Large stretches of salmon-spawning streams and thousands of acres of wetlands would be wiped out if a large-scale mining project were to be built in south-western Alaska’s copper-rich Bristol Bay region, according to a report issued by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The report, while not directly addressing it, is a potential blow to the massive Pebble copper and gold mine operation proposed by an international alliance of mining interests, and opposed by environmentalists and local native groups.

Large stretches of salmon-spawning streams and thousands of acres of wetlands would be wiped out if a large-scale mining project were to be built in southwestern Alaska's copper-rich Bristol Bay region, according to a report issued Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The report, while not directly addressing it, is a potential blow to the massive Pebble copper and gold mine operation proposed by an international alliance of mining interests, and opposed by environmentalists and local native groups.

French oil major Total has plugged a gas leak in southern Nigeria's Niger Delta region and no longer needs to drill an additional relief well to curb its flow, a spokesman said on Friday.

The leak occurred in March on a block that also contains crude oil in Rivers state, one of the three main states that make up the Niger Delta, a vast wetlands region in the southeast where Africa's biggest energy industry is based.

Block OML 58 also produced around 76,000 barrels per day of oil in 2004 and this increased in 2008, the company says. No oil was spilling from the leak.

Large stretches of salmon-spawning streams and thousands of acres of wetlands would be wiped out if a large-scale mining project were to be built in southwestern Alaska's copper-rich Bristol Bay region, according to a report issued Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The report, while not directly addressing it, is a potential blow to the massive Pebble copper and gold mine operation proposed by an international alliance of mining interests, and opposed by environmentalists and local native groups.

Even as Assam has renewed its campaign to get UNESCO World Heritage Site status for Majuli, one of the largest inhabited river islands in the world, some in the state are blaming the Archaeological Survey of India for the failure of its previous attempt. UNESCO had returned Majuli’s nomination for World Heritage Site saying it was “technically incomplete”. ASI had sent only two copies of nomination dossier instead of three as required. Worse, one of them had several pages missing. The World Heritage Committee has now asked New Delhi to send its revised dossier by September 30.

Aiming to ensure proper management of wetlands and protect biodiversity of the country's haor region, the government has formed a National Network of Ramsar Wetlands Management.

Environment and Forests Ministry with the help of IUCN, Bangladesh created the network, which also targets to improve livelihood of the poor people of this region.

The City’s biggest water body, Bellandur lake, faces the threat of extinction finds a study by the Energy and Wetland Research Centre (EWRC) and Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

slow death A view of the Bellandur lake. The lake is being dried up to pave the way for concrete structures (residential complexes). The day is not far when nearly one fourth of the people in the City are forced to consume highly contaminated water. A study by Dr T V Ramachandra - senior scientist, EWRC,

In a bid to get back the rare migratory Siberian cranes to India, Environment Ministry has signed an MoU with Siberia to coordinate its conservation and protection. Following large number of reported killing of these species enroute their migratory paths especially across Pakistan and Afganisthan, the Ministry has signed MoUs with a number of countries that the birds fly over before reaching India to ensure their safe passage.