Environmental Protection

Stop coal mining in the Hasdeo forests

   NAPM extends its full solidarity and support to the crucial 10-day long foot march undertaken by hundreds of adivasis from the Hasdeo region of Chhattisgarh to protect their forests and home lands from destructive coal mining. Starting from 4th October 2021, more than 250 Adivasi residents from 30 villages of the Hasdeo Aranya region of Surguja are currently marching[Read More...]

The United States Must Rejoin the Global Biodiversity Conservation Community 

Snow geese, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico. After spending the winter in New Mexico, the snow geese go to the Arctic (Alaska, Nunavut, Siberia) for nesting and rearing their young. (Photo: Subhankar Banerjee, 1998). After a long stretch of public inattention, biodiversity conservation is a hot topic again, as if we had suddenly been jolted into awareness[Read More...]

Air Pollutants Cause 7 Million Premature Deaths a Year Worldwide, says WHO

Air pollutants are responsible for 7 million premature deaths a year worldwide, says the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO has called it “one of the greatest environmental risks to health.” On 22 September 2021, the WHO has issued strict new standards for air pollution levels. Data suggests that the air in many regions across the U.S. contains much higher[Read More...]

Why River Pollution and Depletion Remains A Serious Threat In India

In recent decades India has heard a lot about such appealing, consoling programs like the Ganga Action Plan, the Yamuna Action Plan, the National River Conservation Plan and finally Namami Gange. So it is all the more disturbing to know from recent reports and other indicators that the problem of river pollution remains serious, endangering health of human beings and[Read More...]

World Rivers Day

Today, September 26, 2021, is World Rivers Day. World Rivers Day is a global celebration of the world’s waterways, observed every year on the last Sunday in September. Established in 2005, it highlights the many values of rivers and strives to increase public awareness while encouraging the improved stewardship of rivers around the world. Rivers in every country face an[Read More...]

World Lung Day | Air is deadlier than we thought it is!

While we observe World Lung Day, let us also pay heed to the latest policy guidelines on one of the major preventable risk factors of deadliest of lung diseases: air pollution. The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its latest Air Quality Guidelines that after rigorous scientific review has lowered the maximum upper limit of six top deadly air pollutants.[Read More...]

Bridge the North-South divide for a UN Biodiversity Framework that is more just

This month, the leaders of nation states from around the world have been gathered in New York City to attend the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Covid, climate and biodiversity are among the topics they are expected to address. Indeed, on September 21, in his sobering yet passionate address to the assembly, UN Secretary-General António Guterres focused attention on all[Read More...]

They are murdered: They face violence: They are Defenders of Environment

Hundreds of environment defenders have been murdered in countries. Environment defenders face lethal attacks and violence. Global Witness in Last Line of Defence report said: In 2020, we recorded 227 lethal attacks – an average of more than four people a week – making it once again the most dangerous year on record for people defending their homes, land and[Read More...]

Encroaching a wetland in the name of rejuvenation! Sukhatal Lake restoration project tells the story

Instead of restoring the degraded Sukhatal, developmental authorities are converting the alive wetland into a dead swimming pool, thereby killing its wetland status forever and creating deadly repercussions for the Nainital Town. A wetland restoration project is expected to repair a degraded wetland back to its original and healthy condition. For this, the wetland is modified without disrupting its original[Read More...]

The Right to Clean Air in Jakarta

It seems utterly beyond debate but acknowledging legal rights to clean hair has assumed the makings of a slow march over the years.  The 1956 Clean Air Act in Britain arose from the lethal effects of London’s 1952 killer smog, which is said to have taken some 12,000 lives.  The Act granted powers to establish smoke-free zones and subsidise householders[Read More...]