The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
In India, the Central Electricity Act, 1948, does not allow individuals, communities or cooperatives to take up electricity generation and distribution. Only a private company bound to sell power to the government can do so. Of course the company has to sell power at rates the government fixes. Since such …
Three years ago, when Chija Maya, a resident of Piughar, spoke about a run-of-the-river microhydel power station in her village, many people thought that she was whistling in the dark. Though hydro-electricity first came to Nepal in 1911 to light the King’s palaces, it still remains a dream for 85 …
Asia has more polluted cities than any other continent. That's what a comparison of 20 leading cities of the world shows. Rapid economic growth spurs the growth of big cities, which in turn bring in more vehicles. While the growth rate of vehicles in most developed countries has stopped or …
Europe may be contributing significantly to pollution in Asia during winters. Reginald Newell and Mathew Evans of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology investigated how much pollution reaches Asia from sources across the Pacific Ocean. A detailed analysis revealed that every year in January and February, 30-40 per cent of the …
EACH year, millions of tonnes of toxic aerosols from Asia travel across to the Pacific Ocean, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of California at Davis (UCD), usa. According to them, these previously undetected toxic pollutants, which are a result of increased industrialisation in the region, …
To ensure that the South East Asian Region can have the best health care possible, the 53 session of World Health Organisation (WHO) for this region has made several recommendations. These include, insuring that no unfair disparities occur in providing healthcare to rich or poor people and enhancing health infrastructure. …
The year 1999 registered the highest number of disasters since the last 10 years. The trend for the last decade shows that the Asian continent is most frequently hit by disasters. In 1999, nearly 40 per cent of the total disasters took place in Asia. Africa has also seen a …
following the death of five lions in the Gujarat's Gir Sanctuary within a span of three months, the state forest department plans to shift some of the lions to the neighbouring Barda hill forest range. According to officials, three of the five lions died due to natural causes. With an …
purging nut or physic nut ( Jatropha Curcas) is a native to tropical America. It is also found in many parts of Asia and Africa. In Cape Verde Islands, it is cultivated as an oil-yielding seed crop. In Madagascar, where the plant is grown as a support for the vanilla …
Compare Southeast Asia with South Asia. The land area of Southeast Asia is 435 million hectares (mha). In South Asia, India is 327 mha and all other countries included would probably add up to the land area of Southeast Asia or a little less. The total population of Southeast Asia …
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have called on the leaders of countries where polio still exists to give full cooperation to the global effort to eradicate the disease by the end of this year. "We are on the verge of an historic public …
Armed conflict and civil strife were major sources of food insecurity in the 1990s and will continue to be this century, although their number and the losses associated with them may have passed their peak. Depending on which of the various definitions of the term is used, from 30 to …
Armed conflict and civil strife were major sources of food insecurity in the 1990s and will continue to be this century, although their number and the losses associated with them may have passed their peak (see Figure 13). Depending on which of the various definitions of the term is used, …
biotechnology and bioresources are two issues that have been in conflict for a while. Biotechnology, proposed as "the technology of the next century', has its proponents in the developed countries and users in developing countries. But with companies in the North taking the bioresources from the South, patenting them and …
The Iban tribals of Indonesia have a beautiful tale about the man of the woods. The father of an Iban died. His body was laid out for the night, awaiting rituals in the morning. The next day, when the son came to the corpse, he found it was not his …
United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) will provide a total of US $300 for child welfare programmes in India. An agreement, signed by Kiran Aggarwal, secretary department of women and child development and Alan Court, UNICEF representative in India, will be operative till December 2002. The objective of the programme is …
when the search is on for effective and sustainable supplies of renewable energy, it is surprising that bamboo, noted for their fast growth and high production, have not been considered as a potential source of what is also referred to as "green gasoline'. The energy generated from sunlight per hectare …
Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, have developed a new strain of rice, which they claim has more iron and gives more yield per hectare, taking less land and time to grow. Called "super rice', it may hopefully belie the grim predictions of famine that half the …
On august 4, 1985, a moraine-dammed glacial lake, Dig Tsho, burst in the Khumbu Himal area of Nepal. Within four to six hours, the lake had emptied into Lagmoche valley, one of the tributary valleys of the river Bhote Kosi, which flows along many Sherpa settlements. For more than 90 …
