Two wildlife sanctuaries — Silent Valley National Park and Wayanad — have been closed to visitors since Friday following high fire risk.

Scanty summer showers and dried vegetation have heightened the fire risk in most of the protected areas of the State. The restriction on tourism activities and curbs on visitors were enforced at the sanctuaries to minimise risk of fire, said V. Gopinath, Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala. Though sporadic incidents of fire were reported from some forest areas in the State, the situation was under control, Mr. Gopinath said.

Alarmed by this year’s scanty rainfall and the drying up of water reserves in several parts of the State, the office of the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has forwarded a recommendation to the State government to this effect.

The scarce northeast monsoon has failed to make up for the shortfall in the southwest spell during the past two years. The southwest monsoon’s share of rainfall this year was the lowest in the last seven years.

Use of plantation land for tourism activities

The ecological impacts of the decision to allow construction of resorts and hotels in plantations will be assessed by the Kerala Forest Department. Minister for Forests K.B. Ganesh Kumar said here that the officials of the department would be asked to look into the possible impacts of the order on forest ecosystems and wildlife. The order was applicable only to private estates and officers stationed near these estates would be put on high alert. Night travel along forest routes to these estates would be regulated.

Ministry got around 1,500 comments, says Jayanthi Natarajan

A committee of experts will soon collate the comments received for the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report, said Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister for Environment and Forests. The Ministry had received around 1,500 comments for the panel’s report, Ms. Natarajan told The Hindu on Sunday. The 45-day deadline fixed by the Ministry for submitting comments to the report ended on July 5. The Ministry, while releasing the report in the public domain after holding it back for nine months, stated that it had not accepted the report.

The Red list of threatened species, prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has listed 132 species of plants and animals as Critically Endangered, the most threatened category, from India.

Plants seemed to be the most threatened life form with 60 species being listed as Critically Endangered and 141 as Endangered. The Critically Endangered list included 18 species of amphibians, 14 fishes and 10 mammals.

Climate change may prove beneficial to Kerala in select sectors notwithstanding its negative impacts, including sea-level rise.

The silver lining in the cloud is that it will increase the production of cocoa, coconut, and arecanut and positively influence the recruitment and catches of oil sardine during the post-south-west monsoon, says the second national communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The communication was prepared by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Kerala's plant biodiversity faces a severe threat from 89 alien invasive species, which were recorded in a survey commissioned by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board.

Of these, 19 present a high risk; many were found displacing and destroying a large number of native species, causing environmental and economic loss. Around 40 per cent of the varieties belonging to Brazil, Trinidad, Costa Rica, Chile, and Mexico were believed to have reached the State mostly through timber and food grain imports,

Undeterred by the criticism that the Athirappilly hydroelectric project may cause irrevocable environment damage, the Kerala State Electricity Board Undeterred by the criticism that the Athirappilly hydroelectric project may cause irrevocable environment damage, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) continues to bat for it.

The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), appointed by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), has recommended that the proposal should not be cleared citing its environmental impacts. The KSEB proposes a project with an installed capacity of 163 MW across the Chalakudy river.

With over 100 files related to Coastal Regulation Zone violations and requests for clearances pending, Kerala has approached the Centre for the reconstitution of the Kerala State Coastal Zone Manag

The National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries of Kerala have become vulnerable to encroachment and poaching as the cash-strapped parks are being forced to cut the protection and conservation activiti