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 …
Glaciers , the huge and seemingly sedate rivers of ice, are the source of life and, ironically, death too. These masses not only add to the serene and pristine beauty of the higher reaches of the Himalaya, they are also the source of north Indian rivers. Thus, with global warming …
B etween 40 and 50 million years ago, the Indian subcontinent collided with the rest of the Asian landmass. This collision caused the Earth's crust to buckle and rise forming the Himalaya. The uplift of the Himalaya was a gradual process over a long period. As the elevation of the …
Cities are known to generate a lot of waste and contribute in a major way to water and air pollution. They have become a major source of concern in the 20th century. City authorities will have to be particularly vigilant in the next millennium. According to Worldwatch Institute estimates, Mumbai …
The stories of conquest and depredation of alang alang grass and gypsy moth show how serious the unfettered invasion of alien life forms (both zoological and botanical) can become. A native of South Asia, and a valued source of thatch, alang alang grass is a weed whose economic importance is …
a study conducted by scientists from five countries including the us and Canada stated that Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities should work together to preserve aquatic eco-systems in the region. Fresh water supplies in the Middle East now are barely sufficient to maintain a quality standard of living, said Gilbert …
T he collapse of a landmark anti-tobacco case in the uk has severely hit prospects of a us -style litigation against tobacco companies. While this had been successful in the us , where states had sued tobacco companies to recover the costs for treating smoking-related illnesses, the withdrawal of their …
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has called upon various governments to closely work with the Convention to Combat Desertification, a body fighting for reversal of dryland degradation. "The most effective actions for preventing dryland degradation are often the same actions needed to protect biological diversity or minimise the risk …
This book contains the proceedings of the workshop on collaborative management of protected rreas in the Asian region, held at Royal Chitwan National Park, Sauraha, Nepal, May 25-28, 1998.
OF LATE there has been a growing awareness in South Asia to the new dangers posed by persistent organic pollutants (POPS), often referred to as the "dirty dozen". Pops are toxic organic compounds which, once released, continue to linger in the atmosphere and can pose serious health risks in the …
THE price of fuel oil has always played a major role in shaping global events in the 20th Century. Many would like to link the collapse of the communist bloc to the big tumble that the price of oil took in 1984. A fall therefore in the price of oil …
IT HAS been made patently clear that government designed and implemented conservation projects flounder if local communities are not included in the decisionmaking process. It is the indigenous people who live close to natural resources, and who directly depend on them for meeting their daily requirements. Therefore, it is they …
THEY are small and they are Asia's lifeblood. What are we talking about? The omnipresent two-stroke engine. Throughout the continent, these provide low-cost transportation to millions but, ironically, they are killers. The cloud of thick blue smoke seen often in crowded city intersections throughout the region - Delhi, Bangkok, Taipei, …
NO ONE understands the value and significance of natural resources better than traditional societies. A realisation of the importance of these resources coupled with animistic beliefs may be the reasons why many traditional societies have been preserving a portion of natural ecosystems as "sacred groves" for centuries. Sacred groves are …
THE first South Asia Public Hearing on Large Dams scheduled to be held on September 21-22, has been postponed. The hearing, organised by the World Commission on Dams (WCD) was postponed on the request of the Planning Commission which said it was not the right time for such a hearing …
IF WASYL UROSDOWSKY is right then La Nina, the little sister of El Nino, is all set to hit Indonesia. Drosdowsky, a Melbourne-based weather scientist with the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre in the Australian state of Victoria, is of the opinion that though La Nina is expected to bring …
ASIA'S once-abundant sea horse population has gone down drastically in recent years, owing to heavy demand for their use in traditional medicines, aphrodisiacs and aquariums, said conservationists. Destruction of their habitat is another major cause for their decline, they say. "We're dealing with a situation where we still have some …
there are around 50 million children not attending primary school in South Asia. And of those who do go to school, 60 million drop out each year. Welcome to South Asia: the most illiterate region of the world. Excluding Sri Lanka and Maldives, the rest of the region stands nowhere …
Multinational toba-cco companies faced with shrinking markets and increasing restrictions in the industrialised world, are wooing consumers throughout the newly-opened econo-mies of Loas, Cam-bodia, Burma and Vietnam. Using slick advertising and dollar power, the companies are promoting an image of cigarette-makers that is synonymous with entrepreneurship, individual freedom and unlimited …
On the new initiatives planned by the World Bank (wb) for India: The wb supports many programmes related to the environment in India. In order to prevent industrial pollution we offer industries loans to modernise and improve their environmental performance. We also encourage biodiversity conservation and social forestry. The bank …
