Dhaka – The Department of Shipping (DoS) Sunday has prosecuted the owner and master of sunken coal laden vessel MV Aichgati that went under water at Fairway Bay near the Sundarbans on Friday morning. The DoS officials have primarily found…
Category: Biodiversity
Demonstration held globally against coal fired power plant
Berlin – Bangladeshi expatriates and some other international students in Germany ( including German) on Saturday 7th January, 2017staged a demonstration in Berlin as part of the global action programme protesting the move of Bangladesh government to set up a…
BNP to support Nat’l Committee’s progs to save Sundarbans: Fakhrul
Dhaka – BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday said their party will extend its support to any programme of the National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas, Natural Resources and Power-Ports protesting the Rampal power plant near the Sundarbans.
Proposal for felling over 13000 trees gets nod
Dhaka, Jan 9 – The Cabinet on Monday approved a proposal for cutting of 13,356 trees of forests under the Forest Department for implementing gas distribution pipeline project from Sreepur to Joydevpur to be implemented by the Titas Gas Transmission…
World’s incredible rooftops
A new book celebrates amazing urban spaces in the sky. Fiona Macdonald picks out ten projects that have helped transform cities across the globe, BBC has reported. By Fiona Macdonald
Global protest day for Sunderbans observed in many countries
Dhaka – The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, and Power, Port has threatened to enforce a half-day shutdown in Dhaka on Jan 26 if the Rampal power plant project near the Sundarbans is not scrapped. Oil-Gas Committee…
Global demo Jan 7 protest Rampal coal plant near Sundarbans
N.Y. – As part of a global day of action and in solidarity with the Save the Sundarbans movement, New York-based Bangladeshi environmental groups, Friends of the Earth U.S. and allies will hold a protest on Saturday, January 7 at…
Cheetahs, world’s fastest land animal, racing towards extinction
(CNN)Only about 7,100 cheetahs remain in the world and their numbers are quickly dwindling, putting them at risk of extinction, according to new research.
Nat’l Committee threatens half-day hartal in Dhaka Jan 26
Dhaka – The National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas, Natural Resources and Power-Port will observe a half-day hartal in the capital on January 26 if the government does not cancel the Rampal coal-fired power plant project near the Sundarbans by then.…
Wild animal death rate rises at Lawachhara: Survey
Wildlife researchers have expressed concerns over the high death rate of wild animals at Lawachhara National Park caused by various reasons, including the movement of locomotives on rail tracks and speedy vehicles on roads in and around the forest.Wild animals…
70,000 improved cookstoves distributed in Bangladesh
Rafiqul Islam, UNB Staff Writer Dhaka – As part of government target to distribute 30 million improved cook stoves by 2030, some 70,000 improved stoves have been installed in the country’s coastal region, aiming to reduce household air pollution and…
Biosafety Protocol stalled on risk assessment
Further work on biosafety risk assessment which is a key pillar under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety has received a setback at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference which ended on 17 December in Cancun, Mexico.The 8th meeting of the Conference…
Biodiversity confce plan for benefit sharing of genetiic sequences
Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have adopted a decision on sequence information of genetic resources that sets in motion a plan intended to lead to an important decision at their next meeting in two years’ time.The decision…
New Technologies in Debate in Biodiversity Conference
Synthetic biology, geoengineering and the recognition of ancestral knowledge are the issues that have generated the most heated debate in the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity, which ends in this Mexican resort city on Friday Dec. 17.The outcome of the…
Biodiversity convention considers genetic sequence, benefit sharing
Negotiators at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Cancun, Mexico are working to resolve tough issues surrounding how to share benefits from the use of genetic sequence data from plants, animals, microbes and other biodiversity.Biodiverse developing countries that…
Giraffes facing ‘silent extinction’ as population plunges
By Matt McGrath A dramatic drop in giraffe populations over the past 30 years has seen the world’s tallest land mammal classified as vulnerable to extinction. Numbers have gone from around 155,000 in 1985 to 97,000 in 2015 according to…
UN biodiversity confce at Cancun to debate synthetic biology
Cancún (Lim Li Ching) – The United Nations Biodiversity Conference opened in Cancún, Mexico on 4 December. The largest global gathering that convenes every two years to discuss biodiversity issues will meet over the next two weeks until 17 December.…
Global call for moratorium on new genetic extinction tech
Cancun, Mexico – This week, international conservation and environmental leaders are calling on governments at the 2016 UN Convention on Biodiversity to establish a moratorium on the controversial genetic extinction technology called gene drives. Gene drives, developed through new gene-editing…
Private sector must come forward to save Royal Bengal tigers: Experts
Dhaka-Experts at dialogue stressed the need for engaging the private sector in the conservation of tigers, their natural habitat and the Sundarbans mangrove forest.
Thousands demand scrap of Bangladesh coal-fired plant
Dhaka – Thousands of protesters gathered in the Bangladesh capital Saturday, demanding the government scrap a massive coal-fired power plant they say will destroy the world’s largest mangrove forest.
Nat’l Committee announces hartal for Jan 26 protesting Rampal plant
Dhaka – The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports on Saturday announced a half-day hartal in the capital on January 26 protesting the Rampal coal-fired power plant near the Sundarbans. UNB news agency reported
National Committee urges all to join March To Dhaka
Dhaka – Leaders of the National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas, Natural Resources and Power-Port on Wednesday called upon all to join the proposed `March Towards Dhaka` programme scheduled for November 24-26 in order to save Sundarbans. UNB news agency reported
Camera installation in Sundarbans to begin soon
Bagerhat – The installation of cameras in the Sundarbans will begin soon to conduct an integrated tiger census using camera trapping method to access tiger population in the mangrove forest. “In the first phase, 400 cameras will be installed in…
Two tigers killed or trafficked every week: report
Hanoi – Two tigers are killed or illegally trafficked every week, according to fresh analysis published Wednesday that warned of the “disastrous impact” on the 4,000 big cats left in the wild. The latest estimate comes as experts and dignitaries,…
Rampal plant not to harm Sundarbans, insist officials
Bagerhat – Claiming that ultra supercritical technologies will be used in the proposed coal-based Rampal Power Plant, officials on Tuesday alleged that a quarter is spreading false and misleading information about the power project. So-called environmental activists are raising questions…
Steps taken against deer poaching as ‘Rash Mela’ nears
Bagerhat –The Forest Department has taken some measures to prevent the poaching of deer and other wild animals in the Sundarbans ahead of ‘Rash Mela’, a traditional Hindu religious festival, at Alorkol in Dublar Char Island near the Bay of…
UN urges Dhaka to scrap coal-fired power plant near tiger forest
The Sundarbans—a vast mangrove wetland along the southwestern coast of Bangladesh that’s home to abundant wildlife, including endangered tigers—yields million pounds of fish, shrimp and crab each year. This is healthy, sustainable, affordable food in a country where roughly 69…
How trees make cities healthier
Pascal Mittermaier Washington, DC – Last May, I had the dubious fortune of visiting Mumbai, India during the city’s hottest month on record. Temperatures remained at over 40°C (104°F) for days at time. The difference between standing in the shade…
Tiger census in Sundarbans to begin in mid-November
Dhaka – A tiger census using camera trapping method will begin in the Sundarbans in mid-November. “The census will continue for the next three months installing 300 cameras in the Sundarbans,” divisional forest officer (Sundarbans West Zone) Md Sayeed Ali…
National animal Royal Bengal Tiger in grave danger
by Raquib Siddiqi The global wild tiger population has increased for the first time since conservation efforts began in the 1960s. But the number of Royal Bengal Tiger (RBT)—the national animal and major tourist attraction, has nose-dived in Bangladesh. The…