The UN’s trade and development body has downgraded its global economic growth projection for 2022 to 2.6% from 3.6% due to the Ukraine war and to changes in macroeconomic policies made by countries in recent months. While Russia will experience a deep recession this year, significant slowdowns in growth are …
A UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) regional workshop on street food in Asia, held in Djakarta, Indonesia, in 1986, tried to define street food. It described a wide range of ready-to-eat food and beverages sold and sometimes prepared in public places, notably by the roadside. It stated that like …
Zimbabwe's election as the head of an important un environment body has generated much controversy. Francis Nhema, the country's minister of environment and tourism was nominated by Africa to head the un Commission on Sustainable Development (csd). He was elected by a 26-21 vote to head the 53-member body on …
Organic agriculture is practised in more than 120 countries. Over 31 million hectares in 633,891 farms are certified organic Oceania has about 40 per cent of the world's organic land. Europe has 23 per cent, and Latin America 9 per cent. But Oceania has less than one per cent share …
In the last week of April, the Zimbabwean government invited two un bodies to conduct a joint food-security survey in the country. The Food and Agriculture Organization (fao) and the World Food Programme (wfp) have been called in the wake of a second consecutive drought in the south African nation. …
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has urged Israel to immediately ease restrictions on the waters off the Gaza Strip. The request comes at the beginning of annual fishing high season. The UN body noted that Israel's restrictions have hit more than 40,000 people of the …
The author brings us face to face with the consequences of decisions taken by those far removed from the stench and struggle of slum reality. In his 1998 study, Cities in Civilization, the planner and scholar Sir Peter Hall endorsed an ancient optimism: belief in an umbilical link between urban …
the first-ever debate on climate change in the un Security Council evinced strong protests from developing nations. The proposal by the uk asked for a discussion on climate change in the council since it posed a security threat. uk's foreign secretary Margaret Beckett, who chaired the 15-member body meeting on …
the report of the working group of the un's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released on April 6, 2007, predicts a bleak future with severe effects in poor countries. Increased water stress, rising droughts and floods and 40 per cent species extinction are the report's key concerns. The 2,500 experts …
Delhi 2020: They are already calling it the year without winter. From January itself, temperatures across northern India have soared to 35 degrees Celsius. Much of the Gangetic plain has been transformed into one vast dust bowl. The wheat crop has failed and farmers are committing suicide by the droves. …
Eye for the rare Slender loris, a nocturnal primate with huge eyes, is endemic to Sri Lanka and is one of the rarest and weirdest animals, which will be the focus of an ambitious conservation project
A n international agreement obliging warring countries to eliminate unexploded weaponry, which kill and maim long after the end of hostilities, came into force on November 12, 2006. The Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War was ratified by 24 countries. Its entry into force "is the beginning of a …
www.waterfair.org Water world Want to know about the rivers of Cyprus, history of water management in Morroco or about waste water recycling in Jordan? Log on to this UNDP-run site on water. The portal has interactive exhibits and virtual meeting places, where participants share their experiences on water governance with …
Little headway was made at the un climate change conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, from November 6 to 17, 2006. The most important issue, mandating commitments to cutting carbon emissions, was stonewalled, with the us refusing to budge from its stated positions, as expected, and the European Union pushing for …
Last month, the world remembered the victims of us savagery in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (atomic bombs were thrown on the two cities in August 1945), yet there was the disturbing absence of the call for global denuclearisation from the international players or from the un. The overwhelming majority of nations …
Afghanistan's opium harvest this year has reached the highest levels recorded, showing an increase of 49 per cent from last year. The un office on Drugs and Crime (unodc) has described the figures as "alarming' and "very bad news' for the Afghan government and other international donors, who have poured …
The Baltic Sea is threatened by a major environmental crisis unless the Russian-German gas pipeline, planned to carry Russian gas to Europe along its seabed, is re-directed to pass overland, said Swedish prime minister Goran Persson at a recent meeting on the Baltic island of Gotland. Persson warned that the …
The recovery of the depleted ozone layer may take 5-15 years more than that estimated earlier, says a recent study. It found that the regeneration of the protective layer will be pushed back from 2044 to 2049 over the mid-latitudes (300-600 North and South) and from 2050 to 2065 over …
The recovery of the depleted ozone layer may take 5-15 years more than that estimated earlier, says a recent study. It found that the regeneration of the protective layer will be pushed back from 2044 to 2049 over the mid-latitudes (30 0 -60 0 North and South) and from 2050 …
