The Odisha government has decided to take up plantation in 2 lakh hectares of land in the state in the 2012-13 fiscal with an allocation of Rs 183 crore.

Reliance Infrastructure has given an assurance to the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) that low hanging power lines that had resulted in the electrocution of 99 elephants in Orissa will b

Shillong: Despite the French cement giant Lafarge Umiam Mining Private Limited (LUMPL) depositing a total amount of Rs 3 crore towards the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), the State Government is yet to carry out the plantation drive of about 4 lakh saplings in 470 hectares of land in the State.

“Under compensatory afforestation, about 4 lakh trees would be planted in an area of 470 hectares in the State,” LUMPL Board of Directors chairman Shivesh Sinha said during an informal interaction with media persons here on Thursday.

The Uttarakhand Forest and Rural Development Commissioner has directed the Compensatory Afforestation Management & Planning Authority (CAMPA), Uttarakhand chief executive officer to facilitate

In a move to take steps towards conservation of environment, Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd has decided to chop only those forests which are required to construct reservoirs or power stations.

The government does. It says area under forests has been increasing for the last 13 years.

The Minister for Forest and Environment Mian Altaf today said that forest smuggling in the State has been curbed to a great extent by strict implementation of relevant laws including PSA.

Replying to the debate on demands for grants for the forest and allied departments in Legislative Assembly today Mian Altaf said forest smuggling dens in Shopian and Rafiabad area have been cleared from the timber smugglers, adding that concerned forest officers and field agencies deserve appreciation for this great achievement.

Consider this: The government’s revenue mop-up stood at Rs 5.2 lakh crore for the first nine months of 2011-12. The target for the entire fiscal was Rs 8.4 lakh crore.

Researchers claim India is losing its forests more rapidly than Brazil and Malaysia. They question the findings of the latest State of the Forest Report 2011 which highlights that forest cover has increased by nearly five per cent between 1997 and 2007 and is presently covering nearly 24 per cent of India’s geographical area.

Researchers, including Jean-Philippe Puyravaud and Priya Davidar of Pondicherry University and William Lawrence of James Cook University assert that what the Forest Survey of India describe as forests, often consists of tree cover and poplar eucalyptus plantations.

Environmentalists press for clearer picture of fund disbursals as forest cover shrinks

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) may soon audit the fund deposited for compensatory afforestation, which has a corpus of about Rs 25,000 crore. Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan said the CAG could audit the fund if it wanted to do so. “I have written to him (CAG Vinod Rai) in response to his letter, where he said CAG could audit the fund if the government shifts the money being kept in various nationalised banks to the Public Accounts of India,” she said