<p>This new report highlights the potential benefits of adopting System of Rice Intensification (SRI) type practices in countries including India. Says that significance of SRI lies not only in enabling increased yields with less water, but in the basket of associated social and environmental benefits. It is based on the experiences of Africare, Oxfam America and WWF in African Sahel, Southeast Asia, and India.</p>
This article reviewed on agricultural intensification from livelihood and environment perspectives in mid-hills of Nepal. Agricultural intensification has provided improved economy, food security, employment
London: The fragile marine ecosystems of Antarctica are facing a growing risk from icebergs floating freely in coastal waters due to global warming, a research has suggested. A group of scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has found that while iceberg scour is a natural phenomenon, the rate of destruction is increasing as a warmer climate shrinks the winter sea ice that would otherwise lock the bergs in. "The whole balance of the ecosystem could be affected, with consequences that are very difficult to predict,' said Dan Smale, who led the study.
Chandigarh: The cold desert of Lahaul and Spiti, till now known to supply high quality potatoes and peas to the country when the crop in most parts is almost over, is slowly capturing the market with its apples. In its nascent stage yet, apples from this part of Himachal have already wrested a market share, which is growing with each passing year.
The eastern Indian state of Orissa will turn to a mass of barren and desert like lands in another 150 years, warned Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO). Many parts of Orissa, specifically the western and southern uplands, have developed symptoms of desertification; they have further degraded from drought prone to desert prone areas.
Livestock production has become a major envioronmental management challenge. When its full commodity chain is included, the sector contributes to global warming, causes
This paper presents FAO’s work on energy in relation to specific components of the agrifood chain. It complements two recent publications, Energy-Smart Food for People and Climate Issues Paper and the
The failure of atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) forced by prescribed SST to simulate and predict the interannual variability of Indian/Asian monsoon has been widely attributed to their inability
The UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative aims to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030. Efficient buildings are vital to achieving sustainable development because they
Current UN projections indicate that world population could increase by 2.25 billion people from today’s levels, reaching 9.15 billion by 2050. At the global level, agricultural production and consumption
Previous studies have found that atmospheric brown clouds partially offset the warming effects of greenhouse gases. This finding suggests a tradeoff between the impacts of reducing emissions of aerosols and greenhouse gases.
BEIJING'S unveiling of drastic measures, including a two-month freeze on all construction, is an admission that despite spending about $A18.3 billion in the past decade to reduce smog, the Chinese capital's air quality remains a formidable challenge. The tacit admission comes as a University of California report to be published next month suggests that China's carbon dioxide emissions have been underestimated and China probably overtook the US as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2006-07.
if airlines from the us don't pay up for their carbon dioxide emissions, they have to face curbs in Europe. On March 14, the eu's transport commissioner Jacques Barrot issued an ultimatum to
Perween Riaz, a housemaid and mother of five, moved into her two-room abode in Neelam Colony, one of several informal settlements in Karachi, in Sindh province, a year ago. But since she migrated from
Water scarcity affects all social and economic sectors and threatens the sustainability of the natural resource base. In addressing the issue of water scarcity, an inter-sectoral and multidisciplinary approach needs to be taken to maximize the economic and social welfare benefits of new policies. It is also essential to take into account development, supply, use and demand, and to place the emphasis on people, their livelihood and the ecosystems that support them.
At the start of the year, the US energy industry was looking to Congress and the Obama administration to set the tone for the future of energy in America with a swift passage of the Waxman-Markey climate bill. But political posturing and infighting has meant there has yet to be any significant movement on that front.
At a recent dinner party during the depth of gloom and turmoil in the US and European auto industries, a senior oil executive turned to his counterpart at a large car manufacturing company. The oil man suggested that it was his own industry that should be fighting for its survival, rather than the carmakers.
A technology to bury underground the greenhouse gas emissions produced from burning coal must be ready for global deployment by 2017-2019, U.S. energy secretary Steven Chu said on Monday. Coal is the world's single biggest source of carbon emissions, at 40 percent. Other sources included burning oil and natural gas, and deforestation and the production of cement.
A harried parent called a few weeks ago. She wanted to know if pollution levels in Delhi were bad and, if so, how bad. The answer was simple and obvious. But why did she need to know that? Her daughter’s prestigious school (which I shall leave unnamed) had sent a circular to parents saying the school authorities planned to shift to air-conditioned buses because they were worried about air pollution. She wanted to know if this was the right decision. My answer changed. The fact is that pollution levels are high and we need to find ways to bring them under control. But this does not mean the rich can find ways to avoid breathing the air so as to keep pollution at bay.
More lucrative British incentives to produce energy from rotting and gasified waste are driving a push to biogas, following a wider European trend. More farmers aim to use crop waste to generate electricity from burning biogas while big business is considering the same for industrial waste, after Britain introduced more generous support in April.
