Nasaka's NAF river adventure
Bangladesh's river-based ethology, by dint of our geo-political position, is perpetually at the mercy of our neighbours. Although India in particular, with which Bangladesh shares 54 of the 57 common
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Teesta turns into dried up canal this winter
Being massively silted on the bed, the river Teesta has turned into a dried up canal at the present winter season causing serious threat to ecology as well as irrigation in cultivable land in
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Riverine forests fast disappearing
The Centre for Environment and Development (CEAD) said on Sunday that riverine forests were disappearing rapidly because of reduced flow of water, unchecked practice of illegally cutting down trees and encroachment upon forest lands. The CEAD office-bearers said in a statement that the entire world was advocating increase in forest cover to face the growing threat of climatic change but unfortunately in Pakistan, forests did not receive much attention. They said that forests were significant for the survival of humanity. In Sindh, forests covered only 2.5 per cent of the total land area and were entirely dependent on monsoon floods in riverine tract and canal water in mainland area, they said. According to recent reports, trees were disappearing due to shortage of irrigation water, arid climatic condition and illegal clearing of forest land, they said. The impact of deforestation included soil depletion, loss of soil fertility, reduction in recharge of aquifer, enhanced sedimentation, lowering of water table, loss of biodiversity and loss of ecosystem, they said. They said that the forests in the areas below Kotri Barrage were the worst affected where many had been cleared of any vegetation and turned virtually unproductive. They said that some time ago, many forests in Kachho area were cut down on the pretext of security fears while the root cause of law and order problem remained unaddressed even this day. They urged people of the area as well as civil society organisations to help protect forests and hoped that the Sindh Forest Department would ensure that all the encroachments were removed, existing forest area was protected and efforts were made to bring further area under forests. Trees helped control soil erosion, check run-off, reduce desiccation of crops, add favourable nutrients to soil, improve physical and chemical properties of soil and enhance rate of biological processes, the CEAD officials said.
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Evaluating the relative environmental impact of countries
<p>Environmental protection is critical to maintain ecosystem services essential for human well-being. It is important to be able to rank countries by their environmental impact so that poor performers as well as policy ‘models’ can be identified.
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Legal frameworks for REDD: design and implementation at the national level
This book builds on related experience of the IUCN Environmental Law Centre in the areas of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, Access and Benefit-Sharing
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Uttar Pradesh's terai experiences untimely fog
farms in the terai region of Uttar Pradesh were enveloped by fog this August. Fog is not unusual in this part of the country but it usually starts happening in winter, mostly in late December and
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Present tense, future uncertain
While the Supreme Court will sit to hear the appeals of various authorities on the CNG issue tomorrow, over 10000 buses and 15500 auto-rickshaws have yet to start operating on CNG -just two days
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Medha Patkar end fast
The noted environmentalist, Ms Medha Patkar, spearheading the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), today withdrew her 11-day-long indefinite hunger strike after specific assurances from Maharashtra
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Suit seeks protection for 750 miles of Arizona rivers
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service for its failure to protect 57 of Arizona's rivers and streams that have been identified as potential additions
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Japan May Invest $1.93 Bn In Climate Fund - Report
Japan is planning to invest up to $1.93 billion in an international fund aimed at encouraging the use of renewable energy technology in developing countries, the Nikkei financial daily said on Sunday. The fund, to be set up jointly with the United States and Britain, is expected be the largest ever of its type, with total investment of about 500 billion yen ($4.82 billion), the Nikkei said. By investing in technologies such as wind and solar power in less developed countries, participating governments hope to encourage private finance to follow suit, the newspaper said without identifying its sources. The British government last year announced 800 million pounds in support for the fund over three years, while the United States said this year it would provide $2 billion, also over three years, the Nikkei said. Spain and other European nations are considering participating, it said. Japan's finance ministry is likely to make an announcement on Tokyo's contribution at a meeting of G7 finance chiefs and central bank governors in Washington in April, the newspaper said. Japan, this year's host of the G8 summit of industrialised nations, is trying to take a lead on climate change and media reports say the government is planning a 16-nation leaders conference on the issue in parallel with G8. (Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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Ganvi hydel project opened
One more feather was added in the field of hydel generation, when Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal dedicated the 22.5 MW Ganvi hydel project to the people coiinciding with the
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Poland's gift to Jamnagar
As a mark of gratitude to a place that gave refuge to numerous polish survivors of the World War II, Poland has "gifted" Rs 2.4 crores to Jamnagar to help the city boost its drinking water supply.
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Kyoto in trouble
Russia may not ratify it. And even if it does, it s not going to do so anytime soon. That was the message, loud and clear, from the Russian president Vladimir Putin and his aides at the recent World Climate Change Conference held in Moscow, Russia, recent
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Overusing water
Here is the message of a recent piece of research: we are extracting too much water from rivers, streams and lakes. The implication is significant: unless there is enough water in the world s rivers to maintain freshwater ecosystems, many economies would
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Scientists to reconsider fuel efficiency standards in US
The US government's lead scientific advisory body said that it will reconsider 'The National Academy of Sciences' report,released in July, on automobile fuel efficiency after automakers objected that
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Rediscovering Antarctica
Scientists have begun their endea vour to find out whether Antarctica was covered with ice 34 million years ago. They are also eager to know if there was glaciation in Antarctica, causing global
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Water harvesting goes for a toss
One of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's much-hyped programmes-Rain Water Harvesting-has gone for a six in Hyderabad. The city which has about three lakh households has only 533 RWH
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Massive watershed project launched
The Karnataka State Government today formally launched its ambitious Rs 700-crore watershed development project, which s said to be the biggest ever watershed project in the country, under which one
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State to get WB aid for groundwater recharging
The World Bank has agreed in principle to provide a loan assistance of Rs 471 crore to Karnataka State to take up groundwater recharging programmes in 72 taluks, which have been identified as dark
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Ancient Egyptians used artificial limbs
The ancient Egyptians pioneered amputation and artificial limbs, according to German investigators who reconstructed the medical history of a middle-aged woman who died around 3,000 years