The Uttarakhand government has decided to form a Special Tiger Force for Corbett Tiger Reserve, a move which will help serve as the much needed second layer of protection for the big cat.
The decision to set up the force was taken by the State Cabinet. The force will have 85 posts.
The STPF will be effective in checking illegal human intrusion into the reserve through villages located on its fringes and serve as a second layer of protection for tigers at the CTR.
Illegal intruders from fringe areas have been behind poaching incidents in the reserve in the past.
Centre Approves Gorewada International Zoo In Nagpur
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar announced the approval for the new Gorewada International Zoo to be inaugurated in Nagpur district of Maharashtra.
According to Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (FDCML), the Government of Maharashtra has already issued its Government Resolution, for establishing International Standard Zoo and Rescue Centre at Gorewada village, Nagpur District on 1914 hectares of Forest Land through FDCML.
Rare Tarantula Sighted In Villupuram District
The spider belonging to the genus Poecilotheria, commonly known as the Peacock Parachute Spider or Gooty Tarantula was spotted by a team of researchers of the Puducherry-based Indigenous Biodiversity Foundation (IBF) in the Pakkamalai Reserve Forests near Gingee in Villupuram district.
The known habitat of Peacock Parachute Spider is in degraded forests near Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh.
In an interesting find, researchers have sighted a critically endangered species of tarantula for the first time beyond its known habitat in the Eastern Ghats.
The team of wildlife researchers was involved in field work in the reserve forests recently when they sighted a Gooty Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica) resting in a cave.
The species was later cross-matched with photographic evidence published by the Zoo Outreach Organisation and Wildlife Information Liaison Development Society.
Aug 29, 2019
Cabinet Approves Establishment Of International Coalition For Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar announced that the Cabinet has approved establishment of an International Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch CDRI during UN Climate Summit in New York on September 23, 2019.
Organized by the UN Secretary General, this event will bring together the largest number of Heads of States to generate commitments for combating the effects of climate change and resulting disasters, and will provide the high-level visibility required for the CDRI.
The government has given in-principle approval to provide Rs 480 crore (approx USD 70 million) to CDRI for corpus required to fund technical assistance and research projects on an on-going basis, setting up the Secretariat office and covering recurring expenditures over a period of 5 years from 2019-20 to 2023-24.
Aug 28, 2019
Chhattisgarh Goverment To Carry Out Land Survey Of Abujmad Forest
The Chhattisgarh government has decided to carry out land survey of villages of Abujmad jungles to provide land entitlement to tribals in Narayanpur district.
Abujhmad, straddled between Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, is known as 'unknown hill' as the 6,000 sq km of thick forest has not been surveyed since the British era. Narayanpur district administration tried to conduct a survey in 2017 but the plan was aborted after improvised explosive device (IED) blasts.
The jungle is epicentre of Maoist activities and about a dozen of central committee members of CPI (Maoist) are still camping there.
A meeting of the Chhattisgarh cabinet was held in which the decision in this regard was taken.
The survey will benefit a population of at least 50,000, mainly tribals, residing in around 230 villages of Abujhmad to get patta (title deed) for the land they were possessing.
Aug 27, 2019
WII App To Keep Tab On Aquatic Life In Ganga
Following the success of M-stripes, an app used to count tigers in the country, Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) launched Ganga Data Collector App in collaboration with National Mission for Clean Ganga, ministry of Jal Shakti and Ganga Aqualife Conservation Monitoring Centre, to keep a tab on the aquatic population in the river.
With the help of the android based application, scientists will be able to record real-time data of aquatic life in Ganga.
G7 Nations Pledge Millions To Help Fight Amazon FiresÂ
The G7 has agreed to spend $22 million on the Amazon, mainly to send fire-fighting aircraft to tackle the huge blazes engulfing many parts of the world's biggest rainforest.
The Group of Seven club - comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US - has also agreed to support a medium-term reforestation plan which will be unveiled at the United Nations in September, France's Emmanuel Macron and Chile's Sebastian Pinera said at the G7 summit in the southwestern resort town of Biarritz in France.
Brazil would have to agree to any reforestation plan, as would indigenous communities living in the Amazon.
The initiative was announced after G7 leaders meeting in the resort of Biarritz held talks on the environment, focusing on the record number of fires destroying chunks of the Amazon.
The French president had declared the situation in the Amazon region an "international crisis". He has threatened to block a huge new trade deal between the EU and Latin America unless Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Only half of fragile Western Ghats in protection plan
Four of the six Western Ghats states, including Maharashtra and Goa, have agreed to declare only 31,387 sq km of the recommended 60,000 sq km — about half of what K Kasturirangan Committee had recommended — as ecologically-sensitive areas (ESA) where mining, quarrying, and polluting industries will be banned.
The Madhav Gadgil Committee had in 2010 recommended that 75% of the Western Ghats of 129,037 sq km of Western Ghats be declared ESA because of its dense, rich forest cover and large number of endemic species.
Later, a panel headed by Kasturirangan, former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief, had scaled it down to 50% of total areas — about 60,000 sq km — which may be declared as ESA.
Kerala has proposed to declare 8,656.46 sq km as ESA against the recommendation of 13,108.7 sq km with 123 villages in ESA.
Leonardo Dicaprio's Earth Alliance Fund To Donate USD 5 Million In Aid Amid Amazon Fires
Leonardo DiCaprio's new environmental organisation Earth Alliance, has pledged USD five million to help preserve the Amazon rainforest amid raging fires.
The Hollywood star has created the organisation with friends, Laurene Powell Jobs and Brian Sheth.
According to Earth Alliance's website, the funds will be donated to five local organisations: Instituto Associacao Floresta Protegida (Kayapo), Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), Instituto Kabu (Kayapo), Instituto Raoni (Kayapo) and Instituto Socioambiental (ISA).
Aug 24, 2019
Discovery, WWF Tie Up To Preserve Sundarbans
To help save the world's only mangrove tiger habitat, Discovery India and WWF India have partnered with the Forest Directorate, the government of West Bengal and local communities in the Sundarbans.
With a vision to create climate-smart villages in the Sundarbans, WWF India and Discovery India are working with government agencies, civil society partners and scientific institutions to build the capacity of village panchayats and local communities to incorporate climate resilience into development planning, thereby helping secure livelihoods, biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The project will use technology to solve several of the issues faced in the region. This includes building datasets on impacts of climate change on the estuarine ecosystem.
Through this project, in partnership with the West Bengal Forest Directorate and IISER Kolkata, two Sundarbans Ecological Observatories will be set up, each featuring data loggers, monitoring buoys and an onsite laboratory.
Facing Pressure, Bolsonaro May Send Army To Curb Amazon Wildfires
Amid growing global condemnation, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro mobilise the army to help combat a record number of fires sweeping through the Amazon rainforest.
G7 leaders plan to hammer out "concrete measures" in response to the wildfires, putting them on a collision course with Brazil's leader. French President Emmanuel Macron accused his Brazilian counterpart of lying on pledges to help fight global warming.
France said it will oppose a trade deal between the EU and the Mercosur nations.
Macron had already drawn Bolsonaro's ire by saying the Amazon fires would be a priority on the G7 agenda.
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