Latest news with #MinistryofEnvironment
JAMnews
2 hours ago
- Climate
- JAMnews
Fine for forest fires in Armenia: monitored by eco-patrol units
Fine for forest fires in Armenia Recently, several regions of Armenia have faced a heightened risk of wildfires. According to the hydrometeorology centre, this risk will remain over the next five days due to extremely high temperatures, reaching +38 to +40 degrees Celsius. Between January and June 2025 alone, 2,096 fires were recorded in Armenia, compared to 787 incidents during the same period last year. Fire service specialists state that 95% of fires are caused by human activity, with forested areas suffering the most significant damage. 'If a fire in a forested area is caused by a citizen's actions, the law provides for a fine of 200,000 drams [$525],' said Eduard Karapetyan, a representative of the eco-patrol service, which recently began operating under the Ministry of Environment. He emphasised that a fine would only be issued if it is proven that the fire resulted from careless handling of fire. Fourfold increase in recorded forest fires Between January and June 2024, only five forest fires were recorded in Armenia. This year, the number has risen to 20. At the same time, according to Bagrat Vardazaryan, deputy head of the rescue forces department, there has also been a notable increase in grassland fires outside forested areas. He notes growth both in the nationwide half-year statistics (2,096 cases this year compared to 787 last year) and in specific regions: 'For example, in the first half of this year, Ararat province recorded 386 fires, while in 2024 the number was 192 – a twofold increase. In Tavush province, there were 281 incidents this year compared to 72 last year – an almost fourfold rise.' Preventive measures being implemented on several fronts The eco-patrol service, which monitors green areas round the clock, is also involved in fire prevention and rapid response during outbreaks. According to Eduard Karapetyan, head of the eco-patrol service's department for analysing damage to flora and fauna, preventive efforts are being carried out in multiple directions. These include public engagement as well as technical upgrades to relevant services: 'In particular, the eco-patrol service has been equipped with firefighting gear. For instance, the Syunik regional division has received all-terrain vehicles fitted with a special system consisting of 500-litre water tanks and high-pressure pumps.' Karapetyan explains that these vehicles are especially necessary for extinguishing forest fires. Before their purchase, it was difficult for specialised equipment to reach the fire sites. The new all-terrain vehicles, equipped with modern systems, now allow fires to be extinguished from a distance of 40–50 metres. New system under development The eco-patrol service is currently developing a system for the early detection and warning of forest fires and fires in specially protected areas: 'It will include video cameras capable of detecting smoke sources up to 20 km away and transmitting the information to a control centre. Data on smoke and thermal conditions will also be collected by other devices. When there is sufficient reason for immediate action, an alert will be sent to the emergency service.' The eco-patrol service plans to complete the majority of this work by the end of the year. Compliance with fire safety regulations The Ministry of Environment reminds the public that adhering to fire safety regulations is mandatory for all citizens. 'If you are spending time in nature and wish to light a fire, it must be done only in designated areas. Afterwards, make sure the fire is fully extinguished and all accumulated waste is collected,' explains Eduard Karapetyan. He once again stresses that causing a forest fire carries a fine. The significant amount of the fine ($525) is justified by the fact that forest fires 'cause extensive damage to the ecosystem,' and restoring the affected areas is a complex and labour-intensive task. Follow us – Twitter | Facebook | Instagram Fine for forest fires in Armenia
4 hours ago
- Science
Scientists overturn hundreds of rocks to rediscover world's smallest-known snake
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- For nearly two decades, no one had spotted the world's smallest-known snake. Some scientists worried that maybe the Barbados threadsnake had become extinct, but one sunny morning, Connor Blades lifted a rock in a tiny forest in the eastern Caribbean island and held his breath. 'After a year of searching, you begin to get a little pessimistic,' said Blades, project officer with the Ministry of Environment in Barbados. The snake can fit comfortably on a coin, so it was able to elude scientists for almost 20 years. Too tiny to identify with the naked eye, Blades placed it in a small glass jar and added soil, substrate and leaf litter. Several hours later, in front of a microscope at the University of the West Indies, Blades looked at the specimen. It wriggled in the petri dish, making it nearly impossible to identify. 'It was a struggle,' Blades recalled, adding that he shot a video of the snake and finally identified it thanks to a still image. It had pale yellow dorsal lines running through its body, and its eyes were located on the side of its head. 'I tried to keep a level head,' Blades recalled, knowing that the Barbados threadsnake looks very much like a Brahminy blind snake, best known as the flower pot snake, which is a bit longer and has no dorsal lines. On Wednesday, the Re:wild conservation group, which is collaborating with the local environment ministry, announced the rediscovery of the Barbados threadsnake. 'Rediscovering one of our endemics on many levels is significant,' said Justin Springer, Caribbean program officer for Re:wild who helped rediscover the snake along with Blades. 'It reminds us that we still have something important left that plays an important role in our ecosystem.' The Barbados threadsnake has only been seen a handful of times since 1889. It was on a list of 4,800 plant, animal and fungi species that Re:wild described as 'lost to science.' The snake is blind, burrows in the ground, eats termites and ants and lays one single, slender egg. Fully grown, it measures up to four inches (10 centimeters). 'They're very cryptic,' Blades said. 'You can do a survey for a number of hours, and even if they are there, you may actually not see them.' But on March 20 at around 10:30 a.m., Blades and Springer surrounded a jack-in-the-box tree in central Barbados and started looking under rocks while the rest of the team began measuring the tree, whose distribution is very limited in Barbados. 'That's why the story is so exciting,' Springer said. 'It all happened around the same time.' S. Blair Hedges, a professor at Temple University and director of its center for biology, was the first to identify the Barbados threadsnake. Previously, it was mistakenly lumped in with another species. In 2008, Hedges' discovery was published in a scientific journal, with the snake baptized Tetracheilostoma carlae, in honor of his wife. 'I spent days searching for them,' Hedges recalled. 'Based on my observations and the hundreds of rocks, objects that I turned over looking for this thing without success, I do think it is a rare species.' That was June 2006, and there were only three other such specimens known at the time: two at a London museum and a third at a museum collection in California that was wrongly identified as being from Antigua instead of Barbados, Hedges said. Hedges said that he didn't realize he had collected a new species until he did a genetic analysis. 'The aha moment was in the laboratory,' he said, noting that the discovery established the Barbados threadsnake as the world's smallest-known snake. Hedges then became inundated for years with letters, photographs and emails from people thinking they had found more Barbados threadsnakes. Some of the pictures were of earthworms, he recalled. 'It was literally years of distraction,' he said. Scientists hope the rediscovery means that the Barbados threadsnake could become a champion for the protection of wildlife habitat. A lot of endemic species on the tiny island have gone extinct, including the Barbados racer, the Barbados skink and a particular species of cave shrimp. 'I hope they can get some interest in protecting it,' Hedges said. 'Barbados is kind of unique in the Caribbean for a bad reason: it has the least amount of original forest, outside of Haiti.'
Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Science
- Winnipeg Free Press
Scientists in Barbados overturn hundreds of rocks to rediscover world's smallest-known snake
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — For nearly two decades, no one had spotted the world's smallest-known snake. Some scientists worried that maybe the Barbados threadsnake had become extinct, but one sunny morning, Connor Blades lifted a rock in a tiny forest in the eastern Caribbean island and held his breath. 'After a year of searching, you begin to get a little pessimistic,' said Blades, project officer with the Ministry of Environment in Barbados. The snake can fit comfortably on a coin, so it was able to elude scientists for almost 20 years. Too tiny to identify with the naked eye, Blades placed it in a small glass jar and added soil, substrate and leaf litter. Several hours later, in front of a microscope at the University of the West Indies, Blades looked at the specimen. It wriggled in the petri dish, making it nearly impossible to identify. 'It was a struggle,' Blades recalled, adding that he shot a video of the snake and finally identified it thanks to a still image. It had pale yellow dorsal lines running through its body, and its eyes were located on the side of its head. 'I tried to keep a level head,' Blades recalled, knowing that the Barbados threadsnake looks very much like a Brahminy blind snake, best known as the flower pot snake, which is a bit longer and has no dorsal lines. On Wednesday, the Re:wild conservation group, which is collaborating with the local environment ministry, announced the rediscovery of the Barbados threadsnake. 'Rediscovering one of our endemics on many levels is significant,' said Justin Springer, Caribbean program officer for Re:wild who helped rediscover the snake along with Blades. 'It reminds us that we still have something important left that plays an important role in our ecosystem.' The Barbados threadsnake has only been seen a handful of times since 1889. It was on a list of 4,800 plant, animal and fungi species that Re:wild described as 'lost to science.' The snake is blind, burrows in the ground, eats termites and ants and lays one single, slender egg. Fully grown, it measures up to four inches (10 centimeters). 'They're very cryptic,' Blades said. 'You can do a survey for a number of hours, and even if they are there, you may actually not see them.' But on March 20 at around 10:30 a.m., Blades and Springer surrounded a jack-in-the-box tree in central Barbados and started looking under rocks while the rest of the team began measuring the tree, whose distribution is very limited in Barbados. 'That's why the story is so exciting,' Springer said. 'It all happened around the same time.' S. Blair Hedges, a professor at Temple University and director of its center for biology, was the first to identify the Barbados threadsnake. Previously, it was mistakenly lumped in with another species. In 2008, Hedges' discovery was published in a scientific journal, with the snake baptized Tetracheilostoma carlae, in honor of his wife. 'I spent days searching for them,' Hedges recalled. 'Based on my observations and the hundreds of rocks, objects that I turned over looking for this thing without success, I do think it is a rare species.' That was June 2006, and there were only three other such specimens known at the time: two at a London museum and a third at a museum collection in California that was wrongly identified as being from Antigua instead of Barbados, Hedges said. Hedges said that he didn't realize he had collected a new species until he did a genetic analysis. 'The aha moment was in the laboratory,' he said, noting that the discovery established the Barbados threadsnake as the world's smallest-known snake. Hedges then became inundated for years with letters, photographs and emails from people thinking they had found more Barbados threadsnakes. Some of the pictures were of earthworms, he recalled. 'It was literally years of distraction,' he said. Scientists hope the rediscovery means that the Barbados threadsnake could become a champion for the protection of wildlife habitat. A lot of endemic species on the tiny island have gone extinct, including the Barbados racer, the Barbados skink and a particular species of cave shrimp. 'I hope they can get some interest in protecting it,' Hedges said. 'Barbados is kind of unique in the Caribbean for a bad reason: it has the least amount of original forest, outside of Haiti.'
CairoScene
11 hours ago
- Business
- CairoScene
Saudi Arabia Leads Globally in Water Safety Standards
Saudi Arabia's water safety initiatives have led to a 17% drop in drowning deaths and saved over SAR 800 million in economic burden, positioning the Kingdom as a global leader in prevention. Saudi Arabia has ranked first globally in water safety and drowning prevention standards, following the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy. The achievement comes in the wake of the adoption of the National Policy for Drowning Prevention, which has led to a 17% reduction in drowning deaths across the Kingdom. The policy was enacted through 12 integrated national initiatives developed by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture. These initiatives align with broader preventive frameworks and strategic investments in national programs designed to enhance public health and safety. In addition to saving lives, the measures are estimated to have prevented over SAR 800 million in economic losses, underscoring the societal and financial impact of the country's water safety efforts. Saudi Arabia's approach is grounded in both domestic legislation and international agreements, with best global practices adapted to reflect the Kingdom's specific environmental and geographic context. A key component of the strategy is the creation of a sustainable and effective national system for water safety.
New Indian Express
16 hours ago
- Health
- New Indian Express
City's PM10 levels drop 12% in seven years
CHENNAI: Among the four cities – Chennai, Tiruchy, Madurai and Thoothukudi – in Tamil Nadu that are covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), the capital city recorded a modest PM10 reduction, while Thoothukudi recorded the sharpest reduction in the seven year period between 2017-18 and 2024-25 According to the data presented by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the Lok Sabha, the average concentration of PM10 levels in Chennai dropped by 12.1 % from 66 µg/m3 in 2017-18 to 58 µg/m3 in 2024-25. Thoothukudi, meanwhile, recorded a 54.5% reduction with the PM10 levels dropping from 123 µg/m3 in 2017-2018 to 56 µg/m in 2024-2025. The average concentration of PM10 levels in Madurai and Tiruchy dropped from 88 and 72 in 2017-18 to 57 and 61 in 2024-25 respectively. Meanwhile, Chennai fared poorly in terms of drop in PM10 levels compared to other metropolitan cities like Mumbai (44%), Kolkata (37%), and even Delhi (15.8%). However, in terms of the actual average concentration of PM10 levels recorded, Chennai with 58 µg/m3, fared far better than Mumbai (90), Kolkata (92), and Delhi (203). Although Chennai is now closer to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of 60 µg/m3, experts say the progress is incremental and insufficient given the scale of urbanisation, traffic, and construction activity. 'The figures may look acceptable on paper, but the health impact remains tangible. We continue to see rising respiratory cases in urban centres like Chennai,' a senior pulmonologist at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital told TNIE.
