The Bush administration on Friday proposed keeping potentially oil-rich wetlands in Arctic Alaska off-limits to drilling because of their ecological sensitivity, a reversal of its earlier plan. The Bureau of Land Management proposed a 10-year leasing moratorium for 430,000 acres of wetlands north and east of vast Teshekpuk Lake in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Environmentalists and local groups hailed the decision.

Just north of Mumbai, along the creek at Kopar Khairne in Navi Mumbai is the story of how a fragile ecosystem is being systematically destroyed. Despite a High Court ruling against cutting of mangroves, amid a continuing real estate boom in Navi Mumbai, there is clear evidence of debris being dumped on what was once a lush mangrove forest here.

Nearly 300 residents of over 10 societies near Charkop lake, a 50-year-old water body, fear that construction on the lake is going to adversely affect them in the coming monsoon. In February, the residents had raised a red flag over partial filling of the six-acre lake for a housing project. Consequently, on February 20, the Mumbai Suburban Collector's office issued a notice to stop the land-filling till further notice and ordered a high-level inquiry into the issue.

Today was Earth Day, but a vital part of Assam's natural landscape had nothing to rejoice amid the customary functions and meets. Missing from the Earth Day celebrations was any information about the status of the region's wetlands, even though they sustain large communities and play a major role in environmental security.

The Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences of Guru Nanak Dev University organised a workshop on

While its cultural and spiritual heritage makes it an ideal candidate for acquiring the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its rich biodiversity only adds to that claim. Not many may be aware, but Majuli, one among the largest river islands inhabited the world, possesses a range of animal and plant life that is of considerable significance. The picture once completed by researchers would definitely help it gain more focus in the national and international scene, said a noted environmentalist.

Time to check salinity intrusion in the Sundarbans Mohammad Asrafur Rahman Sundarban Mangrove forest of Bangladesh covers an area of about 6017 sq. km which is 62 percent of its total area whereas other 38 percent is situated in the West Bengal province of India. The average elevation from the mean sea level varies between 0.9 and 2.1 m. The rise in sea level and availability of less fresh water particularly during winter will cause inland intrusion of saline water.