IN NEWS

Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) to Release Second Assessment
‘Climate Change and India: A 4X4 Assessment’ based on Regional Climate Model

The second Climate Change Assessment Report will be released here on coming Tuesday. Detailed presentations will be made by the scientists highlighting the salient findings of the study. This will be released under the aegis of the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) which was launched by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on October 14, 2009 at a National workshop. This second assessment ‘Climate Change and India:A 4X4 Assessment’ addresses the concerns of the enormous implications of climate change to the natural resources and livelihoods of the people in the four climate sensitive regions of Himalayan region, North-East region, the Western Ghats and the Coastal plains for the 4 key sectors of Agriculture, Water, Health and Natural Ecosystems and Biodiversity. The 4 region, 4 sectors Assessment in short has been referred to as a 4x4 Assessment. The 4x4 assessment has been prepared by 43 experts and scientists belonging to 19 INCCA institutions. The second Assessment is on impacts of climate change in 2030s in four climate sensitive regions of India and four sectors of economic development. ………………………….
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=67020

Global warming 60m years ago improved Tropical forest diversity

Fri, Nov 12 02:10 PM

Washington, Nov 12 (ANI): Global warming may not have any adverse effect on the Tropical forests, as scientists have suggested that nearly 60 million years ago rainforests prospered at temperatures that were 3-5 degrees higher and at atmospheric carbon dioxide levels 2.5 times today's levels."We're going to have a novel climate scenario," said Joe Wright, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, in a 2009 Smithsonian symposium on Threats to Tropical Forests.

Carlos Jaramillo, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and colleagues examined pollen trapped in rock cores and outcrops-from Colombia and Venezuela-formed before, during and after an abrupt global warming event called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum that occurred 56.3 million years ago.

The world warmed by 3-5 degrees C. Carbon dioxide levels doubled in only 10,000 years. Warm conditions lasted for the next 200,000 years.Contrary to speculation that tropical forests could be devastated under these conditions, forest diversity increased rapidly during this warming event.

New plant species evolved much faster than old species became extinct. Pollen from the passionflower plant family and the chocolate family, among others, were found for the first time.

"It is remarkable that there is so much concern about the effects of greenhouse conditions on tropical forests," said Klaus Winter, of the STRI……………………………................

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20101112/981/tsc-global-warming-60m-years-ago-improve_1.html

New coal mining norms to end no go zones in India

Sunday, 14 Nov 2010

ET reported that the government is formulating a new strategy to allocate coal mines, setting aside the controversial move by the environment ministry to categorize coal bearing areas in the country as go and no go areas for miners.The proposal, which industry officials say will expedite building of power stations has been sent for consideration by the union cabinet after the environment ministry faced stiff opposition over its go and no go policy from the ministries of steel, coal and power.
Government officials said that if approved by the Cabinet, the move will prevent confusion over mining rights given to power, steel and cement sector companies over coal blocks allocated between 1994 and 2008. Several of these blocks have come under no go or areas banned for mining after the environment ministry decided on the new criterion. The government also seeks to provide alternative coal blocks to projects that do not get environmental clearance.The concept of go and no go areas for coal mining is proposed to be replaced by the earlier system ………...........................

http://www.steelguru.com/raw_material_news/New_coal_mining_norms_to_end_no_go_zones_in_India/175085.html

Grassland of the giants

valmikthaparTags :  Posted: Sun Nov 14 2010, 15:53 hrsNew Delhi:

Kaziranga is the land of the megafauna — the rhino, tiger, elephant and the wild buffalo — and the greatest story of India’s wildlife conservation.

Nothing can prepare you for the experience of Kaziranga National Park. You have to visit it to believe it and when I went there for the first time I was very lucky — old friend and colleague S Deb Roy, an amazing man who had put his life into saving Assam’s incredible wildlife, was with me. This was the early 1990s, when the severe crisis that threatens wildlife in general hadn’t set in. Kaziranga was stunning. It is a grassland of immense proportions and dotted around are patches of superb forests with the mighty Brahmaputra river flowing on one side……………….........................

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Grassland-of-the-giants/710692/

One swallow does not make a summer in Bastar

Saturday, November 13, 2010, 22:00 [IST]

Dantewara (Chhattisgarh), Nov.13 (ANI): Life for Adivasis or, the tribals in Bastar has been like traversing several time zones and development paradigms. Their traditional lifestyle that is dependent on forest produce and ethos of community living, of sharing of resources, continues even today.Yet, they stand poised on the threshold of modernity, an era in which the world beyond theirs has completely changed and the influences are finding their way into the forests and preserves of the Adivasi way of life.
But it seems the way forward to move ahead of the life tribals have to lead goes through education. Indeed, the Adivasis are covered by several schemes meant for Scheduled Tribes (STs) across the country, some of which have been in existence from the time of Indian independence. Under several Government scholarship schemes, students from ST category are ………………………........................

http://news.oneindia.in/2010/11/13/oneswallow-does-not-make-a-summer-inbastar.html