Environment

Biocultural Diversity of the Endemic ‘Wild Jack Tree’ on the Malabar Coast of South India

Artocarpus hirsutus Lam. is an endemic tree species of the southern Western Ghats of Peninsular India. It is popularly known as the ‘wild jack tree”. Several attributes in art, culture and socio-economic civilization among the folk communities in Kerala state (Malabar coast) distinguish the tree in the history of Indian civilization. Most of the traditional uses and indigenous know-how earlier referred to this species are vanishing. This article discusses various aspects of the popular wild jack tree of the Malabar coast and its vanishing indigenous biocultural diversity among the folk communities of the region. Access the full report here.

India’s Forestry Sink Assessment A technical report illustrating India’s Forest and Tree Cover and its contribution as a Carbon sink. The entire paper can be assessed at http://www.envfor.nic.in/mef/Technical_Paper.pdf

Carbon Disclosure Project Report 2008 – India Carbon Disclosure Project is an independent not-for-profit organization which works with shareholders and corporations to disclose climate change related issues of major corporations. The second Carbon Disclosure Project Report(first one was in 2007)  is a joint venture between World Wildlife Fund, CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, and Carbon Disclosure Project.  Carbon Disclosure Project encourages voluntary disclosure of carbon emissions by various companies.  According to the 2008 Report, 61 companies from 17 sectors provided information about their carbon emissions compared to 39 companies providing information in 2007.  Disclosed information include  amount of green house emissions,  and energy consumption. Report can be assessed at http://assets.wwfindia.org/downloads/cdp_report_2008_india_200_low.pdf