Page 764 - Environment
FAO to name 14 new agricultural heritage sites
Rome, April 16 (IANS/AKI) The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)will on Thursday unveil 14 new heritage sites in eight countries in Asia, the Middle East and Central America at an award ceremony here.
India signs USD 48 mn loan pact with WB for Meghalaya
India has signed an agreement with the World Bank for a USD 48 million loan to strengthen community-led landscapes management in selected area in Meghalaya, the finance ministry said today. Closing date for 'Meghalaya Community - Led Landscapes Management Project (MCLLMP)' is June 30, 2023. As per the ministry's statement, the project has three components -- strengthening knowledge and capacity for natural resource management; community-led landscape planning and implementation and project management and governance. "The project will help manage these depleting resources, by strengthening the communities and traditional institutions," it said. Meghalaya's natural resource such as land, water sources and forests is a source of livelihood for a majority of the population in the state. Restoration of degraded and highly degraded landscapes under the Project will increase water for local communities and improve the soil productivity which will in "turn increase incomes and reduce ...
NHPC's 50 MW solar project in TN synchronised with grid
State-run NHPC today said it has synchronised a 50 MW solar PV project at Theni/Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu with the grid. The project was synchronised with the grid last month in presence of the commissioning team consisting of senior officers from TANGEDCO and the NHPC project officials, an NHPC statement said. The Power Station has generated 6.87 MU (million units) up to April 15, 2018. The solar project shall provide an annual generation of 105 MU with sale of entire power to the TANGEDCO in accordance with the power purchase agreement. The project was executed on EPC (engineering procurement and construction) basis with a time frame of nine months. Domestically manufactured Solar PV modules are used for the project, it added.
Fortum gets contract to raise Finland's solar power capacity by 30 percent
OSLO (Reuters) - Finland's Fortum, a majority state-owned utility company, won a tender to increase Finland's total solar production capacity by nearly 30 percent, the firm said on Monday.
World Bank to lend $48 mn for landscape management in Meghalaya
India on Monday signed a $48 million loan agreement with the World Bank to strengthen community-led landscape management in Meghalaya.
Delhi has double concentration of finer, more dangerous pollutant PM1
Delhi has almost twice the concentration of the more lethal pollutant PM1, or particles with diameter less than one micron, as compared to other cities where its being measured, data from government agency showed.
India set to receive average monsoon rains, in boost for poll-bound Modi
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is likely to receive average monsoon rains in 2018, the the state-run India Meteorological Department said, raising the possibility of higher farm and economic growth in Asia's third-biggest economy, where half of the farmland lacks irrigation.
World Bank to fund community-led landscapes management in Meghalaya
A loan agreement worth USD 48 million for the "Meghalaya Community - Led Landscapes Management Project (MCLLMP)" was signed here on Monday between India and the World Bank.The objective of the project is to strengthen community-led landscapes management in selected landscapes in Meghalaya.The project consists of three components- strengthening knowledge and capacity for natural resource management; community-led landscape planning and implementation; and project management and governance.Meghalaya's natural resources such as land, water sources, and forests are a source of livelihood for a majority of the population in the State. The project will help manage these depleting resources, by strengthening the communities and traditional institutions.Restoration of degraded and highly degraded landscapes under the project will increase water for local communities and improve the soil productivity which will in turn increase incomes and reduce poverty.The International Bank for ...
900-yr-long drought led to mass migration from Indus civilisation
The famed Indus Valley civilisation remained under severe drought for about 900 years around 4,350 years ago, which led to the people to abandon their settlements and migrate to south and and eastward regions of India, according to a study by IIT Kharagpur. The civilisation was the most widespread among the ancient civilisations, covering an area about 1.5 million sq km - now comprising modern India, Pakistan, Baluchistan and Afghanistan. It had a well-developed infrastructure, architecture, metallurgy, besides having trade relations and cultural ties with other concurrent civilizations across the world. A team led by Professor Anil K Gupta of Department of Geology and Geophysics at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur has observed that the drought-like phase for the period of 900 years led to reduction in water supply because of the "very weak" Indian summer monsoon, which was under the influence of strong El Nino activity, the climate cycle in the Pacific ocean. This ...
Normal monsoon to help achieve fresh record in agri output: Agri Sec
Enthused by Met Department's forecast of a normal monsoon, Agriculture Secretary S K Pattanayak today said the country's foodgrain production may surpass this year's record high of 277.49 million tonne(MT). Southwest monsoon is the lifeline of India's agriculture as well as overall economy. Over 50 per cent of the country's population is dependent on farming and about 15 per cent of the GDP comes from agriculture and allied sectors. Rains are crucial for farmers as more than 50 per cent of the cultivable farm area is unirrigated. "The normal monsoon will boost kharif sowing that will start from June. We expect foodgrain output to surpass this year's record," Pattanayak told PTI. There will be slight deficiency of monsoon rains in southern peninsular and north eastern parts for a month, but that would be recovered, he said. The normal monsoon forecast augurs well for agriculture and the overall economy, he added. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) today projected southwest ...
HC questions Mumbai, Thane civic bodies on tree felling
The Bombay High Court today asked the Mumbai and Thane civic bodies to explain if their municipal commissioners take expert opinion before passing orders to fell trees. As per a recent amendment to the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, any proposal to cut up to 25 trees can be placed before the commissioner of the civic body concerned while the proposals to cut more than 25 trees have to be sent to the Tree Authority set up under the Act. A division bench of Justices A S Oka and Riyaz Chagla posed the question to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) while hearing a petition by social activist Zoru Bhathena. Bhathena activist has challenged the validity of the amendment to the Act that conferred special power upon the municipal commissioner to decide on the proposals to remove, fell or transplant up to 25 trees. "How will the commissioner exercise this power? Will he take expert opinion? The ...
Rs 1,600cr sanctioned for Manipur highway improvement
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Monday announced that the Centre has sanctioned Rs 1,600 crore for the improvement of the National Highway (NH) 2 bordering Myanmar.
Indonesia expected to drop $19 billion worth of infrastructure projects
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's chief economic minister said on Monday that 14 infrastructure projects, worth 264 trillion rupiah ($19.17 billion), are expected to be dropped from the government's strategic development plan due to lack of progress.
Environment Ministry notifies Plastic Waste Management (amendment) rules
The amended Rules also prescribe a central registration system for the registration of the producer/importer/brand owner. The Rules also lay down that any mechanism for the registration should be automated and should take into account ease of doing business for producers, recyclers and manufacturers. The centralised registration system will be evolved by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for the registration of the producer/importer/brand owner. While a national registry has been prescribed for producers with presence in more than two states, a state-level registration has been prescribed for smaller producers/brand owners operating within one or two states.
Green Energy Association to move SC against APTEL order on RECs
Industry body Green Energy Association today said it will move the Supreme Court against the tribunal APTEL's order which upheld power regulator CERC's ruling reducing forbearance and floor price of renewable energy certificates (RECs) of solar and non-solar energy. "The said order is completely insensitive to renewable energy. Green Energy Association will appeal against this order with full might and very hopeful that the justice will be delivered at apex court," the Green Energy Association said in a statement. Last week, the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) had rejected the petition of Green Energy Association and other similar pleas against the CERC's order. In its order in March last year, the CERC had reduced floor price of solar RECs from Rs 3,500 to Rs 1,000 and the non-solar RECs prices from Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,000 from April 1, 2017. The Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) is mandated by central/state regulatory commission and is applicable to power distribution ...
Urban areas have more 'nuisance' birds than songbirds
If you are living in a crowded urban area, there are more chances for you to see birds that cause nuisance than those that make us genuinely happy, says a study.
Villagers suffered loss of Rs. 70,000 as elephants vandalise their house
A herd of elephants vandalised a house in in Chhattisgarh's Surajpur due to which the villagers suffered a loss of Rs 70,000.However, the forest department has offered compensation to the villager.According to Right to Information (RTI) reports, the locality has witnessed more than 100 human deaths and about 30 elephant deaths in last few years in the man-animal conflict.Deforestation has been considered a major root cause of this continuing man-animal conflict.
Ola to roll out 10,000 electric vehicles
Ride-hailing major Ola on Monday said it would roll out about 10,000 electric rickshaws and e-auto-rickshaws in cities and towns across the country over the next 12 months for shuttle services.
Solar capacity addition may fall by 40% in FY19: Report
Solar capacity addition in the current fiscal year is likely to fall by 40 per cent compared with last year considering the slow tendering and awarding of projects in the last 12-15 months, according to a report. A 40 per cent decline of about 4,000?4,500 megawatt (mw) of solar capacity addition is expected in FY19 as compared to FY18, according to rating agency Icra. Girishkumar Kadam, sector head and vice president, Icra said the estimated decline is mainly on account of subdued trend in tendering of solar projects since June 2017 in the midst of several factors such as GST, upward pressure on PV module price levels and uncertainty on safeguard duty and anti-dumping duty among others. The subdued trend is also evident from the fact that only 4,500 mw capacity was auctioned and awarded in calender year 2017 as against 7,300 mw in 2016, he added. The agency noted that with the recent amendment in bidding norms for solar projects by the ministry of new and renewable ...
Jaguar Land Rover to cut UK staff, output as diesel sales slump
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover said it will cut 1,000 jobs and reduce production at two of its English factories as demand for diesel cars slumps in the face of higher taxes and a regulatory crackdown.
