JORHAT, Jan 17 – Visiting the erosion-hit areas at Salmora, Majuli this afternoon, P K Bansal, Union Cabinet Minister of Water Resources and V H Pala, Minister of State for Water Resources, stated at a meeting held in the Majuli College playground near Daria Bridge that Majuli has enough potential to get recognition as a World Heritage Site from UNESCO. Bansal also said that the required nomination dossier for the recognition has already been submitted to the authority concerned.

Says Union Forest Ministry can’t impose heritage tag on Western Ghats against govt’s wish

With barely 20 days left for India to resubmit its dossier to Unesco World Heritage Committee (WHC) for the serial nomination of the Western Ghats, Karnataka, as in the previous year, isn’t making the task any easier for the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).

Various organisations have protested the government’s decision to construct a 30-km road stretching from Thori in Parasi to Triveni in Nawalparasi via the Chitwan National Park (CNP).

The Department of Roads, under the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, is planning to construct the postal road through the CNP.

Ecologically sound pest control derived as natural products from plants can be an alternative for increasing prevalence of pesticides.
This was discussed by scientists at the international conference of chemistry organised at Panjab University’s Department of Chemistry.
The conference is being organised to celebrate 2011 as International Year of Chemistry as declared by UNESCO.

Guwahati: As the autumn has set the stage for the winter to rule the atmosphere in the picturesque North East India’s hills and valleys, enchanting destinations in the region are ready to welcome visitors in the coming tourists’ season.

While the rhino abode in Kaziranga National Park (KNP) was thrown open for the tourists on October 28, three days ahead of the schedule, two other most visited wildlife protection areas—Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and Manas National Park (MNP) – in the state were opened for tourists from today.

Over two dozen countries, including Pakistan, will take part next week in a full-scale test of the Indian Ocean`s tsunami alert system, using the 2004 Sumatra quake as the basis for the exercise, Unesco said on Thursday.

Exercise IOWAVE 11 will re-enact the seismic events of Dec 26, 2004, simulating a 9.2-magnitude quake that occurs northwest of Sumatra, sending waves across the Indian Ocean that strike the coast of South Africa 12 hours later.

Climate Change is taking a heavy toll on Pakistan, said Mister for Science and Technology (S&T) Mir Changez Khan Jamali while addressing a technical session of the 5th International Conference on Flood Management, being held at International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM), Tokyo, Japan.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has called for a report from the Environment Ministry on allegations that a road is being built through the Sinharaja Forest Reserve endangering its natural habitat and eco system, a UNESCO official said yesterday.

UNESCO’s Sri Lanka National Commission Secretary General Preethi Viraj Perera told Daily Mirror that UNESCO, which is the world body committed to protect and maintain world heritage sites, should have been informed about the plan to build the road.

Sri Lanka's Minister of Environment Anura Priyadarshana Yapa has ordered the suspension of a road construction across the World Heritage Sinharaja rain forest.

The UNESCO Centre in Paris had asked for an immediate detailed report on the road construction.

The construction of the road across the rain forest commenced on September 09 with the participation of around 300 people to clear the jungle for three kilometers to build the road.

UNESCO Centre in Paris has asked for an immediate detailed report on the road construction through Sri Lanka's Sinharaja rain forest which is considered a World Heritage, local media reported.

The request has now been forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs, the report says.

The Ministry has forwarded it to the Ministry of Environment and other Institutions including the UNESCO office in Colombo for their attention.