Group items tagged

Protection of the natural world has been an integral part of Indian culture and heritage. The Constitution of India places responsibilities on the State as well as citizens for protection of nature and the living beings therein. The following two Articles of the Indian Constitution are noteworthy: Article 48A: The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country; and Article 51A (g): Fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures. In the face of rapid industrial development, the environmental effects were not given much importance. However, with environmental impacts becoming detrimental for wildlife, biodiversity and people, the Indian Parliament has passed legislation to keep pace with changing demands. The British had passed the Indian Forest Act, 1927, mainly to regulate timber extraction for construction purposes. From production forestry, protection forestry principles were also considered. Later, wildlife (both flora and fauna) were considered essential for sustainable forest management. The Wildlife Act was passed in 1972. The Environment Protection Act was passed in 1986 as an umbrella act to consider environment in its totality. Since then, biological wealth started to be considered as an asset of the country just as other productive assets.

The goal of the U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance is to raise awareness about wildlife trafficking and reduce Americans' demand for products that promote poaching. The Alliance also aims to give companies the tools they need to make sure they're not selling, shipping, or otherwise enabling the sales of illegal wildlife-related products.

On eBay and elsewhere on the Internet, illegal wildlife and wildlife parts - from elephant ivory to tiger skins to monkey and crocodile skulls - are being sold. Bringing an end to this illicit activity is proving to be a daunting challenge.

Bad news: You might be a water hog. Americans use more water per person than anyone else in the world - 27 billion gallons every day. Unfortunately, it is the river systems, lakes and wetlands and the wildlife of those habitats that suffer the most as a result of reckless water consumption. A new campaign by the Center for Biological Diversity and supported by Levi Strauss & Co., "Don't Be a Drip," is trying to call attention to the issue and help people learn how to save water for wildlife.

JetBlue is teaming up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help Caribbean vacationers avoid contributing to the illicit trade of threatened and endangered species.

"Without increasing connectivity and basically building wildlife crossings like a tunnel or an overpass, I think the mountain lions here are definitely going to be lost," Park Service wildlife ecologist Seth Riley said.

Between 1970 and 2010 populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish around the globe dropped 52 percent, says the 2014 Living Planet Report released today by World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 

Since 2007, the World Wildlife Fund and Coca-Cola have jointly raised tens of millions of dollars for water conservation projects. The partnership proved a winner for both organizations, write E. Richard Brownlee and Allison Elias. "What began as a relationship full of risk and uncertainty grew into a robust partnership built on trust at all levels of the organizations," they explain

Kenya-based Wildlife Works Carbon employs "wildlife rangers" on about 500,000 acres in and around two national parks to protect elephants from poachers. The company sells carbon credits to raise the funds needed to pay the rangers. The cash raised also goes to compensate landowners for leaving land and resources in their natural condition, and to fund educational and community projects. It's the country's pilot project as part of its belonging to the United Nations' Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program.

Hoping to stem illegal wildlife trafficking, the Obama administration on Wednesday introduced an aggressive plan for taking on traffickers that will include using American intelligence agencies to track and target those who benefit from the estimated $20-billion-a-year market.

An estimated 3,300 acres on oat farms that supply oats for Honey Nut Cheerios will soon provide new dedicated, flower-rich habitat for pollinators. General Mills is partnering with the Xerces Society, a pollinator and wildlife conservation organization, to plant wildflowers on the supplier farms. Meanwhile, The Wildlife Habitat Council released a white paper explaining the issue of pollinators' decline and actions corporations can take to help.

Due to skyrocketing consumer demand, particularly from Asia, today's wildlife traffickers have the resources to outfit their henchmen with weaponry and equipment that often outmatches that of the local park rangers. The poachers doing the most damage in Africa today are employed by professional trafficking syndicates, and they enjoy a level of support and financial backing unimaginable during earlier poaching crises. The poachers' arsenal includes the expanding use of military-grade equipment like helicopters, machine guns, infrared scopes, and heavy armored vehicles.

A new short film featured by National Geographic highlights the plight of the Sargasso Sea - a diverse ecosystem of free-floating seaweed and unique wildlife - that is threatened by plastic waste. From microplastics to bioaccumulation, Care About the Ocean? Think Twice About Your Coffee Lid walks viewers through the dangers of plastic pollution in the Sargasso Sea (and other parts of the ocean) - and for human health.

The Wildlife Habitat Council launched a new certification website that enables its members to add projects, upload documentation, submit applications, and more. CEF members that have been recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council for achievements in land conservation include BASF, Boeing, CH2M, Chevron, Dow Chemical, Fidelity Investments, General Motors, Lockheed Martin, and Waste Management. 

CONTROVERSIAL £20million wildlife reserve at the mouth of the River Parrett has been dubbed "environmental vandalism". The Environment Agency and the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust were granted planning permission two years ago to create the wetlands at Steart.

The World Wildlife Fund will help protect 100,000 acres of former logging forest in Indonesia's Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, in partnership with Frankfurt Zoological Society, The Orangutan Project, and local communities. The World Wildlife Fund has established a commercial company to generate revenue within the project area to help finance forest protection initiatives.

Kimberly-Clark will feature the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) logo on its Forest Stewardship Council- certified products to raise consumer awareness about the importance of choosing products made from responsibly sourced fiber. As part of the partnership, the company will contribute $4 million to WWF's forest and ecosystem protection programs.

The World Wildlife Fund released results from the 12-week pilot program it launched to reduce food waste across the hotel industry, in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation and the American Hotel & Lodging Association. The results show that participating properties reduced food waste by at least 10% and lowered food costs at least 3% in some cases. Companies participating in the program included Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott International, and others.

New research found that China's reforestation program, the world's largest, overwhelmingly leads to the planting of monoculture forests that fall short of restoring the biodiversity of native forests -- and can even harm existing wildlife. The researchers found, however, that multi-species forests could be planted without detracting from the economic benefits China's poor and rural citizens receive for replanting forests.

Global trade has made it easier to buy things. But our consumption habits often fuel threats to biodiversity - such as deforestation, overhunting and overfishing - thousands of miles away. Now, scientists have mapped how major consuming countries drive threats to endangered species elsewhere. Such maps could be useful for finding the most efficient ways to protect critical areas important for biodiversity, the researchers suggest in a new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. For example, the maps show that commodities used in the United States and the European Union exert several threats on marine species in Southeast Asia, mainly due to overfishing, pollution and aquaculture. The U.S. also exerts pressure on hotspots off the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and at the mouth of the Orinoco around Trinidad and Tobago. European Union's impacts extend to the islands around Madagascar: Réunion, Mauritius and the Seychelles. The maps also revealed some unexpected linkages. For instance, the impact of U.S. consumption in Brazil appears to be much greater in southern Brazil (in the Brazilian Highlands where agriculture and grazing are extensive) than inside the Amazon basin, which receives a larger chunk of the attention. The U.S. also has high biodiversity footprint in southern Spain and Portugal, due to their impacts on threatened fish and bird species. These countries are rarely perceived as threat hotspots.