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 …
This paper compares the experiences of India and Vietnam in dietary diversity and undernourishment from the early 1990s to the middle of the first decade of the new millennium. Feb 23-29, 2008
The gold medal for new wind power production in 2007 goes to the United States. More than 5,200 megawatts of capacity were installed there, a new world record. New factories are to ensure further growth, provided the promotion criteria are extended in time.
Around the world as countries are struggling to arrive at an effective regulatory regime to control the discharge of industrial effluents into their ecosystems, Indian economy holds a double edged sword of economic growth and ecosystem collapse. This situation if mishandled can cause irreparable ecological harm in the long term …
Urban water supply and sanitation (UWSS) services in India are far from satisfactory. UWSS services are characterised by low service coverage (particularly in the case of sewerage services) and poor service delivery. Interventions in the UWSS sector are mostly contained to the supply side; investments in water resource augmentation have …
The Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway has achieved the dubious distrinction of becoming one of the most controversial projects in the history of India's road infrastructure development. Initiated in 2001 as a first of its kind in India, the project was finally made operational after a delay of over two years. Since its …
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was launched in December 2005 to ensure improved delivery of urban services, encourage reforms and fast track the planned development of 63 identified cities over the launch, it has succeeded in laying the foundations of efficient water supply and sanitation services in …
In the fourth quarter of 2007 the clean energy sector saw a sharp increase in the use of private equity expansion capital, but investment in buyouts evaporated in the face of the credit crisis. Venture capital investment, meanwhile, maintained the high levels seen in the previous two quarters.
Several cities are now implementing bus rapid transit system (BRTS) as a measure to reduce traffic congestion and cater to increasing populations. Jaipur is making a pioneering effort in this regard by developing a bus system to cover 138 km of road length with an investment of Rs 7.83 billion …
Going against the current scientific grain, four Iranian scientists reviewed literature from more than 50 countries across the world and found that smoke has several therapeutic uses
Following a recent announcement at the un climate meeting in Bali, the Brazilian government has approved a bill that aims to monitor and prevent deforestation in the Amazon rainforests. The measure requires property owners to re-register their holdings in the Amazon, failing which they will not be eligible for government …
The multi-crore Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh is currently embroiled in legal issues. But now, the project is being contested on technical issues as well. A study carried out by the International Water Management Institute (iwmi), an international non-profit research and development organization, has questioned the fundamental basis on which …
There is still no clear vision among planners, policymakers and transport experts about what will make Indian cities better places to live in as far as mobility and access are concerned. The prevailing mythology is that construction of metro rail systems will somehow solve the problems of the future. A …
Globally, 2.6 billion people lack access to safe and clean toilets. For example, 92 per cent of the population in Afghanistan don't have proper sanitation; 67 per cent in India as well. A gramme of human faeces contains 10 million viruses, one million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite …
the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (mcgm), on December 7, cleared a proposal to introduce differential water tariffs in the city. Under the system, water bills will be calculated on the actual amount of water consumed per person per day. The corporation is also planning to introduce prepaid water meters …
When the first comprehensive report in years to examine energy use by computer servers was published in February 2007, it was greeted with surprise by industry insiders. Jonathan Koomey, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, found that worldwide power consumption by servers had doubled between 2000 …
Urban water demand is rapidly growing in India due to high growth in urban population and rapid industrialization. Meeting this demand is a big challenge for the urban planners in India. Incidentally, the large urban areas are experiencing faster growth in population, and most of them are in arid and …
This paper provides an overview of selected trends and conditions of ecosystem services, in particular, food production and impacts on the environment based on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. It then describes outcomes for future ecosystem services under alternative development pathways, with a focus on tradeoffs between food security and the …
This atlas by UNEP's World Conservation Monitoring Centre released at the Poznan climate meeting, demonstrates the potential for spatial analyses to identify areas that are high in both carbon and biodiversity. Such areas will be of interest to countries that wish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from land use change …
