Solar fences will henceforth secure human settlements and farmlands in the three forest divisions of Wayanad from wild animal raids that have lead to several man-animal conflicts in recent years.

Solar fences will be installed along a length of 300 km in the forest divisions of Wayanad North and South and the wildlife division, says K.J. Varghese, Managing Director, Kerala Forest Development Corporation (KFDC).

The Kerala Water Resources Department will review the safety aspects of all dams under it.

A conference convened by Minister for Water Resources P. J. Joseph took the decision in view of the overtopping of the Pazhassi Dam early this week. It decided to replace all the shutters of the dam urgently and entrust the work to public sector undertaking Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Company. Rs. 7 crore had been sanctioned for the work.

A satyagraha organised by various environmentalists and social organisations in front of the District Collectorate demanding steps to protect the ecologically fragile Nelliampathy forests was inaugurated by S. Shankar, senior scientist of the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), on Wednesday.

The organisations demanded that the government take over all lease-expired forest land in Nelliampathy and order a high-level police inquiry into cases relating to the pledging of the forest land in banks to take huge amounts of loan.

Area adjacent to Muthikulam and Siruvani forests

The Tribunal for Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands)- First Additional District Court has declared as evergreen forest 37.32 hectares of land claimed by a private party as cultivated area at Anakaranam Malavaram of Palakkayam village in the Mannarkad Forest Division . The scheduled property in survey number 2020\3 of Palakkayam village was notified as ecologically fragile land under the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Act, 2003 which came into effect on June 2, 2000

Environmental organisations have come out against the reported move to revive a proposal to set up a mineral water-bottling plant in the buffer zone of the Silent Valley National Park.

When the proposal was made two years ago, the State government and the district administration had objected to it, with the District Collector submitting a report that the plant, planned on the banks of the Karuvarathode, a tributary of the Bhavani, near Mukkali, would affect the water table and cause serious ecological imbalance.

Melanism can be seen more in the evergreen habitat of the Western Ghats where the interiors of the forests are dark

Melanism found in some animals at the Parambikulam forests in Palakkad district of Kerala has caught the imagination of wildlife enthusiasts. Recently, managers of the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve obtained photographic evidence of a pseudo-melanistic leopard. Earlier, a melanistic spotted deer was photographed. Though no photographic evidence has been obtained, black panthers too are said to have been spotted.

Forest officials warn State of an environmental catastrophe in Nelliampathy

The Forest Department has warned the State government of an environmental catastrophe in Nelliampathy, leading to disasters such as landslips, from destruction of forests by people and ecological factors. Giving the warning, a report, titled “Environmental catastrophes await Nelliampathy,” sent to the State government by the Additional Chief Conservator of Forest, Kozhikode, on June 25, 2011, said: “Last year, the Nelliampathy Hills suffered more than 10 landslips over a stretch of 1,000 metres. During 2007, there were more than three landslips over a stretch of 500 metres,

Local resistance against converting agriculture land as small plots for real estate business has started yielding results in some parts of the district of late.

In many places, local environmental groups and farm workers have come forward to resist the conversion of paddy fields and other agricultural land. The Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union (KSKTU) took up the issue of farm-land conversion with District Collector P.M. Ali Asgar Pasha on July 2, 2012 and actions were initiated against conversion of farm land in many parts of the district.

The environmental and social organizations here have come out strongly against alleged attempts by some top functionaries of the Government in sabotaging the take over of lease expired and violated forest land in Nelliampathy Hills.

In a joint statement in Palakkad on Tuesday they have said that “there was a consensus by both the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) and Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) that all lease expired and lease violated forest land in Nelliampathy will be taken over by the Government.”

The UNICEF in association with the Amala Institute of Medical Science will implement a model community action programme at Adattu panchayat in the district to improve child health. Millions of children die from preventable causes before reaching their fifth birthday, many of them during the first year of life, according to health statistics. It is estimated that seven out of 10 childhood deaths are from just five causes - pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles, malaria and malnutrition. This is when the capacity to prevent and treat these diseases exists.