People have to be placed at the centre if conservation has to make sense universally. What makes things even worse, is that these so-called protected zones allow commercial activities to go almost unchecked- Ravleen Kaur The earth is cracked and the horizon bare.The deathly silence is broken by the occasional whirring of crude-oil pumps.Women, going about their daily life in bright mirror-work lehangas, add a dash of colour to an otherwise arid background. This tough terrain has dominated 50-year-old Shantabhai Maganbhai Bamania's life since he was 10.

A press release stated that the rapid encroachment of forest land in the Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary which is going on unchallenged by the local authorities is threatening to lay bare the wooded hills. This fact came to light when a team consisting of two members from Early Birds, an NGO, made a visit to the Khanapara Reserved Forest in the southern fringe of the city.

Decks have been cleared for the rationalisation of sanctuaries with the National Wildlife Board clearing the state's proposal for redrawing the boundaries of the existing protected wildlife areas to exclude inhabited areas and cultivated fields.

Hardly a month is left for the arrival of thousands of birds from Siberia and other parts of the world to Uppalapadu bird sanctuary in Guntur district but the renovation and repair works at the sanctuary are going at a snail's pace. Funds crunch is one of the main reasons for the poor condition of the bird sanctuary which is the second in importance in south coastal districts. About 10,000 birds from various countries take refuge at the sanctuary every year. The birds will start arriving in June and will stay there till March next.

Southern Special Unit Excise sleuths busted six large scale moonshine producing plants, hidden in several islands in the Madu river in the Balapitiya area, which has been declared as a sanctuary due to its unique bio-diversity features. The Madu river which consists of 64 islands is also considered as a Ramsar wetland and has the reputation of being the breeding ground for many endangered species of plants and animals.

In a recent census on tiger population carried out in Papikondalu wildlife sanctuary, forest wildlife management authorities identified the presence of five tigers, including four adults and a cub and 15 leopards. With the exception of the addition of a newly born cub to the existing tiger population, forest authorities did not confirm whether the number of tigers has gone up or dwindled in the sanctuary. However, they confirm that there were no reports of poaching of tigers in the sanctuary limits.

Volunteers clean up the plastic mess left behind by unthinking tourists and visitors. The plastic is used by KK Plastic when laying roads with plastic in the bitumen mixture.

the supreme court on March 28 said it would examine the constitutional validity of the Forests Rights Act which provides right to land to scheduled tribes and traditional forest dwellers. The court

The habitat loss, increasing air pollution, changes in the microclimatic conditions and uncontrolled harvest have become the major detrimental factors for lichen diversity in India. Propagation of lichens by means of tissue culture method proved to be uneconomical and their re-introduction into the field has been unsuccessful. Hence declaring lichen-rich areas as

The environment department has directed all hotels, resorts and even tents for tourists within a kilometre of forest areas to take the state pollution control board's permission to continue operations. The directive follows a string of complaints of violation of environment norms against hotels and resorts

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