This brochure offers decision-makers in the real estate and energy industries, as well as urban and municipal developers, a broad overview of the topics of decentralised energy generation and supply, and raises awareness of the goal of decarbonisation by 2050 at the latest. The advancing digitalization in the construction and …
A typical PALM exercise takes about five days and includes the following: Day 1: Introductory The focus is on understanding the history of the village, its layout and the infrastructure available. Some other exercises called "empathisers" and "equalisers" are also included. These are held in the village and include the …
IMPORT of waste scrap material -- some of which could be toxic -- for recycling, has created a controversy in Indonesia. Scavengers in Jakarta are complaining that the price of recycled items has fallen so low, their livelihood is threatened. Their demand for an immediate ban is supported by the …
THOUGH the implementation of a structural adjustment programme has yet to be announced by either Indonesia or the World Bank, recent events indicate such a step has already been taken. The 1993-94 Indonesian budget increases total income-tax revenue by 36 per cent and also raises the cost of transport, electricity …
JAGARAN is a non-government organisation working on reviving the dying art of herbal healing in an impoverished tribal belt in Udaipur district. But its efforts have provoked a backlash among local allopaths and Karu Ram, a guni as herbalists are called, explains why: "Because we provide effective and free treatment …
JUST 5 km north of Kerala's state capital, the 4,000 fisherfolk of Thumba village ready fishing lines and canoes, oblivious of the roar from the Indian Space Research Organisation's launch site nearby. Their catch is mainly kozhuva, hooked along the 7-km natural reef. But with the arrival of fishing trawlers, …
AS WOMEN in Rajasthan insist on being treated by only another woman, Jagaran is making an effort to recruit women as gunis. One much sought after woman herbalist is 42-year-old Laxmi Bai of Gamana Sagar village in Udaipur district. She is the mother of six, and the wife of a …
AN ANSWER to the country's deepening energy crisis could be biogas, which besides being a non-polluting energy source, also provides enriched manure and improves local sanitation and health standards. Biogas consists largely of methane gas and it is produced through the anaerobic fermentation of cattle dung and other organic wastes. …
THOUGH Haryana is an agriculturally developed state, its Rewari district is poor and handicapped by lack of drinking water, sharp gander inequality and educational backwardness. Rewari averages 65 cm of rain annually, not enough for efficient fuming and its salinity is such that cultivating the undulating stretches of the Arivall! …
As a representative of an NGO from the North that looks into issues of the South, how do you react to conflicts between the South's priorities in sustainable development and those of the North? It's a curious situation for an activist to realise the despondency of the situation. It's not …
AFTER two decades of Project Tiger, conservationists concede it is impossible to protect simultaneously tigers, trees and people"s livelihood. This was the major conclusion of an international seminar in New Delhi in February to assess the highly publicised project. Seminar participants identified the lack of local community involvement in protecting …
"Hum yahan bahut khush hain. Raat mein restaurant mein hi padhai ki class hoti hain (I am very happy here. Night literacy classes are held at the restaurant itselt)," says 17-year-old Bhagwan Singh. For two years now, Bhagwan has worked at Butterflies, a restaurant in the Inter-State Bus Terminus run …
Hasn't Rio clearly shown we were living under an illusion when we thought environmental concerns would make a difference in the world power structure. Why should things change now? We have new developments stemming from a deteriorating economic position worldwide. There is a growing trend towards nationalism and fundamentalism that …
AIDS has reached crisis point in Thailand, prompting the government to increase its HIV-prevention budget by L5 million. An NGO study predicts that by 2000, 2.4 million Thais -- out of 53 million -- will be carrying the deadly virus. Apart from the prohibitively-expensive medical care -- each afflicted person …
AT THE November meeting of the International Tropical Timber Organisation'(ITTO), some industrialised countries proposed labelling imported timber according to region of origin and whether it came from a "sustainably logged" forest. Timber from "unsustainably logged" forests would be banned by the consumer countries. The proposal was not accepted because of …
Environment minister David Maclean has delayed British Nuclear Fuel's (BNF) commissioning of the L1.8 billion Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) at Sellafield until a L50 million treatment plant is set up to neutralise emissions of Krypton 85, a radioactive gas. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have warned local residents …
AIDS is a a disease that has no cure and this is forcing health workers to seek effective ways to prevent its spread. The experiences of the decade since the discovery of AIDS indicate strategies to change social attitudes and behaviour have limited the spread of the disease. Many grassroots …
NORTHERN donors are being forced to rethink their basics after the Rio conference. Prominent among these are the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with developing countries (SAREC) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), both of whom fund research projects in the developing world. Before they can get on with …
FOR SOME time now, the Manila-based Asian Development Bank -- the second biggest bank in the world -- has drawn flak from NGOs for its penchant to finance large, capital-intensive projects while ignoring their social and ecological ramifications. When the bank's board of governors met in Hong Kong in May, …
US manufacturers are marketing plastic containers that are labelled recyclable but have to be exported on the sly to developing countries for disposal. The environmental group Greenpeace pointed out the American plastics industry thus satisfies its environmentally conscious consumers by presenting a "green" image, while dumping potentially hazardous material in …
Voluntary agencies, at their September meet organised by the Voluntary Action Network of India (VANI), have declaimed the government's attempts to network NGOs as "a strategy to suppress the growing voluntary sector in India". In April this year, the Planning Commission got together 50 voluntary agencies to discuss "mechanisms to …
