A new system of surveying, using Global Positioning System (GPS) and Electronic Total Stations, is in progress in districts including Chennai, Coimbatore, Tirupur and The Nilgiris, according to Revenue Minister Thoppu N.D. Venkatachalam.

Addressing a conference of State Revenue Ministers in New Delhi on Thursday, Mr. Venkatachalam [the text of whose speech was released in Chennai] said that on a pilot basis one village was chosen and, using the experience gained, the system — Modern Surveying — extended.

Arulagam, an NGO involved in the conservation of nature and wildlife, is planning a workshop and human chain in Udhagamandalam next week in a bid to generate awareness of the need to conserve the Indian Vulture (Gyps Indicus) population, on the verge of becoming extinct.

S. Bharathidasan, secretary of Arulagam told The Hindu that the event will be organised to mark the just- concluded World Vulture Day celebrations. Arulagam had already organised awareness programmes at Masinagudi in the Nilgiris, where a considerable number of vultures continue to exist in the Moyar Valley that extends to Thengumarahada in Sathyamangalam of Erode district. Subsequently, a similar programme was held to put an end to the use of Diclofenac at Vayyampalayam in Coimbatore, which has a sizeable cattle population.

Certain section of population seeks relaxation of ban on tourism; specialists are against any dilution of the scheme

The government’s latest notifications on the demarcation of core and buffer zones of three tiger reserves in the State may still require a fine-tuning to strike a balance among ecology protection, tribal welfare and tourism promotion, feel conservationists and wildlife experts. As the demand for relaxation of the ban on tourism becomes shriller from certain section of the local population in the reserve areas, the specialists are against any dilution of the scheme spelt out in the notifications.

Invasive species, pollution levels in Moyar need to be monitored

Even as biodiversity decline is reported in the national parks worldwide, Mudumalai and Anamalai tiger reserves in Tamil Nadu have shown positive trends in sustaining its rich variety of flora and fauna. The positive trend was the outcome of a study taken up in 60 reserves from various parts of the world by a team of biodiversity researchers numbering more than 200.

Supreme Court’s interim order banning tourism in core tiger areas raises debate whether there are any guidelines for it and how harmful it can be to the wildlife and its habitat in protected areas.

What exactly constitutes ecotourism is the question thrown up by the Supreme Court’s interim order banning tourism in core tiger areas. Critical to the debate is whether there are any guidelines for it and how harmful it can be to the wildlife and its habitat in protected areas.

With 80 big cats, the sanctuary has the largest number of tigers in South India after Bandipur

The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, known as the habitat of the Asiatic elephant, has become a safe haven for tigers. A recently concluded tiger monitoring conducted by the Forest Department and the WWF-India in the sanctuary has revealed that it may house the largest population of tigers in South India, after Karnataka's Bandipur Tiger Reserve, a sanctuary adjacent to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.

There is a pertinent need to protect the birds of the Nilgiris by installing nest boxes, feeding and providing them with water, said P.J. Vasanthan, Deputy Director of Medical Services of The Nilgiris. He was speaking on the subject ‘Birds of Nilgiris' at the Enviro Meet organised by Osai.

Mr. Vasanthan said that the total species of the Nilgiris are 279 of 62 families. Of these 279 bird species, 52 are migrants, nine are local migrants, 18 are endemic to Western Ghats, eight are nearly threatened species, five are vulnerable species, three are endangered species and three critically endangered species.

Transact method being adopted

The District Forest Officer, the Nilgiris North, S.Ramasubramanian said here on Tuesday that a wild animal census in the North division would be conducted on May 2 and 3.

About 70 volunteers including students of the Government Arts College and forest staff would participate in the census operations to be conducted by the department in association with the Nilgiris Wildlife and Environment Association.