Feature Article

Fishermen risk life and limb to get their catch. Helping them assert their rights is the indomitable Mohammed Ali Shah, chairperson of the Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum and a member of the fishing community. "We educate fishermen about their rights,' he says. "We tell them about the importance of their vote. Without struggle, nobody can achieve their rights.' The World Forum of Fisher Peoples, an international organisation, has ranked the Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum as the largest and most exemplary in the world. April 2008

How did South Asian societies rebuild their economies following natural disasters?

In India, as elsewhere, protected areas (PAs) have permanent resident populations who are historically dependent on forest resources for their livelihood. The Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR), in the northern part of West Bengal, is one such reserve forest where villagers have been residing for more than a 100 years.

All the Devataas (environmental powers) of Hindu mythology are broadly classified into five groups, popularly known as Pancha Devataa; the single iconic representative of each group are Ganesh, Soorya, Vishnu, Ssiva and Durgaa.

The authhor has explored the impact of increased responsibility for water management and decision-making in the communes within Madagascar's southern district of Ambovombe- Androy. Ambovombe-Androy is a semi-arid district that comprises 17 communes with marked levels of poverty. Limited water supply, extreme demand, and predatory operators drive water prices up to unaffordable levels.

The study was conducted to assess the physico-chemical and bacteriological quality of stored rain water in the ferrocement tanks of Alappuzha District, Kerala. Representative water samples were collected on random basis from ten stations with rain water harvesting facility during the periods January 2006 and April 2006.

South African rural coastal communities have utilised mangrove products for generations. However, the factors determining use are poorly understood and utilisation is rarely acknowledged in natural resource management.

Forests are extensively used by rural people for subsistence in the tropics. Biomass extraction (like grazing, fuelwood collection and collection of non-timber forest produce) is arguably the most widespread form of anthropogenic pressure in developing countries like India. Persistent extraction may alter forest structure and composition, which in turn may affect the resident forest fauna.

Anthropogenic fires in Indian forests probably date back to the arrival of the first people on the Indian subcontinent. Fires were used to clear areas for habitation, and quite likely, to facilitate hunting. People continue to use fires today for several reasons. Very frequent fires can result in soil degradation.

In 2004, the government of Ethiopia moved 500 people out of the Nech Sar National Park in the south of the country, before handing it over to be managed by the Dutch NGO, African Parks. The following year, African Parks signed another contract to manage the Omo National Park. The issue of evictions in these parks quickly became the subject of intense lobbying by international human rights NGOs.