Nature News, Vol. 5, Issue No 7 (July 2016)

NGT, the overeager super-cop: The National Green Tribunal’s order to ban diesel vehicles over 10 years in Delhi is more populist than practical. The Tribunal must revise its order, and make sure that no vehicle, unless not maintained properly, is needlessly scrapped  Read more

Environment Ministry withdraws draft forest policy: What was uploaded on website was a study by IIFM, Bhopal’. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has repudiated a ‘Draft National Forest Policy’ that it uploaded on its website earlier this month calling it an inadvertent error.  Read more

The Indian Express 28 July 2016

Whose forests are these anyway? : A recent controversial bill that outlines a framework for the utilisation of compensatory afforestation funds is being strongly contested and challenged by civil society actors. It raises important questions that are fundamentally connected to forests: Whose are they and who should be compensated for their loss. Read more

The Pioneer 28 July 2016

Forestry is key to food security: Increasing crop productivity, if paired with direct forest protection measures, can increase both agricultural production and forest cover. Sustainable forest management is, therefore, crucial.  The sustainable development goals for the next 15 years, adopted by countries in September 2015 Read more

Three tigers, 3,000 buffaloes: Jharkhand’s lone reserve turning into cowshed:  The expansive Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR), Jharkhand’s lone protected tiger den, is gradually turning into a cowshed with milkmen from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and surrounding local’s areas encroaching the reserve to let their cattle graze, forest officials said. Read more

The Pioneer 18 July 2016

New cell phone tech to pave way for abating man-animal conflicts: As the country grapples with rising incidents of man animal conflicts, a novel cell-phone based technology  “WildSeve” is set to show the way for minimising such tragedies. The technology is being successfully used in 284 villages fringing two of the country’s premier tiger reserves Read more

Shrinking spaces: The East Kolkata Wetlands, a Ramsar site, have lost ground over the years and new threats are now surfacing. The raucous call of the majestic Pallas’s Fish Eagle no longer rings through the 12,500-hectare wetland that hugs the eastern fringe of Kolkata. Habitat degradation has taken its toll. Read more

India aims to double tiger count by 2022:  The world has more tigers in captivity than in wild and this unique situation is mainly due to tiger breeding for commercial purposes. The scenario was highlighted jointly by 45 NGOs from across the globe on the occasion of International Tiger Day here on Friday  Read more

The Pioneer 30 July 2016

NGOs come together to end tiger farms, breeding for commercial purposes: Nearly 45 non-Governmental organisations, on the occasion of Global Tiger Day on Friday came together to urgently end tiger farms and tiger breeding for commercial purposes. They also Read more

The Times of India 30 July 2016

Rhino fleeing Kaziranga flood hit by stray bullet, critical: A rhinoceros that had escaped from the flooded Kaziranga National Park and taken shelter on highland beyond its limits was critically injured on Friday after being hit by a stray bullet fired by a forest guard.

Two forest guards had been deployed to track the rhino and take it back to the park. Read more