On The Warpath
They prefer to be called the 'forest castes'. They are the 2,000,000-odd villagers living in some 10,000 villages across Orissa. After …
Forest war
Naxalism started as a movement against land alienation. Today it has become a popular movement against natural resource alienation, …
Applying science to tackle illegal timber trade
Illegal trade of timber is worth US $30-100 billion annually. Scientists have developed some innovative methods to curb it
When alienation ruins
Sandalwood smuggling, epitomised by Veerappan, has become a collective phenomenon involving entire villages, which even the ban on sandalwood …
Unkindest cuts
Large-scale smuggling of timber from Nepal to Tibet threatens the pristine forests in the northern Himalaya
Turn off taps on poachers: Financial crimes linked to illegal wildlife, timber trade in EU going unpunished, flags report
Criminal assets remaining in the hands of poachers, giving them the liberty to invest in more illicit operations
Green action: Four arrested in Bihar for cutting down dozens of trees near major hospital
Trees were being felled and sold to timber traders for many months near Muzaffarpur’s SKMCH hospital, according to reports
Corruption in timber trade fuels deforestation, biodiversity loss
Illegal timber trade also gives rise to conflicts between local communities and logging companies
Himachal Pradesh forest staff to be equipped with arms to curb smuggling
The personnel posted in the checkposts in these areas can carry pistols, guns, revolvers or rifles to check illegal felling and smuggling of trees
Wood for scandal
While the Union government has finally permitted Tamil Nadu to export sandalwood, State monopoly of the trade is yet to be abolished
CAUTION:only loggers allowed
How do you destroy a forest? Cover it under Project Tiger and alienate the local people. An example from Bihar
A brigand called government
Whatever the outcome of the hostages crisis in Karnataka, stupid sandalwood protection laws will keep creating smugglers out of India's exploited …
India is third largest importer of illegally-logged wood: IUFRO
With an annual import value of over Rs 40 billion, the country accounts for close to 10 per cent of the global illegal wood trade
More land, less timber
Ban on harvesting of timber may not solve the problem of deforestation in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province
Making a killing
Only poachers profit from rules and regulations that alienate local people from natural resources
Trouble in Tripura
Restrictions on jhum cultivation, large-scale immigration and timber smuggling have made Tripura an environmentally poor state
'The forest mafia is very powerful'
AJAY S RAWAT spent six months in the Indo-Nepal terais to trace the methods of timber smugglers
Illegal logging major threat to development in west Africa: FAO
The activities not only harm economies but are also a source of funding for terror groups
Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (November 10, 2020)
Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
Climate change projects aren't working because communities are left out
Unless they trust climate change programmes, communities will continue to plunder forests rendering such interventions redundant
When laws make out laws
Everybody's a loser. Forest guards die for laws that cannot be defended. Poor people get exploited. Veerappan rules the jungle. Sandalwood trees …
Peace isn't elusive
After the Pulwama terror strike, the Kashmir debate has reopened. We bring to you an older article from brighter times, which underscores the …
At loggerheads
While the state government is keen to introduce JFM, villagers say there is no need for that since they have been carrying out all protection …
Message in a baton
The decades after Independence saw rampant destruction of trees. This was followed by years of drought. It was then that the villagers realised …