It presents an update on the progress on the implementation of the Pollution Action Plan adopted at UNEA-4 in resolution 4/21, including some highlights in implementing the specific deliverables identified in the Plan. The Plan aims to build synergies across the work of UNEP and to provide the glue across …
The long-term hazards of the haze, or brown cloud, which forms over north Indian cities in winter are not yet well understood, though its adverse impact on health of the people is clear, a leading Indian expert said.
New York, Asian cities from New Delhi to Beijing are getting darker, glaciers on the mighty Himalayas are melting faster and weather system is getting more extreme, a United Nations study has warned. This alarming phenomenon has also spread its dragnet to other cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangkok, Tehran, Cairo, …
A three-kilometre thick cloud of brown soot and other pollutants hanging over Asia is darkening cities, killing thousands and damaging crops but may be holding off the worst effects of global warming, the UN said on Thursday. The vast plume of contamination from factories, fires, cars and deforestation contains some …
The takeover talks between IBM and Sun highlight a shift in the industry It was the day Sun Microsystems was supposed to rise again. On March 18th the Silicon Valley computer-maker had planned to unveil a new online service to allow start-ups to manage with much less hardware, by buying …
UNEP has more than twenty years of experience working on climate change. UNEP helped establish the IPCC with the WMO in the 1980s and conducted assessments of the scientific understanding of climate change in preparation for the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. UNEP also supported the negotiation of …
Long after the shooting and bombing stops, Iraqis will still be dying from the war. Destroyed factories have become untended hazardous waste sites, leaking poison into the water and the soil. Forests in the north and palm groves in the south have been obliterated to remove the enemy's hiding places. …
The world should take a leaf from US President Franklin Roosevelt's playbook for tackling the Great Depression and fund a "Green New Deal" to fight climate change, a UN agency proposed. A two-year United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) initiative launched on Wednesday would promote research into marketing tools, such as …
Human-induced emissions are on the rise, says a new study In a recent study, the Global Carbon Project stated that carbon emissions from human activity have grown nearly four times faster than in the 1990s. The emissions grew at 3.5 per cent per year between 2000 and 2007 as against …
health sciences Hooked, genetically Researchers of the University of Michigan, usa, have cracked the genetic secrets of nicotine addiction. Whether or not one gets hooked to smoking is dependent on a particular variant of a gene
Development of alternative energy should create more than 20 million jobs around the world in coming decades as governments adopt policies to address the depletion of resources, according to a UN report released on Wednesday. Some 2.3 million people around the world already work in alternative energy jobs with half …
Pune, September 16 The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Pune Zilla Parishad Secondary School Section will hold a special programme to celebrate the International Day for the Preservation of Ozone Layer on Wednesday. An educational tool for creating awareness about Ozone depletion and climate change among students will be …
COULD the mystery over how depleted uranium might cause genetic damage be closer to being solved? It may be, if a controversial claim by two researchers is right. They say that minute quantities of the material lodged in the body may kick out energetic electrons that mimic the effect of …
Abolishing subsidies on fossil fuels could cut world greenhouse gas emissions by up to 6 percent and also nudge up world economic growth, a UN report showed on Tuesday. Subsidies on oil, gas or coal are meant to help the poor by lowering the price of energy but the report, …
Seven leading lights in the battle against global warming who are also catalysing the transition to a greener and leaner global economy were recently acknowledged as the 2008 Champions of the Earth. The winners, ranging from His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco and the Prime Minister of New …
Nearly 1.2 billion practise open defecation worldwide and maximum of those live in India, according to a report released on Friday by the WHO/UNICEF. The report released by the Joint Monitoring Programme for Drinking-water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) suggests that over 2.5 billion people suffer from a lack of access …
Beijing's notoriously smog-choked environs are soon to be gifted an oasis of respite, courtesy of the Olympic Games. The largest public green space in the country, a 680-hectare Olympic Forest Park will soon open its oxygen-laden doors to the public. The park is being billed by the authorities as a …
Amid a host of problems for the world's oceans, last week brought a reminder that coral reefs, the sentinel species for measuring the health of the seas, are taking a beating. One-third of all coral reef species face extinction worldwide, reports the latest study, released by Science magazine, with more …
CASHING IN ON NATURAL RESOURCES Investments in clean technologies are riding a green wave into India. In 2007, Green India Inc raised $1.4 billion through convertible bonds from the international market even as it picked up $628 million from the domestic stock market. Indian companies are at the forefront of …
Govind Talwalkar Barring the oil producing countries, the whole world is reeling under the pressure of skyrocketing oil prices. To reduce this dependence on fossil fuels, industrialised countries are trying to get fuel from alternative sources. Emulating Brazil, the US went in for ethanol production. But while Brazil gets ethanol …
