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Tuesday, August 03, 2010

IN NEWS

Kaziranga: The best tiger habitat in the world

Kaziranga National Park found to have highest tiger density on Earth
A joint study carried out by Aaranyak, a society for biodiversity conservation in Northeast India, and the Assam Forest Department, has shown that Kaziranga National Park has the highest density of wild tigers in the world.
The report, officially released by Mr Rockybul Hussain, Minister of Environment and Forest, Assam on April 29, is the result of a study carried out during January-March 2009.
“It reveals that Kaziranga National Park has the highest density of tigers compared to any known tiger habitats anywhere in the world,” confirmed the Minister.
According to the study, which was conducted using the ‘camera trap’ method of tiger estimation and covered an area of 144 sq km of the central and western part of the park, there are 32 tigers per 100 sq km of park area. It also revealed that 39 individual tigers………………………………………………….
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Our biodiversity, our life, our future
KAMALJIT S. BAWA
What can arrest the steady decline of our ecosystems?
Life is unique to our planet. It is earth's most precious asset. And there is plenty of it. We do not know the exact number of species: many estimates range from 10 to 12 million. India may have close to a million species, the vast majority of which remain to be named or described. These hundreds and thousands of species in India live in many different types of ecological communities or ecosystems spread from deep seas to mountain tops.
The extraordinary richness of life that surrounds us in the form of diverse arrays of organisms, ecological communities, and natural landscapes, also called biodiversity, sustains such human activities as agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, and is the basis of our civilisation. The fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas that support our industry are derived from plants and animals that dominated life on earth millions of years ago. Biodiversity also has immense aesthetic, cultural, and spiritual value.
This biodiversity, a product of billions of years of evolution, has been rapidly declining in recent years — a victim of humans' large ecological footprint on earth. …………………………..
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Environment and forests minister Jairam points out at three Karnataka firms
Submitted by Senthil Kumar on 2010, August 3 - 14:58 
According to the Environment and Forests minister Jairam Ramesh three mineral firms of Karnataka, namely TridentMinerals, Veeyam Minerals and S D Minerals are being investigated for alleged illegal mining. He reported that on Monday in Rajya Sabha.
Jairam stated that he had written a letter to the chief minister of Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa last month stating that some companies are violating the Forest Conservation Act while engaged in iron ore mining……………………………..
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Karnataka ban on iron ore exports unlawful: mining lobby
Indo-Asian News Service
Bangalore, August 03, 2010
First Published: 19:37 IST(3/8/2010)
Last Updated: 19:40 IST(3/8/2010)
The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) today termed the Karnataka government order of July 26 banning iron ore exports from minor ports in the state as unconstitutional and invalid. "The Karnataka government has no right to trample on the fundamental right of a citizen guaranteed under 
Article 19 of the Constitution to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business," FIMI Secretary General R.K. Sharma said.
Taking strong objection to the reaction of the state government to the rampant illegal mining thriving in the state, Sharma said in a letter to Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa that even the July 28 notification to withhold permits to move iron ore for export from the lease hold areas was unconstitutional and illegal……………………………….
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Climate Pact Loopholes Risk Wiping Out Greenhouse Gas Cuts
August 03, 2010, 6:48 AM EDT
By Alex Morales
Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Loopholes in the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty risk wiping out emissions reduction pledges made by developed nations for 2020, an alliance of island nations said at United Nations global warming talks in Bonn.
The pact’s rules mean current pledges by developed nations to reduce greenhouse gases by 12 percent to 18 percent by 2020 may end up leading to cuts amounting to just 1 percent to 7 percent from 1990 levels, Al Binger, a delegate from Grenada, told envoys at the meeting. That may wipe out the treaty’s goal of a 5 percent cut agreed from 2008 to 2012.
The loopholes arise from clauses in the protocol that give developed nations flexibility on how they account for greenhouse gases related to forestry and land use changes, as well as permitting countries to roll over unused pollution allowances from the first commitment period into the next one………………………..
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Forest under seige
Shalini Umachandran, TNN, Aug 3, 2010, 12.48am IST
CHENNAI: Wood apple trees form a canopy over the mud trail leading through the forest, the chirruping of crickets fill the air, butterflies flit to and fro, and an ashy drongo sweeps across and settles onto a branch. It's hard to believe that the busy Sardar Patel Road is just a 10-minute walk away. It's noon at Guindy National Park (GNP) and not the best time to spot creatures but there's still so much to see. 

A recent announcement, however, holds the threat of disrupting this rich natural habitat, widely described as the only national park within the confines of a city. Earlier this month, Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University vice-chancellor Mayilvahanan Natarajan said the governor had given in-principle approval for allocating four acres within the Raj Bhavan campus to the university for setting up a 500-bed hospital. 

"GNP is the among the last remnants of the tropical dry evergreen forest, unique to the east coast of India," says D Narasimhan, botany professor, Madras Christian College……………………………….
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Ecoprint: An International Journal of Ecology, Vol 16 (2009)

Vol 16 (2009) > Mishra

Harvesting of Medicinal Plants in the Forest of Central India and its Impact on Quality of Raw Materials: A Case of Nagpur District, India

Manish Mishra, P. C. Kotwal, Chandan Prasad
Abstract
Adulteration and substitutions are frequent in raw material trade of medicinal plants. Several studies have been done for a number of important crude drug materials to distinguish the genuine material from adulterant. The efficient way to determine adulteration is through morphological and organoleptic studies. The objective of this study is to find out current harvesting methods, malpractices adopted by various stakeholders and ocular analysis of market samples, impacting quality of raw (dry) produce of selected species in market of Nagpur. In the natural forests Baibirang (Embelia ribes Burm.), Safed musli (mixed tubers of Chlorophytum borivilianum Baker, C. tuberosum Baker.), and Aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) were collected just after the rains at unripe stage. The ocular observations of the market sample of Aonla, Baibirang fruits, Safed musli tubers indicate that mixing of old and diseased parts of same species and other adulterants is rampant in the local market. Laboratory analysis shows that in one kilogram of market sample, more than 20% raw material was found adulterated in all the selected species except Bach (Acorus calamus L.). Most of the selected plants were found adulterated, both intentionally and unintentionally. Major reasons for poor quality are unripe harvesting, mixing of inferior and cheap plant parts, mis-identification of species, non-availability of plant parts in required quantity, etc. 

Key words: Adulteration, quality, medicinal plants, harvesting, malpractices.  
DOI: 10.3126/eco.v16i0.3471
ECOPRINT 16: 35-42, 2009
Full Text: PDF 
Ecoprint: An International Journal of Ecology ISSN: 1024-8668
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