IN NEWS

Team Leader (f/m) and Forestry Expert

Country of assignement and location
India: New Delhi
Project / Field of activity
GTZ International Services in consortium with Landesbetrieb Hessen-Forst has submitted its Expression of Interest (EoI) for the JICA assisted project:
Capacity Development for Forest Management and Personnel Training
The objective of the project - implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) and assisted by JICA - is to achieve capacity development of the frontline forest staff………………..

http://www.epojobs.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9313:team-leader-and-forestry-expert-india&catid=34:chronologisch&Itemid=53

A Judgment Day of Sorts for Posco

By Prasenjit Bhattacharya

UPDATE, 6:16 p.m.:Three of the four members of the panel want the environmental clearance for the steel plant, as well as for a planned port, revoked, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

UPDATE, 5:43 p.m.: The panel submitted two reports, one that recommended that environmental clearances be revoked, while the other called for a more thorough assessment, the Press Trust of India reported. Another committee will examine both reports next Monday.

Some time today a four-member panel set up by India’s environment ministry on July 28 is expected to submit a report South Korean steelmaker Posco’s Orissa steel plant project.

The panel has been looking into whether the project will violate the rights of local tribes who live on the 1,235 acres of forest land that is likely to be cleared for the $12-billion steel plant to be built, as well as adherence to other environmental regulations. ..................................

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/tag/ministry-of-environment-and-forests/

Posco's Planned $12 Billion Indian Steel Plant in Doubt After Panel Report

By Abhijit Roy Chowdhury and Abhishek Shanker - Oct 19, 2010 9:45 AM GMT+0530 Tue Oct 19 04:15:18 GMT 2010

Posco’s proposed $12 billion steel plant in India is in doubt after a government panel recommended scrapping environment clearances given to the world’s third- largest steelmaker.

Three of the four members of the panel suggested that approvals should be canceled because of “flaws in the studies, and shortcomings in the clearances granted” to the project in the eastern state of Orissa, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters yesterday in New Delhi. A separate report by Meena Gupta, the head of the panel, asked for conditions to be added to the existing clearances, he said.

Posco’s project, billed as the single-biggest investment by a foreign comp………….

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-19/posco-s-planned-12-billion-indian-steel-plant-in-doubt-after-panel-report.html

Vulture Conservation Campaign Organized in Northern India

http://www.videopediaworld.com/video/55704/Vulture-Conservation-Campaign-Organized-in-Northern-India

Predators of the TIGER TRAIL

Sansar Chand's conviction might shake the underworld poacher's empire. But what about the Barbarian  Bawariyas?
Akash Bisht Delhi

In a historic judgment a Delhi court awarded six years imprisonment - the maximum term mandated by the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act - to notorious wildlife trader Sansar Chand, also known as the Veerappan of north India. The case dates back to 1995 when he was caught red-handed with a leopard skin. This judgment has brought cheer to many conservationists who hope it can dissuade people from entering and pursuing the banned trade. 

Chand is considered responsible for the complete wipe-out of the big cat from the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. According to wildlife law enforcers, around 250 tigers have fallen prey to Chand's vicious demand for tiger parts. 

Poachers killed 832 tigers from 1994 to 2007, says a Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) report. The killings have not stopped and, indeed, the crime continues to be committed in an increasingly professional and organised manner……….

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2010/10/3718

Park metamorphoses into butterfly nest

Pankaj Dhiman, TNN, Oct 19, 2010, 12.37am IST

CHANDIGARH: Fluttering their wings gently, hundreds of colourful butterflies are the new guests at a park being built specially for them in Sector 26. Dressing up the skies above this under-construction park, tiger, leopard, common grass yellow and blue pansy butterflies have flapped in to enjoy the courtesy of forest department, which has sought funds from UT to complete the project.
Forest officials, who have planted host trees and plants in the Sector-26 santuary, say they plan to attract more than 65 species of butterflies at the enclosure that has host trees and plants for the winged visitors.
Sources said this under-construction butterfly park is claimed to be India?s second such facility; the first one is Bannerghatta National Park in Bangalore, Karnataka.
The park is estimated to come up at a cost of Rs 70 lakh, which is still awaiting………

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Park-metamorphoses-into-butterfly-nest/articleshow/6771475.cms

Close encounters of the wild kind

India needs roads to reinforce its infrastructure and lift economic growth, but highway development threatens to fragment already shrunken forests and endanger precious wildlife. In the first of a two-part series, Mint reports on the conflict between man and nature in the Western Ghats

Padmaparna Ghosh

Valparai (Tamil Nadu)/Bandipur (Karnataka): The car brakes to a halt, and P. Jeganathan jumps out. Off the tarred road, he gingerly scrapes off the squashed, lifeless form of a snake, holds it to the car’s headlights for a quick inspection, and sets it down in the undergrowth on the road’s shoulder.Jeganathan, a wildlife scientist, works with the Mysore-based Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), and he spends his days teaching children of the Western Ghats about the value of wildlife. He can’t, unfortunately, do anything about the grown-ups who race through the area, one of whom ran over the snake he spotted…………………..

http://www.livemint.com/2010/10/19204134/Close-encounters-of-the-wild-k.html

Forestry Exhibition In New Delhi
“Forests for Gross National Happiness- Forests for All “ is the theme of the Bhutan forestry exhibition to be held at India International Center(IIC), New Delhi from 21- 27 October 2010. The exhibition is part of an annual festival organized by India International Center. The theme for 2010 is “Forests”   while “River” was the theme for 2009. The main objective of this year’s festival is to create awareness on the importance of forests.
The Bhutan forestry exhibition in New Delhi would highlight the importance of forests to the well being of Bhutanese people and the world at large in terms of the valuable ecosystem services, livelihoods, agriculture and livestock, food and medicines, culture and spirituality, home and energy and recreation services and good governance through community forestry.
The exhibition would be inaugurated at IIC by His Majesty the King on 21st Oct 2010.
The exhibition includes photographic display……………………

http://www.moa.gov.bt/moa/news/news_detail.php?id=1446