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 …
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
Global warming intensifying natural disasters in Bangladesh Storms batter Bangladesh every year. Cyclone Sidr killed more than 4,000 people in November, 2007, causing a loss of over us $900 million. It triggered 5-metre high waves that devastated coastal areas, displacing over 2 million people The worst cyclone was in 1970 …
cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh on the night of November 15, killing thousands of people and severely damaging paddy crops just before harvest, and the Sundarbans. Though the official death toll till November 20 was about 4,000, unofficial estimates say the figure could cross 10,000. The worst cyclone in terms of …
Ata-Ul-Haq is CEO of Green Technology Environmental Corporation, which set up Pakistan's first mega composting plant in Lahore in 2006. He tells Arnab Pratim Dutta that the model adopted for the plant can be replicated across South Asia Why a composting plant for Lahore? Getting this plant up and running …
No littering in bhutan: Bhutan has passed a law to prevent littering and pollution in the kingdom's capital Thimphu. The Thimphu Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules and Regulations 2007 will come into force from December 1, laying down stiff penalties for littering and illegal dumping of waste in and around …
despite the two recent floods which forced farmers to plant seedlings late, Bangladesh has achieved season's target of cultivation of paddy on 5.3 million hectares, say officials. In August and September, the country faced two massive floods which affected two-thirds of its land, especially in the central districts around greater …
cleaning Colombo: The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in the second week of October has directed the attorney general to prepare a new action plan within a month to reduce air pollution caused by vehicles in the capital city of Colombo. Acting on a petition filed by the Environmental Foundation …
DAM IT: On August 30, 2007, the Pakistan government announced the expansion of the Tarbela dam, built on the Indus river. A consortium, Tarbela Hydro Limited and Associates, comprising the India-based Kohinoor Group and the UAE-based Al-Nahyan Group, was to undertake the US $500 million Tarbela dam expansion project to …
pakistan's plan of a 25-km elevated expressway in Karachi, linking the city's airport and two ports, has triggered protests in the country. Opponents of the us $350 million project point at financial unviability and a skewed environment impact assessment (eia) report. But the City District Government Karachi (cdgk), the project …
The floods in South Asia, which was one of the worst in recent times, have claimed hundreds of lives. By the second week of August, the floods had affected more than 20 million people and claimed around 2,000 lives across India, Nepal and Bangladesh, notes a un report issued on …
A review of the implementation of the Asian Development Banks (adbs) water policy and water supply and sanitation (wss) projects in India has exposed its failings. In 2005, adb funded WaterAid, international ngo, to conduct an independent review of its own water policy implementation in South AsiaIndia, Bangladesh and Nepal. …
there have been umpteen theories on why South Asians are more at risk of developing vascular diseases. Now a team of Indian, Canadian, Scottish and Iranian researchers have come up with a new theory based on the pattern of fat distribution in the bodies of South Asians to explain why …
