Feature Article

In a setback to Nirma industries, the Supreme Court has asked the company to prove that the land allocated to it in Gujarat to set up a cement plant is wasteland. Otherwise the project should be scrapped, said a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia.

In this article, an attempt is made to answer the question: Can renewable energy sources eventually supply India’s electricity needs in the future? The estimates made here indicate that even with a frugal per capita electricity need of 2000 kWh/annum and a stabilized population of 1700 million by 2070, India would need to generate 3400 TWh/yr. As opposed to this, a systematic analysis of the information available on all the renewable energy sources indicates that the total potential is only around 1229 TWh/yr. It is concluded that in the future as fossil fuels are exhausted, renewable

East Africa is stalked by famine once more despite scientists' early warnings of disaster. Can the lessons be learned?

A string of technologies that could be used to engineer our environment to head off climate change are being field-tested.

Commercial and non-commercial plants face a variety of environmental stressors that often cannot be controlled. In this study, transgenic hybrid poplar (Populus × euramericana ‘Guariento’) harboring five effector genes (vgb, SacB, JERF36, BtCry3A and OC-I) were subjected to drought, salinity, waterlogging and insect stressors in greenhouse or laboratory conditions. Field trials were also conducted to investigate long-term effects of transgenic trees on insects and salt tolerance in the transformants.

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable.

The establishment rate of invasive alien insect species has been increasing worldwide during the past century. This trend has been widely attributed to increased rates of international trade and associated species introductions, but rarely linked to environmental change. To better understand and manage the bioinvasion process, it is crucial to understand the relationship between global warming and establishment rate of invasive alien species, especially for poikilothermic invaders such as insects.

In the midst of a dire need to feed millions of people facing hunger because of drought, Kenya's newly passed Biosafety Act allows for the importation of GM crops - but at what cost? As the most severe drought crisis in 60 years continues in East Africa, a contentious issue simmers under the surface, one that potentially puts the environmentalist agenda at stark odds with the dire need to save human lives.