Lost in the jungle

The anti-people attitude that environmental NGOs had vehemently opposed in the '80s has resurfaced in the recent draft Forest Policy Bill. The …

All bark, all bite

Local communities in Nepal and some Central American nations have become invaluable participants in managing their forests

Fights for space

Once harmonious, the human-elephant relationship has taken an ugly turn. Faulty forest policies and nationwide destruction of elephant habitats …

Celebrating WSF 2004

When 80,000 people talk it makes noise. So it wasn't unusual for the fourth World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai to be snidely called a huge '…

Betrayed

Nepal's forest bureaucracy prepares for the funeral of the much-hailed community forest management programme

Cannot cut trees on one's own land

Turncoat 'thieves'

Former teak smugglers become official forest guards

Back to basics

Integrating indigenous knowledge in joint forest management projects is an essential prerequisite for the success of such programmes, but years …

Industries eye forest land for plantations

Wood-based firms want to convert forest areas to their own use for raw material. In doing so, they ignore the fate of millions of rural poor, who …

Heading Downhill

Thailand policymakers' volte-face on community forestry bill jolts devolution process

Orphaned by apathy

Hidden from the outside world, this is the plight of the Van Taungiyas. They were hired during the British rule as resident labourers to plant …

Industrial blackmail!

Having done precious little to clean up its polluting act in the past 30 years, a Kerala factory is indirectly blackmailing the state government …

Fall of the paragon

Century-old teak plantation business loses ground in India because of poor management and short-sighted policies

They also serve

Though it controls 23.4 per cent of the country's land, the Indian Forest Service has little administrative clout. For long the stepchild of …

Earth quake

Forests for people

Newly democratic Bhutan pushes community forestry to tackle rural poverty  

Petty squabbles signify ill for the forest rights question

Forest conservation is too complex an issue to be resolved by executive fiat

The condition of India's forest and her forest dwellers is extremely grave. A fresh round of police attacks on tribal people -- four dead in Dewas,…

Nepal's poor carry it off

As the Himalayan country's forestry scheme for the poor reaps rich dividends, its government entrusts more degraded areas to the underprivileged. …

Left in peace (L.I.P.)

Forget ideological shibboleths. The market is the great equaliser. Even politically

No return of the native

Poor little rich states

Rich in natural resources but extremely poor, the three new states are in need of a new strategy for development. But no blueprints have been …

Making money through herbs in Himachal

Medicinal plants can improve the fortunes of state's rural poor

Private affairs

The invitation was innocuous. The Confederation of Indian Industry (cii) -- the grouping of the large and most powerful industries -- was …

State inaction

The traditional forest dweller has had very few entitlements down centuries. Guardian of the forest, he has been regarded as encroacher by the …