KOCHI: The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has cleared the Kochi-Koottanad-Bangalore-Mangalore pipeline project. Though the MoEF has given the ‘go ahead’, the details are yet to be received, a top official with the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) said.“The implementation of the project is a joint effort involving different departments. Clearance by the MoEF is a primary step towards the realisation of the project,” Vandana Chanana, general manager, (corporate communication), GAIL, told Express.

NEW DELHI: Ministers of South Africa, Brazil, China and India - the BASIC group - will meet here on February 13-14 to chalk out a joint strategy for the post-2020 global climate regime. The meeting of the group, which was the most prominent block of countries at Durban talks along with the EU, comes weeks ahead of the deadline to make submissions to the UN on the framework for negotiations for the new regime, Durban Platform.

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.

While the government is flooded with applications for more coal mines, the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has posed a query about the actual usage of coal mines already granted clearance. In a meeting held in November last, the MoEF officials asked the coal ministry to get back to them with concrete numbers.

The country recorded a decrease of 367 square km in forest cover last year, compared with 2009, according to India State of Forest Report 2011, released here on Tuesday.

The forest and tree cover of the country stands at 78.29 million hectare, which is 23.81 per cent of the country's geographical area, said the report. “Compared with the 2009 assessment, after taking into account the interpretational changes, there is a decrease of 367 square km in the country's forest cover,” the report said.

Andhra’s Khammam Alone Accounts For Almost 50% Loss: FSI Report. India recorded a net loss of 367 sq km of forests between 2009 and 2011, with Khammam district in Andhra Pradesh alone losing 182 sq km of green cover in the period, the latest ‘state of forest’ report has found. The report, prepared biennially by the Forest Survey of India — the Dehradun based wing of the environment and forests ministry — was released on Tuesday.

Three years after the entire tiger population of the Panna Tiger Reserve was decimated, the Madhya Pradesh government has neither been able to fix responsibility for the disaster, nor has it handed over the enquiry to the Central Bureau of Investigation inspite of requests from the Ministry of Environment and forests and even the Prime Minister's Office.

Operating agency to pull out of waste management project

The city Corporation has more to worry than the people's agitation and legal tangle in the operation of the beleaguered Vilappilsala solid waste treatment plant. With the Centre for Environment and Development (CED) deciding to back out from the technical support and operating agency role (for the plant), the Corporation is caught in a delicate situation over the running of the facility.

An inspection of the overall status and housekeeping of private captive elephants around Corbett National Park revealed blatant violations and contravention of Project Elephant guidelines. The inspection was undertaken on directions of the National Tiger Conservation Authority by co-opted member of Animal Welfare Board and People For Animals Uttarakhand member secretary Gauri Maulekhi.

India’s overall forest cover has declined by 367 sq-kms in the past two years despite a few states actually expanding their forest areas. The net loss is mainly on account of Naxalites destroying close to 200 sq-km of forests in Andhra Pradesh, a government report said in Tuesday. The country’s total forest cover now stands at 23.81 per cent of total geographical area.