Short circuit

STRAIT FORWARD A 150-year-old dream acquires shape

Biodiversity—India’s other scandal

In the season of scandals and wrongdoing, all other frauds have been overshadowed by the gargantuan 2G swindle because it has been accompanied by murky disclosures of how businessmen and politicians subverted every pillar of our democracy. Naturally, everything else pales in comparison. But there are more scary skeletons in our cupboard of scandals, one of which tumbled out barely noticed last month. This relates to the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and would be difficult for even the best of auditors to put a figure to this scam.

Veins tell it all

JUST LIKE the circulatory system in humans, leaf veins are the lifeline of plants. The varied networks of veins in terms of shapes, sizes and thickness decide leaf economics. Scientists have shown vein patterns also control carbon and water absorption in plants.

The Science and Impacts of Climate Change

Ramesh Sharma, campaign coordinator at Ekta Parisha, discusses the impacts of climate change on agriculture in the Baigachak community of Chattisgarh, India.

Benefits of self-rejection

MOST flowering plants, equipped with both male and female sex organs, shun the path of self-fertilisation and wait for insects and birds or even a whiff of wind for pollination.

Nations to share genetic resources

After nearly two decades of negotiations between developing and developed countries, governments from across the world, including India, agreed to a UN treaty to manage and share the planet’s genetic resources and related traditional knowledge.

Access, yes. Sharing, no

Lobbying, as we now know, sets the agenda for practically everything that governs our lives. No policy is ever made without someone seeking to gain from the most innocuous of programmes and projects. Take something as simple as inoculations. Governments cannot even take a decision on inoculating children against some disease without representations from companies producing the vaccine, high-profile philanthropic trusts, international organisations and healthcare groups in the country. The first and the second have corporate interests to promote—yes, donors, too—and are quite brazen about it, while the third entity often has a hidden agenda. Lobbying almost everywhere follows this pattern.

The noisier, the healthier

CORAL reefs that offer exotic ocean views can be surprisingly noisy places, with tiny fish and invertebrates like lobsters, sea urchins, squids and corals producing a relentless cacophony of squeaks and grunts. UK scientists recently listened to these noises and found the noisier the reef the better is its health; meaning, the reef has more living corals, offering shelter to large numbers of fish and other marine animals.

Rivers at risk

THE world’s rivers are threatened due to mismanagement and pollution. This imperils eight of every 10 people as well as 10,000-20,000 species that call them home. This is the finding of the first global initiative that assessed water security for people and river biodiversity. Eleven scientists identified 23 stressors, such as pollution, intensive agriculture, catchment disturbance and dam building, and integrated them to prepare maps showing their impact on the health of rivers and associated habitat.

Water in a sieve

Regulating access to genetic resources and equitable sharing of commercial benefits of biodiversity are among the most contentious issues under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The tenth Conference of Parties, scheduled October 18-29 in Japan, is expected to evolve an international regime on access and benefit sharing, also called ABS, from genetic resources. However, the idea of ABS itself remains a pipe dream.