Sri Lanka's overall environmental performance is improving and the country has been ranked as a modest performer according to a study on global environment released during this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week.

Sri Lanka has been ranked at the 55th place, six places below the United States ranked at 49th, in the 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) prepared by the Yale University in the United States.

The Plantation Corporation of Kerala Limited (PCKL) chairman, Varghese George, has called upon the government to take necessary steps to pay compensation worth Rs 120 crore to the victims of Endosulfan in Kasargod as directed by the National Human Rights Commission.

Addressing a meet-the-press programme at Pathanamthitta Press Club on Wednesday, Dr. George said PCKL was not in a position to bear with such a hefty financial burden as it would badly affect the prospects of the corporation as well as its 4000-strong workforce and hence the government should pay the same to the affected people.

Six species of wetland birds—including two, classified as ‘near-threatened'—were spotted at the Thenmala dam by a team of surveyors from the Forest Department and the Travancore Natural History Society.

The survey at the dam in the Shenduruni Wildlife Sanctuary in Kollam district was held on January 28.

MUMBAI: Several NGOs like Mangrove Society of India (Maharashtra Chapter) along with Vanashakti, Maharashtra Nature Park and various local bodies will organize nature walks and cleanup of inorganic waste from mangroves on Sunday, in order to celebrate World Wetlands Day, which falls on February 2. The purpose of the walks is to expose the participants to the beauty of some of the wetland areas in the city and the dangers being faced by them.

Science congress to draw up plan of action to mitigate impact on State

The 24th edition of the Kerala Science Congress (KSC), which began here on Sunday, will draw up an action plan of adaptation strategies to fight the adverse impact of climate change on the State, V.N. Rajaeskharan Pillai, executive vice-president of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment has said.

Union Minister of State for Water Resources & Minority Affairs Vincent H Pala has said that pilot and demonstrative artificial recharge studies have encouraging results in recharging the run-off, sustenance of extraction structures through increased availability of ground water , increase in irrigation potential, improvement in environment )through increase in soil moisture and ecosystem conditions.