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Politics of BiodiversityShine on you crazy diamonds…
The environment fraternity lost five extraordinary individuals in 2009 -- Ravi Sankaran, Smitu Kothari, W A Alan Rodgers, Narendranath Gorrepati and Edward Goldsmith. All of them had a commitment to a saner world, visions of how this could be attained, and the passion to transform their visions into real action More... How fertilisers are killing Indian agricultureThe huge government subsidy of Rs 12,000 crore is not only a financial millstone around our neck. By encouraging unrestrained use of fertilisers it is destroying our soils and agriculture More... Impossible deadline for the Forest Rights ActThe December 31 deadline of the tribal affairs ministry for full implementation of the Forest Rights Act is absurd. How can implementation of such a complex Act be rushed through when issues involving processing of claims, recent encroachments, and the Act’s relationship with existing forest and wildlife laws have not yet been thought through? More... Should India cut emissions?India’s stand on climate change is that our right to ‘development’ is non-negotiable. But, considering that the path to development we have adopted is neither sustainable nor equitable, it is time we took on voluntary emission cuts for our own welfare, even as we continue pressurising the West to cut its emissions substantially, says Ashish Kothari More... What’s wildlife worth? Ten rupees!Is there any significance in the fact that India’s 1,000-rupee note depicts technological progress and industry, while wildlife and natural resources make it only to our 10-rupee note? After all, says Ashish Kothari, even as our decision-makers pay lip service to nature these seven days of Wildlife Week, they continue to sign away the very habitats that wild plants and animals thrive in More... An agenda for the environment ministerIndia’s new minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh cannot change his government’s focus on unsustainable growth, but he can open the environment ministry to civil society engagement and change its status as a willing rubber stamp for industry, says Ashish Kothari More... Acts of healingIn the heart of Washington DC is an official museum that is brutally honest about the genocide that the white man wrought on the native Americans five centuries ago. When will India begin to provide a more balanced view of the history, culture and current status of its indigenous people? More... The other America?Barack Obama’s election victory could well be a defining moment for the earth, says Ashish Kothari. For if he works to rescue what he calls “a planet in peril”, we could see America responding to the biodiversity crisis, adopting clean technologies and embracing ecological economic models that put the environment and ordinary people -- rather than profits -- at the centre of planning More... Indian industry’s wake-up call on environmental sustainabilityEnvironmentalists have always warned that India is living well beyond its means. Now Indian industry has released a report saying that India consumes twice as much natural resources as it possesses. Ashish Kothari analyses India’s Ecological Footprint: A Business Perspective, produced by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Global Footprint Network More... |
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