Diversion route

Putting a price tag to forests hasn't helped conservation

Value of deforestation?

  Siddhartha Krishnan and Seema Purushothaman   Some questions over compensating for lost forests

South Asia

Kalabagh aborted: Pakistan's new government has decided to shelve the controversial Kalabagh dam project "once and for all" in the name of national reconciliation. The announcement follows the government's recent plans to save energy and end load-shedding by 2009. Addressing a press conference, Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said Sindh and North-West Frontier Province had passed resolutions against the dam and, therefore, its construction could endanger the federation. "For a strong and united federation, it is

In UN's books

    A still from Global Warming A fable from the Himalayas

Disquiet in Dibang

COURTESY VERACITY

States may get back CAMPA money

On March 13, a bill to increase the country's green cover received the union cabinet's approval. Rs 6,000 crore collected by the Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (campa), a body appointed by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on the Supreme Court's directions, will finally be used if the bill receives the parliament's approval.

Maharashtra to divert employment guarantee fund

maharashtra is planning to amend the state employment guarantee act to divert the reserve fund to other projects. The move comes when the union government is trying to fortify the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (nregs).

Pug marks hide the truth

a conference organized by the Union environment ministry on February 12 in the national capital came out with the Tiger Census 2008 and the State of India's Forests Report 2005. Both came out with dismal figures a little more than 1,400 tigers are left in the county; and over 725 sq km of forests have vanished between 2002 and 2004. Add to that forestland diverted between 2004 and 2007--over 2,750 sq km according to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests' data.

Himalayan herbal heritage fading

twelve species of medicinal plants preferred by Uttarakhand villagers for their many uses are now rare and endangered, and one near threatened. These are the findings of a recent study by the National Medicinal Plants Board of India.

China suspends farmland-to-forest plan

To protect the country's food supply, the Chinese government has suspended a plan to convert farmland into forest. The move is to meet its pledge to keep at least 120 million hectares (ha) of arable land reserved by 2010. Currently, the country has 122.07 million ha of farmland.