International Day for Biological Diversity is being observed on Thursday to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity at a time when over 60 per cent of ecosystem services were being degraded as a result of human activity. One of the most important challenges facing mankind today is to feed a growing population in an increasingly urbanised world confronted with the combined impacts of climate change and the unprecedented loss of biodiversity.

AS THE green building movement in India gathers steam with growing numbers of real-estate developers adopting eco-friendly construction methods, it is trying to overcome a huge shortage in green-friendly industry professionals.

This is a fascinating story of intellectual property rights (IPR) involving one of the greatest national parks in the world, a tiny bacterium found in its fetid bubbling springs and the millions of dollars it has helped to generate for a pharmaceutical giant in another continent.

An awareness programme was held under the aegis of the Howraghat Science Club in collaboration with Assam Science Society at Howraghat Town Girls High School yesterday with a view to bring awareness on the conservation of biodiversity. Sources said that students and teachers from different educational institutions like

Lack of proper guidelines has led to unplanned construction of structures in tourist sites and thoughtless commercial tourism, causing massive damages to ecosystem and natural habitat of wildlife and marine life in forests, sea and plain as well as on hills, conservationists warn. Tourism business has proliferated in recent years taking a growing number of travellers from home and abroad to major tourist attractions and exploring new spots, but operators care little about protecting the ecosystem of particular sites, they point out.

Ecosystems of the Iwokrama rainforest reserve in Guyana have been sold off. A uk -based private equity firm, Canopy Capital, has purchased the rights to environmental services generated by the

Honjo: Thinking of throwing out your old cell phone? Think again. Maybe you should mine it first for gold, silver, copper and a host of other metals embedded in the electronics