In 2023, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded a total of 399 disasters related to natural hazards. These events resulted in 86,473 fatalities and affected 93.1 million people. The economic losses amounted to US$202.7 billion. The 2023 earthquake in Türkiye and the Syrian Arab Republic was the most catastrophic event …
WHILE attending the Stockholm Water Symposium a few years ago, my colleague, Anil Agarwal, and I were invited to a banquet by the king of Sweden. But instead of dining in splendour we were checking out toilets in some remote parts of the city. I was not too convinced of …
india has again shown its willingness to be led by the West to commit euthanasia. It has adopted the draft technical guidelines for managing plastic waste prepared by the technical working group of the Basel Convention on January 14-15, 2002, in Geneva. About 100 countries, all signatories to the Basel …
Unmasking the dragon Two and three wheeler population is exploding in Asia. The health implications are scary: they emit dangerous pollutants that have gone unnoticed till now ASIANS are riding high on dragons that they cannot get off. The dragons are small but far too many. Consider this: About 85 …
PEOPLE are the best managers of biodiversity. This statement succinctly summed up a conference organised recently at the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) in Bhopal. It is also the tenor on which the Madhya Pradesh government's decision is premised, allowing villagers around the Tawa reservoir to retain their fishing …
The connection is unmistakable. All the top performers in the ratings are also those making huge profits. Those at the bottom are about to close shop. Maruti Udyog Ltd and Hero Honda Motors India Ltd, both in the top 10, are raking in millions, while Bajaj Tempo Limited and Hero …
Coal mining is one of the core industries that contribute to the economic development of a country but deteriorate the environment. Being the primary source of energy coal has become essential to meet the energy demand of a country. It is excavated by both opencast and underground mining methods and …
the oil industry held its annual jamboree, Petrotech in January 2001, in New Delhi. The conference focussed on the technology used for refining fuel. Little time was spent discussing the role of fuel quality in reducing emissions. Immediately after, a workshop on
Kolleru Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake in the districts of East and West Godavari of Andhra Pradesh. The major population centres in the Kolleru Lake region are the 148 villages of which 50 bed villages and 98 belt villages. All bed and belt villages in lake region have …
A new scientific method for forecasting urban air pollution in China has been lauded by a government-backed science committee comprising nine senior scientists. The method, considered a major breakthrough, combines numeric and statistical forecas-ting based on the spot observations. In its appraisal report, the committee stated: "It is the most …
The birth of chaos Measures to control floods have backfired in Bihar. Flood related damages and flood prone areas have only increased since independence, and so has corruption. The two are closely related I n many ways the state of Bihar is unique. It is resource rich, but the people …
Models of Plio-Pleistocene hominid behavioral ecology often emphasize competition with large carnivores. This paper describes competition between modern humans and large carnivores in rural Uganda, including active, confrontational scavenging of carnivore kills by humans and carnivore attacks on humans. Information gathered from Ugandan Game Department archives (1923
industrial disasters continue to claim human lives in India. Since the Bhopal tragedy, India has witnessed over 119 industrial disasters that have claimed over 3,000 lives across the country. Data prepared by the ministry of environment and forests show that all major disasters took place between 1985 and 1997. The …
China has found its biggest threat yet. Pollution. With 178,000 annual deaths being attributed to urban pollution, the nation's leaders have become keenly sensitive to the issue and going by the rhetoric and new regulations, are indeed concerned about the problem. The blood-lead levels in Chinese children are 80 per …
international smuggling of chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs) - gases used as a coolants in refrigerators and air-conditioners that lead to global warming - are generating a lot of heat in political circles. September 16, 1997 marked the 10th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, a path-breaking global agreement to phase out cfcs after …
global population growth is slowing down contrary to the expectations of the propagators of demographic disaster, says a study published in the British science journal Nature . The study shows that the world's population will not double in the next century. Population will increase from 580 crore at present to …
By the end of the century, China will emerge as a society comprising aged people. The number of people aged 65 and above is rapidly increasing in China reflecting a change in the age structure of the population, according to a recent nationwide sample survey. The survey, based on one …
A prototype solar device that produces enough hot air from the sun's rays to drive the turbines of a 50 kw power station has brought the prospect of cheap, solar-generated electricity a step closer. The solar energy collector has been successfully tested by Israeli researchers at the Weizmann Institute of …
latest figures released by the health department of China show that deaths due to air pollution are increasing every year. Nearly 1,000 more people died of respiratory diseases in 1995 than in the early '90s as air pollution worsened in the country. Death figures rose from 5,238 in 1994 to …
Statistics and studies on mining in Goa are rare, few and far between... for obvious reasons, because the private mine- owners form a powerful interest group in the state, which most politicians are wary of disturbing. One authoritative study, entitled Report of the Task-Force of the Eco- Development Plan for …
