Page 205 - Environment
Study investigatse fresh ways to help increase conservation impact
A study, led by researchers at the University of Southhampton, in partnership with Memorial University of Newfoundland, goes beyond just counting the types of animals there are and instead accounts for the differences between wildlife and their roles in the environment.This information is important to conservation efforts, as it enables the identification of places where there are only a few species performing a role, as opposed to regions where many species carry out similar rolesThe study saw scientists combining multiple databases of information concentrating on six biologically important attributes of the roles animals play (traits).The selected traits included factors such as diet, daily activity and body size for 15,485 bird and mammal species.From these, they were able to build a global picture of traits for different animals - mapping which areas in the world had many overlapping roles and would therefore benefit from habitat conservation, as well as for those which had more ..
Australian court bars new coal mine project in landmark win for green lobby
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Developers have lost a court appeal to build a coal mine in Australia's Hunter Valley over its potentially "dire" environmental impact in the country's first legal review of a coal mine project to hear evidence from a climate scientist.
Youngest US Congresswoman unveils ambitious renewable-energy plan
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman to serve in the US Congress, has unveiled her ambitious plan to combat climate change by drastically reducing the United States' greenhouse-gas emissions.
'Conservation of water is the need of hour': CWC Chairman
Masood Hussain, Chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC), on Thursday said that water conservation should be taken up in mission mode like the Swachh Bharat campaign. Inaugurating the first Hindi Technical Seminar on "Water Conservation - Our Responsibility", Hussain said that traditional practices of water conservation must be revived and people must be made aware of the need to conserve water. He stated that just like in foreign countries the recycle and reuse of water must also be largely publicised and people's awareness on these issues must be increased. "Conservation of water has always been thought to be the Government's responsibility, but the role of people, is far more important," Hussain added.Addressing water as a 'natural resource', the CWC chairman further noted that water is very crucial for the very existence of mankind. While India accommodates 18 per cent of the world's population, only 4 per cent of the water resources is available in the country. "India's ...
Hyderabad police creates green corridor for ambulance to transport live organs
Hyderabad traffic police on Thursday provided a green corridor of 12.6 kilometres to an ambulance carrying lungs, kidneys and liver.Anil Kumar, Additional Commissioner, Traffic, Hyderabad said, "Hyderabad Traffic police helped in transporting live organs by providing a green corridor to an ambulance."The traffic police arranged a green corridor for transportation of live organs from Yashoda Hospital to Begumpet Airport. The organs were transported to PSG Hospital in Coimbatore through a charter flight from the Begumpet airport.A distance of around 12.6 kilometres between the hospital and Begumpet Airport was covered in 14 minutes, informed an official. Hyderabad traffic police on January 11 had created a 35 kilometre green corridor to enable an ambulance to transport a live heart.
Worked a lot to make system right: Chandrababu Naidu
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said that before coming to power in 2014 the irrigation projects in the state were in "haphazard" condition and that his government had to work a lot to make the system right.Addressing the state assembly, Naidu said: "By the time we came to power in 2014, the irrigation projects in the state were in haphazard condition. Our earlier attempts were not continued, causing inertia in the system. We had to work hard to make the system set right."Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Naidu said: "Narendra Modi always says that he will work for doubling the income of farmers. He simply says that. But, we have already achieved it as our farmers are getting double income."He further said, "There were 62 irrigation projects. As we prioritised and started working on resolving issues, we are able to give water for 102 lakhs acres of land now."Taking a jibe at the central government, he said: "The government is not cooperating even ...
Total makes 'significant' offshore S.Africa gas find
French energy giant Total announced Thursday it had found "significant" gas off the southern coast of South Africa, a discovery expected to boost the nation's struggling economy and reduce reliance on imports. "Total has made a significant gas condensate discovery on the Brulpadda prospects,... in the Outeniqua Basin, 175 kilometres off the southern coast of South Africa," it said in a statement. Total's CEO Patrick Pouyanne said the potential quantities "could be around one billion barrels of global resources, gas and condensate light oil". "So it could be quite big, it's probably quite big," he told journalists in Paris. "Having said that this region is quite difficult to operate, with huge waves, so the weather is not very easy," he said of the block with water depths ranging from 200 to 1,800 metres. South Africa's Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe welcomed the news of the discovery in the deep waters as "potentially a major boost" for the economy which grew less than one .
Work on Machilipatnam port begins
Construction work on the Machilipatnam deep-sea port began Thursday with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu performing the ground breaking ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, Naidu said the port coming up near Manginapudi in Krishna district in an area of 4,800 acres would be ready for operations within two years and lead to all-round development of Andhra Pradesh. Noting that the Navayuga Engineering company created a world record for for the most concrete continuously poured in 24 hours and the largest continuous concrete pour for the Polavaram irrigation project, he expressed confidence that the work on the port would also be completed in record time. "A deep sea port at Machilipatnam is the dream of the people of this region and at last it is coming true, after crossing many hurdles and this is a historic occasion," he added. The chief minister said the port would also benefit Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. It was estimated that the port would .
Heavy rains, hailstorm damage crops in northwest India
Heavy rains, accompanied with hailstorms, hitting northwest India for past three days have damaged standing crops, raising concerns over the overall output and the quality this season.
PIL filed in HC to shut 'illegal' brick kilns in Thadagam
A PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking closure of all 'illegal' brick-kilns in Thadagam valley, a reserve forest area near Coimbatore, claiming that it blocked the routine migratory path of elephants in the region. When the PIL petition by S Muralidharan of INCARE, an organisation for animal welfare activities, came up for hearing Thursday, a division bench of Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad tagged it with another petition relating to wild elephant 'Chinnathambi,' to be heard on February 11. The other petition has sought a direction to prevent authorities from capturing, taming, tranquilising or harming 'Chinnathambi,' which was recently translocated from the outskirts of Coimbatore to Varagaliar by forest personnel. In the present PIL, the petitioner submitted that Thadagam Valley in Coimbatore forest division was home to wild life species including Royal Bengal Tigers and the Asian elephants and has in the past two decades witnessed ...
Dutch students march for better climate policies
Thousands of students skipped classes Thursday and marched past the Dutch parliament, calling for more ambitious climate policies in the Netherlands. The noisy but peaceful demonstration by Dutch students follows similar marches in recent weeks in neighbouring Belgium that also have drawn thousands of protesters. The protests there continued, too, with thousands more teenagers demonstrating in several cities for the fifth week in a row. Belgian police said that in central Leuven alone more than 10,000 students gathered and authorities had to change the planned route to accommodate the marchers. Many thousands more protested in the capital Brussels and other provincial towns throughout Belgium as the youth movement spread further across the country. Organizers of the Dutch march in The Hague said they want to send a wake-up call to politicians who are wrestling with how best to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. They had hoped for some 3,000 marchers but got far more, although police ...
NGT forms expert committee to ascertain impact of steel pickling units on air quality, Yamuna river
The National Green Tribunal constituted an expert committee to ascertain the impact of steel pickling industries on the air quality and the Yamuna river in the city. A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel formed the committee comprising senior scientists from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, and IIT Kharakpur. The green panel said the CPCB will be the nodal agency and the committee may visit the site and furnish a report to this tribunal. The report may be furnished as far as possible within two months from Thursday by e-mail, it said. "It is necessary to ascertain the impact of the industry on the air quality of Delhi which is already highly polluted, on river Yamuna which is also subjected to severe pollution by several polluting activities, industrial as well as municipal, impact on the green belt and the inhabitants on account of huge hazardous waste already dumped and further potential for ...
NGO launches Mission Green India, to plant 10 crore saplings by 2020
In a bid to increase India's green cover, an environmental NGO Thursday launched 'Mission Green India' movement pledging to plant over 10 crore saplings till February next year. The event for the launch of the movement was held at Constitution Club of India and was attended by various stakeholders, including BJP Spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam, Monowar Alam Khalid, HOD Environmental Science and Dean Students' Welfare, Integral University, Lucknow, Ashok Kinni, Former controller of Presidential Estate of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Dinesh Singh Gait, Member National Working Committee-BJP and Kisan Morcha Prabhari, Haryana, and several activists. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, could not attend the event due to a prior commitment, said a statement issued by the NGO, adding that he appreciated the effort through a written note. The NGO's managing trustee said that through this movement, more than 10 crore saplings will be planted throughout the year
Gopal Rai seeks farmers' suggestions on implementing Swaminathan Committee Report
Development Minister Gopal Rai held a meeting with farmers in outer Delhi's Najafgarh Thursday and sought their suggestions to devise a mechanism to implement new minimum support price for crops based on recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee Report. An official said the meeting was attended by senior government officers, farm experts and farmers from nearby villages. Talking to reporters here, Rai said the Delhi government is working on two-three measures on how to provide MSPs to farmers. "We will make a strategy based on farmers' suggestions. The government is moving towards implementing new MSP for crops on the basis of Swaminathan Report," Rai said. On January 29, the government had organised a meeting to devise a mechanism to implement the minimum support price as per the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee Report. Higher wages, input costs, transport charges and cost of other allied services peculiar to Delhi will be factored in while determining the MSP, Rai ...
Gadkari to inaugurate 2nd phase of River Info System on Ganga Friday
To boost cargo movement on Ganga, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari Friday will inaugurate the second phase of river information system (RIS) between Farakka and Patna. The minister will also unveil the new navigation lock at Farakka to enable breeding of Hilsa fish, government said Thursday. The projects are aimed at boosting the movement of cargo and fishery development in river Ganga. The Minister will also visit a Namami Gange Exhibition at Kumbh Mela. "Gadkari will be in Prayagraj tomorrow (Friday) to inaugurate Phase 2 of the RIS on National Waterway-1 (River Ganga) between Farakka and Patna (410 km) and also unveil new arrangement of Navigation Lock at Farakka that would enable breeding of Hilsa fish in River Ganga and help preserve the river ecosystem," Ministry of Shipping said in a statement. It said the inauguration of 2nd phase of RIS will enhance swift electronic data transfer between mobile vessels and base stations on shore through advance and real-time exchange of ...
Climate change a reality, needs to be tacked at ground level: Env Ministry secy
Climate change is a reality which needs to be tackled at the ground level, a top government official Thursday said while inaugurating a workshop on global environment facility (GEF) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme. Speaking at the event, C K Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), said the UNDP's small grants programme (SGP) has helped achieve successes in different corners of the country. "Climate change is a reality which will affect the day-to-day life of the people. We need to tackle it from the ground level. This GEF-SGP workshop is very important. The overall impact of programmes with big funding is lesser compared to small programmes initiated on small funding," he said. "The objective of this workshop is to learn from the experiences of the people under the SGP across the country and reshape our policy," Mishra said. The UNDP has been with the MoEFCC in implementing the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and
NDMC plans to equip all garbage vehicles with GPS facility by Feb 15
The BJP-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) will equip all garbage-lifting vehicles with GPS track facility by mid-February to centrally monitor the waste disposal process, the corporation's commissioner said Thursday. The process will be monitored through a control facility at the NDMC headquarters in the civic centre, said Municipal Commissioner Varsha Joshi, during a Standing Committee meeting here. "We are going to install GPS in all vehicles used for lifting garbage, and the target is to finish the work by February 15," she said. Another senior official said at present there are 250 garbage lifting vehicles. "About 50 vehicles have already been equipped with GPS, and the rest are planned to be done by mid-February," he said. Garbage-lifting vehicles include large vehicles, auto-tippers and other small ones, he added. Joshi said the door-to-door waste pick-up policy has also been firmed up and "the NDMC will also seek to suggest ways for alternative activities of ...
Over Rs 600 crore allocated for cows in Rs 4.79 lakh-crore UP budget
With elections around the corner, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday put the cow and farmers at the centre of its budget allocation: the government has set aside an unprecedented over Rs 600 crore for the protection and welfare of cows and provided around Rs 1,500 crore for agricultural development.
NGT directs Bihar govt to submit no of hospitals generating biomedical waste
The National Green Tribunal Thursday directed the Bihar government to submit within two weeks the total number of hospitals and medical health care centres which generate biomedical waste. A bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore also directed the principal secretary of health to remain present before it on February 25. The green panel passed the order after noting that despite its January 10 order to submit the total number of government and private hospitals, the state government only filed an incomplete affidavit which is "abstract" in nature. "The order clearly speaks that the details which are being sought from State of Bihar, since the year 2017, should be complete and authentic in all respect to be submitted through an affidavit. But the needful has not been done as per the direction. "Therefore, last opportunity is granted to principal secretary (Health), State of Bihar to comply with the order dated January 10, 2019 in letter and spirit, within two weeks from today," ..
Melting ice sheets may cause 'climate chaos': Study
Billions of tonnes of meltwater flowing into the world's oceans from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets could boost extreme weather and destabilise regional climate within a matter of decades, researchers said Wednesday. These melting giants, especially the one atop Greenland, are poised to further weaken the ocean currents that move cold water south along the Atlantic Ocean floor while pushing tropical waters northward closer to the surface, they reported in the journal Nature. Known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), this liquid conveyor belt plays a crucial role in Earth's climate system and helps ensures the relative warmth of the Northern Hemisphere. "According to our models, this meltwater will cause significant disruptions to ocean currents and change levels of warming around the world," said lead author Nicholas Golledge, an associate professor at the Antarctic Research Centre of New Zealand's Victoria University of Wellington. The Antarctic ice ...