Most protected areas in the world are inhabited by people. Mexico is at the forefront of countries where local communities have direct ownership rights of their forests, with an estimated 56-80% of national forests directly owned by communities, within which extraction activities are regulated by Mexican environmental law.

Various schedules of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (henceforth WPA), dictate the level of legal protection given to species of Indian animals.

In impoverished Yunnan Province in southwestern China, a confrontation is brewing between economic growth and habitat preservation-and authorities are sending mixed signals about their intentions.

The Tibet

Technology to collect, store, organise and analyse information is key to protecting India's biodiversity, according to the scientists and educationists who addressed a workshop on "Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Marine Biodiversity' at Loyola College here on Tuesday. "Marine biodiversity informatics can play a vital role in developing databases and designing computer software to manage and organise marine biodiversity data and information,' said National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) Chairman S. Kannaiyan. He rued the lack of a data management culture among most marine biologists, which resulted in data being lost and scattered among various scientists and institutions, and in various forms

Common lands are an invisible resource from the point of view of revenue classification. The Rajasthan Land Revenue and Panchayati Raj Acts make no mention of issues related to common lands. However, from one perspective it can be claimed that the state has almost half of its total geographical area being put to community use, notwithstanding its specific legal and revenue status.

An innovative attempt to create a standard for certifying forestbased medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) by adapting global norms for national-level implementation.

The Apatani tribe lives in the Apatani valley in the lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh. The Apatanis are well known for their traditional rice and fish cultivation, their rich agro-biodiversity and the associated traditional knowledge that supports this agro-ecosystem.

The Monpa tribals live in the Pangchen Valley of Arunachal Pradesh. Protection of forests and wildlife has traditionally been an integral part of the Monpa tribal culture. Recognising the value of local participation in conservation, the State government and the forest department have joined hands with WWF India in Arunachal Pradesh to give the co-operation a formal shape.

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