Village throws a googly
Remote Eklehara has challenged what can be classified as a bio-resource and who should benefit from its use
Crazy for GI? Think again
The protection of Geographical Indication is not a guarantee that the artisan or producer will benefit; traders can corner the premium
Benefit interrupted
Biodiversity authority prepares a weak draft of guidelines on access and benefit sharing of natural resources
Access, yes. Sharing, no
The access and benefit-sharing protocol on biodiversity may do little to deter multinationals from grabbing the planet’s resources
Hunters turn protectors
Traditional hunters Phase Pardhis are part of an initiative to save critically endangered lesser floricans
Missing timber for wood
As the demand-supply gap for timber widens in India, it is time to exploit the potential of private plantations and government-managed forests in …
Bamboo liberation day
According to former environment minister Jairam Ramesh, minor forest produce is a ownership right vested by Parliament under Forest Rights Act
‘We have no time for emission offsets’
For 10 years Jutta Kill has monitored and critiqued EU’s climate policy and carbon trading with a focus on forests and the rights of forest …
The secret garden
Want to know about a lost variety of rice or a cure to asthma? Answers lie in the notebooks of schoolchildren and women of the Sundarbans and …
It’s still open season for bio-piracy
Rich nations block accord on benefit-sharing rules for the world’s genetic resources
Forest paradox
To give forest dwellers their due rights, forest governance must go beyond the environment and include the communities at stake
Disclosure-shy industry
Pharma and biotech firms are lobbying hard to block disclosure of origin of genetic material used in inventions, but they also raise thorny issues
Biodiversity body claims coal
In a first-of-its-kind case, a biodiversity committee in Madhya Pradesh asks for royalty on coal
Struck at the root
Livelihood of 2,000 families is threatened as the Maharashtra forest department tries to ban extraction of lotus roots
The Avon lady lifts our biodiversity
Loopholes in the Biological Diversity Act being used to export India’s genetic material
Coal quandary
In a sweeping pronouncement, the Supreme Court has termed all the 218 coal blocks allocated since 1993 illegal. This has raised a fundamental …
Should conservation be privatised?
Since the late 1960s, many African countries, including Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, have adopted a new approach to conservation.…
'CBD has lost its track'
Bolivia is one of the few countries that has consistently been opposing treating biodiversity as a commodity at the ongoing Conference of Parties …
'Biodiversity authority needs autonomy'
Balakrishna Pisupati was the first biodiversity expert to head India's National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and had more than six months to go …
‘Forest department is the encroacher’
When V Kishore Chandra Deo became the Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs three months ago, both the ministries were in inertia.…
Wealth of forests withheld
Forest departments across the country owe millions of rupees to communities. For 20 years communities toiled under the Joint Forest Management …
Treasure in troubled land
International aid has supported the economy of Afghanistan for 12 years. With aid flow gradually declining, the war-torn country will now have to …
'Building and retaining capacity is the toughest challenge'
Balakrishna Pisupati is in the hot seat as chairperson of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), where he has to deal with regulatory and …
'Most countries don’t want to recognise indigenous people as people'
Mohammed Taghi Farvar, former director of Avicenna University in Iran, is a well-known ecologist and social scientist. At present, he is the …
Bamboo rising
Five years after it was implemented, the Forest Rights Act finally takes root. Communities across the country rush to claim rights over forests …