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The Pai Forest is facing a drought-like situation due to acute shortage of water and its wildlife is in danger due to vanishing flora and fauna and excessive hunting in the area.

The WWF Programme Coordinator, Nasir Panhwar, has said this while briefing a team of journalists from different parts of Sindh at the Pai Forest lodge, some 10km away from the National Highway near Sakrand.

The habitats of wild bird species are shifting in response to global warming, but not fast enough to keep pace with rising temperatures, according to a study. Researchers in France also found that the delicate balance of wildlife in different ecosystems is changing up to eight times more quickly than previously suspected, with potentially severe consequences for some species. "The flora and fauna around us are shifting over time due to climate change,' said lead author Victor Devictor, a researcher at the French National Museum of Natural History.

P. Venugopal

Scientist S.D. Biju, the winner of this year's Sabin Award for Amphibian Conservation.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: S.D. Biju has won the Sabin Award for Amphibian Conservation, instituted by the Amphibian Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Dr. Biju, who now leads a research group at the University of Delhi as an Associate Professor, gets it for his contributions to amphibian conservation and research in the Western Ghats over the last 15 years, University of Delhi said in a press release. The award includes $25,000.

The Western Ghats are well known for their rich and unique assemblage of flora and fauna. Efforts are on to get this bio-diversity hotspot declared a World Heritage site by the UNESCO. Radhakrishna Rao reports.

The Forest Department of BTC has undertaken initiatives for conservation of forest resources in the BTC region by holding several awareness campaigns, seminars, workshops and motivation programmes. The department has engaged a good number of volunteers and NGOs to protect the forests wealth. The Primate Research Centre, NE India, in active collaboration with BTC forest department organized a six-day-long workshop recently at Inspection Bunglow Kachugaon to train up the forest protection volunteers regarding the conservation and safeguarding of flora and fauna of the area.