Gorillas, cockatoos and frogs are among a list of threatened species to benefit from a $3.3 million aid award, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said yesterday.

The conservation fund Save Our Species (SOS), set up by the IUCN, the World Bank and others, has announced to allocate the cash to more than 20 projects.

SOS is involved in the protection of the Cross River Gorilla and Black Rhino in Africa and the Snow Leopard in Pakistan.

Rajasthan will soon accord the bio-diversity rich Jawai Bandh forests in Pali district the status of a conservation reserve. The rich forests and the water bodies along the Jawai dam in Sumerpur tehsil have a large presence of crocodiles. The wildlife census in 2011 had put their number at 288.

NEW DELHI, Feb 7 – The eight States of the Northeastern region (NER) have witnessed loss of green cover to the extent of 549 square km. Assam has lost 19 square km of forest cover. Painting a dismal picture of the forest cover in the North East, the India State of Forest Report 2011 released on Tuesday by Union Environment and Forest Secretary Dr P Chatterjee said the main reasons for the decrease is attributed to the biotic pressure and shifting cultivation in the region.

Deputy Director General (Education) of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education Omkar Singh said, “Climate change is a major challenge for developing countries like India which face large climate variability and are thus exposed to enhanced risks.” He was speaking at the inaugural session of a training programme for women scientists on climate change and carbon mitigation at Forest Research Institute.

New Delhi: In another embarrassment for the poll-bound BSP government in Uttar Pradesh, the Union environment ministry has put Ansal’s 2,400-acre housing project, Hi-Tech Township City, at Dadri on hold for ‘illegally’ reclaiming a wetland in the plot. The ministry has sent a showcause notice to the project developers under the Environment Protection Act, asking them to explain why legal action should not be taken for violating the clearance norms and the project should not be scrapped.

It is another Greater Noida project gone wrong, as the Uttar Pradesh government is in the middle of a new land deal controversy, and coming just ahead of the assembly polls in the state.

The latest controversy is about the Union environment ministry asking the state government and private builder Ansal API to stop work at the 2,400-acre ‘wetland’ area at Dadri in Greater Noida. This land was sold by the UP government to Ansals for a housing project. The ministry had earlier slammed the UP government for polluting the Ami river.