Presidents and ministers from seven Amazon countries met in Colombia on Friday to agree on measures to protect the world’s biggest rainforest, under threat from wildfires and rampant deforestation.
Category: Forestry
Eastern Caribbean takes up strategy for blue-green economy
By Jewel Fraser Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, Sep 3 2019 (IPS) – Micro, small and medium enterprises as well as niche markets and experiences such as bee tourism may well hold the key for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean…
Global Day of Action for Amazon Sept 5
September 3, 2019 ipmsdl_admin Categories: Events Amazon Rainforest is burning, and the world will not take it sitting down. This September 5, the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) joins the whole world in calling for immediate…
Bolsonaro bans fires for land cleaning in Brazil to Amazon only
Rio De Janeiro, Sept 01 (AP/UNB) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is partially backtracking on a decree that banned most fires for land-clearing for 60 days, now saying the ban will only apply to the Amazon region. The government on…
Amazon fires stir bitter dispute over who is to blame
Rio De Janeiro, Aug 22 (AP/UNB) — As fires raged in the Amazon rainforest, the Brazilian government on Thursday denounced international critics who say President Jair Bolsonaro is not doing enough to curb massive deforestation. The growing threat to what…
Burning forests for rain, and other climate catastrophes
By Miriam Gathigah Nairobi, Aug 9 2019 (IPS) – The villagers living on the foothills of Mount Kenya have a belief: If they burn the forest, the rains will come.
Red alert in Sundarbans ahead of Eid to protect wildlife
Khulna, Aug 9 (UNB) –The forest department has issued red alert in the Sundarbans ahead of Eid-ul-Azha to protect the wildlife of the world heritage site. Leave of all the officials and employees of different stations and patrol outposts has…
In a world record, Ethiopia has planted over 350mn trees
In a record-breaking day this week, at the Gulele Botanical Garden in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia launched a historic tree planting campaign. Over 350 million trees were planted in an ambitious move to counter the effects of deforestation and climate change.
Money grows on trees–don’t uproot them
By Friday Phiri Pemba, Zambia, Jul 26 2019 (IPS) – Jennifer Handondo, a small scale farmer of Choma district in southern Zambia, plants food crops such as maize mostly for her family’s needs. Because of uncharacteristically high temperatures and low…
Tree fair fetches Tk 11 mn selling 16 lakh saplings
Dhaka, July 22 (UNB) – The month-long National Tree Plantation Campaign and Fair-2019 evoked an overwhelming response from plant and nature lovers as saplings worth around Tk 11 crore were sold during the fair. The fair, inaugurated by Prime Minister…
New Mexico governor seeks ideas for recreational pot law
Santa Fe, Jun 29 (AP/UNB) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is launching a new effort to craft legislation that could legalize recreational marijuana sales next year. The first-year Democratic governor announced Friday her recruitment of health, legal and…
5 BD cement factories near Sundarbans get EIA nod: Minister
Dhaka, Jun 29 (UNB) –Five air-polluting cement factories located within the ecologically critical area of the Sundarbans Reserve Forest have been given environmental clearance, Forest Minister Md Shahab Uddin told Parliament on Saturday. The factories are Meghna Cement Mills Ltd,…
Give up Rampal power plant project: TIB urges govt
Dhaka, June 17 – Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Monday urged the government to stop all ‘controversial projects’ including Rampal power plant which might pose a threat to largest mangrove Sundarbans. Expressing concern over the UNESCO’s recent proposal of listing…
Bangladesh Sundarbans has Tk 19-billon carbon reserve: Survey
Khulna, June 7 (UNB) – There is a reserve of 5.6 crore tonnes of carbon in the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans, says a survey of the Forest Department. This carbon worth Tk 18,816 crore could be extracted without causing…
Long life to their majesties, the bees!
By Baher Kamal Madrid, May (IPS) – Amazingly organised social communities, bees ensure food chain. ‘Bee’ grateful to them… at least on their World Day! While the (surprisingly) still called homo sapiens continues to destroy Mother Nature, bees and other…
‘Fani’ rains bring smiles to Rajshahi mango growers in BD
Rajshahi, May 12 – Mango growers in the Bangladesh district of Rajshahi are expecting a bumper yield this year as they said the rains caused by recent cyclone Fani have brought an extra benefit to them. Dr Alim Uddin, a…
Ensuring the ‘lungs of the planet’ keep us alive
Forests are vitally important for sustaining life on Earth, and play a major role in the fight against climate change. With the 2019 session of the United Nations Forum on Forests wrapping up on Friday in New York, we delve…
The beautiful Blue Raintree
Stuttgart, Germany – It looks just beautiful. A beauty does not need to be explained in so many words. The Blue Raintree makes one happy at the first look. At the Stuttgart Garden exhibition held from 25-28, April 2019, I…
China says lightning caused forest fire that killed 31
Beijing, Apr 6 (AP/UNB) — Lighting sparked a forest fire in mountainous western China last month that killed 27 firefighters and four local helpers in one of the country’s deadliest days for first responders, investigators said. Acting on accounts of…
Carrying flammable substances inside Sundarbans banned
Bagerhat, Apr 3 (UNB) – Bangladesh has prohibited carrying any type of flammable substances inside the Sundarbans to prevent occurrences of fire at the world heritage site in summer. The Department of Forest (DOF) issued the notice as different areas…
Climate change imperils Sundarbans tiger habitats
In 50 years from now, by 2070, the entire population of Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans mangroves in Bangladesh is likely to be lost to climate change and sea level rise, a modeling study by Bangladesh and Australian researchers has predicted. Further,…
Southeast Asia’s eastern hog deer found in Manipur, India
Researchers at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, had been, for long, puzzled by the features of hog deer at the Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP) in Manipur. Although larger, with no speckling, and sporting a brighter ochre coat and bulkier antlers compared to…
Rohingyas eating up much of Bangladesh forests: FM
Dhaka, Feb 24 (UNB) –Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said over 1.2 million Rohingyas living in Cox’s Bazar district of the country are eating up much of Bangladesh’s forests creating environmental disasters. He, however, said Bangladesh has…
SC upholds CCF Osman Gani’s 12-year in prison sentence
Dhaka, Jan 22 – The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the High Court verdict that upheld a lower court judgement sentencing former Chief Conservator of Forest Osman Gani to 12 years’ imprisonment in a corruption case.
Turning mangrove trees into sustainable assets
By Stella Paul SHWE THAUNG YAN, Myanmar, Jan 7 2019 (IPS) – In 2015, Worldview International Foundation began a mangrove restoration project, planting saplings of the trees on about 121 hectares of land in Myanmar’s Ayyerwady region.
Community people to become Sundarbans dolphin saviours
By Rafiqul Islam Dhaka, Jan 4 – The Bangladesh Forest Department has started forming dolphin conservation teams involving community people to protect the endangered aquatic species in the rivers of the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest.
Cordyceps, Himalayan Viagra kindles fortunes, begets plunder
by Manu Moudgil on 4 January 2019 • Cordyceps, a caterpillar fungus found in alpine pastures of the Himalayas, is a highly valued aphrodisiac commonly known as “Himalayan Viagra”.
Tiger deaths in India hit 100-mark again, less from 2017
by Mayank Aggarwal on 3 January 2019 • For the third year in a row, India recorded at least 100 tiger deaths in 2018. The reason for their deaths ranges from natural deaths, poaching to electrocution and poisoning.
Tiger widows of Sundarbans: Ecology, beliefs and mental health
by Sahana Ghosh on 28 December 2018 • Human-tiger conflicts in the Indian Sundarbans affect the mental well-being of local community members. There is a cultural connect to tigers which further influences interaction with their natural environment.
Biodiversity: Negotiating for nature
Wildlife is being wiped out in an unprecedented rate, and it’s our fault. But a new deal could provide a new pathway forward.