Already the poorest country in Asia, Afghanistan’s economic base has long been too small to support its population of 40 million. Annual per capita income had declined from US$650 in 2012 to US$508 in 2020 and is expected to drop precipitously to US$350 next year. The report indicates that the …
• China plans to invest US $175 billion (more than 1.5 per cent of its national GDP) towards protecting the environment during its 11 th five-year plan. The money will be spent on water pollution control, improving air quality in cities, disposing of solid waste, harnessing soil erosion and improving …
flu attacks: Tests have confirmed bird flu cases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, reports the BBC. The virus has been detected in chickens in two farms in north-west Pakistan which have now been sealed off, officials said. The presence of the strain was confirmed by the European Union's Reference Laboratory for …
Averse to law: The Afghanistan government, along with the UN, has rejected a call of experts to legalise cultivation of opium crops in the country. Eighty seven per cent of the world's opium is produced in Afghanistan and illegal heroin trade is rampant. Senlis Council, a France-based group of experts, …
Water deaths: Over 75 people, mostly children, have died after drinking polluted water in the past one-and-a-half months in Pakistan's Sindh province. Another 6,600 have been admitted to various hospitals, media reports said. "The entire summer is ahead but local municipal authorities have not taken any steps. Contaminated water is …
Power meet: The board of directors of South Asia Regional Energy Coalition (SAREC) recently held its first meeting. SAREC aims to coordinate the work of various governments and the private sector to develop South Asia's energy sector. "The meet marks the formalisation of a structure to carry forward the SAREC …
Another serious administrative crisis has come to the fore in Afghanistan with the resignation of the country's planning minister Ramazan Bashardoost on December 13, 2004, after the government refused to wrap up 2,000 national and international aid agencies working in the country. A week ago, Bashardoost had declared that 80 …
Unique coast guard: The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) is working for the formation of a monitoring and liaison committee to improve the dismal environmental condition in the islands off the Karachi coast and check the unhindered discharge of effluents into the sea. SEPA director general Shafiq Khuso says the …
The government of Afghanistan and the United Nations have launched an emergency appeal to combat drought in the region. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, US $71.3 million is required to combat the drought. Despite emergency assistance, more than six million people continue to go without food. …
In deep shit This is what most developing countries are in Country Total population (millions) Annual excrement production (million metric tonnes) Annual excrement not disposed of safely (million metric tonnes) Afghanistan 28.7 2.7 2.4 Bangladesh 146.7 13.9 7.2 Brazil 176.5 16.7 4 Burkina Faso 13.2 1.3 0.9 Cambodia 12.6 1.2 …
an optimistic note, about wiping out polio from the six afflicted countries, was to be sounded at a conference organised by the World Health Organisation (who) in Geneva on January 15. Instead, the sudden re-emergence of the disease in two African nations
On December 23, 2003 the World Bank approved us $166 million for three projects in Afghanistan to rebuild rural areas, improve farmers' water supply and beef up the customs system. A major chunk of this money (us $95 million) will be for rural reconstruction, for projects communities themselves are to …
The information technology (IT) revolution has finally reached Afghanistan. The country's first batch of IT students recently graduated from Kabul University with industry-standard certificates in computer networking skills. Among the 17 graduates, six are women, heralding new hope that educational discrimination would finally end in Afghanistan. The UN-supervised, Cisco Systems-funded …
sop to stay: Populism has prevailed over pragmatism. Bowing to pressure exerted from across the political spectrum, Union finance minister Jaswant Singh has rolled back the proposed hike in prices of fertilisers, which he had announced while presenting the Union budget. The minister had suggested that the price of urea …
It is a bumper crop that has raised quite a few eyebrows. Much to the chagrin of those leading the international fight against the drugs menace, Afghanistan harvested a bountiful poppy yield of 3400 tonnes last year. In a strange paradox, the country is struggling to gather enough food for …
At a time when the threat of war looms large over Iraq, here's more ammunition for peaceniks to confront warmongers with. The United Nations Environment Programme (unep) recently released the findings of assessments conducted in the violence-wracked Occupied Palestinian Territories and Afghanistan. The reports have brought into sharp focus the …
The Afghanistan government and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) will begin a new training programme for teachers before the new school year begins next month. Four million Afghan children are expected to return to school, many of them for the first time since the ouster of the Taliban regime. More …
The first comprehensive UN survey of Afghanistan's environment brings out the dismal state of affairs in the country. After more than two decades of war and three years of drought, air and water quality in the largest towns is badly degraded. The study also reveals chemical pollution, massive deforestation, declining …
War has taken its toll on agriculture in Afghanistan. The country's seed collections have been destroyed, putting its crop diversity at risk. Taking stock of the situation, a consortium of international crop genebanks led by Future Harvest
