Central to the achievement of the Agenda for Sustainable Development is an adequate, equitably distributed and fully supported health workforce. Nurses are the largest occupational group and represent an indispensable force with which to combat inequities in access to health services and progress towards health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while …
Japan has moved towards implementing diesel emission norms stricter than those in Europe. The country's Central Environment Council (CEC), an advisory body of its ministry of environment, has reached consensus on the next tier of diesel emission standards to become effective from 2009. The proposed limits are more stringent than …
in paul wolfowitz's selection as World Bank president, global democracy has taken a sharp fall. Since its formation after World War II, the president of the bank has been nominated by the us , with European powers always nodding approval. In return, Europe gets to nominate the International Monetary Fund's …
Of late, there is an emerging concern about increasing disruption in the global nitrogen cycle Wherever you produce food and energy, they disrupt the nitrogen cycle. Increased food production produces more nitrous oxide
The ozone layer over northern Europe will likely witness a severe thinning in the coming weeks, predict scientists from the European Ozone Research Coordinating Unit, located in the Cambridge University, UK, campus. They have spotted unusual weather conditions over the Arctic, which is witnessing its coldest winter in 50 years …
The bite seems to be absent from the winter over much of Russia and Europe this year. Temperatures have been eight to nine degrees higher than normal in Russia, according to Roman Vilfant, head of the Gidromettentr weather monitoring centre. "The first ten days of January have been very warm,' …
Fine particles in the air Europeans breathe could reduce their life expectancy by two years or more, warn scientists at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. The scientists modelled the effects of fine particulates across Europe in 2000. They say particulates in Europe cause the …
using cotton gin residue: US researchers have found the waste generated when cotton is ginned (seeds separated from fibre) can yield valuable products. They have developed manufacturing processes to extract specific chemicals and make two products
smokescreen: As per a study by UK-based London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Philip Morris, the world's leading tobacco manufacturer, studied the effects of smoking 30 years ago, but it did not reveal the dangers of passive smoking. powered at last: The first wind power plant of the Arabian …
The European Council (EC) has decided to reduce the emissions of fluorinated greenhouse gases (f-gases), agreeing to phase out some of them completely. f-gases, used in refrigeration, air conditioning, fire fighting and many industrial processes are very powerful and long living. "The legislation agreed is another element in the framework …
start telling stories: Being a maths wizard and a great storyteller may appear completely different, but a new study by Canada's University of Waterloo suggests that preschool children's storytelling abilities are predictive of their mathematical ability. In the study, children aged three and four were shown a book that contained …
Although obesity is today a global pandemic, research on the disease in India is still nascent. This worries experts: nearly 15-30 per cent of the country’s urban population and four to eight per cent of the rural population is either overweight or obese, with children forming 16-18 per cent in …
FOR a company that takes its public relations quite seriously, Monsanto is going through a particularly bad patch. From the 50 per cent cutback in sales of its genetically modified (GM) bovine growth hormone in late February (the company had violated sterility standards) to the court hearing in Chicago over …
This article shows that despite increasing catches by foreign fishing fleets, the economic growth and social benefits from marine resources have not been met for many western African countries that host these fleets. A meta-analysis of changes in catches, market values, exports, imports, employment, access, and domestic supplies in western …
Royal Dutch/Shell has done it again. For the second time in three months, the Anglo-Dutch energy giant has been compelled to downgrade its reserves estimates. The latest revision saw Shell sliver its estimates of "proven' reserves of oil and gas for 2003 by 220 million barrels and by 250 million …
european companies will soon be able to offset their excess greenhouse gas emissions by investing in projects in developing countries as well as industrialised nations under the Clean Development Mechanism (cdm) and Joint Implementation (ji), respectively. The way was paved for the arrangement after the European Parliament's environment committee adopted …
after plundering biodiversity hotspots of the South, the ambitious biotech industry is now eyeing Antarctica. As per a report of the Tokyo-based United Nations University, the continent's microbes, with their unique biological properties, have already become targets of "free-for-all' exploitation. While tourism and mining are banned or regulated on the …
Does holding the World Parliamentary Forum indicate the Left is using the event to resurrect itself? The World Parliamentary Forum was formed much before the wsf. But wsf's emergence has definitely given it a forum to explore issues the globe is talking about. The parliamentary forum is a platform for …
• A protocol to control heavy metals in Europe entered into force on December 29, 2003. The un Economic Commission of Europe's Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution is designed to regulate anthropogenic emissions of heavy metals, known to have long-term effects on human health. The instrument has been singed …
Europe and the United States have clashed again over international environmental standards, this time regarding controls on the use of methyl bromide, a pesticide that can deplete the ozone layer. This happened at a meeting of parties (mop) to the Montreal Protocol (it governs the use, worldwide, of ozone depleting …
