Forest rights rules inconsonant with act

will the new forest rights rules empower forest communities? There are mixed responses to the recently released draft of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules, 2007. Announced on June 19, the rules are meant to operationalise the parent act. The Union ministry of tribal affairs has sought comments. Activists say the rules are not in harmony with the act. The focus of the act is to empower the forest rights holders, but, they say, the rules just

SC subjects Forest Advisory Committee's role to judicial scrutiny

the Supreme Court has gained the upper hand in its dispute with the Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) over constituting the Forest Advisory Committee (fac). fac plays a crucial role because it governs large-scale transfer of forestland for non-forest purposes. But the court has diminished fac's role by making its decisions subject to judicial scrutiny.

Updates

>> After the Umm Nasser sewage flood, Gaza Strip now risks another such deluge (see 'Sewage flood', Down To Earth, April 30, 2007). The UN has warned that another cesspool near Beit Lahiya town in the northern Gaza is on the verge of collapse and residents of the al-Firdaus area are at high risk.

Kerala draft forest policy lacks focus

Kerala released its draft State Forest Policy on March 21, 2007. The policy has critical implications, given most of Kerala's forests are in the Western Ghats--a biodiversity hotspot. The draft outlines "a universally accessible state forestry reporting system" for greater accountability and transparency. It also plans to focus on the 'ecosystem approach' and has made provisions for ecological audits and other such innovative measures to bring about an order in the system. It envisages an iso 9001 certification for its forests.

Unique replacement for fuelwood in Nagaland

nagaland's forest department has undertaken a new scheme to increase the state's forest cover. Under the programme, forest officials are to gift villagers gas stoves and liquified petroleum gas (lpg) cylinder kits.

Brazil passes Atlantic Forest Exploitation and Preservation Law

Environmental studies may no longer be a part of the US forest management plans. The United States Forest Service recently decided not to write lengthy and time-consuming environmental impact statements, particularly while revising the national forest plans.

Petty squabbles signify ill for the forest rights question

the issue of rights over and the management of forestland, never less than contentious, has triggered off another round of unseemly bickering this time between the Supreme Court and the Central Empowered Committee appointment by it, on the one hand, and the Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) on the other. The battle, on the face of it, looks suspiciously like a turf war.

SC & Centre wrangle over forest committee

the dogfight over forest management in the country has intensified. On the one hand the Supreme Court and the Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) continue to differ over the constitution of the Forest Advisory Committee (fac); on the other, the present government has made dodgy manouevres over the Forest Dwellers' (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2005, which tribal activists and the Left have not taken to kindly (see box Left out).

US steps up efforts to protect forests; bars development projects

The us federal district court of northern California upheld the 'Roadless Area Conservation Rule' (roadless rule) on September 20, 2006. It provides protection to 20 million hectares (mha) of pristine forests and grasslands from road building, logging and development across the us, except for the Tongass National Park in Alaska, which is covered under a different rule.

IN COURT

Oil lease sale blocked: In a preliminary ruling, a US federal court has recently blocked the US administration's plan to allow oil companies, access to the sensitive wetlands near the vast Teshekpuk Lake in the Arctic Alaska. The ruling has come as the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to properly consider the impact of oil development in areas near the National Petroleum Reserve on the state's North Slope region. "The lease sale was based on flawed environmental assumption," said the court in its judgment.