Centre to give Indian Forest Act a facelift

The environment ministry has started comprehensively amending the Act by “weeding out” and updating obsolete provisions

Court Digest: Major environment hearings of the week (September 23-27)

Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal through the week&…

Whither the National Green Tribunal?

Instead of giving financial and administrative support to the NGT, efforts are usually directed towards diluting its powers, defeating the very …

Missing the woods for wood

Is it worthwhile to clear forests to annually earn Rs 4,500 per hectare?

India unlikely to meet carbon sink commitment

The current rate of afforestation is lower than what is needed to achieve the target

Implement the Biological Diversity Act in its true spirit

It is high time the Centre and states did so. It would save India from a number of avoidable problems

Power producers want government to relax norms for thermal power plants

The new norms announced late last year by the environment ministry have made domestic power producers anxious

India’s forest cover goes up by nearly 3% this decade; but all is not well

'Very dense forests', which absorb maximum carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, increased by a mere 1.14 % between 2017 and 2019, according …

टल सकता था दिपका खदान हादसा, पर्यावरण के खतरों को किया नजरअंदाज

पर्यावरण मंत्रालय ने वर्ष 2018 में खदान की क्षमता 31 मिट्रिक टन से बढ़ाकर 35 मिट्रिक टन करने की मंजूरी देते समय नदी का ...

Environment Minister Anil Dave passes away at 60

He was known for his work towards conservation of the Narmada river

Forest Rights Act: Evicting the gaps

To protect traditional forest dwellers, the Forest Rights Act, 2006, needs to be enforced properly and not be used against them

MoEF&CC takes back advisory to avoid honeycombing of forest land under FRA

An official from the environment ministry says the advisory was withdrawn as there is no provision under the Forest Rights Act to club land together

Rules to implement Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act to be finalised by January 3

The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act was passed to restore forest cover which was lost due to diversion of forest land

Environment ministry order bans use of plastic packaging for tobacco, gutkha

The ministry passed its order after the companies failed to adhere to the Supreme Court directive asking them to adhere to the new Plastic Waste …

सर, अगर हम जंगल को परिभाषित करते हैं, तो कई खामियां पैदा होंगी : पर्यावरण मंत्रालय

वन की स्पष्ट परिभाषा न होने पर संसदीय समिति के सवाल पर केंद्रीय वन मंत्रालय का जवाब

75% decline in Gujarat’s vulture population: Babul Supriyo

In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, the vulture population has increased by 12 per cent

States with more than 75% forest cover won't have to divert revenue land

Forest Advisory Committee decided this while suggesting that instead states with deficient green land should divert their non-forest land …

Reconsider green clearance mechanism for small-scale mining: NGT to Centre

It says district-level authorities do not have the expertise to assess environmental impacts of mining projects

Court digest: Major environment hearings of the week (December 3-7)

Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal

Polavaram project: Public hearings remain distant dream as Centre, states play blame game

On December 3, the Centre backtracked on its submission to appoint an independent agency to hold public hearings in Odisha and Chhatisgarh

Building norms bent for better ease of doing business rankings

The latest notification has eased green norms for builders to facilitate urban development

MoEF&CC issues recommendations to improve environment clearance and monitoring process

The recommendations come after an audit report found delays in all stages of impact assessment and highlighted other gaps

New ministry guidelines may increase the cost of diverting forests

The guidelines add new categories of costs that the project proponent is required to pay 

Tribal affairs ministry constitutes committee on CFR guidelines under FRA

It was doing this as there had been no progress reported by states in recognising habitat rights despite its repeated clarifications

6,944,608 trees cut across India in last three years: MoEF&CC

6.2 crore trees were planted in their place as compensatory afforestation