Watch these films on Discovery channel on 20^th July 2007

Wildlife crime- UK Environment Film Fellowships 2006

 Once there was a purple butterfly-Sonya V. Kapoor

Sonya says that of the 1,500 species of butterflies in India, 400 are on the verge of extinction; this was reason enough to track down butterfly poachers—entire villages in Kerala—where they catch and supply rare species to traders from south-east Asia.

Leopards in the Lurch— Gurmeet Sapal

The film shows that most of the leopards/cheetahs that are killed in the Himachal are not just by poachers but by locals - on the pretext that they are man-eaters.

However, Sapal says, forensic evidence shows that several of those killed in the Garhwal forests were innocent.

The Hunted - Jay Mazoomdar   

“If the extinction of tigers is be tackled effectively, the traditional hunter is to be shown an alternative livelihood.”

Jay’s film shows the Moghiya hunters of MP and Rajasthan who hunt tigers for larger traders for measly sums. “It would be difficult for this trade to flourish in the absence of skilled hunters,” he adds.

Vanishing Seas-Himanshu Malhotra

For husband-wife duo, Himanshu Malhotra and Sabina Kidwai, the endangered marine coral reefs in Lakshwadeep and Andaman spell the death of an entire eco-system.

Turtles in a Soup-Kalpana Subramanian

Freshwater turtles in the Gangetic river systems and their systematic poaching led Kalpana Subramanian to make her film Turtles in a Soup. The trade, she says, has moved on from simply shipping turtle meat to actually processing the more easily transportable ‘plastron’ (turtle cartilage) into chips thus making it more “invisible and difficult to nab”.

The Last Dance- Ashima Narain

Under the law, the Indian sloth bear is entitled to the same protection as the tiger.  Yet crimes against it are committed openly across India as bears are made to dance for our entertainment.  By venturing on an undercover anti-poaching operation and witnessing the surrender of a dancing bear, the film shows how this crime can be brought to an end.

The Silenced Witness-P.Balan and R.Radha

“The Silenced Witness” analyses why despite having about 60 per cent of the world population of Asiatic and despite the animal being revered for centuries, the magnificent mammal is fighting for survival.

The story centres around crimes committed on Elephants in Kerala - both domesticated and wild.

There is a growing sense of panic among global political and business leaders, especially in countries such as Singapore that have large coastal regions threatened by rising sea levels.

Therein lies the profit opportunity for Silicon Valley technologists, who are quickly shifting more attention to clean-tech. Clean-tech ventures are now receiving ten percent of venture flows, up from just one percent a few years ago.

 “We think clean-tech is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century.” As if Silicon Valley clean tech entrepreneurs and investors didn’t already have enough reasons to feel bullish about the fast growing clean tech industry, a disturbing new scientific study published May 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that the annual growth rate of global C02 emissions measured in 2004 is nearly triple the rates previously measured between 1990 and 1999. 73 percent of global carbon emissions growth is coming from developing countries like China and India.

- Nicholas Parker, co-founder and chairman of The Cleantech Group, an international network of clean tech business leaders and investors

If future generations could vote on how foundations invest their money today, would they choose the current allocation?

Only 5 percent of U.S. foundation spending goes to the environment, and a paltry 2.9 percent goes to science and technology. Of the top 50 foundation grantees in 2004, only three were environmental organizations.

Even those foundations that do work on ecosystems spend much of their resources on small-scale land conservation. Government priorities are also skewed to the here and now. As the Oct. 30, 2006, New York Times reports, U.S. federal spending on energy research has fallen to $3 billion – less than half of its level in 1980 – while spending on medical research has quadrupled to $28 billion over the same period.

Human-caused climate change, sharply declining conventional energy sources, and population growth are threatening the very platform of human life. Yet fully two-thirds of U.S. foundation spending goes to current human health and well-being, and seven of the 10 largest U.S. foundations concentrate on human health or the arts, according to the Foundation Center’s latest statistics (from 2004). The world’s second largest foundation (Stichting Ingka, the IKEA fortune) focuses on interior design.

 A management problem that keeps foundations preoccupied with the present is their lack of coordination with other organizations. With family control of many foundation boards and disparate and idiosyncratic board agendas, coordination for achieving bigger aims is structurally difficult.

Source:http://www.ssireview.org

No species can survive on this planet without respecting the three basic laws of ecology.

 (1) The law of biodiversity—that the strength of an eco-system is dependent upon the diversity of species within it.

(2) The law of interdependence—that these species must be interdependent to support a strong eco-system and

(3) the law of finite resources—that there is a limit to growth. Growing human numbers utilized vast amounts of resources and steal carrying capacity from other species resulting in the collapse of diversity.

The greatest fear is not something in the future but something happening now. We are in the midst of a mass extinction event and thus in danger of radically altering the entire biosphere.

Captain Paul Watson, Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, USA in http://www.emagazine.com

"Yes this sounds like what the world was like during my childhood and what Manali and its environs were like when I had first visited it in the 1960s.

The present sad state of things here is the result of the huge amount of spraying done on the almost monoculture of apples in the ’Valley of the Gods’. Kangra would have been badly damaged had it not been for the fact that fruit farming is not very reliable on account of the strong hail storms that occur there as a result of the interface between the hot lowlands of the Punjab and the almost sudden verticle rise of the Dhaula Dhar range.

 I would however like to know how many large Ficus trees are there and what is the state of the water in the very many rivulets flowing down from the mountains into the Rana Pratap Sagar. Such concentrations of birdlife should be, and most certainly can be, existing along with human communities. That they do exist in locations should not lull us into a feeling of welbeing.

Do post this on your portal on my behalf."

Comment by Lavkumar Khachar on the article " Chintpurni, Dharamshala, Pragpur……(Himachal Pradesh)

Taking a cue from global companies, our own CII ( Confederation of Indian Industries) is writing to 100 large companies in India to measure, manage and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Around the world, The Carbon Disclosure Project secretariat has requested disclosure on risks and opportunities presented by climate change from 500 largest companies.  

This disclosure is made part of investor relevant information for investors.

CAUGHT IN THE HEADLIGHTS Broadcast Premiere on Montana Public Television

Caught in the Headlights, 53 minutes, 2006
<http://www.highplainsfilms.org/fp_caught.html>


CAUGHT IN THE HEADLIGHTS, which documents the conflict between wildlife and automobile culture will have its broadcast premiere, June 7 at 7 pm on Montana Public Television <http://www.montanapbs.org/>. Repeat broadcasts at 4:30 pm on June 9 and 8:30 am on June 10.

In the United States where over four million miles of roads cross the landscape, an animal is killed on the road every 11.5 seconds - with one million vertebrate animals falling victim to automobile collisions annually.

Through the voices of six individuals who are intimately familiar with vehicle-wildlife conflicts, CAUGHT IN THE HEADLIGHTS is a quirky, informative exploration of automobile culture. Two Department of Transportation employees combine humor and sensitivity while taking the viewer on a tour along Montana’s state highways.

A Wildlife rehabilitator since childhood turned raptor educator, painter, and welder, shares her work and perspective of the hardships that birds face in a world where car collisions are the leading cause of injury and death for raptors.

Raising a child as a single father may be hard; try combining that with an hour long commute to work through prime deer and elk habitat. One auto-body painter tells stories of close calls with wildlife on the road while warning of societal stubbornness.

A road ecologist from the Netherlands studies opportunities for creatures to cross roads safely while providing his own social commentary on the past, present and future of our transportation infrastructure.

Another man seeks apology and ceremony by turning roadkill into bronze sculptures.   His bold artwork challenges us to examine our dependency on the automobile through death preserved on the walls of a Seattle-area gallery.

CAUGHT IN THE HEADLIGHTS weaves together these diverse voices united in their reverence for the long ignored casualties of the highway.

More Information:
High Plains Films
P.O. Box 8796
Missoula, Montana 59807
(406) 728-0753
<yak@highplainsfilms.org>

Both orangutans and chimpanzees share about 96 % of their DNA with humans.

 In a recent study, orangutans have been named as the world’s most intelligent animal.

Once widespread throughout the forests of Asia, they are now confined to just two islands, Sumatra and Borneo.

The study has opened up the question-would it be possible to compare different species of primates for intelligence?

(From a report in Sunday Times London)

Encouraged by the number of butterflies visiting the JNU campus, the Jawaharlal Nehru University is all set to develop a Butterfly Park within its premises to attract more species.

More than 50 species of butterflies can be seen fluttering around the University in the Spring season. Rare species like Red Pierrot, Common Jay and Peacock Pansy are often spotted.

Source: The Indian Express, 11 April, 2007

The Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) has made many significant interventions where forests lands are concerned.  It has gone against the wishes of the Ministry of Environment and Forests(MoEF) many times, and rejected proposals that would endanger India’s already dwindling forest cover. 
The term of CEC is unlikely to be renewed, sources say.

The proposed environment tribunal bill  being set up is expected to be peopled with " yes men", to ensure that Environment Impact Studies go through speedily.  To ensure that the concerns of environment and of people are addressed, activists may turn to public Interest Litigation more than ever. 

source" The Hindu", 23 March, 2007