Jamshedpur, Nov. 18: Dhalbhum divisional forest officer A.T. Mishra has been selected for the prestigious Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra (IPVM) award, the highest honour in the field of environment in India, for 2010.

Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh will present the award to Mishra, a 1994 batch IFS (Indian Forest Service) officer, in New Delhi tomorrow.

A forest ecosystem was developed on barren sodic land at Banthra Research Station of National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, during 1960s. About 74 species belonging to 34 families were recorded in this new forest, which was characterized as mixed dry sub-tropical forest with deciduous and evergreen species.

India has about 55.27 million hectares (m ha) of wasteland. These are not suitable for any purpose and are exposed to the vagaries of nature like weathering, gully erosion, etc. The Department of Land Resources of the Ministry of Rural Development has been implementing three area development programmes since 1995, viz.

In India, seabuckthorn is widely distributed at high altitude, cold arid Trans Himalayan regions of Ladakh, Lahul-Spiti, parts of Chamba and upper Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. It plays an important role in soil erosion control, slope stabilization, reclamation of degraded and wastelands.

Farmer Ramanaika of Aladahalli in Birur hobli and his family have converted their four acre wasteland into greenland.

Prosopis juliflora, a native of South to Central America, was introduced in India (Rajasthan) to combat desertification of Thar during early 20th century. Presently, this species is a most vigorously spreading plant species in the arid zone covering neutral alkaline and saline soil and has invaded most part of the state.

Given the importance of a credible monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of NREGS for qualitative improvements, timely redressal of grievances and mid course corrections in implementation, a third party monitoring and evaluation team was set up in June 2009 by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh.

Trapping CO2 Here Can Earn Up To Rs 25 cr

Nanjido, an island in Republic of South Korea, at the end of the Han River was made a landfill site in 1978. Fifteen years later, the site had to be closed due to the extensive damage caused by the pollution of soil, air, surface and underground water. In 1996, the Seoul Metropolitan Government decided to continue till 2020.

DIGBOI, Nov 22

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