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Thursday, October 21, 2010

IN NEWS


Soon, Rs 1 cr fine for killing tiger
Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times
Email Author
New Delhi, October 20, 2010
Wildlife poachers can soon be jailed for a minimum of seven years and fined at least Rs 30 lakh for killing endangered species, and the country will have two bodies to regulate international wildlife trade. The law ministry on Tuesday approved over 100 amendments in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, bringing it in tune with wildlife protection laws across the world by including regulation of species not native to India, a requirement under a global convention on wildlife.
Environment minister Jairam Ramesh said the bill, which strengthens the powers of forest and enforcement agencies, will be introduced in the winter session of Parliament after getting the cabinet's approval.One of the biggest changes in the law is constitution of two bodies — scientific and management — to implement its provisions and regulate trade.
The management authority will be responsible for issuance of permits for trade of scheduled species on advice of the scientific body.
The two bodies will also be to enlist the exotic species found in India………

India Sets Up Green Tribunal to Try Environmental Crimes
by Lori Brown
Published on October 21st, 2010
Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced the launch of a National Green Tribunal Tuesday, a step toward toughening environmental laws in a country faced with growing industrialization-related environmental issues.
The third country in the world to implement such a tribunal, after Australia and New Zealand, India’s creation of a separate judiciary system for environmental cases aims to alleviate a backlogged court system, while holding polluters to a greater financial liability.
Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta has been named Chairperson of the Tribunal, which “has been empowered to issue directions for the compensation and restitution of damage caused from actions of environmental negligence,” according to the Ministry ………………..

21 OCT, 2010, 01.53AM IST, NIDHI SHARMA,ET BUREAU 
Panel mulls co-op for forest produce
NEW DELHI: A high-level committee appointed to examine introduction of minimum support price (MSP) for non-timber forest produce is considering a national cooperative revolution similar to Operation Flood to empower tribals collecting sal seeds, gum kariah and other minor forest produce.
The committee, which was appointed in August under Mr T Haque, will be ready with its interim report next month and the final report by January. According to sources, the committee wants to introduce a competitive multi-pronged system to empower tribals who do not get even minimum wages for collecting minor forest produce (MFPs). The committee is considering a national-level mechanism similar to National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), which had triggered Operation Flood and revolutionised milk production in India.
The committee is considering three main mechanisms — a central mechanism to fix MSP , private players to train tribals in basic processing and tribal cooperatives. The national mechanism would identify a list ………

TEEB report puts world's natural assets on the global political radar
Nagoya, Japan, 20 October 2010– The economic importance of the world's natural assets is now firmly on the political radar as a result of an international assessment showcasing the enormous economic value of forests, freshwater, soils and coral reefs, as well as the social and economic costs of their loss, was the conclusion of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) report launched today by TEEB study leader, Pavan Sukhdev.
"TEEB has documented not only the multi-trillion dollar importance to the global economy of the natural world, but the kinds of policy-shifts and smart market mechanisms that can embed fresh thinking in a world beset by a rising raft of multiple challenges. The good news is that many communities and countries are already seeing the potential of incorporating the value of nature into decision-making," said Mr. Sukhdev, a banker who heads up the Green Economy Initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)…………..

Orissa asks Centre to allow work at the Posco project site
Published: Thursday, Oct 21, 2010, 17:11 IST
Place: Bhubaneswar | Agency: PTI
Claiming that it never violated any law while implementing the Posco project, the Orissa government today demanded the Centre to allow work at the plant site.
The appeal has been made in a faxed response to a letter written by the Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh to chief minister Naveen Patnaik recently, chief secretary BK Patnaik told reporters in Bhubaneshwar.
Referring to a report by the three-member Posco panel, chaired by Meena Gupta, which alleged …………

Natural World Heritage list: Fate of W Ghats to be decided next July
TNN, Oct 21, 2010, 01.33am IST
PUNE: The two-member technical team from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said here on Wednesday that the decision on the Natural World Heritage site recognition for Western Ghats will be known only next July.
The IUCN, which is a technical arm of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), is in the last leg of its visit to the Western Ghats to evaluate India's proposal to put the area on the Natural World Heritage list. The team is evaluating if the proposed site could actually be declared so.
Ecologist Wendy Strahm, who is part of the team, said, "We have visited three states…………………..

Mr Jairam urges Maharashtra to review mining leases in Sindhudurg
Wednesday, 20 Oct 2010
Times of India reported that Mr Jairam Ramesh minister of environment and forest has asked Mr Ashok Chavan Chief Minister of Maharashtra to review the 49 mining leases given for excavation of iron ore and bauxite in Sindhudurg region.
The move follows a TOI expose on the state government's decision to approve the leases in the eco sensitive district of Konkan Maharashtra.
Mr Ramesh's letter to the chief minister, which attached a series of news reports that appeared in TOI……

Raj violating forest Act: Centre
35 Mines Operating Without Permission: Environment Ministry
Rachna Singh | TNN
Jaipur: The Aravalli hills in Rajasthan is crumbling to the pressure of illegal mining despite a Supreme Court order earlier this year putting a blanket ban on any kind of mining activity in the hills. If the present activities continue in the region, the oldest mountain range in the country may vanish after a few years, say sources.
 Recently, the state government’s department of mines and geology received a letter from the Union ministry of environment & forests, about the violation of Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 while renewing the mining lease of M/s Harish Vyas in Niwai block, Tonk district, who were mining silica sand. The mine has been illegally functioning without adequate permission from the Centre for over a decade as the previously granted lease expired in 1999.
 “As things stand today, there are 30-35 mines operating without proper permission from the Union ministry of environment and forests. Most of these are in and around Udaipur. This particular mine in Tonk was granted a mining lease for silica sand………...............

Vedanta Broke Forestry Rules in India Expansion, Minister Says
October 20, 2010, 8:22 AM EDT
By Abhijit Roy Chowdhury and Abhishek Shanker
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Vedanta Resources Plc’s $8.5 billion aluminum expansion plan in India is in “serious” breach of forestry laws and a decision on the project may be taken as early as tomorrow, the Environment Ministry said.
“There have been serious violations,” Minister Jairam Ramesh said today in an interview at his New Delhi office. “There have also been some procedural violations in its existing refinery,” he said, referring to the 1 million metric ton facility at Lanjigarh in eastern Orissa state.
Vedanta, controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, won approval from the Orissa government in August to implement a 375 billion rupee ($8.5 billion) expansion of its………….

IIC celebrates a festival of arts with a difference
HT Correspondent
Email Author
New Delhi, October 21, 2010
If you believe that the forests in multiple ways have nurtured and sustained human, animal and organic life on this planet, India International Centre (IIC) is the place to be from Thursday till October 27. A Festival of the Arts based on the theme ‘The Forest’ at the IIC will showcase different 
aspects of the forest “not just the rich Indian eco-system but also several other forest civilizations” through exhibitions, performances, films and cuisine.
The elaborate programme includes photo exhibitions, film festival, food festival and seminars. King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck would inaugurate the festival on Thursday.
“The film festival would have a screening of 1971-made …………

Kerala forest minister opposes India's stand against Endosulfan ban 
20 October 2010
Kerala forest minister Benoy Viswom has criticised India's opposition to the global ban on Endosulfan pesticide at the sixth meeting of Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee to the Stockholm Convention in Geneva last wee
Viswom told The Hindu newspaper on Monday that India's stand was not right and India should gone along with the general consensus at the meeting which favoured the ban. He added India should have come out in support of the ban.
Viswom said that the Indian ……………………………….

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