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2 days ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nikhil M Ghanekar
For the first time, a detailed assessment of the status of ungulates (hoofed mammals), including deer, pigs, antelopes, and bison, has estimated their abundance across India. It has revealed a decline in their populations in several states and highlighted conservation challenges, such as habitat loss and deforestation. The findings are crucial for the conservation of India’s tigers and forests, as ungulates form the core prey base of the striped cat and other large predators.
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3 days ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nikhil M Ghanekar
Even as India celebrates a rise in its tiger population, a new national assessment has flagged an emerging conservation challenge: some of the prey species that sustain these big cats — chital (spotted deer), sambar (large deer), and the vulnerable gaur (Indian bison) — are declining across key tiger landscapes in east-central India, particularly in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nikhil M Ghanekar
Disposing of a suo motu case regarding the construction of an Assam commando battalion camp on reserve forest land in Hailakandi district, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has said in its order that further deliberation is not required without any challenge to the Centre’s post facto forest approval to the camp.
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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nikhil M Ghanekar
In early April, the expert panel had deferred a decision on the proposal and had directed the Kerala Government to submit studies on the geology, landslides, and water drainage in the project area. During a meeting on May 14, the panel appraised these studies and recommended conditional clearance for the project. Key among the conditions was to follow the recommendations of the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) to mitigate the impacts of tunnelling and blasting.
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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nikhil M Ghanekar
The study comes just a day after a huge portion of a glacier in the Swiss village of Blatten, in the Alps, collapsed into the valley, burying most of a mountain village in the foothills. The projected figures in the study were for global scenarios, and skewed by the very large glaciers around Antarctica and Greenland.
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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nikhil M Ghanekar
How can an oil spill affect the ecosystem? Oil spills can severely damage the marine ecosystem as they can result in the death of fish and other organisms, and destroy mangroves and coral reefs. If an oil spill takes place near the coast, it can affect the livelihood of fishermen and disrupt the local economy. Such spills are dangerous because oil is lighter than water and it keeps floating on the surface of the sea, forming a thin layer called slick.
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2 weeks ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nikhil M Ghanekar
The CPCB’s status report was filed as part of an ongoing suo motu matter in which the tribunal is considering the issue of filling up vacant posts in state pollution control boards (SPCB), pollution control committees (PCC), and the CPCB, and creating adequate infrastructure. Except Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, the remaining 26 SPCBs face recruitment delays and stretched timelines that extend far beyond the NGT’s April 30 deadline.
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2 weeks ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nikhil M Ghanekar
The forest clearance for the proposed plant comes amid the Maharashtra government’s push to expand mining and industrial activity in the district affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE). Last month, the Maharashtra cabinet approved the establishment of a Gadchiroli District Mining Authority, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, for the management of major and minor minerals. The district holds deposits of iron ore, limestone and diamonds.
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2 weeks ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nikhil M Ghanekar
The Supreme Court on Friday (May 16) struck down and held illegal a 2017 notification of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), which introduced a regime of granting projects clearances ex-post facto – after work had already begun. The judgment followed a clutch of petitions challenging the notification. Additionally, the SC judgment set aside a 2021 office memorandum, which introduced a standard operating procedure for streamlining the grant of post facto clearances.
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3 weeks ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nikhil M Ghanekar
The project will require 167.85 hectares of land, of which 56.35 hectares is forest land, while 111.50 hectares is non-forest land, and it is located within a 1 km distance from Mukurthi National Park. The national park is known for the flagship Nilgiri Tahr, an endangered species endemic to this part of the Western Ghats.
