Land Use

Tens of millions of people in south and southeast Asia routinely consume ground water that has unsafe arsenic levels. Using hydrologic and (bio)geochemical measurements, the researchers show that on the minimally disturbed Mekong delta of Cambodia, arsenic is released from near-surface, river-derived sediments and transported, on a centennial timescale, through the underlying aquifer back to the river.

Publication Date:

24/07/2008

Author(s): Matthew L. Polizzotto, Benjamin D. Kocar, Shawn G. Benner & et al

Source: Nature

Vol:

454

Issue:

7203

pp:

505

Tags:

Land Use, Rivers, Groundwater, Wells, Arsenic, Health Effects, Dams, Irrigation, Sedimentation, Groundwater Quality, Hydrology, Asia, Cambodia

Agriculture

1,000 hectares to be brought under cultivation

PATHANAMTHITTA: Agriculture Minister Mullakara Ratnakaran said on Saturday that around 1,000 hectares of unused paddy fields would be brought under cultivation soon.

Presiding over a high-level meeting on the intensive paddy cultivation programme convened at the collectorate conference hall here, Mullakara said that 2,891 hectares of paddy fields remained unused in the district.

Publication Date:

21/07/2008

Source: New Indian Express (Kochi)

Tags:

Land Use, Agriculture, Rice, Kerala, Pathanamthitta (D)

Land

Land acquisitions for SEZs get stuck in EGoM directive

Rituparna Bhuyan / New Delhi July 21, 2008, 0:23 IST

Land acquisition for special economic zones (SEZs) is stuck because of a year-old directive by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) that bars state governments from carrying out compulsory acquisition of land for the zones.

The EGoM in April 2007 had said that state governments cannot acquire land for SEZs, in the backdrop of protests in places like Nandigram in West Bengal, and Maharashtra.

Publication Date:

21/07/2008

Source: Business Standard (New Delhi)

Tags:

Land Use, Land Acquisition, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), Haryana, Maharashtra, West Bengal

Forests

Fresh agitation over land row in Jammu

BY YUSUF JAMEEL Srinagar,July 16: A shutdown was observed in Jammu and some other towns in the region on Wednesday as part of a renewed agitation seeking restoration of about 40 hectares of forestland in Singh range near here to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB). During the strike, slogan-chanting crowds held protest demonstrations along the streets of the winter capital and elsewhere.

Publication Date:

17/07/2008

Source: Asian Age (New Delhi)

Tags:

Forests, Land Use, Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar (D)

Climate Change

Biofuels: Effects on land and fire

In their reports in the 29 February issue ("Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt," J. Fargione et al., p. 1235, and "Use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change," T. Searchinger et al., p. 1238), the authors do not provide adequate support for their claim that biofuels cause high emissions due to land-use change. The conclusions of both papers depend on the misleading premise that biofuel production causes forests and grasslands to be converted to agriculture. (Letters)

Publication Date:

11/07/2008

Author(s): Keith L. Kline, Virginia H. Dale

Source: Science

Vol:

321

Issue:

5886

pp:

199

Tags:

Land Use, Deforestation, Climate Change, Biofuel, Brazil

Land

The enemy within

Finally, it was left to the villagers of Sancoale, Verna and Keri to approach the Goa Bench of the Mumbai High Court through three separate writ petitions that challenge the allotment of land to the developers of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which were supposed to come up in Goa. The petitions say that the SEZs were allotted land by the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) in gross violation of the law.

Publication Date:

11/07/2008

Source: Herald (Panjim)

Tags:

Land Use, Land Acquisition, Economic Development, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), High Court, Goa

Solid Waste

'Land acquisition soon'

Kolar, DHNS: Revenue Department will soon set in motion the process to acquire 650 acres of land required for implementation of Yaragol project. A sum of Rs 13 crore will be released to the Department within a week in this behalf.

Publication Date:

11/07/2008

Source: Deccan Herald (Bangalore)

Tags:

Land Use, Land Acquisition, Solid Waste, Waste Management, Composting, Karnataka, Kolar

Land

Planning Commission favours imposition of direct tax on SEZs

BS Reporter / New Delhi July 10, 2008, 0:54 IST Though the Planning Commission favours imposition of a direct tax on Special Economic Zones (SEZs), it does not agree with the contention that these tax-free industrial enclaves are leading to revenue loss.

Publication Date:

10/07/2008

Source: Business Standard (New Delhi)

Tags:

Land Use, Land Acquisition, Industrial Estates, Special Economic Zones (SEZ)