Great Barrier Reef Might Lose Ability to Recover from Warming
Australia's Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half its coral in the last three decades and scientists fear the loss caused by frequent bleaching will compromise its ability to recover.
Record-breaking temperatures that triggered bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 have meant fewer small, baby corals and breeding adult ones.
That means the resilience of the reef, its ability to bounce back from recurrent mass bleaching events, has been compromised.
Oct 14, 2020
Pernod Ricard India Foundation and WWF India Aim to Conserve Asian Elephant
Pernod Ricard India Foundation and WWF India aim to conserve the Asian elephant through effective human-elephant conflict management in Assam.
The project will work across 150 villages in Kamrup, Sonitpur, Biswanath, and Nagaon districts and train community members on effective situation management by developing a toolkit and forming anti-depredation squads, which would help them protect their property, crops, and lives.
The project will build on WWF India's experience on human-elephant conflict management in Assam, developed over the last two decades.
Oct 13, 2020
Exotic Dragon Fruit Gets Added to Anantapur Basket
The first-ever commercial crop of the exotic dragon fruit is being harvested at the farm of Gutty Narayana Reddy, a progressive farmer from Kuragani Palli in Narpala mandal of Anantapur district.
This will be yet another prestigious addition to the fruit bowl of Andhra Pradesh with the best quality of bananas, sweet lime, papaya, mangoes, pomegranates, grapes, watermelon, musk melon and fig (anjeer), already getting exported from the district.
Oct 12, 2020
Eight Indian Beaches Get 'Blue Flag' Certification
India received the prestigious 'Blue Flag' certification for all its eight beaches that it recommended.
As per Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, the certification is a global recognition of India's conservation and sustainable development efforts.
The Blue Flag certification is a globally recognised eco-label accorded by "Foundation for Environment Education, Denmark" based on 33 stringent criteria under four major heads -- environmental education and information, bathing water quality, environment management and conservation, and safety and services at the beaches.
Blue Flag certification was awarded to eight beaches spread across five states and two union territories by an international jury comprising of eminent members of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Denmark-based NGO Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The beaches which have been awarded the certification are Shivrajpur in Gujarat, Ghoghla in Diu, Kasarkod and Padubidri in Karnataka, Kappad in Kerala, Rushikonda in Andhra Pradesh, Golden in Odisha and Radhanagar in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Oct 11, 2020
Successful Trial Runs of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Prototype Car
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and KPIT Technologies successfully ran trials of India's first Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC) prototype car running on an indigenously developed fuel cell stack.
The HFC technology uses chemical reactions between hydrogen and oxygen (from air) to generate electrical energy, eliminating the use of fossil fuels.
Further, the fuel cell technology emits only water, thus cutting down the emission of harmful greenhouse gases along with other air pollutants.
The fuel cell is a low-temperature PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) type that operates at 65-75 degrees Celsius, which is suitable for vehicular applications.