The Nilgiri North Forest Division is located at the centre of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, with Mudumalai Tiger Reserve on the western side and Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary on the eastern side. The Segur plateau and adjoining Moyar valley, which extend over an area of 500 sq. km with open scrub forest, provide an ideal breeding ground for four species of vultures, viz. Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), Redheaded Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus), White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis) and Long-billed Vulture (Gyps indicus). (Correspondence)

Initiatives and innovations promoted by Keystone Foundation have helped promote bee keeping amongst farmers and tribal communities around the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The impacts are visible in terms of better yields in coffee, mango and vegetable crops.

Environment ministry has given the green signal to a dam in Uttarakhand, throwing all caution to the wind. It will damage the ecosystem, force people to migrate and obstruct the movement of the snow leopard.

Environment ministry clears hydro project rejected twice by its advisory committee. The union environment ministry has given in-principle clearance to a proposed hydro-project on the Alaknanda river, a tributary of the Ganga, in Uttarakhand. The 300 MW project had been rejected twice by the statutory body which recommends forest clearances, the forest advisory committee (FAC). FAC says the project lies in the buffer zone of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR), a home to many endangered species.