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 …
airlines have enormous fiscal benefits, because they don't have to pay excise on kerosene, let alone a levy on carbon dioxide ( co 2 ) or nitrogen oxide ( no x ) pollution by aircraft. Therefore, the real costs of flying must be paid, says Nannie van Vliet, a campaigner …
record temperatures are being forecasted for the start of the next millenium. According to experts, high temperatures will increase the risk of natural disasters. Phil Jones of the Climatic Research Unit at University of East Anglia, usa , has predicted hurricanes in Mexico and storms in California, Peru and Ecuador. …
representatives of European forest owners and industries have claimed a significant forward movement in plans to develop a new certification and labelling scheme for sustainable forest products. This was decided at a meeting held in Oslo, Norway. The Pan-European Forest Certification Scheme ( pefc) is being developed by industry groups …
THE cost of complying with an environmental legislation in the European Union may have far reaching impacts. It could force medicines for animals to go off the market, say drug makers. According to the legislation, in order to gain a marketing licence, European manufacturers must conduct an environmental impact assessment …
An epidemic of lung cancer caused by asbestos will sweep Europe, killing a quarter of a million men over the next 35 years, UK-based doctors have warned. "The figures are horrifying,' says Julian Peto of the Institute of Cancer Research in London. The cancer, which used to be extremely rare, …
h g wells's 19th century vision of a Martian invasion of Earth, The War of The Worlds , saw Earthlings emerging victorious in the end of a lengthy, devastating war through sheer persistence, a will to fight back and those ever-popular human strongpoints
On the lopsided negotiating position of the US at CoP-4: The us position in the climate talks is an extension of the belief that the free market can solve the problem that the free market has created. The us is pushing hard to globalise emissions trading, because big industries, whose …
in a crowded corner of the busy corridors at the venue for round four of the climate negotiations in Buenos Aires, a ballot box was being crammed with votes. This was an
Mars Express, the European Space Agency's planned mission to the fourth stone from the Sun, Mars, received the green signal from all the 14 national delegations recently. Due to be launched sometime in the year 2003, Mars Express will be the first orbiter to use radar to penetrate the Martian …
THE bonhomous speeches of welcome were hardly over when sparks began to fly at the fourth conference of parties (cop-4) to the climate change convention, which met in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the first half of November. Delegates from developing countries bristled when the president of the conference, the Argentine …
What do you think of the US insistence on voluntary com- mitments from developing countries? It is not for us (industrialised countries) to question non-annex I (developing countries) commitments. We have to make sure that our commitments are respected, and translated into domestic policies and action. we must not forget …
SATELLITE communication has become reality, crossing over from science fiction to emerge as the lifeblood of our times. The information superhighway - known better as the Internet - live television discussions, those essential cricket matches from countries halfway across the globe and a lot more could not have been possible …
THE manner in which the media reports intergovernmental environmental conferences is unbelievably biased and distorted, which means that independent and informed public opinion can never be built on contentious environmental issues. This is indeed a very serious matter. As I had to leave Buenos Aires a few days before the …
EUROPE's biotechnology patent laws are to be challenged by the Netherlands in the European Court. The case will restart a longstanding debate over the legitimacy of patenting biotech inventions based on living organisms. This could prove to be a major setback for the European pharmaceutical industry. In May 1998, the …
Two independent experiments in the US and Europe will study the properties of neutrinos, the most elusive particles of the Universe. One experiment, called NUMI, proposes to send a beam of neutrinos from the accelerator at Fermilab in Chicago to a detector placed in a disused iron mine in Minnesota. …
TREES have always been our best friends. Now, researchers have found how these silent friends can help tackle one of this century's biggest problems: increasing levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) that subsequently lead to global warming. According to latest reports, Europe's forests are absorbing up to a third of the …
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 …
A reduction in pollution from vehicular emissions in Europe from 2005 seems more plausible now. The deadlock between the European Union (EU), oil producers and European car manufacturers over reduction in vehicular pollution has been resolved. Down to Earth (Vol 7, No 9, Sept 30,1998) had reported in the story …
EUROPEAN railways may have found an answer to one of the most common complain they face - the noise pollution. By using small knee-high noise barriers along the railway track and an acoustic hood that shrouds the train's wheel, train noise can be reduced to half, say researchers at TNO, …
