining critical food resources in complex environments," he said.

Researchers recorded when and where five adult female chimpanzees spent the night and acquired food for 275 days during three fruit-scarce periods.

The research took place in the Tai National Park in Cote d'Ivoire, led by researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, where Polansky was a postdoctoral researcher.

The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Butterfly survey in Periyar Tiger Reserve records 246 species

THEKKADY: A recent butterfly survey carried out in the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Kerala has come out with quite interesting information as the volunteers recorded 246 species of butterflies - 95 % of 32 butterfly species endemic to the Western Ghats.

A total of 152 volunteers, including scientists, naturalists and students, participated in one of the largest butterfly surveys in the tiger reserve held from October 23 to 26.

The volunteers also recorded a rare species of the Baby Five Ring. The Baby Five Ring has been recorded only three times in the past 100 years.

This species was recorded from the Eravangalar section of the PTR.

The 925 km sq tiger reserve with its varying altitude and habitats was covered by strategically identified 26 base camps.

"The butterfly survey will help in assessing the eco-system and to chart out conservation measures", said Sanjayan Kumar, deputy director of the PTR.

The last survey was held 22 years ago in 1992 when volunteers recorded 167 species.

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Earth's largest shark, Megalodon, disappeared 2.6 million years ago

The author has posted comments on this articlePTI | Oct 26, 2014, 07.31PM IST

Most Megalodon fossils date back to the middle Miocene Epoch (15.9 million to 11.6 million years ago) and the Pliocene Epoch (5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago).

Page 1 of 4

NEW YORK: An ancient shark, the largest to ever live, likely went extinct about 2.6 million years ago, scientists have found.

While researchers do not know why giant, 60-foot-long Megalodon sharks went extinct, scientists now have a better estimate for when it happened.

Most Megalodon fossils date back to the middle Miocene Epoch (15.9 million to 11.6 million years ago) and the Pliocene Epoch (5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago).

The researchers in the new study identified 42 of the most recent fossils after sorting through the Paleobiology Database - a large online compilation of fossil data.

The team used the Optimal Linear Estimation (OLE) technique to estimate when the Megalodon died out, 'Live Science' reported.

Each of the 42 fossils was entered into the database with an upper and lower date estimate for when it appeared. The researchers ran 10,000 simulations, and each simulation selected a date for each fossil somewhere between the upper and lower boundary.

The technique doesn't pinpoint the exact date when a species went extinct, but instead gives the date by which, statistically, it can be assumed that a species has gone extinct, said Chris Clements, a research assistant at the University of Zurich, who worked on the study.

"We get 10,000 estimates for the time the species has gone extinct by, and then we look at the distribution of those estimates through time," Clements said.

The idea is to identify the point where most of the estimates cluster. The results for the Megalodon fossils placed that point for this species at 2.6 million years ago.

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What led to extinction of the giant shark

LONDON: By analysing dozens of Megalodon fossils, researchers estimated that the ancient shark, the largest to ever live, is likely to have gone extinct about 2.6 million years ago.

While researchers are still not clear as to why these giant, 60-foot-long sharks (Carcharocles megalodon) went extinct, scientists now have a better estimate for when it happened.

"We get 10,000 estimates for the time the species went extinct and then we look at the distribution of those estimates through time," Live Science quoted Chris Clements, research assistant at the University of Zurich, as saying.

The team used the Optimal Linear Estimation (OLE) technique to estimate when the Megalodon became extinct.

"Though the technique does not give us the exact date when a species went extinct, it gives the date by which, it can be assumed that a species has gone extinct," Clements added.

They identified 42 of the most recent fossils after sorting through the Paleobiology Database - a large, online compilation of fossil data.

Each of the 42 fossils were entered into the database, with an upper and lower date estimate for when it appeared.

The researchers then ran 10,000 simulations and each simulation selected a date for the said fossils, somewhere, between the upper and lower boundary.

This date falls on the border between the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, from the time when baleen whales began growing to their modern-day gigantic sizes.

Most Megalodon fossils date back to the middle Miocene Epoch (15.9 million to 11.6 million years ago) and the Pliocene Epoch (5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago).

The timing of the Megalodon's extinction makes sense, since these ancient sharks fed on marine mammals, including whales and dolphins, the researchers said.

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Earth's largest shark, Megalodon, disappeared 2.6 million years ago

NEW YORK: An ancient shark, the largest to ever live, likely went extinct about 2.6 million years ago, scientists have found.

While researchers do not know why giant, 60-foot-long Megalodon sharks went extinct, scientists now have a better estimate for when it happened.

Most Megalodon fossils date back to the middle Miocene Epoch (15.9 million to 11.6 million years ago) and the Pliocene Epoch (5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago).

The researchers in the new study identified 42 of the most recent fossils after sorting through the Paleobiology Database - a large online compilation of fossil data.

The team used the Optimal Linear Estimation (OLE) technique to estimate when the Megalodon died out, 'Live Science' reported.

Each of the 42 fossils was entered into the database with an upper and lower date estimate for when it appeared. The researchers ran 10,000 simulations, and each simulation selected a date for each fossil somewhere between the upper and lower boundary.

The technique doesn't pinpoint the exact date when a species went extinct, but instead gives the date by which, statistically, it can be assumed that a species has gone extinct, said Chris Clements, a research assistant at the University of Zurich, who worked on the study.

"We get 10,000 estimates for the time the species has gone extinct by, and then we look at the distribution of those estimates through time," Clements said.

The idea is to identify the point where most of the estimates cluster. The results for the Megalodon fossils placed that point for this species at 2.6 million years ago.

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Over 10,000 migratory birds arrive in Odisha

The author has posted comments on this articleIANS | Oct 24, 2014, 06.07PM IST

About 3,000 birds have been sighted in Mangalajodi, a wetland located near the lake. 

Page 1 of 4

BHUBANESWAR: Over 10,000 migratory birds from Siberia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and across the Himalayas have arrived at Odisha's Chilika Lake for their winter sojourn, an official said on Friday.

The first batch of birds arrived earlier this month. The numbers are gradually going up, divisional forest officer BR Das told IANS.

About 3,000 birds have been sighted in Mangalajodi, a wetland located near the lake. The birds were sighted in and outer area of the lake, said Das.

The migratory birds which were spotted at the lake included northern pintail, shoveller, and gadwall, he said.

Chilika, about 100km south from Bhubaneswar, is the largest brackish water lake in Asia covering an area of over 1,100 sq km.

It is considered as one of the hotspots of biodiversity in the country and a great attraction for the tourists for fishing, bird watching and boating.

The lake is considered as the largest wintering ground for migratory waterfowl found anywhere in the Indian sub-continent. About 10 lakh migratory birds visit the lake in October and return in March.

Das said 17 camps have been set up and at least 100 people including staffs and workers have been engaged for the protection of the birds.

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Ocean circulation a major factor in climate change

WASHINGTON: It isn't just the atmosphere, but the circulation of the oceans plays an equally important role in regulating the Earth's climate, new research shows.

The study revealed that the cooling of Earth and continental ice build-up in the Northern Hemisphere 2.7 million years ago coincided with a shift in the circulation of the ocean - which pulls in heat and carbon dioxide in the Atlantic and moves them through the deep ocean from north to south until it's released in the Pacific.

The ocean conveyor system changed at the same time as a major expansion in the volume of the glaciers in the northern hemisphere took place along with a substantial fall in sea levels.

It was the Antarctic ice, researchers argued, that cut off heat exchange at the ocean's surface and forced it into deep water.

This led to global climate change at the time and it could be said that the formation of the ocean conveyor cooled the earth and created the climate we live in now.

"We argue that it was the establishment of the modern deep ocean circulation - the ocean conveyor - about 2.7 million years ago, and not a major change in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere that triggered an expansion of the ice sheets in the northern hemisphere," said Stella Woodard, lead author and a post-doctoral researcher at Rutgers University in the US.

The new findings, based on ocean sediment core samples between 2.5 million to 3.3 million years old, provide scientists with a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of climate change today.

The changes in heat distribution between the ocean basins is important for understanding future climate change, the team concluded.

The study was published in the journal Science.

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FIRs filed on Bengal villagers electrocuting elephants

The author has posted comments on this articleIANS | Oct 23, 2014, 06.00PM IST

 patrolling team of foresters early in the week recovered the carcasses of a tusker from Upper Kalabari in the Daina range and of a cow elephant in Panjhora.

Page 1 of 4

KOLKATA: The West Bengal forest department has lodged police complaints against some villagers in north Bengal for allegedly electrocuting two elephants, an official said on Thursday.

A patrolling team of foresters early in the week recovered the carcasses of a tusker from Upper Kalabari in the Daina range and of a cow elephant in Panjhora under Chalsa range, both in Dooars region of north Bengal.

Their post-mortem examination found evidence of electrocution.

"Some villagers might have done it and it is an offence. So we have lodged FIRs with the police stations in the areas," PT Bhutia, chief conservator of forest, Northern Circle, told IANS.

Villagers often resort to electrifying wire fences to protect their houses and paddy fields from elephants. Whenever an elephant tries to break into that fence, it gets electrocuted.

Officials have been directed to step up efforts in generating awareness among residents of the region to prevent such incidents.

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Over 10,000 migratory birds arrive in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Over 10,000 migratory birds from Siberia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and across the Himalayas have arrived at Odisha's Chilika Lake for their winter sojourn, an official said on Friday.

The first batch of birds arrived earlier this month. The numbers are gradually going up, divisional forest officer BR Das told IANS.

About 3,000 birds have been sighted in Mangalajodi, a wetland located near the lake. The birds were sighted in and outer area of the lake, said Das.

The migratory birds which were spotted at the lake included northern pintail, shoveller, and gadwall, he said.

Chilika, about 100km south from Bhubaneswar, is the largest brackish water lake in Asia covering an area of over 1,100 sq km.

It is considered as one of the hotspots of biodiversity in the country and a great attraction for the tourists for fishing, bird watching and boating.

The lake is considered as the largest wintering ground for migratory waterfowl found anywhere in the Indian sub-continent. About 10 lakh migratory birds visit the lake in October and return in March.

Das said 17 camps have been set up and at least 100 people including staffs and workers have been engaged for the protection of the birds.

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Migratory birds arrive in Chilika lake

BERHAMPUR: Migratory birds have started arriving at the Chilika. They were spotted at Mangalajodi and Nalabana Island, the designated bird sanctuary inside the 1,100 sq km lake. "They were also seen in other parts of the lake," said divisional forest officer (Chilika wildlife division) Bikash Ranjan Das.

Among the migratory birds are northern pintail, gadwall and shovellers. Ornithologists said early snowfall in their native areas, non-availability of food and recent flood in Jammu & Kashmir might have prompted the birds to migrate to safer places, including Chilika. "Availability of food and favourable weather attracts birds to Chilika," former chief conservators of forest Sudhakar Mohapatra.

The wildlife division has taken steps to protect the feathered guests. "We have set up 17 camps in the lake. Each camp has one regular staffer with three to four persons engaged on daily wage. Our officers are patrolling the waters in boats too," said the DFO.

Last winter, around 7.19 lakh birds of 158 species had come to the lake, while around 8.83 lakh birds of 167 species spent winter in the lagoon in 2012-13.

They mostly come from Northern Eurasia, Caspian region, Siberia, Kazakh, Lake Baikal and remote areas of Russia.

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FIRs filed on Bengal villagers electrocuting elephants

KOLKATA: The West Bengal forest department has lodged police complaints against some villagers in north Bengal for allegedly electrocuting two elephants, an official said on Thursday.

A patrolling team of foresters early in the week recovered the carcasses of a tusker from Upper Kalabari in the Daina range and of a cow elephant in Panjhora under Chalsa range, both in Dooars region of north Bengal.

Their post-mortem examination found evidence of electrocution.

"Some villagers might have done it and it is an offence. So we have lodged FIRs with the police stations in the areas," PT Bhutia, chief conservator of forest, Northern Circle, told IANS.

Villagers often resort to electrifying wire fences to protect their houses and paddy fields from elephants. Whenever an elephant tries to break into that fence, it gets electrocuted.

Officials have been directed to step up efforts in generating awareness among residents of the region to prevent such incidents.

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Insects have more efficient social networks!

NEW DELHI: Insects like honeybees and ants live in groups that constantly communicate with each other and scientists are seeking a better understanding of their networks to improve the existing information processing.

In fact, communication networks in some insect groups have been successfully compared to artificial technological information transfer networks.

Drawing parallels between such highly-coordinated processes in living organisms and their artificial counterparts, a team of scientists from IISc, IISER-Kolkata and BITS-Pilani, seeks a better understanding of network communication to improve the existing information processing system, says a Gubbi Labs release.

Survival of living organisms depends on the well-coordinated processes at different levels — the cellular and genetic levels, for example.

Group living animals take coordination to a different level — schools of fish and flocks of birds rely on competent communication by every individual to all other members, at every point in time. Efficient transfer of information happens through communication systems, which hold good even when there are time or energy constraints.

Among non-human living beings, social insects like bees have some of the most complex societies.

Scientists study them to understand communication between the members of a colony, which ensures division of labour between thousands of individuals.

Different species of social insects have different modes of communication: bees in large colonies communicate using chemical cues or pheromones, while wasps in smaller colonies use direct physical interactions.

Anjan Nandi and colleagues at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore studied a tropical wasp Ropalidia marginata to understand the flow of information within a colony.

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SmartCity Kochi gets environmental nod

KOCHI: SmartCity Kochi, Kerala's ambitious information technology business township project, has received environmental clearance for the entire project covering 246 acres even as the construction of its first IT building is nearing completion.

"For the first IT building-SCK01, we had received the environmental clearance in July 2013 and later we applied for the rest of the project, which has been cleared now," Gigo Joseph, CEO, SCK said in a release.

The 6.5 lakh square feet building is fast nearing completion.

SCK will develop no less than 8.8 million sq. ft. of built-up area with substantial extent of land area being left for greenery and open spaces, to house Information and Communication Technology, Media, Finance and Research & Innovation clusters, attracting companies from within India and from abroad, the release said.

The environmental clearance was given at a meeting of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority Kerala (SEIAA-K) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests followed by the State Expert Appraisal Committee's (SEAC) recommendations.

While considering the application, SEAC appreciated SmartCity's effort in presenting a clear cut master plan of the project.

"Now, as the decks have been cleared for the entire project, we are looking forward to speed up the construction activities of own, joint and infrastructural developments."

"Of own developments, construction of SCK01's seven-story structure is in an advanced stage of completion and as announced in the Director's Board meeting held in Abu Dhabi, the building is expected to be inaugurated in March 2015," Gigo Joseph said.

Once complete, the building is aimed to be one of the largest LEED Platinum-rated IT buildings in India, as well as all of the forthcoming structures coming up here are being developed as environment friendly, the release said.

SCK has also entered into agreements for joint developments with leading IT, hospitality, realty and education companies, to make the hub coming up here an integrated township with facilities for stay, work and play.

"Approvals and designs of such joint developments are at various stages now while a couple of them are already on the verge of starting construction," Gigo Joseph added.

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Plea to overcome rifts during climate talks as heat busts record

PARIS: Fresh UN climate talks opened in Bonn on Monday with a plea for nations to overcome rifts as scientists reported record global temperatures for a month of September.

In an appeal to negotiators at the six-day meeting, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said renewed commitments made at a world summit on September 23 to curb climate change should prompt negotiators to "build bridges."

Their discussions must lay the foundations for the annual ministerial-level talks to be held in Lima in December, she said.

The Peru meeting, in turn, must pave the way to a pact in Paris in December 2015 that for the first time will bring 195 nations, rich and poor alike, into the same arena of commitment.

"This week is a key opportunity to reach out to your counterparts, build bridges and find a path forward," said Figueres.

The New York summit called by UN chief Ban Ki-moon had "shifted the ground on what is possible in climate change," she argued.

"Collectively, your heads of state have reassured the world that we will address climate change. Today... it is up to you to chart the path of that solution."

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), meanwhile, said last month was the hottest September since reliable records of global average temperatures began in 1880.

NOAA reported a record for September of 15.72 degrees Celsius (60.3 degrees Fahrenheit), 0.72 C above the 20th-century average.

"With the exception of February, every month to date in 2014 has been among its four warmest on record, with May, June, August and September all record warm," NOAA said.

Negotiators in Bonn face long-standing differences over sharing curbs on greenhouse gases, the source of warming.

These cuts are meant to limit average global warming to no more than 2 C over pre-industrial levels and save the planet from potentially catastrophic climate damage.

Figueres stressed the new climate pact, due to enter into force from 2020, "must irreversibly bend the curb of emissions", which have continued rising.

But many technicalities have to be resolved, including the very legal nature of the pact and how it will be monitored and enforced.

The talks are the first chance for negotiators to discuss a rough 22-page outline for the deal that has been drawn up by working group leaders and distributed for scrutiny in July.

The meeting must also start narrowing down what data countries will be required to provide when they submit their pledges for emissions curbs in the first quarter of next year.

This topic will likely see negotiators return to a sore point, whether rich countries should have tougher targets because of their longer history of burning fossil fuels.

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Heavy rain will reduce man-animal conflict in TN, forest officials say

The author has posted comments on this articleJ Arockiaraj, TNN | Oct 20, 2014, 05.57PM IST

There were several incidents of wild animals straying into agricultural fields in Tamil Nadu in the last three years due poor monsoon.

Page 1 of 4

MADURAI: Forest officials in Tamil Nadu are upbeat about the continuing heavy rain in the state as it will support wildlife and reduce man-animal conflict.

A drought-like condition had been prevailing in several in forest areas in the state in the last three years. There were several incidents of wild animals like Indian gaurs, spotted deer and elephants straying into agricultural fields. Farmers used to raise the issue with district administrations.

Forest officials said the rain would help revive the green cover in the forests. "We have constructed a lot of check dams and percolation ponds in last three years but they were not filled. These rains are very useful to improve water sources in the forest areas and help wild animals," said a senior official at the Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary in Srivilliputhur.

Further, the rains are beneficial to carry out tree planting drives the department undertakes. Under Tamil Nadu Biodiversity and Greening Project (TNBGP) and Massive Tree Plantation drive, every division is assigned to plant almost two lakh trees this year.

"There is adequate moisture in the air and the earth is wet. Saplings can take root easily. We have already planted 40,000 saplings in the forests and empty lands and these rains are going to be very helpful," said Nihar Ranjan, divisional forest officer, Madurai.

Article continues

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After Jamni tigress, male Gabbar radio-collared in Tadoba

Nagpur: Two days after scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, radio-collared a tigress at Jamni in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) at Chandrapur on Saturday, a male tiger 'Gabbar' was also tagged with a radio-collar on Sunday.

On Friday, WII experts Dr Parag Nigam and Dr Bilal Habib had tranquillized the Jamni tigress to fit a radio-collar. Similar operation was carried out on Sunday for a male tiger in the presence of TATR field director and chief conservator of forests (CCF) GP Garad and other park officials.

This is the first experiment in the state to study tigers by placing satellite radio collars. Earlier, in November 2012, a tigress named Kala from Tass forest in Bhiwapur was radio-collared after rescue and released in the wild. "However, for study purpose, collaring tigers in Tadoba is being done for the first time," said VK Sinha, APCCF for ecotourism & wildlife administration.

"The WII scientists are monitoring the signals. Both the carnivores have recovered well and are behaving normally. The collars are satellite based and will give signals about their behaviour and movement," said Garad.

The radio collaring of tigers is part of a research titled 'Long-term monitoring of tigers, co-predators and prey species in TATR and adjoining landscapes'. Maharashtra government had last year cleared the Rs1.64 crore project to be implemented by WII on 70:30 cost-sharing basis between state government and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

"The project is aimed at studying population density apart from abundance and demographic structure of tigers. The study is being conducted in two phases and also includes capacity building of local staff for managing man-animal conflict," Sinha said.

TATR landscape is one of the most important landscapes in Central India and is crucial for long-term conservation of tigers in the region. The area has witnessed highest number of conflict cases in the recent past. The study would investigate dynamics of tigers, co-predators and their prey.

Garad said in all five tigers will be radio-collared. In the second phase, three more tigers will be collared in March-April 2015. After extensive survey and selection of target animals in core area of the reserve during last few days, the exercise was held in the morning hours.

Pench firing accused caught

Pench tiger reserve forest officials on Sunday arrested main accused Anantrao Kumre, who had shot at STPF guard Satish Shendre on October 13 while he was a patrolling duty. On Saturday, the officials had arrested Anantrao's son Rajkumar from his house at Amdi in adjoining West Pench on MP border. The officials have seized monitor lizard skin from the main accused. On Saturday, they had seized eight trophies, pangolin scales, and an old skin of chinkara.

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Heavy rain will reduce man-animal conflict in Tamil Nadu, forest officials say

MADURAI: Forest officials in Tamil Nadu are upbeat about the continuing heavy rain in the state as it will support wildlife and reduce man-animal conflict.

A drought-like condition had been prevailing in several in forest areas in the state in the last three years. There were several incidents of wild animals like Indian gaurs, spotted deer and elephants straying into agricultural fields. Farmers used to raise the issue with district administrations.

Forest officials said the rain would help revive the green cover in the forests. "We have constructed a lot of check dams and percolation ponds in last three years but they were not filled. These rains are very useful to improve water sources in the forest areas and help wild animals," said a senior official at the Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary in Srivilliputhur.

Further, the rains are beneficial to carry out tree planting drives the department undertakes. Under Tamil Nadu Biodiversity and Greening Project (TNBGP) and Massive Tree Plantation drive, every division is assigned to plant almost two lakh trees this year.

"There is adequate moisture in the air and the earth is wet. Saplings can take root easily. We have already planted 40,000 saplings in the forests and empty lands and these rains are going to be very helpful," said Nihar Ranjan, divisional forest officer, Madurai.

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Endangered northern white rhino dies in Africa

PRAGUE: A Czech zoo says a 34-year-old northern white rhinoceros has died in Kenya, further reducing the world's dwindling population of the critically endangered animal.

Suni was born at the zoo in Dvur Kralove in June 1980. The zoo says Suni was found dead Friday in the Ol Pejeta animal sanctuary. The cause of death wasn't immediately clear, but the zoo ruled out he was killed by poachers.

He was one of the four northern white rhinos that the Czech zoo moved to Africa in December 2009 in an attempt to save the species from extinction. The zoo hoped it could be easier for them to breed there than in captivity.

The zoo said today that Suni was one of seven northern white rhinos left.

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Two jumbos electrocuted in North Bengal

SILIGURI: Within a day of recovery of a rhino carcass at Gorumara National Park, two adult jumbos — a tusker and a female — were electrocuted in a north Bengal forest on Saturday.

At around 3.30 am on Saturday, a patrolling team of foresters found bodies of two elephants on the paddy field at Rakamjot Bustee near Naxalbari's Kolabari forest, some five kilometres from the Indo-Nepal border and 30 kilometres from Siliguri.

A herd of elephants was seen roaming around the Panighatta beat area. Locals said they had damaged crop fields to feed upon the harvested crops. "In order to stop that, some villagers had tapped power and laid the wire open in the field that led to the electrocution of the elephants," said a source.

Buddhi Rajshiva, acting DFO of Kurseong division, rushed to the spot. After primary investigation, the forest department lodged an FIR against two villagers with the Naxalbari PS. However, both the villagers are absconding.

"While one of the elephants was electrocuted after its trunk entangled in the wires, the other one died after its tail mired in the wires. This is very unfortunate and should not have happened," said Rajshiva.

Tapping of electricity is an old practice in the forest villages. Villagers do that in order to save their houses and paddy fields from elephants. They tap power and connect it to the fences of their houses and lay open wires on their fields. Whenever an elephant wants to break into that fence, it dies.

Over the past few years, the practice has also gained popularity among villagers in the Bamandanga area of Nepal's Kakarvitta, a place which is often raided by elephants that cross over the Mechi river on the Indo-Nepal border and enter that village. Several elephants had died in Bamandanga over the past couple of years and seven others were shot dead.

In Bengal, as many as 18 jumbos died of electrocution in the Dooars and Terai regions over the past decade.

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India-born scientist Rajaram awarded World Food Prize

WASHINGTON: India-born Mexican scientist Sanjaya Rajaram has been presented with the prestigious World Food Prize 2014 for his agricultural research that led to a remarkable increase in world wheat production building on the successes of the Green Revolution.

"It is a collective achievement, rather than that of a single person," Rajaram told the audience accepting the prestigious award at the Iowa State University, Des Moines, in the US state of Iowa.

The award "honours the innovative spirit of farmers", he said adding that "without their contributions, my research wouldn't have been possible".

By crossing winter and spring wheat varieties — which were distinct gene pools that had been isolated from one another for hundreds of years — he created wheat varieties that are disease- and stress-resistant and adaptable to diverse geographical regions and climates.

In 2007, Norman Borlaug called Rajaram "the greatest present-day wheat scientist in the world". Borlaug is known as the father of the Green Revolution.

Born in a small village in India, Rajaram worked to be the top in his class as he moved through school, and dedicated his life to making direct improvements for farmers and all people who depend on agriculture.

Now a citizen of Mexico, Rajaram conducted the majority of his research in Mexico at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT).

His work there led to a prodigious increase in world wheat production - by more than 200 million tons during the 25-year-period known as the "golden years of wheat" - building on the successes of the Green Revolution.

Rajaram worked side by side with Borlaug at CIMMYT before succeeding him as head of the wheat breeding programme in 1972.

He implemented a major expansion of Borlaug's approach, advancing his mentor's work during the 'golden years' of wheat breeding and production.

Under Rajaram's leadership, the centre developed 480 wheat varieties released in 51 countries and were widely adopted by small- and large-scale farmers alike.

At a news conference, Rajaram said he wholeheartedly supports genetically modified crops.

But the World Food Prize laureate said caution is still needed in their adoption, the local Des Moines Register newspaper reported.

"I'm very pro-, in the sense that I see a tremendous yield stability that GM (genetic modification) can bring to various crops," Rajaram was quoted as saying.

"However, how to handle that. What are the effects on the environment? We need to study those things very carefully," Rajaram said.

"Like any technology, we have to be very cautious in promoting it," he added.

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Want to put environment ministry on autopilot: Javadekar

NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said Friday that he wanted to put the environment ministry in "autopilot" with transparent, policy-based decision making and acknowledged that the previous UPA government had hampered growth by not clearing key environmental decisions.

"I want to put the environment ministry in autopilot, which is a regulatory ministry in a way. A transparent, predictable, policy-based decision making ministry, which is what I am heading to," said Javadekar during a talk at the Foreign Correspondents Club here.

To a question whether he thought the previous United Progressive Alliance government had not taken key environment clearance decisions which hampered growth, he said "Unfortunately, yes."

He said former prime minister Manmohan Singh had shortlisted 17 important projects for clearance. "The projects were pending for months," he said, adding that he had conveyed to Singh when he met him at a recent function that he has given clearance to the 17 projects.

Javadekar also said that on climate change discussions the Narendra Modi government has been "presenting ourselves as a proactive, positive nation, not naysayers but yes sayers".

He said that at the Major Economies Forum in Paris in July, he had conveyed that "we don't regard isolation as a policy, and we don't regard any isolation as a grand isolation, but I am confident with my actions and arguments I can convince you, and if I am not convincing you, I am ready to get convinced. We are showing the difference, putting new arguments on the table," he added.

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Argentine biologist strives to save camelid species

The author has posted comments on this articleIANS | Oct 16, 2014, 01.42PM IST

Page 1 of 4

BUENOS AIRES: An Argentine biologist has combined respect for nature and traditions with scientific rigour in her efforts to save the "emblematic" vicuna, a species of great value for the inhabitants of alpine areas of the Andes mountains.

Bibiana Vila has devoted 25 years of her life to preserve and defend the camelid species, which lives at an altitude of 12,460 feet above sea level and is under threat from poachers who covet its valuable wool.

"The vicuna is highly valuable, not just for the market but for its ecosystem because it's the largest animal of the Puna grassland, an emblematic species because if it can be preserved then many other species can be saved...such as some toads," the biologist told Spanish news agency Efe.

To capture individual vicunas for research purposes, Vila, director of the VICAM (Vicunas, Camelids and Environment) research group, used a pre-Columbian ritual known as the "chaku", which she carries out with members of her team.

"It involves making a 'chayada', or a hole in the ground, to put food, coca leaves, cigarettes and alcohol inside, so (local indigenous communities) deliver the vicunas to us for a short while," said Vila, who Wednesday received the UN Midori Prize in Pyeongchang city in recognition of her work.

Once captured, the vicunas are taken to a cooperative located in Jujuy province, where blood samples will be taken and an ID collar is placed around their necks before they are sheared and returned to their natural habitat.

The samples will be used for research, but the wool benefits the local Santa Catalina farm and ranching cooperative, which works closely with Vila's team.

"This recognition of many years of work preserving a species of the Altiplano that yields its fiber in exchange for its conservation is very gratifying," the biologist said.

Article continues

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UP sugar mill polluting Ganga fined Rs 5 crore

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has cracked the whip on industries that have been polluting river Ganga. It has imposed a Rs 5 crore fine on Simbhaoli sugar mill and distillery unit and a fine of Rs 25 lakh on Gopalji dairy in Ghaziabad. It was hearing an appeal that alleged that the industries were discharging toxic effluents in Phuldehra drain which falls into Ganga through the Syana canal.

The application had also alleged that toxic wastes from industries were affecting Gangetic dolphins, turtles and other riparian species.

An expert member of the tribunal visited the site in March and pointed various shortfalls in the functioning of these units and concluded that they were a source of serious pollution.

"There is ample documentary evidence in the form of affidavits, inspection reports and analysis reports to show that Simbhaoli Mills is not only been a source of continuous pollution particularly surface and ground water but also failed to take precautions of its own accord. Thus, it has endorsed itself to incurring a liability for relief and compensation for causing damage and for restitution of environment in the concerned areas," the order said.

Toxic industrial wastes are said to be affecting the Gangetic marine life

"There can hardly be any dispute that it is a polluting unit. It is also beyond controversy that this unit has operated without consent of the Boards from 1974 till the year 1991, thereafter, it committed default in compliance of the conditions of the consent right up to the year 2000. Even thereafter, it did not strictly comply with the conditions and directions issued by the respective Boards. This unit is a direct source of polluting River Ganga," the bench observed.

The Tribunal has fixed a compensation of Rs 5 crores on Simbhaoli Mills to be deposited with Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) and this amount shall be use for removal of sludge and all pollutants and preventing ground water pollution.

The bench had earlier directed UPPCB as well as Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to inspect around 1000 industries to check if they polluting the Ganga. The polluter pay principle that was imposed on two industries on Thursday may be imposed on all other industries in future.

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5 Indian companies in global A list of green firms

NEW DELHI: At the time when the government is exploring various options to move on to a low-carbon growth path, five Indian companies have made it to the global list of firms that have shown leadership in adopting measures to cut their climate-damaging emissions.

The list reveals which companies around the world are doing the most to combat climate change. It has 187 companies from across the globe that illustrate that a low-carbon future does not mean low profit.

Most of the companies performing better in terms of their efforts to combat climate change are located in Europe, followed by the US and Japan.

The Indian companies that made it to the list — CDP Climate Performance Leadership Index 2014 — are: Essar Oil, Larsen & Toubro, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro.

This new global index has been prepared by the CDP — an international not-for-profit organization — at the behest of 767 investors who represent more than a third of the world's invested capital. The CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) is the only global system for companies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share vital environmental information.

"Awarded an 'A' grade for their performance, they (the companies in the list) earn a position on the first global ranking of corporate efforts to mitigate climate change", said the organization in a statement while releasing the report comprising the names of the companies and the parameters\methodology followed on Wednesday.

It said, "Collectively the climate performance leaders have reduced their total (absolute) emissions by 33 million metric tons in the past reporting year, equivalent to turning London's car owners into cyclists for two-and-a-half years".

Paul Simpson, chief executive officer of CDP said, "The businesses that have made it onto our first ever global list of climate performance leaders are to be congratulated for their progress; they debunk economic arguments against reducing emissions. However, global emissions continue to rise at an alarming rate. Businesses and governments must raise their climate ambition. The data shows that there is neither an excuse nor the time for lethargy."

The India 2014 report titled "Indian companies decouple business growth from carbon emissions" reveals that energy efficiency is the key means by which companies are acting on climate change.

"Over 60% of surveyed companies are introducing process energy efficiency initiatives, consequently, 24% have reduced their absolute emissions and an additional 26% have reduced their emissions intensity while driving business growth and profitability", said the report.

The report that analyzed the responses from the top 200 Indian companies by market capitalization found that the companies are now better at identifying and prioritizing the climate change issues they want to actively manage.

The occasion also saw release of the CDP India 200 Climate Change Report 2014, showing how the Indian companies are using their increased commitment to climate change action to drive innovative sustainable businesses processes.

According to the report, the Indian companies expressed their eagerness to engage with the government to keep abreast with regulatory changes. This will ensure that they can take necessary precautions and proactively maintain their competitive advantage and brand image.

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Argentine biologist strives to save camelid species

BUENOS AIRES: An Argentine biologist has combined respect for nature and traditions with scientific rigour in her efforts to save the "emblematic" vicuna, a species of great value for the inhabitants of alpine areas of the Andes mountains.

Bibiana Vila has devoted 25 years of her life to preserve and defend the camelid species, which lives at an altitude of 12,460 feet above sea level and is under threat from poachers who covet its valuable wool.

"The vicuna is highly valuable, not just for the market but for its ecosystem because it's the largest animal of the Puna grassland, an emblematic species because if it can be preserved then many other species can be saved...such as some toads," the biologist told Spanish news agency Efe.

To capture individual vicunas for research purposes, Vila, director of the VICAM (Vicunas, Camelids and Environment) research group, used a pre-Columbian ritual known as the "chaku", which she carries out with members of her team.

"It involves making a 'chayada', or a hole in the ground, to put food, coca leaves, cigarettes and alcohol inside, so (local indigenous communities) deliver the vicunas to us for a short while," said Vila, who Wednesday received the UN Midori Prize in Pyeongchang city in recognition of her work.

Once captured, the vicunas are taken to a cooperative located in Jujuy province, where blood samples will be taken and an ID collar is placed around their necks before they are sheared and returned to their natural habitat.

The samples will be used for research, but the wool benefits the local Santa Catalina farm and ranching cooperative, which works closely with Vila's team.

"This recognition of many years of work preserving a species of the Altiplano that yields its fiber in exchange for its conservation is very gratifying," the biologist said.

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Reduced Okhla eco-zone plan put up for comments

NEW DELHI: The environment ministry on Tuesday invited comments to a draft notification that proposes a reduced the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around the Okhla Bird Sanctuary (OBS) — 100 metres from the eastern, western and southern boundary and an area of 1.27km from the northern boundary.

There will be a restriction on activities such as constructions, quarrying, mining, stone crushing and polluting industries in the ESZ. The notification will come as a great relief to 20,000 flat buyers in 17 group housing projects near the sanctuary which were falling in the 10km-wide ESZ earlier proposed by the National Green Tribunal.

An NGT order in October 2013 had stopped construction within 10km of the sanctuary and ordered the Noida Authority to not hand completion certificates to realty projects in the area till the ESZ is declared.

As per the new draft order, areas in the ESZ include parts of sector 95 Noida, Chhalera Orangabad, Nayabans, Shaheen Bagh, Jasola, Abdul Fazal enclave, Okhla, Canal colony under UP Irrigation department, Jogabai and Khizrabad. Vehicular traffic will also regulated in the area in a "habitat friendly" way.

The ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) has also constituted state level eco-sensitive zone monitoring committees for Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. A team of officials from MoEFCC and state environment agencies will monitor compliance of the provisions in the notification and maintain the sanctity of ESZ as per MoEFCC notification.

The draft states that the sanctuary is visited by 324 species and its conservation is necessary.

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Soaring birds tuck in wings to cope with turbulence

LONDON: Collapsible wings help soaring birds such as eagles, vultures and kites to fly in 'gusty' turbulent flight conditions that would keep a light aircraft grounded, suggests a new research.

"Our evidence suggests that wing-tucking (collapsing the wings) is a direct response to a substantial loss of lift that occurs when a bird flies through a pocket of atmospheric turbulence," said study author Graham Taylor of Oxford University in Britain.

For the study, the researchers gave a captive steppe eagle (Aquila nipalensis), called 'Cossack', its own flight recorder backpack - a 75g black box incorporating GPS that also measured acceleration, rotation rate, and airspeed - and recorded it soaring over the Brecon Beacons in Wales.

An analysis of data from 45 flights revealed that in windy conditions the eagle would collapse its wings in response to particularly strong gusts rather than hold them out stiffly as an aircraft would.

During these 'wing tucks', the bird's wings were briefly (for around 0.35 seconds) folded beneath its body so that it was effectively 'falling'.

"Soaring may enable a bird to travel long distances but it also puts an enormous strain on its flight muscles. The nature of rising air masses, such as thermals, is that they create lots of turbulence and buffeting that jolts a bird's wings and could knock it out of the sky," Taylor noted.

"We think that, rather like the suspension on a car, birds use this technique (wing-tucking) to damp the potentially damaging jolting caused by turbulence," Taylor added.

This kind of technique could potentially be used to keep micro air vehicles aloft even in very windy conditions, he pointed out.

The findings appeared in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

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Hudhud strips Visakhapatnam of its green cover

HYDERABAD: The maddening velocity of Cyclone Hudhud, apart from destroying the properties of thousands of residents, almost entirely stripped Visakhapatnam of its green cover, sucked it dry of its rich wealth of birds and eroded its picturesque beaches. Such was the cyclone's intensity that about 75-80% of the city's trees were found to have been flattened on Monday, their bare stumps standing testimony to nature's fury. Even the hills dotting the city have become shorn of trees.

The most saddening sights were visible in places such as Kailasagiri, Waltair, Ukkunagaram and the Andhra University campus that were earlier the most prominent lung spaces of Vizag. On Monday, however, the once tall trees were bent and broken, unable to bear the onslaught of Hudhud. The Kambalakonda Reserve Forest too had half its trees missing on Monday.

In fact, almost all of the 50 lakh trees covering over 40% of the 3,600 hectares of Ukkunagaram or VSP Steel Township were found damaged. A top official of a PSU said that most campuses in Vizag were rich in green cover and the overall loss of flora and fauna was worse than the infrastructure damage they suffered.

The erstwhile lush green corridors running along the two sides of National Highway 5 were no different. Pictures posted across social networking sites by commuters revealed the large-scale devastation that this stretch faced on Sunday. In place of trees, what remained were only heaps of fallen branches and leaves.

"We will have to take up at least 50% re-plantation on the university campus in the near-term. But it will be an uphill task as the groundwater levels are already low. It will take us another 10 years to replant all the trees on campus," Andhra University registrar, K Ramamohana Rao, said. The campus, spread over 700 acres, is presently a picture of havoc and is strewn with broken branches, much like the sprawling 1,000 acre Kailasagiri area.

"Watching the sky on Sunday was heart-breaking. Dead bodies of our feathered friends were seen flying all around. Given that many trees were blown away along with their nests, these little creatures clearly had no place to shield themselves from the cyclone's fury," said Santosh Paul, a resident of Beach Road.

Though some crows and kites were seen making a comeback on Monday, their numbers were limited to just a handful. If the accounts of some residents are to be believed, over 30,000 birds are believed to have died in the coastal city in less than 24 hours. Though the animals housed in Vizag's Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, fortunately, managed to brave the storm, the expansive premises have lost all its green cover.

Angry sea eats into beaches

If the raging storm did not spare the birds, the angry waves unleashed all its wrath on Vizag's most prized possession — its beaches. The sea on Monday turned into a dirty shade of brown and the once-pristine shores were equally muddy. According to some witnesses, the beaches were also reduced to half their original width. "The wall between the beach and the road lay broken and damaged in many places, thus allowing the sand to pile up on the road," recounted a resident, adding, "From the sight of the beaches now, it is tough to believe that they, until recently, kept Vizag's tourism sector alive."

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Why Himalayan glaciers are expanding instead of shrinking

WASHINGTON: Scientists' observations in the Karakoram region have revealed that the glaciers there were stable, and snowfall is increasing instead of decreasing.

The researchers found that while precipitation is increasing across the Himalayas, most of this moisture drops in the summer — except in Karakoram, where snow dominates the scene, Discovery News reported.

Study researcher Sarah Kapnick, a postdoctoral researcher in atmospheric and ocean sciences at Princeton University, gave reasoning for why you can have increased snowfall in a region and have increased glaciers or stable glaciers in a warming world.

She and her colleagues collected data on recent precipitation and temperatures from the Pakistan Meteorological Department and other sources, including satellite data. They combined this information with climate models to track changes in three regions of the Himalayas between 1861 and 2100: the Karakoram; the central Himalayas; and the southeast Himalayas which included part of the Tibetan Plateau.

The researchers found that a new model that simulates climate down to an area of 965 square miles (2,500 square kilometers) was able to match the observed temperature and precipitation cycles seen in the Karakoram. A model used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to simulate what will happen if the world continues to emit greenhouse gases at current rates was unable to capture these seasonal cycles, Kapnick said.

The reason, she said, was that the IPCC and other climate models are lower-resolution, capturing climate change over areas no finer than about 17,027 square miles (44,100 square km). The coarser resolution "smoothes out" variations in elevation that works fine for the central Himalayas and southeast Himalayas. However, the Karakoram region has more elevation variability than the other two regions.

Ultimately, the result is that the IPCC and other models overestimate the amount of warmth in this region, Kapnick said.

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Students take first step to save Hooghly river

KOLKATA: Delhi Public School, Howrah, recently organized a campaign to keep the Hooghly clean.

As part of the campaign, students of the junior section walked along the Foreshore ghat's pavement to sensitize the people around the area. They carried placards and banners that read appeals like 'Ganga purity is our responsibility' and 'Save Ganga before its too late'. They even cleaned and removed the garbage of the ghats and disposed them of in the bins installed by their school. The socially dedicated Dipsites also installed banners on the ghats to spread their message.

The campaign sensitized children about the appalling condition of the river and the hazards caused due to various pollutants being dumped into it endlessly, felt the school authorities. The move to create awareness in the society came at the right time when thousands of immersions have had an adverse impact on the river.

"This was just a beginning by the little citizens of DPS, Howrah, who gave a clarion call to awaken people towards the need for creating an awareness. This was the first step of a lifelong commitment to the cause of a clean Hooghly," said a teacher of the school.

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Yamuna reduced to sewer canal again

VRINDAVAN/MATHURA: Thousands daily pack the ghats in Vrindavan, Mathura, Agra and Bateshwar for a holy dip in the Yamuna during this month of Kartik. But most come out with curses due to the stink from dead fish and froth of detergents in the polluted waters.

Kartik month is considered holy by Hindus, particularly devotees of Lord Krishna. But the spiritual ambience has been hit hard with the Yamuna reduced to a vast sewage canal. Naturally, this has caused frustration among the devotees.

Neither Uma Bharti, the water resources minister, nor Hema Malini, the local MP, have addressed the issue despite repeated assurances.

A poor monsoon has hit the Yamuna. This time of the year, the river should be in spate a la 2013. But it is dry, throwing up islands.

Last year, the flooded Yamuna washed away the accumulated pollutants that were an ugly eyesore and caused health hazards.

This year, it has been a tragic story. The lifeline of many cities, the Yamuna has been again reduced to a sewer, thanks to pollutants discharged by industrial clusters upstream of Vrindavan, mainly in Delhi and Haryana.

This has killed aquatic life. The river is drying up as the Ganga canal system is closed for 20 days to allow for the annual cleaning of that river.

After Sharad Poornima, thousands of pilgrims congregate for a holy bath in Mathura to mark Kartik and other celebrations.

But the water quality is so bad that every few days one hears of dead fish floating on the surface or getting swept to the banks.

The stink causes nausea and puts off the pilgrims who choose to return to their hotels and dharamshalas for the ritualistic bath.

Last year, on three different days, thousands of fish were found dead in Mathura and Agra.

"This has now become an annual feature. Tortoises have been killed and poached. You hardly have any fish left in the river. Those that manage to survive are picked up by unauthorised fishermen," says eco-activist Ravi Singh in Agra.

The river is already dead in Vrindavan, declares Jagan Nath Poddar of the Friends of Vrindavan forum.

"With hardly any fresh raw water flowing, the stink at the ghats and the heaps of garbage are proving a nightmarish experience."

In Mathura, the Vishram Ghat and the Bengali Ghat are in poor shape.

"The Gokul Barrage has proved a disaster as it was only storing the sewer waste and industrial effluents flowing from Delhi and Haryana," said a panda.

Complains Madhu Mangal Shukla, an activist at Vrindavan: "Even after crores of rupees have been spent on cleaning the Yamuna, it appears this is just another white elephant. The river remains as polluted as ever.

"No one is doing anything ... Proof that total indifference has set in is that there have been no YAP (Yamuna Action Plan) meetings for months, when monthly meetings were to be held."

Activists told Uma Bharti recently that the Gokul Barrage had not proved useful. The barrage now contributed to the increase of communicable diseases.

Hema Malini has had a series of discussions with the ministry officials and conveyed to them the sad plight of the Yamuna.

Frustrated activists and river lovers are mobilising support for a long march to Hathini Kund in Haryana from November 2.

Jai Krishn Das, convener of the Yamuna Rakshak Dal which will spearhead the march, said hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who visit shrines in this region were pained to see the condition of the Yamuna.

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Heritage trees to get 'health-card' in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an ambitious project to protect grand old trees in public places, the Kerala Forest Research Institute has come out with a proposal to mark them with a "health-card".

Under the project, the giant trees will be provided with a score-sheet depicting its strength condition, risk factors and details of damage, along with other physical features.

The main objective of the scheme is to preserve as much heritage trees as possible by giving proper guidelines to authorities in maintaining them.

As a pilot initiative, the scheme has already been introduced in the capital city,which is known for the presence of a large number of giant trees of different varieties.

A senior KFRI official said the scheme would be extended to other parts of the state in due course after consultation with the civic authorities concerned.

"We have mooted the programme after civic authorities here requested us to identify traditional trees in the city which needed protection. The request was made in the wake of protests by local environmentalists against the felling of trees here," T V Sajeev, a KFRI scientist, told PTI.

"The new system will enable authorities to identify the strength of the trees which need to be cut down. It will also help them to identify those trees that need to be conserved," he said.

As a first step, a number of trees in the busy main road stretch in Vellayambalam, Statue and East Fort here, have been identified for the project.

One of the major advantages of the scheme is that it gives a detailed description about the physical condition, including the root, branches and trunk of a tree, he said.

It would also help to assess the damage of each tree, he said.

"We have already received requests from other civic bodies to introduce the scheme in their respective areas. The next major initiative of the scheme will be launched in Fort Kochi in Ernakulam district as part of developing it as a heritage city," he said.

The project is being implemented with the active support of various departments of the KFRI, an institution of Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, he added.

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Burning garbage a health hazard for Gurgaon’s Sohna Road residents

GURGAON: Residents of Sohna Road have alleged that a number of private developers and contractors have been dumping and burning garbage in the open on a four-acre piece of land near the upscale Nirvana Country, posing a serious threat to public health.

According to them, the burning of waste in the open leads to discharge of poisonous gases, impacting the health of residents, particularly triggering asthma and respiratory diseases. And, the civic authorities, they claim, are turning a blind eye to the problem.

"My daughter is an asthma patient. She is forced to use a nebulizer because of the smoke emanating from the garbage dumping ground. Going outside for a walk is like a punishment. There is so much particulate matter in the air," says Ruchika Sethi, a Sohna Road resident.

She adds: "Waste management seems to be a problem. We are holding our own health to ransom by believing that we have cleaned our homes while the waste is being dumped outside our locality." Not only construction and demolition waste, but also household garbage are burnt at this site everyday, say the residents.

"The garbage is brought here in tractor trolleys mostly at night and dumped here. This is probably being done in order to save cost by these private developers who otherwise will have to pay lot of money to transport it all the way to Bandhwari," claims Jagriti Sharma, an area resident.

When contacted, HUDA and MCG officials feigned ignorance, but claimed they would look into the matter.

"Since this is HUDA area, the responsibility lies with them. Our job is only to transport garbage from MCG area to the solid waste plant in Bandhwari. However, we will carry out an inspection," said a MCG official.

However, the HUDA administrator, Ashok Sangwan, could not be contacted for his reaction.

But, residents are unwilling to buy the argument.

"I hope the civic authorities look into this burning issue at the earliest instead of pointing fingers at others adds Sharma.

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Tamil Nadu accounts for 1 in 4 tiger deaths this year

COIMBATORE: One in every four tiger deaths reported across the country this year has been from Tamil Nadu. The state has recorded 11 tiger deaths till date, including the one on October 5 at Masinagudi in Mudumalai. This is the second highest number reported in the country this year.

Madhya Pradesh has recorded 13 of the 47 tiger deaths in the country in 2014, according to National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). The number of tiger deaths across the country has been coming down over the past three years while there has been a sharp rise in Tamil Nadu. Last year only two deaths were from the state of the total 63 recorded nationally, and the year before Tamil Nadu had reported just one tiger death.

"The number of tiger deaths is high for Tamil Nadu this year, but breeding is also taking place fast. We should wait for the tiger census to ascertain whether the number of deaths is disproportionate to the tiger population," said a senior officer from NTCA.

Tamil Nadu also accounts for 50% of tiger deaths in the southern zone of NTCA, comprising Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. There are an estimated 163 tigers in the four tiger reserves of Tamil Nadu—Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve and Sathyamangalam sanctuary of the 400-odd found in the four southern states.

In two cases, the cause of death has not been ascertained by forest authorities so far. A man-eater was shot dead in Udhagamandalam in January, while another died due to fighting. Most of the cases are still 'under investigation'. "Even if it is a natural death, we will be cautious before declaring it. Only after conducting all tests and a thorough inquiry, would we declare the cause of death, even it takes a year," said a forest officer.

State forest authorities said that one of the deaths was suspected to be due to poaching and the other one poisoning. "But the inquiry is not over. At the national level too investigation into almost all incidents of tiger deaths has not been completed," a source said.

A forest officer said that though not all deaths are due to poaching, they treat every mortality as a case of poaching until conclusively proven otherwise. NTCA authorities note that in the past not all tiger deaths were reported. But now each and every death is recorded due to increased vigilance by forest officials and awareness among tribals.

Experts and environmentalists say there could be several factors for tiger deaths. Ageing, territorial fighting and natural causes could be causes for mortality. "But the anti-poaching law should be implemented and poachers should be convicted," said noted environmentalist and author Theodore Baskaran.

Forest authorities say the tiger population is going up in the state. For instance, in Sathyamangalam forest division, declared as a tiger reserve, the population of the big cats has increased from 28 to 60 in the last seven years.

Each tiger requires a territorial range of 20sqkm, said experts, adding that there is a need to increase forest cover to accommodate the rising number of tigers. "We definitely need more habitat for the tigers," said an NTCA officer.

A state forest officer said increasing vegetation in existing forests was crucial. "Only then population of prey would improve which is essential to sustain the rising number of predators," he said.

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Activists allege illegal transfer of elephants in Kerala

The author has posted comments on this articlePTI | Oct 10, 2014, 06.51PM IST

Animal rights activists have voiced concern over illegal transfer of ownership of captive elephants in the state.

Page 1 of 4

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Animal rights activists have voiced concern over illegal transfer of ownership of captive elephants in the state.

Heritage Animal Task Force, a Kerala-based animal rights group has alleged that the ownership of elephants was transferred in violation of the directives of the National Wildlife Crime Control Bureau by private individuals and religious outfits here for clear monitory benefit.

The group has approached the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) demanding stern action against offenders.

"All the elephants transferred by private individuals and religious outfits are based on clear profits which amount to a crore as annual profit from illegal transfers," the Task Force said in its recent letter to the Inspector General, MoEF.

"We want your office to conduct a high-level inquiry into this type of wildlife crime," it said.

The activist group claimed that transfers were being made in connivance with a section of state forest officials.

Meanwhile, the group also attributed lack of proper management by authorities concerned for the high mortality rate of captive and wild elephants in the state.

More than 100 elephants, 85 of them non-captive, have died in the state in the last nine months due to various reasons, the group said.

Article continues

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Tamil Nadu accounts for 1 in 4 tiger deaths this year

COIMBATORE: One in every four tiger deaths reported across the country this year has been from Tamil Nadu. The state has recorded 11 tiger deaths till date, including the one on October 5 at Masinagudi in Mudumalai. This is the second highest number reported in the country this year.

Madhya Pradesh has recorded 13 of the 47 tiger deaths in the country in 2014, according to National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). The number of tiger deaths across the country has been coming down over the past three years while there has been a sharp rise in Tamil Nadu. Last year only two deaths were from the state of the total 63 recorded nationally, and the year before Tamil Nadu had reported just one tiger death.

"The number of tiger deaths is high for Tamil Nadu this year, but breeding is also taking place fast. We should wait for the tiger census to ascertain whether the number of deaths is disproportionate to the tiger population," said a senior officer from NTCA.

Tamil Nadu also accounts for 50% of tiger deaths in the southern zone of NTCA, comprising Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. There are an estimated 163 tigers in the four tiger reserves of Tamil Nadu—Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve and Sathyamangalam sanctuary of the 400-odd found in the four southern states.

In two cases, the cause of death has not been ascertained by forest authorities so far. A man-eater was shot dead in Udhagamandalam in January, while another died due to fighting. Most of the cases are still 'under investigation'. "Even if it is a natural death, we will be cautious before declaring it. Only after conducting all tests and a thorough inquiry, would we declare the cause of death, even it takes a year," said a forest officer.

State forest authorities said that one of the deaths was suspected to be due to poaching and the other one poisoning. "But the inquiry is not over. At the national level too investigation into almost all incidents of tiger deaths has not been completed," a source said.

A forest officer said that though not all deaths are due to poaching, they treat every mortality as a case of poaching until conclusively proven otherwise. NTCA authorities note that in the past not all tiger deaths were reported. But now each and every death is recorded due to increased vigilance by forest officials and awareness among tribals.

Experts and environmentalists say there could be several factors for tiger deaths. Ageing, territorial fighting and natural causes could be causes for mortality. "But the anti-poaching law should be implemented and poachers should be convicted," said noted environmentalist and author Theodore Baskaran.

Forest authorities say the tiger population is going up in the state. For instance, in Sathyamangalam forest division, declared as a tiger reserve, the population of the big cats has increased from 28 to 60 in the last seven years.

Each tiger requires a territorial range of 20sqkm, said experts, adding that there is a need to increase forest cover to accommodate the rising number of tigers. "We definitely need more habitat for the tigers," said an NTCA officer.

A state forest officer said increasing vegetation in existing forests was crucial. "Only then population of prey would improve which is essential to sustain the rising number of predators," he said.

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Activists allege illegal transfer of elephants in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Animal rights activists have voiced concern over illegal transfer of ownership of captive elephants in the state.

Heritage Animal Task Force, a Kerala-based animal rights group has alleged that the ownership of elephants was transferred in violation of the directives of the National Wildlife Crime Control Bureau by private individuals and religious outfits here for clear monitory benefit.

The group has approached the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) demanding stern action against offenders.

"All the elephants transferred by private individuals and religious outfits are based on clear profits which amount to a crore as annual profit from illegal transfers," the Task Force said in its recent letter to the Inspector General, MoEF.

"We want your office to conduct a high-level inquiry into this type of wildlife crime," it said.

The activist group claimed that transfers were being made in connivance with a section of state forest officials.

Meanwhile, the group also attributed lack of proper management by authorities concerned for the high mortality rate of captive and wild elephants in the state.

More than 100 elephants, 85 of them non-captive, have died in the state in the last nine months due to various reasons, the group said.

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