Two automotive giants have entered into a five-year collaboration to speed up the development of electric, hybrid electric and fuel cell technologies in order to make them widely available and accepted by the public."This agreement could define the future of the automobile," said General Motors vice chairman Harry Pearce and Toyota executive vice president Akihiro Wada.

The companies have identified more than a dozen advanced vehicle and system projects potentially involving hundreds of engineers that will be researched together. The agreement calls for development of: A common set of electric traction and control components for future battery electric, hybrid electric and fuel cell electric vehicles, batteries and battery test procedures, vehicle safety requirements and continued work on improved inductive charging systems for battery electric vehicles.

Cleaner police car

New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir and New York PowerAuthority chairman and chief executive officer CD "Rapp" Rappleyea will dedicate NYPA's environmentally clean fuel cell power plant at the Central Park police station soon.

The fuel cell will cut emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants to insignificant levels by producing electricity through a chemical reaction, rather than combustion. The fuel cell, painted "Central Park green," will supply all the station's power and will charge electric vehicles for police use.

Tigers face the worst-ever crisis

Tigers are facing the worst ever crisis in the 25th year of India's Project Tiger due to lack of political will, according to the latest report published by the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).Poaching for international trade and exploitation of the forests were not only pushing the tiger towards extinction, but is also threatening the security of India's forests, water resources and people, who depend on them, it said and reiterated that ``one tiger is lost in India everyday''.EIA, in its report, has identified the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh as one of the most critical areas for the survival of tigers. As home to over 30 per cent of the Indian population of tigers, believed to be around 3,000, MP is accountable for around 15 to 20 per cent of the world's total tiger population estimated between 5,000 and 7,000, the report said.The self-declared `tiger state' boast five Project Tiger reserves, including the area immortalised by Kipling, Kanha Tiger Reserve, and a further 39 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries covering about 3.7 per cent of the geographic area of the state, although over half of the states' tigers were outside of these protected areas, EIA pointed out.

Setting up of various organisations such as Tiger State Committee and Tiger Cell in 1994 and the Tiger State Foundation Society in 1997 have proven to be nothing more than another of government's broken promises, EIA claimed and added that of these three, only the last one was stillfunctioning.

Caprivi wildlife threatened

Apart from elephant, rhino, hippo, crocodile, wild dog, lion, leopard, cheetah and other predators, it was also the habitat for 22 species of hoofed mammals, including giraffe, eland, roan, sable, buffalo, blue wildebeest, impala and kudu.

Today numbers of all these species have decreased while some have disappeared altogether, mostly due to uncontrolled hunting and the loss of habitat. The black rhino, for instance, is now extinct in the Caprivi, while giraffe and wildebeest are no longer found in eastern Caprivi.

Large numbers of other species such as buffalo, eland, roan, sable and kudu have also all but disappeared.

In the past, wildlife played an important role in indigenous African people's cultural heritage since both wild animals and plants made significant contributions to their traditional economies.

This, however, changed during the colonial era when elitist and protectionist nature conservation policies resulted in the alienation ofAfrican people from wildlife, while also creating hostility to conservation authorities.

--Agencies