G Babu Jayakumar | ENS
    
Public hearings are meant to elicit people's views on upcoming projects, though authorities are not obliged to act on them.

The immediate past century saw an unprecedented advancement in science and technology and an acceleration of economic well being. At the same time it also experienced an ever more polluted world, specially an ever-increasing environmental pollution which has emerged as a major global concern for the very survival of human beings as well as all other life forms and the balance of ecosystem.

The grassy sweep of the Lamar Valley in the northeastern corner of this park is famous for its wildlife, especially its vast herds of elk and bison and the wolves that hunt them.

The National Wildlife Action Plan was adopted in 2004. It entailed identifying ecologically fragile areas and wildlife corridors within 10 km of protected areas, and getting states to notify them as eco-fragile zones under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. But there was no progress in some states.

Tata Chemicals is getting considerable stick from conservation groups and environmentalists in Africa over its plan to set up a soda ash facility jointly with the Tanzanian government. It is being

the Kerala State Electricity Board is hopeful that the Athirapally Hydro Electric Project in the state's Trissur district will be revived. The Union ministry of Environment and Forests on July 19