Nature News, Vol. 6, Issue No.9 (Sep 2017)

BIRDS

The Hindu 8 Sep. 2017 
Where Kerala’s birds go for higher studies: The Kerala Agricultural University campus is home to one-third of the State’s bird species. Not just forests, even a university campus could be a haven of biodiversity, if the example of the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) is anything to go by. A four-year survey conducted on the KAU Read more

The Hindustan Times 15 Sep 2017 
Lost in flight: State bird of Punjab missing from the state: It’s the state bird of Punjab. Northern goshawk, baj or baaz in Punjabi, the majestic bird that you see in the portraits of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, is also a symbol of strength and tenacity. But, try as you might, you can’t find it in any zoo, aviary or sanctuary of the state. Read more

CLIMATE CHANGE

The Hindustan Times 8 Sept.2017 
Climate change is leading to extreme weather events: The Indian monsoon is never really 'normal'. It is variable and unpredictable. But now the definition of what is 'normal' is changing. The fact is that the monsoon is becoming more extreme and more variable. In this way, the new normal is flood at the time of drought. This year, even as 40% of the districts in India face Read more

The Hindustan Times 8 Sep 2017 
Don’t link climate change to increasing costs of disasters: While the world focuses on the devastating storms in South Asia and the US, it is timely to ask ourselves two broad, related questions. First, how do we prevent such disasters from being so devastating in the future? And second, how do we best help the vulnerable  Read more

ENVIRONMENT

The Hindustan Times 12 Sep 2017 
Raising a stink: The waste bomb is ticking for India: Though a surreal spectacle, the garbage avalanche that killed two people in the capital on September 1 did not surprise many. The tragedy was long in the works. Collecting a mountain of household trash, animal waste, plastic and construction rubble since 1984, the Ghazipur dump yard had filled up to capacity in 2002.  Read more

The Hindu 23 Sep 2017 
From waste to health: Keeping cities clean is essential for keeping their residents healthy. Our health depends not just on personal hygiene and nutrition, but critically also on how clean we keep our cities and their surroundings. The proliferation of dengue and chikungunya are intimately linked to the deteriorating state of public health conditions in our cities. Read more

FORESTS & BIODIVERSITY 

The Hindu 11 Sep 2017 
A forest policy on today’s terms: The National Forest Policy must be refreshed as it contains concepts that have been long discarded. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as well as all State Forest Departments are guided by the National Forest Policy, 1988, which states. The basic objectives that should govern the National Forest Policy are the following Read more

HUMAN-ANIMAL CONFLICT 

The Indian Express 8 Sep 2017 
Conflict with humans an elephantine problem, so new plan in place: The strategic plan was discussed at a meeting Wednesday of wildlife wardens from five states in this region  Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal  as a first step towards better inter-state coordination to tackle over 3,000 elephants in the zone. Read more

WILDLIFE & ENDANGERED SPECIES 

The Hindu 13 Sep 2017 
A fragile ark that shelters 2,626 creatures: Zoological Survey of India produces first exhaustive compendium of animal diversity in the Sundarban islands and the threats they face. In a first, the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has published a compendium of animal species in the Indian Sundarbans, estimating that there are 2,626 of them in the fragile island ecosystem. Read more

The Indian Express 14 Sep 2017 
Grim signal from raids and online sales: Flourishing trade in monitor lizard part: On September 4, Union Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan tweeted pictures of recoveries made during a joint operation by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and the Odisha Forest Department 28 kg sambar deer antlers, four bear nails, and a rock python. Read more

The Hindu 18 Sep 2017 
Odisha govt rapped for delay in notifying elephant corridors: NGT wants govt to give a specific timeframe for completion of processes. The National Green Tribunal has expressed extreme disappointment over the lethargic pace of notifying elephant corridors fixed paths which connect traditional elephant habitats in Odisha. Adjudicating the case filed by  Read more

The Times of India 19 Sep 2017 
Snow leopard now no longer endangered: The snow leopard is no longer an endangered species, but its population in the wild is still at risk because of poaching and habitat loss, conservationists said this week. The International Union for Conservation of Nature said on Thursday that new data taken through 2016 prompted the reclassification of the snow Read more

The Pioneer 22 Sep 2017 
Huge rise in wildlife seizures: From Rs 2.21-crore worth of seizures from 15 wildlife smugglers in 2014 to a whopping Rs 187.69-crore worth of seizures from 93 smugglers in 2017 so far, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) a paramilitary force that guards the 1,751-km Indo-Nepal and the 699-km Indo-Bhutan border has notched up major successes in its drive against wildlife crime. Read more