Wetlands and lakes will now be protected under single new conservation programme

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has cleared the decks for a single conservation programme for both wetlands and lakes. On February 7 it approved the merging of the National Lake Conservation Plan and the National Wetlands Conservation Programme. These two centrally sponsored schemes are currently being implemented by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).  

Kerala court allows law violation

IN A judgement that could seriously affect conservation of paddy land and wetland, the Kerala High Court has allowed the common people to violate an Act that some influential people freely violate.

Concrete invasion

Sri Lanka’s largest city was once dotted with freshwater marshes. The picturesque beauty of the wetland areas, say elders, was breathtaking. Not any more. The marshes have been filled to construct buildings. The remaining ones are highly polluted and taken over with invasive plant species.

Stop passing the buck

This refers to the editorial “When business rules our kitchens” (June 16-30, 2011).

Towards wetland conservation

CHECK LAND SHARKS ASAD RAHMANI, director Bombay Natural History Society The Government of India should enact a wetland conservation act, on the lines of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. But it should also consider the views of people dependent on wetlands. Millions of acres of village, semi-urban and urban wetlands are controlled by gram panchayats or city administrators. Most often administrators have no interest in protecting them and succumb to land sharks easily. Many times, wetlands are “inspected” during peak summer, when they have no water, and allocated to land sharks as wastelands.

Centre proposes controls over wetlands

RECOGNIZING the value of ecological services wetlands provided, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has drafted a regulatory framework for their protection.

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.

644 ha mangrove will be history

THE island of Valanthakad in the suburbs of Ernakulam has one of the largest mangroves in Kerala spread over 644 hectares (ha). If things go according to the state industries departments plans, the mangrove will give way to a hi-tech city. A private developer has acquired 129 ha from farmers on the island to build a knowledge park, commercial complex and star hotels.

News 360° - Briefs

bauxite mining Vietnam opens door to China Vietnam has invited a Chinese company to mine a massive bauxite reserve beneath its Central Highlands, despite growing opposition to mining and a deep-rooted suspicion of China.

In Short

>> In a non-binding report, the European Parliament has given more time to car manufacturers for reducing CO2 emissions from tailpipes. Manufacturers should reduce the emissions to 125 grammes per km by 2015, rather than to 120 grammes by 2012 as proposed by the commission in December, 2007.