How Valley of Flowers got World Heritage Site tag

The Valley of Flowers has immense natural beauty and a bonanza of flowers. However, carrying out research there demands physical fitness, patience and perseverance. Long back in April 1993, when I first started surveying the Valley of Flowers National Park, nestled amid some of the majestic snowy peaks of Himalayan mountains in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, I was quite sceptical of my success. I was not even sure whether I would complete the study.

Awarding the tyrant

Human rights groups have condemned UNESCO as “shameful and utterly irresponsible” for awarding a prize sponsored by one of Africa’s most authoritarian rulers. The $3 million award, presented to three scientists on July 17, is funded by Equatorial Guinea’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Western Ghats get World Heritage Site tag

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee inscribed the Western Ghats of India as a world heritage site on July 1. The decision will ensure the mountain range, spread across seven states, gets international support for its conservation. The Western Ghats extend from Dang in Maharashtra-Gujarat to a place near Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, along the western coast; it is spread over 7,953 sq km.

A row over Cuneiform

An ancient artefact is at the centre of a diplomatic row between Iran and the UK. Iran’s national museum has threatened to cut all ties with the British Museum to protest a decision to delay the loan of an ancient Persian treasure. The Cyrus Cylinder dates back to the 6th Century BC and is regarded as the world’s first declaration of rights.

Only puddles left in Keoladeo

Except 2008, the Keoladeo national park in Rajasthan has been receiving little or no water for the past six years. A seasonal breach of a dam upstream was the source of the water till 2003, the year the breach was repaired. Nobody at the time thought of the repercussions on the park.

News Snippets

>> A California law that banned the sale or rental of violent video games to minors was struck down February 26 by a US federal appeals court >> More than 1,815 digital maps will be completed in 2009 marking official and clandestine roads, rivers, settlements, and schools in Brazillian Amazon. Cartographers from Brazil's Institute of Geography and Statistics and the country's army will draw the maps. >> With 196 of its languages listed as endangered, India tops the UNESCO's list of countries having dialects on the verge of

Local citrus goes global

Likely Unesco heritage status will generate funds for Meghalaya's Nokrek biosphere reserve The Indian wild orange, believed to be the progenitor of all citrus species in the world, grows here. Now the area may attain the status of a Unesco Heritage Site.

On heritage list

unesco has added 19 cultural and eight natural sites to its World Heritage List One of the criteria for selecting these sites is the immediate threat of development and environmental degradation they face. The new entrants disclosed on July 8 include Baha'i holy sites in Israel and a thirteenth century Ottoman town in Albania. Other sites include two 500-year-old towns in Malaysia and six early twentieth century apartment houses in Berlin.

Remodelling will destroy Mumbai's Crawford market

the majestic image you see on the right is going to fade away. The Crawford market in south Mumbai is going to be "redeveloped". On March 10, amid strong protests from heritage activists, majority of the elected corporators in Mumbai approved the contentious Crawford market redevelopment plan.

Small town

Heard of Thalaserry? It's a small town in North Kerala, where cricket was first played in India more than two centuries ago. Towns such as Thalaserry are not very well known. But that might change soon when a web-based initiative by unesco to make cultural maps of important, but little known, towns in India takes shape.