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 …
A lot of debate over Indian science & technology (s&t;) is focused around funding. Currently, India spends about 0.8 per cent of its gross national product on s&t;, down from almost one per cent spent in 1992-93. This includes investments made by central and state governments as well as the …
The year 1995 saw a rise of 1.8 per cent in global energy consumption, the highest annual growth rate since 1989 and more than double the average rate of the past five years. The main boost came from a slackening in the pace of decline in the former Soviet Union, …
The number of people emigrating is rising steadily every year. All these movements derive from the failure of societies to meet the fundamental needs and aspirations of their citizens, for safe places to live, or for jobs. Poverty and environmental degradation create scarcities that push people out of their original …
Nearly 82 per cent of ozone depleting substances (ods) responsible for most of the harm done to the ozone layer are anthropogenic in nature, related to the West's consumptive lifestyle. If their unrestrained growth continues, the threat to life on earth will become enlarged. Stern measures to control the depletion …
In the last two decades, the number of persons affected by disasters increased at the rate of six per cent per year, which corresponds to three times the annual population growth. There were nearly 600 natural catastrophes in 1995 which claimed about 20,000 lives, displaced millions and resulted in total …
There are still many countries, mainly in Africa, where more than 30 per cent of women give birth to their first child before the age of 18. The maternal death rate is three times higher for teenage mothers than for women in the age group of 20-29. Teenage pregnancy also …
The toll of diseases across the world could be reduced to a great extent by using safe water, hygienic latrines and by washing hands before handling food. Staying healthy is, therefore, easier for the rich than the poor. In poorer communities, the potential for staying healthy is greater if clean …
India's economic reforms are making a heady progress. Since the announcement of the new economic policy, 31,196 Industrial Investment Intentions, including those for export oriented units, have been recorded, till July 1996, with the secretariat of industrial approvements under the ministry of industry. These intentions add up to Rs 6,371 …
The Indian Ocean is the only place where fish availability has not reduced, unlike all other oceans, which have seen a massive depletion of stocks due to vacuum fishing practices involving factory trawlers. But still, there are several problems. There is the feud between the huge joint-venture trawler operators and …
Although considerable progress has been made towards the complete eradication of polio by the year 2000, the fact remains that polio cannot be eliminated anywhere unless it is eliminated everywhere. Of the 213 countries under surveillence, 145 reported zero cases in 1993. There is no doubt that polio can become …
Transport is an essential human activity and has a critical role in social development. But the environmental costs of this energy-intensive sector are also critical. It generates 20 per cent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and has a significant impact on the surrounding eco-systems. While all modes of transport have …
The urban population is rapidly growing the world over. Cities draw migrants with the promise of higher living standards, but this does not necessarily translate into prosperity for all. Answers have to be worked out for water, sanitation and health problems. Within 10 years, more than half the people in …
The re-emergence of infectious diseases has become a matter of global concern; about 17 million of the 52 million deaths last year were classified as owing to infectious diseases. Changes in lifestyle and behaviour is an important factor in the emergence of some infectious diseases, particularly those that are sexually …
Industrial advancement has no doubt improved the standard of living of human beings, but in the process the crucial environmental balance established by nature over a millenium has been inadvertantly disturbed. The concentration and distribution pattern of metals within the ecosystem is especially important. Metals are a unique class of …
The origin of greenhouse gas emissions is an important issue in relation to the need for devising policy options to minimise potential global climate change and its impacts. The best known of the greenhouse gases is CO2, which is emitted into the atmosphere in large amounts -the equivalent of more …
In order to take crucial decisions on germplasm access and management, an honest accounting of the geopolitics of 'where does it come from' is needed. With 75 per cent of the ex situ collections, that is, resources preserved in laboratories and gene-banks, in the North, and 83 per cent of …
Travel and tourism is the world's largest industry, transporting more than 528 million people internationally, employing 211.7 million people, and generating US $322,000 million in receipts in 1994. And it is expanding fast. Its impact on the environment is evident. Lest environmental decline destroy the very resources - landscapes, wildlife, …
The future looks dim, literally. Over the next generation, electricity demand threatens to outstrip production capacity; The North and almost all central European nations will have to work against tough odds to meet their targets. Under most 'business as usual' projections, they would need at least US $100 billion per …
Ensuring food security for the future billions will tax the environment dearly. Already, one billion ha of arable land in the developing world is moderately to severely degraded, and another nine million ha more or less beyond redemption. Since agricultural land cannot be expanded, productivity is riding piggyback on increased …
