All posts tagged: coral reefs

No good ground to interfere in Great Nicobar Holistic Development Project: NGT| India News

No good ground to interfere in Great Nicobar Holistic Development Project: NGT| India News

Published by Parlour News

Adequate safeguards have been provided in the conditions for the environmental clearance (EC) to the Great Nicobar Holistic Development Project, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ruled on Monday, underlining that there is no good ground for it to interfere. The NGT said adequate safeguards have been provided. (HT PHOTO) The project involves an international container transshipment terminal, an international airport, a power plant, and a township over an area of 166.10 sq km, of which 130.75 sq km is forest and 84.10 sq km tribal land. “We find that adequate safeguards have been provided in the EC conditions and in the first round of litigation the Tribunal had refused to interfere in the EC and remaining issues noted by the Tribunal in the first round of litigation have been dealt with by the High-Powered Committee and considering the strategic importance of the Project and taking into account the other relevant considerations, we do not find any good ground to interfere,” said NGT’s Adarsh Kumar Goel-headed eastern bench. Environmentalist Ashish Kothari appealed against the environment and forest …

Massive bleaching of corals in Lakshadweep, MoES tells Parliament | Latest News India

Massive bleaching of corals in Lakshadweep, MoES tells Parliament | Latest News India

Published by Parlour News

Around 84.6% of coral reefs in Lakshadweep experienced bleaching during 2023-24, the Ministry of Earth Sciences informed (MoES) Lok Sabha on Wednesday. 84.6% reefs were affected. (PTI) Minister of State (MoES) for Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh, in a response to a query raised by BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, said the Fourth Global Coral Bleaching Event (GCBE4) severely impacted regions such as Lakshadweep. “In India, the Fourth Global Coral Bleaching Event (GCBE4) has impacted regions such as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Gulf of Mannar, Lakshadweep, and Gulf of Kutch,” Singh said in his response. The minister was responding to a query raised by Rudy on whether GCBE4 affected coral reefs along the country’s coastline, the specific regions experiencing significant bleaching and the causes contributing to this event. Rudy also asked whether the Centre has undertaken any measures to map and monitor regions at risk and data on recent coral cover decline. Also Read | Climate, tourism threaten to bleed out Lakshadweep’s corals The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) said in April that the …

Scientists Discover World’s Largest Coral Discovered in Solomon Islands

Scientists Discover World’s Largest Coral Discovered in Solomon Islands

Published by Webster

A massive coral, thought to be the largest ever recorded, has been discovered by scientists in the Solomon Islands, drawing global attention to its size and environmental significance. The coral, which extends about 111 feet across and 104 feet in length, spans an area comparable to two basketball courts and can be seen from space. This discovery, made by a team from National Geographic’s Pristine Seas expedition in October, highlights the presence of previously unrecorded marine giants. A Hidden Giant in the Ocean Dr. Molly Timmers, the expedition’s lead scientist, noted that the coral appeared “like a shipwreck” from the water’s surface. Its sheer size was confirmed by underwater divers, who found the coral extending across the seafloor with undulating waves of brown, yellow, and blue hues. Estimated to be between 300 and 500 years old, the coral dwarfs the previous record-holder, a coral known as “Big Momma” in American Samoa. Pristine Seas founder Dr. Enric Sala compared the discovery to finding “the world’s tallest tree” and emphasized its importance in marine biodiversity research. Dr. …

NIO in Goa launches underwater vehicle, C-bot, to monitor coral reefs | Latest News India

Published by Parlour News

PANAJI: The Goa-headquartered National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has launched a coral monitoring autonomous underwater vehicle, Coral Reef Monitoring and Surveillance Robot, or C-bot, for long-term monitoring of coral reefs. The Coral Reef Monitoring and Surveillance Robot was launched on Sunday (X/CSIRNIOGoa) Dr N Kalaiselvi, director general of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said C-bot, which can reach depths of 200 metres, was their first step to building a capable underwater vehicle that can scan the depth of the Indian Ocean. Stay tuned for all the latest updates on Ram Mandir! Click here “We have plans to develop it further by means of which we will be able to do deep diving. So from 200 metres, we will aim for thousands of metres in the sea,” Dr Kalaiselvi told reporters at a briefing after the underwater vehicle’s launch on Sunday. “Because of climate change, coral bleaching is taking place. With different sensors, different cameras, it measures what the parameters are, and might help explain why the corals are dying the way they …