VOL. 2 ISSUE 5 MAY 2012

BIRDS
India, Pak unite under wings of the dying vulture; The Hindustan Times 6 May 2012: At a time when India and Pakistan are looking at ways to bridge their differences, a common cause to safeguard endangered vultures seems to have further promoted their efforts to achieve political bonhomie. The two countries have decided to work jointly to revive the declining population of vultures, known for preventing contamination of soil and groundwater through the consumption of rotting carcasses, in the subcontinent. Read more <<<

Where have all the sparrows gone? Deccan Herald 10 May 2012: “Where have all the sparrows gone?” is the most frequently heard question about the sparrow today. Go to the Bangalore International Airport for example. You can see sparrows galore, and often in comic action. Sparrows landing on the smooth floor, slipping and ‘skating’, one leg going one way and the other going another. Well, you might even get addicted to watching them while you wait for your flight. Read more <<<

Distressed tweets from the lapwing; The Hindu 13 May 2012: “Did you do it?” ask the red-wattled lapwings as pollution and encroachment overtake their habitat and threaten their survival. Red-wattle Lapwings dainty birds standing tall on slender yellow legs and a red fleshy wattle in front of each eye grazing for insects and worms in ponds, pastures, forest clearing or dry waterbeds were a common sight in our country even until a few years back. Read more <<<

Save the scavengers; The Hindu 27 May 2012 : Coming together for the conservation of South Asia's critically endangered vulture species, the governments of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan have adopted a regional declaration in a symposium held in the Capital recently. The countries agreed to take stringent measures to remove toxic “vulture killing” drugs from the environment, including diclofenac identified as the single most cause for the catastrophic decline of vulture populations across the region. Read more <<<


CLIMATE CHANGE & ENERGY
Fending off the climate attack; The Times of India 27 May 2012: Global warming and climate change have gone beyond being just catchphrases in large parts of India. But the people, especially in the interiors, are striking back - adapting, altering and improvising to beat back the assault. Climate change has come home. And those hit the hardest are India's millions in its countryside. Read more <<<

ENVIRONMENT
Dumping e-waste is illegal now; Indian Express 1 May 2012: Starting Tuesday, it will be illegal to dump an old TV, mobile or laptop into the garbage bin or sell any of these to the local scrap dealer. Under the Electronic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, notified a year ago and effective from May 1, such waste must be routed to one of 73 authorised recyclers in India. Read more <<<

ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION
The gift of green thumbs; The Hindu 7 May 2012: This ‘Fascination of Plants Day', JNU invites school children to learn about plant life. “From a fragment of a leaf or a stem we can make thousands of whole plants, flowers grown in cold Holland weather can now be grown in the middle of summer right here in Delhi,” claims Professor Neera Bhalla Sarin, Dean of Life Sciences at the Jawaharlal Nehru University here. Read more <<<

ECO - TOURISM
Wildlife tourism a free-for-all loot; The Pioneer 9 May 2012: Rampant illegal construction of ‘resorts’ in tiger habitats like Corbett must stop immediately. Aptly titled, ‘Corbett, now on sale’, a story in a weekly magazine brought an open secret out in print: The land around — and even inside — the Corbett Tiger Reserve is up for grabs, controlled by the country’s Who’s Who. It highlighted how tourism resorts have destroyed the Kosi river corridor, cutting off access for animals to a crucial water source. Read more <<<
FOREST & BIODIVERSITY
Not for your eyes at all; The Hindustan Times 10 May 2012: Our nation is evidently at a crossroads today, with grave misgivings on continuing with business as usual. That sharp statement does not come from left- or right-wing protestors who want India's government to step down. You will find it in a 325-page scientific study commissioned by the government, titled 'Report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel'. Let me rephrase that. Read more <<<

Secrets of the Western Ghats; The Hindu 12 May 2012: The government's decision to keep the Gadgil Committee report under wraps has prevented an informed discussion on the competing claims of development and ecology. The Western Ghats are as important to the ecological and cultural life of the nation as the Himalayas. Running from Maharashtra right down to Kerala, they are a staggeringly rich reservoir of biodiversity. Read more <<<

Forest dwellers denied rights as law bristles with lacunae; The Hindu 28 May 2012: Minister asks Chief Ministers to address problems. Not too happy with the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, Union Tribal Affairs Minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo has asked the State governments to address several lacunae in the law while implementing it at the ground level. Read more <<<


HUMAN-ANIMAL CONFLICT
Most elephant corridors in State are under threat, say experts: Development activities, human settlements narrowing pathways; Deccan Herald 24 May 2012: Most of the elephant migratory corridors in the State are under threat, experts have found, even as the High Court’s June deadline for the government to submit a report on man-elephant conflict in Hassan and Kodagu is fast approaching. The State has five significant elephant corridors. Read more <<<


MARINE
Rescuing a threatened fish species from extinction; The Hindu 3 May 2012 : From being a much sought-after delicacy found in abundance in the Godavari and Krishna rivers, to figuring in the global IUCN Red List of threatened species, the fringed-lipped carp (Labeo fimbriatus) has been hunted almost to extinction, thanks to unscientific overharvesting. A serious effort is hence being made by the Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board to revive the once-popular fish species by introducing fingerlings this monsoon, to start with, in the Godavari river system in Adilabad district. Read more <<<

Crocodile baiting and the pitfalls of wildlife tourism; Deccan Herald 13 May 2012: The dastardly assault on an assistant conservator of forests which ultimately resulted in his tragic death has once again highlighted the perils of mushrooming resorts around our wildlife reserves. Conservationists have been highlighting the urgent need for regulation since all that is being labelled as ‘ecotourism’ does not portend well for wildlife. Read more <<<


WETLAND, RIVERS & WATER
No space for ponds in bustling Berhampur; The Times of India 28 may 2012: Berhampur: Aina Bandh Street, Canal Street, Hatibandha Street. Though the names smack of refreshing ponds and canals, today these are just myriad addresses in the concrete jungle of the bustling Berhampur town, with no sign of any wetlands in the vicinity. Unplanned growth of the town has eaten away its sundry water bodies, which once helped control the temperature of the town and satiated the drinking water needs of its people. Read more <<<

Study on ‘environmental flows’ of rivers must; The Assam Tribune 7 May 2012 : Ignoring the crucial linkages of a river’s upstream, midstream, and downstream flows can endanger not just the river, but human communities and ecology sustained by it. A disregard of ‘environmental flows,’ by construction of dams, has already harmed many rivers in the Western Ghats, giving rise to political as well as environmental issues. This was emphasized by noted expert on water resources, Latha Anantha of the River Research Centre, Kerala, in a workshop held at Guwahati yesterday. Read more <<<


WILDLIFE & ENDANGERED SPECIES
Counting heads at Ranthambhore…., The Hindu 9 May 2012 : It was head counting time in the celebrated tiger reserve at Ranthambhore in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district these past couple of days when the park remained out of bounds for visitors and the animals were watched day and night for 24 hours. The massive exercise this year, involving some 600 people including 275 volunteers recruited and trained from among the youth and wildlife enthusiasts had some surprise participants such as Rajasthan Minister for Environment & Forests Bina Kak, retired State Chief Secretary S. Ahmad and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot sweating it out, under an unusually hot sun, from the machans. Read more <<<


WWF NEWS
Big cat blues; 25 May 2012: Large banners featuring tigers and leopards have come up in and around India’s national capital region of New Delhi. The banners, featuring Asia’s big cats — tigers, leopards, snow leopards and clouded leopards – threatened by illegal poaching, are part of an eye-catching campaign by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Read more <<<
 
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