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 …
The government owns the forest. It also owns the statistics on forests. Government sources sporadically throw up reams of information related to forests, which is often difficult to decipher. But now a group of independent researchers has decided to make people understand the country’s forest facts better. They have used …
On May 18, 2004, when governments of 192 World Health Organization (WHO) member countries gather at Geneva for the world health assembly, one Mrs Sharma in one town, Jabalpur perhaps, will be making her way purposefully to the new swanky fast food joint in Sadar Bazar. As she delightfully feeds …
WHO has time and again said that the strategy is based on scientific evidence, successful campaigns against NCDs in several countries and on recommendations from health and nutrition experts from across the globe. But the sugar and food industry and their lobbyists have tried to discredit the strategy by saying …
Obesity has become a worldwide concern because people in each and every nation are falling prey to it. WHO defines obesity as a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30 kg/m2 and overweight as a BMI of at least 25 kg/m2 (BMI is calculated by weight in kg divided …
function map() { var popurl="image/20040515/60-map.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=475,height=300,scrollbars=yes") } • As the world moves from the International Year of Freshwater (2003) to the UN Decade of Freshwater (2005-2015), two billion people in over 40 nations face freshwater shortage (see map) • 2.5 per cent of Earth's water is freshwater. Less than one …
Struggling with non-communicable diseases, the WHO and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) set up a study group in January 2002 to discuss the problem with health and agriculture experts. The result was TRS 916, a technical report. It says that calories from sugar should form 10 per cent of the …
a research paper in Nature highlights how treacherously slippery is the ground where ecological statistics and wildlife conservation are forced together. The paper,
A clutch of factors, including skyrocketing crude oil prices and the ensuing presidential election, have propelled the issue of fuel economy of vehicles to the foreground in the us. While the United States Environmental Protection Agency (usepa) appears to be in reverse gear on the subject, the country's presidential candidates …
In the last week of February this year, the Election Commission office in Delhi sent an urgent request for 30 tonnes of lac for use as sealant during the coming general elections. The request sent officials in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand
the more one reads about Bt cotton in India, the more confusing the issue gets. The latest in a series of claims and counterclaims is a survey of Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (mmb), which till recently was the only company that could sell genetically modified (gm) seeds in India. The survey …
You rightly suggest that the Protected Areas (PAs) at present do not cover much of the biodiversity that survives around the tropics. Yet, would the area that needs to be brought under the PA regime be disproportionately high to cover the species with small ranges sizes or high degree of …
• World's household consumption expenditure was US $20 trillion in 2000, up from US $4.8 trillion in 1960. Some of the increase was because of population growth, but much of it was driven by rising incomes • The consumption frenzy led to unsustainable use of natural resources. Between 1960 and …
• Globalisation has drawn millions of women into paid employment across developing countries, but they are denied their fair share of benefits, says Oxfam gb's latest research in 12 countries • Women are working at high speed for low wages in unhealthy conditions. They are forced to put in long …
The impending Lok Sabha and state assembly polls have brought a brief respite to Orissa's 2 lakh-odd traditional fisherfolk who eke a living off Chilika lake. For, electoral compulsions have forced political parties to shelve the controversial Chilika Fishing Regulatory Bill, 2002, which seeks to grant 30 per cent fishing …
up to 68 per cent of adolescents in India use dental products containing tobacco, despite the 1992 amendment to India’s Drugs and Cosmetics Act barring the use of tobacco in tooth-care products. This is the finding of a survey conducted by D N Sinha of Patna-based School of Preventive Oncology, …
The first comprehensive report on the economic value of wetlands warns that resources and services amounting to us $70 billion per year will be in danger if the world’s swamps and marshes are not managed in a sustainable manner. “This figure is important, as wetlands are often perceived to have …
70 years ago, a species called the yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes) turned up at the Christmas Islands off Australia, perhaps stuck to a piece of timber. For a long time, it remained dormant. Then in the mid 1990s, its population began to explode. Yellow crazy ants began to form …
