The Senate of Brazil approved Legislation to Preserve Forests

The Senate of Brazil on 7 December 2011 approved the bill that reforms rules on the amount of land farmers must preserve as forest. Brazilian senators voted by 59 to seven to approve the legislation.


The Key Features of the Bill
• The forest alongside rivers and lakes can be counted by farmers on their land as part of their conserved area. It reduces the total amount of land they need to safeguard or reforest.
• The bill allowed agriculture closer to environmentally fragile areas.
• The bill suspended fines for land cleared illegally before 2008 if farmers sign up to replant trees over the next 20 years.


 Although Brazil needs land for food production, environmentalists warn of increased Amazon destruction. Latest data show tree clearance at its lowest since 1988. As per the data released, there had been an 11% drop in the amount of rainforest cleared between August 2010 and July 2011 compared with the year 2010.

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Finance Ministry relaxed Norms for Foreign Institutional Investments in Infrastructure Space

The finance ministry on 12 September 2011 relaxed the norms for foreign institutional investments (FII) in the infrastructure space by reducing the residual maturity and lock-in periods for investments in listed and unlisted bonds.

As per the new norms, FIIs were allowed to invest up to $5 billion in long-term infrastructure bonds having an initial maturity of five years and a residual maturity of one year compared to five years residual maturity before. FIIs were permitted to invest a maximum of $17 billion in long-term infrastructure bonds of an equivalent initial maturity but with a residual maturity period of three years compared to five years before. While the lock-in period for the $5 billion investment window was cut down from three years to one year, it will remain three years for the $17 billion investment.

The finance ministry had created a USD 3 billion window 9 August  2011 from the overall USD 25 billion limit. Qualified foreign investors (QFIs) were permitted to subscribe to debt schemes pertaining to infrastructure sector. $3 billion will continue to remain open to qualified foreign investors (QFIs) for investing in mutual fund debt schemes that invest in infrastructure sector.

The government had in May 2011 raised the FII investment limit to $25 billion for investments in listed and unlisted bonds from $5 billion before. The maturity period for these investments had been set at a minimum of five years and the lock-in period for three years. The scheme had been conceived to open new channels of funding for the infrastructure sector while deepening the corporate bond market. However the response to the scheme was founf to be tipid. The above changes were therefore introduced after consulting the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

The new norms are expected to kick-start FII flows into the long-term corporate bonds and facilitate funding of infrastructure projects. Despite the $25 billion ceiling, only $109 million entered the market through this route as on 31 August 2011.

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India and Turkey Agreed for Future Cooperation in Coal Related Areas

India and Turkey on 12 September 2011 agreed for future cooperation in coal related areas during the meeting between Sriprakash Jaiswal, Minister of Coal, Government of India and Taner Yildiz, Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, government of Turkey. The meeting took place at Istanbul, Turkey on the sidelines of the 22nd World Mining Congress inaugural session.

India and Turkey discussed about the energy situation in the two countries, particularly in the field of coal mining. India offered technical cooperation to develop coal and lignite deposits and coal washing in Turkey. Turkey is planning to set up some 15000 MW coal based power generation plants and requested Indian companies to participate in the tenders.

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Scientists Found 2 New Species of Fish in Arunachal Pradesh

Scientists at the GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development discovered two new species of fish in rivers of Arunachal Pradesh. The two new species of catfish are Erethistoides Senkhiensis and Glyptothorax Dikrongensis. The new species of fish were found at Senkhi stream and Dikrong River in Papum Pare district.

The new species which were named after their Arunachalee sources are ample proof of the rich flora and fauna of Arunachal Pradesh. Besides publishing about the discovery of Balitora brucei, Glyptothorax telchitta and Pseudolaguvia shawi, 88 species of freshwater fishes have been assessed and evaluated by the institute for the Red Data Book for International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

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A New Frog Species Discovered in Arunachal Pradesh

A survey conducted as part of Eagle Nest Biodiversity Project with support of the state forest department discovered a new frog species in Eagle Nest Wildlife sanctuary at Sessa in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.  The frog was named Bompu after the locality in the sanctuary where it was found. The frog is native to the forest streams at an altitude of 2000 metres and lives under leaf litter and rotting logs.

The frog belongs to the family Megophrydae and the genus Leptobrachium. Only 28 members of this genus are known worldwide and most of them are found in Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, China and Vietnam. This discovery is important because only two other members of the genus are known from India.

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