Century-old teak plantation business loses ground in India because of poor management and short-sighted policies.

The city's fall from grace has been dramatic. Experts point to the decade immediately after the economic liberalisation, especially between 1997 and 2001, when the city lost up to 99 per cent of its green cover in some parts. The built-up area in the city nearly doubled in that short period, show remote sensing satellite images.

Community participation emerged as the defining principle of forest policies all over the world in the closing decades of the last century. In India, this came about after the Indian forest policies went through different stages from largely commercial-centric to a community-oriented approach.

P L Gautam, National Biodiversity Authority chairman, tells Kirtika Suneja about the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources. Edited excerpts:

What are the major components of biodiversity?

Democratising joint forest management

National Forest Policy analysis 1988.

The Forests Rights Act 2006 is a result of long sustained peoples

Environmentalists fear Scheduled Tribe Bill will put India's forest cover at stake.

The new policy initiatives of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests aim at improving the forest cover in such a way as to benefit all the stakeholders - the forest departments, local commun

After completing two years as the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh Mukut Mithi is proud to relate his government s achievements while acknowledging the enormous task ahead. In an interview, he speaks to

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