News Snippets
• After requesting for more time, Turkmenistan signed the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea on November 8, 2003. The treaty was formally signed by
• After requesting for more time, Turkmenistan signed the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea on November 8, 2003. The treaty was formally signed by
A hydro electric project threatens Keibul Latnjao, the world's only floating sanctuary
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
As Jammu and Kashmir continues to reel under its worst floods in 60 years, which have stranded over 6 lakh people and killed about 200, the attention is slowly veering towards the reasons and causes behind
Rejecting official claims that migratory birds are responsible for the spread of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza (AI), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has warned of serious repercussions against wild bird populations and their habitats if people at the helm of affairs continued to issue statements that have no scientific grounds. In a statement, the WWF said: "Though there is some evidence to back the case that migratory wild birds can spread the H5N1 virus, they are not the main source of the virus, nor are they solely responsible for the spread of H5N1. No fully documented healthy migratory wild birds have tested positive for H5N1. In fact, it seems that with the degradation and destruction of lakes and wetlands, migratory birds are forced to feed and live in areas populated by domestic poultry (and humans), putting the wild birds at risk of infection.' Highlighting some scientific facts, the WWF said none of the samples collected by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) from between 300,000 to 350,000 wild birds across the world were found positive for H5N1. Likewise, a sampling of 5,000 water-birds after an outbreak in Nigeria during 2006 found no traces of the virus. After a comprehensive critical review of recent scientific literature, it has been concluded that the poultry trade
Scientists became aware of acid rain more than a century ago
>> The World Food Programme is working with the Ethiopian government to extend drought insurance. The US $230 million insurance will cover about 6.7 million people, which will be disbursed in case
Computers cannot prevent floods a lesson that the Internet savvy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is learning the hard way
The last gap in China's controversial Three Gorges Dam has been plugged, making the world's largest hydroelectric power project a reality. By 2009, the area will turn into a 560-kilometre lake, after
ARCHI RASTOGI it is said that locusts thrive in warm weather. Folk wisdom has it that the outbreaks of the oriental migratory locust (Locusta migratoria manilensis) follow either droughts or
It is time people established their relationship with water once again
The link between acid rain and avian waste
A few days ago, most of India reeled under drought. Cities thirsted for water. Karnataka s chief minister S M Krishna seeing water supply in his software capital reduced to once in three days
Draining of Lake Powell, formed after creation of a dam on the Colorado river, has become essential for restoring the ecology of the Grand Canyon and water management
<p>Bhutan will soon start implementing the largest Climate Change Adaptation project in the World funded through the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) which is administered by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with an investment of US $ 11,491,200 (Nu. 712,454,400). .Read more in this April 2014 edition of the Monthly Overview on State of Environment, Bhutan.</p>
The metro railway project has brought in its train a problem on another front: management of water. As digging proceeds on a daily basis, gallons of sub-soil water have to be extracted and disposed
Invading zebra mussels have colonised at least 2,000 sq km of soft sediment on the beds of the Great Lakes in the US, says a recent report. Till now, it was thought that these mussels could grow only
All might not be well in our wetlands, as indicated by -disturbing migratory trends of birds. "The disappearance of Siberian cranes is not the only cause for concern," says Ravi Aggarwal, member
Fed up with complaints about polluted water bodies and dirty open spaces along urban rivers and lakes, the municipality of Beijing launched an expensive, all-out renovation and cleaning project,
China s major hydroelectric power station on the shores of one of Tibet s most sacred lakes not only threatens the fragile ecology of the lake but may drain most of the water away within 20 years