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 …
bird flu is spreading in Bangladesh despite efforts to control it. By February 19, the H5NI virus outbreaks had been reported in 43 out of 64 districts. The nation's poultry industry, one of the world's largest, is now confronted with its greatest challenge since large-scale poultry farming was introduced in …
Click here to enlarge view the much delayed plan to supply water to Kathmandu is set to roll. On February 13, the Nepal government said the newly formed Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (kukl) would take over the project from the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (nwsc). The government said the corporation …
South Asia being an energy-deficit region, there is a strong case for developing regional cooperation in this sector. This may take different forms. India has surplus petroleum refining capacity while other countries in the region are importers of petroleum products. The real benefits will accrue from cooperation in power generation.
India has had the most success attracting more private investment in infrastructure in 2006 than any other developing country. Long-standing policies in most other South Asian countries are beginning to bear fruit as well. Nevertheless, delivering the infrastructure services needed to sustain and accelerate growth in South Asia remains a …
A group of 53 sanitation and hygiene promotion practitioners met in Bangladesh from 29 to 31 January 2008 to mark the start of the International Year of Sanitation (IYS) by sharing and learning from their peers. Each attending organisation had written a case study on their work and came to …
about 50 heads of livestock, mostly cattle, died in the last week of January after drinking water from a stream in the Ghaggar Union Council of Bin Qasim township on the outskirts of Karachi in Pakistan. Effluents from the nearby army-owned Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited has polluted the water. …
Work has begun to repair three damaged undersea fibre-optic cables that were severed in the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf on January 30 and February 1. The cause of the cable break is yet to be confirmed and speculations are there that a ship's anchor was to blame. The …
Sri Lanka raises fuel prices: After doling out huge fuel subsidies for five months, the Sri Lankan government finally increased fuel prices on January 13. The price of petrol has increased by LKR 10 (US $10 cents) a litre to LKR 127 (US $1.2), while the new prices for diesel …
A food crisis looms large in Bangladesh after two waves of floods and a cyclone. Three natural disasters within four months have ruined the late-monsoon aman paddy, the second major cereal crop in the country. As a result, food prices have soared and the government is finding it difficult to …
The last few decades have witnessed a sweeping change in the food production scenario of South Asia. India, the largest of the South Asian economies, is now largely self-sufficient in foodgrain and is an emerging exporter. While the other countries of the region remain dependent on cereal imports, the per …
The annual regional meeting (ARM) is an annual activity of OneWorld South Asia. It aims to provide a platform for knowledge sharing and collaborative engagement on ICT-assisted progress towards MDGs and beyond, in the South Asia region. The choice of the theme for the seventh ARM on "climate justice for …
The South Asia Media Commission has declared 2007 a very difficult year for South Asian journalists. The year saw 25 journalists and media workers getting killed in the line of duty. Besides, the media had to face "unprecedented restrictions and forced closures' in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. The report, …
Bird flu in Bangladesh Nearly 2,000 chickens have been culled in a village in northern Bangladesh after the H5N1 bird flu virus was detected at a poultry farm in the last week of December. This latest spurt of infection was in Dinajpur district, near the capital city Dhaka. The government …
there is considerable excitement in Harike wetland in Punjab over the sudden appearance of Indus river dolphins, an endangered species found only in Pakistan. "When I saw the hump and the snout, I knew they were Indus-river dolphins,' says Basanta Kumar, divisional forest officer of Harike Wetland and Wildlife Sanctuary. …
First human bird flu case in Pakistan: WHO has confirmed that the limited human-to-human bird flu transmission has occurred in Pakistan. The country reported eight cases of human bird flu in December including two people who succumbed to the disease. An initial analysis by WHO says that the outbreak might …
This report examines the output elasticity of infrastructure for four South Asian countries viz., India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka using Pedroni
Vegetable farming is an important income generating activity in parts of rural Nepal. However, vegetable farming is pesticide intensive and pesticide exposure is beginning to emerge as a problem. A SANDEE study examines the impacts of pesticide use on vegetable farmers in the mid-hills area of Nepal, some 40km east …
The World Trade Indicators (WTI) database and ranking tool cover country level indicators of trade performance and policies and institutions that affect trade. This publication summarizes patterns in world trade policy and trade outcomes revealed by the WTI database, focusing mainly on regional and income level variations and providing the …
This report warns that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow under the business-as-usual scenario as projected, leading to global temperature rise by 4-5
