The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
Drinking water in some parts of northern Vietnam is contaminated with arsenic levels 50 times higher than the set standards, according to a recent study. Due to this, more than 11 million people are facing heath hazards, claims Michael Berg, research team's leader of the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental …
Groundwater levels below the Karnak temple complex situated in the town of Luxor have risen alarmingly. Experts say that this could result in the crumbling or sinking of the complex, which was built around 2,500 years ago. The groundwater that was measured at almost seven metres below the foundations 50 …
Steps must be taken immediately to prevent mass poisoning caused by arsenic contaminated well water in Bangladesh, warns a new report. Arsenic Crisis Today, Strategy for Tomorrow , the report by Tokyo-based UN University calls for a coordinated international response including educating people at risk. The World Health Organisation says …
A major US environmental group has filed a lawsuit in the Washington DC-based US courts of appeal against a government's decision to not introduce stringent limits for arsenic in drinking water. The Natural Resources Defence Council alleged that the US Environmental Protection Agency has violated laws by backing from its …
Initially involved in adult education and health activities, Jawan Lal took it as a challenge to transform degraded lands to productive assets in Barwa village for about 110 families. Jawan Lal says, "Even we realised the importance of water and afforestation early, but people were not ready to join and …
Concerned over the water level in the region of Suarashtra which had receeded from 15 metres in 1990 to 120-210 metres in 1998, Mansukh Bhai Suvagia, a 37-year-old government servant decided to initiate steps to tackle the problem. With the help of villagers, he launched a Lok Fund scheme and …
Manna Singh, a farmer by profession is the chairman of Sitapur project in Madhya Pradesh. Couple of years back, 46-year-old Singh was sent as a district representative to Anna Hazare for getting trained. In the year 1996, Union ministry of rural development supported the Sitapur project with a financial aid …
Laxmi Narayan joshi, watershed committee chairman of Saipur village, has been a source of inspiration to the villagers. The watershed work started in 1998-99. Medbandi, a stone embankment built on the lower side of the agriculture field on a hill slope to conserve soil and moisture and help create a …
Ram Karan Bhadana, a Gujjar is not involved in sheep raring as others, but is committed towards the development of the village. He is a well-known activist for development works in the village with a population of 2,000-2,500. He was actively involved in creating awareness, giving importance to tree and …
Sixty-year-old Devendra is the president of the Kedar Village Tank Farmers Society in Tamil Nadu. The society was formed in 1989 and there are around 217 members working with it from 13 different communities. The society operates and irrigates an area of approximately 119 hectares. The Centre for Water Resources, …
A lot has been written on India's vast and ancient experience in rainwater harvesting. But no concrete effort has been made to use these traditional innovations. There is no village in India which cannot meet its drinking water needs if it adopts the kundi technology developed by the people of …
for Gujarat's earthquake victims the future is parched. Amid the ruins of the state government's tall claims of putting in place a rehabilitation package, the state government has totally forgotten about the water storage facilities badly damaged by the earthquake. The result: Saurashtra and Kachhch will face a storage of …
the quality of Delhi's drinking water has become a controversial issue with officials of different government agencies making varied claims. The Delhi government, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi ( mcd ) and the Delhi Jal Board ( djb ) have different versions about a recent testing of Delhi's drinking water. …
Supercomputers have been used to design new chemicals with flypaper-like arsenic-trapping properties. The developers of the chemical hope to test the new material, called Specific Anion Nanoengineered Sorbents (SANS), at a planned city water-purification demonstration plant in Albuquerque, as well as in several smaller water systems in rural New Mexico …
Ground water levels in Kathmandu , Nepal's capital , are falling because of increasing industrialisation and urbanisation.This was stated in the State of Environment Nepal 2001report , which has been prepared by the government with the help of several international non-governmental organisations (NGOs).Studies prove that more than 50 percent of …
River Swat of Pakistan has been contaminated to such an extent that its waters are now unfit for drinking or for irrigation purposes. The North West Frontier Province government had formed a River Protection Cell in 1994 to protect Swat. But the cell has failed to achieve its objectives. Officials …
after cracking the whip on the Delhi government to clean up Delhi's air, the Supreme Court ( sc) has set its eyes on cleaning up the Yamuna. On April 10, 2001, the apex court asked the Delhi government to clean up the river by March 31, 2003. The bench comprising …
the us Environmental Protection Agency's (usepa) recent decision to withdraw drinking water regulations approved by the Clinton administration has sparked off strong reactions. The decision comes at a time when environmentalists are already peeved with us president George W Bush for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol. The announcement proposes to withdraw …
The European Commission (EC) will file a lawsuit against Germany in the European Court of Justice in a bid to get a German law amended. The German packaging regulation 1998, EC claims, is discriminatory and unfavourable for foreign mineral water producers. It exempts mineral water bottles from a recycling charge …
sewage and industrial wastewater have been treated and reused in India for agriculture for well over 100 years, and in industries for the last 30-40 years. In spite of this reuse, there is a great untapped potential if some other options are also considered. Groundwater recharge with freshwater, for instance, …
