The Global Gender Gap Index annually benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment). It is the longest-standing index tracking the progress of numerous countries’ efforts towards closing these gaps over time since …
BY THE end of the 1980s, 37 per cent of the paper and board consumed by the world was being collected and recycled to make more paper and board. While in the North it was environmental consciousness that brought about this recycling, in the South, poverty was the determining factor. …
EXPERIMENTAL observations have amply confirmed the Big Bang theory, but some of its shortcomings have led scientists to develop the so-called inflationary theory, to pursue their bid to trace the early history of the universe. Proposed originally by Alan Guth of MIT in 1980, the inflationary theory predicts the density …
ASTRONOMERS are excited about the recent observations made by the satellite ROSATwhich provide the strongest evidence yet that as much as 90 per cent of the matter in the universe is invisiblewhose presence is indicated by its gravitational pull on matter in space. Astronomers have been searching for this invisible …
GERMANY has demonstrated how economic instruments can be used effectively to promote environmental causes in a market economy. An ordinance on solid-waste management, for example, has resulted in excess packaging in stores being reduced by 98 per cent and the use of recycled material in packaging increasing to 25 per …
Hasn't Rio clearly shown we were living under an illusion when we thought environmental concerns would make a difference in the world power structure. Why should things change now? We have new developments stemming from a deteriorating economic position worldwide. There is a growing trend towards nationalism and fundamentalism that …
THE GERMAN minister for environment, nature protection and reactor safety, Klaus Topfer, is among those who blame the West for a major role in polluting the earth. Or, so he was at pains to establish during a recent visit to India. "The industrialised countries must make a conscientous effort," he …
HAS THE "eco-angel" fallen from grace? Fourteen years after West Germany adopted eco-labelling, its efficacy is still in doubt because of faulty selection and inadequate evaluation of product impact. Today, the eco-angel -- the blue angel symbol that denotes environment-friendliness of a product -- adorns as many as 3,600 products, …
HOW do we restructure the economy of the rich world so that it can live in harmony with its environment and with that of the rest of the world? The state of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) in Germany, which includes the cities of Bonn and Cologne, is one of the …
AS THE body of Petra Kelly, co-founder of Germany's Green Party and civil rights activist, was laid to rest in the Bavarian town of Wurzburg, the peculiar circumstances that led to her death have raised many disturbing questions about the future of Europe's green movement and its relation to the …
IN THIS "throwaway" age the Germans are trying to be difficult. Their stringent waste laws are creating a rift in the European Commission (EC) which wants lower and more flexible standards. Germany has a law, popularly known as the "Topfer Law" -- after Klaus Topfer, Germany's environment minister -- which …
ERSTWHILE communist Germany finds to its concern that it really is greener on the other side. Germany's ever-strict pollution control measures have given rise to severe problems for the five states that earlier constituted East Germany. The states were given a year's grace period to set up administrative machinery to …
EUROPEAN countries are making substantial investments in environmental protection. Amongst members of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) -- the Paris-based club of affluent countries -- Austria spends the most on environmental protection, as a proportion of its GNP. West Germany is second and now that the two …
A NEW cryogenic system for industrial cleaning, using "dry ice" or solidified carbon dioxide, has been developed by Distillers MG, which is part of the German Messer Griesheim industrial gas group. The "cold jet" cleaning system, as it is known, uses small pellets of dry ice, which are blown in …
MANUFACTURERS of hydraulic hammers are being forced to make them quieter, largely following environmental legislation which originated in Germany a decade ago and is rapidly spreading.'Most of them have come up with a solution which involves wrapping the harnmer in a mattress-like material. Krupp's Compact System, introduced three years ago, …
Deciding between a friend and foe can become challenging. In plants, this dilemma takes a worse dimension because both the friend and foe are the same sometimes. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology in Germany demonstrated how tobacco plants resolve this conflict with a novel change in …
As all countries take actions to reduce emissions the unresolved question is to what extent fairness will be the basis for international cooperation International cooperation for a global approach to climate change continues to tweak a failing system arrived at in 1992 rather than seeking a new framework and developing …
The focus on current and per capita emissions has not led to the desired results MukulSanwal[1] The UN Climate Summit was expected to develop an understanding on the contours of a new climate regime, by staying away the Prime Ministers of India, China, Russia and Germanysignalleda lack of confidence that …
The establishment of a sustainable, reliable and achievable energy system needs a worldwide cross-linked effort. Research, development and implementation of innovations by both the scientific community as well as industry is necessary. The ENERGY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Conference and Exhibition wants to provide a platform for presenting the most recent …
Changes in water availability and quality are occurring mainly as consequences of global and local changes including environmental factors, climate change and human-induced changes. Science-based knowledge to assess water resources over a range of scales in space and time is essential to develop methodologies for water resources assessments to improve …
The International Conference on Mass Data Analysis of Images and Signals with Applications in Medicine, r/g/b Biotechnology, Food Industries and Dietetics, Biometry and Agriculture MDA is held on yearly basis.The aim of the conference is to bring together researchers from all over the world who deal with the automatic analysis …
