Bees are vanishing: U.N. report

The Hindu, February 27, 2016 Many species of wild bees, butterflies and other insects that pollinate plants are shrinking toward extinction, and the world needs to do something about it before our food supply suffers, a new United Nations scientific mega-report warns. The 20,000 or so species of pollinators are key to growing fruits, vegetables and cash crops. Yet two out of five species of invertebrate pollinators,...

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Wildfire destroys Marayur sandalwood

 IDUKKI, The Hindu, February 27, 2016 Wildfire destroyed forest wealth across 50 hectares of land in the Pothadimala area in the Marayur sandalwood division on Friday. The fire, which broke out at 11 a.m. in the lower area of Pothadimala, consumed the dried-out vegetation and spread to a large area. A 50-member team, including...

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Industry throws a spanner in the KSBB works

T. NANDAKUMAR The Hindu, February 27, 2016 Faced with stiff resistance from industry, the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) has turned to the government for help in implementing the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism for commercial utilisation of biological resources. According to officials, certain sectors of industry...

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Bid to fix radio collars on jumbos

E.M. MANOJ KALPETTA,  The Hindu, February 20, 2016 The Forest and Wildlife Department has launched an operation to attach radio collar on rogue elephants in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) to keep them off human settlements. “We are planning to attach radio collar telemeter on rouge elephants after tranquillising them,...

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Wetland turns a ‘weedland’

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor PATHANAMTHITTA,  The Hindu, February 2, 2016 Varaalchal, a vast wetland in the flood plain area of the Pampa river at Koipram, near Aranmula, heavily weeded and silted, could do with a few immediate steps for rejuvenation. World Wetlands Day, celebrated on February 2 every year, should serve as a reminder...

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Alarming destruction of tiger, elephant habitats: expert

E.M. ManojKALPETTA,   The Hindu, February 2, 2016 The significance of conserving Asiatic elephants and tigers were stressed at an international veterinary workshop on Asian elephants and tigers that began at Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) headquarters at Pookode in the district on Monday. The four-day workshop, being organised by the Centre for Wildlife Studies under KVASU in association...

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Rare bird sighted at Achenkovil

KOLLAM,   The Hindu, February 1, 2016 A black-and-orange flycatcher (Ficedula nigrorufa), which is a high altitude endemic resident of the central and southern evergreen forest areas of the Western Ghats, was chanced upon by wildlife photographer Mahesh Ambelil in the low altitude Achenkovil forest area which has an altitude...

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