The Ministry of Environment & Forests has said the National Green Tribunal cannot settle the issue or any application on climate change as it is a subject of international conventions and proto

Karnataka HC dismisses petitions filed by UAS-D Vice-Chancellor and Registrar.

First State to form BMCs

The government has formally declared the constitution of Biodiversity Management Committees in all the 978 grama panchayats, 60 municipalities, and the five Corporations in Kerala, signalling the shift to a broad-based system for the conservation of biological resources.

Addressing the media after a Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said Kerala had become the first State to have completed the formation of BMCs in all local-self government institutions

Institutionalised mechanism forbenefit sharing mooted

As India gets ready to ratify the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) arising from utilisation of genetic resources, scientists and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) experts point to the dangers of opening up the country’s rich biodiversity for exploitation by foreign powers without a domestic regulatory framework in place. The first meeting of the signatories to the protocol is being held in connection with the 11{+t}{+h}Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity which began in Hyderabad on Monday.

Eminent agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan has called for setting up an Indian trade organisation as a national counterpart of the WTO. Addressing an "International Conference on Natural Rubber Extension and Development,' organised by the Rubber Board, he said there was need to segregate the support extended to farmers for their livelihood and the support for commodities that could be considered trade distorting in the global market. Agriculture exports accounted for only 6.2 per cent of the total agriculture production.