The report highlights the collaborative action already happening between cities, states, regions, business, and national government, using data reported by over 1000 cities, states and regions through the CDP-ICLEI Unified Reporting System. Immediate action is needed to stop global greenhouse gas emissions, avoid new emissions, design resilient infrastructure and switch …
italy is gearing up to face environmental challenges. "Environmental issues would be incorporated in all aspects of policymaking,' said Willer Bordon, the country's environment minister. Emphasising on global warming, Bordon said that in 1998, around 35,000 Italians died as a result of infectious diseases linked to global warming. He said …
catalytic converters, meant to clean up car exhausts, are polluting the environment. A group of Italian and French researchers have found traces of heavy metals emitted from the devices in remote regions of Greenland. Seth Dunn of the Worldwatch Institute, a non-governmental organisation based in Washington dc, usa, says, "They …
the Balkan war in 1999 has left a deadly impact on North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (nato) soldiers who were deployed in the region. A 14-member team of United Nations Environment Programme found evidence of radioactivity in eight of the eleven sites in Kosovo that was struck with depleted uranium (du) …
The sinking of an Italian tanker carrying 6,000 metric tonnes of toxic chemicals off France's Atlantic Coast has sent alarm bells ringing in the region. Loaded with 4,000 tonnes of styrene, a hydrocarbon used for making synthetic plastic, rubber and resins, the tanker sank in an area where radioactive and …
a plan of the Italian government to save Venice from sinking will prove to be futile. This was stated by Albert J Ammerman, an American environmental archaeologist and an expert about Venetian things. The plan drawn up long ago is on the verge of being finalised by the government. It …
for fans of Star Trek and other science fiction stories, travel by spacecraft at speeds exceeding the speed of light is routine. But in the real world, the speed of light in vacuum (300,000 metres per second), sets the upper limit to the speed at which information can be transferred …
Italy's largest producer of dairy products, Parmalat, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN FAO) have signed a cooperative agreement to fight world hunger together. Towards this end, Parmalat will provide US $ 1.5 million over a period of three years to sponsor FAO activities aimed at reducing …
In an effort to help developing countries compete more effectively in the world starch markets, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has urged research institutes to study various properties of starch. FAO began studying starch properties a year ago and is now working in research institutes in Italy …
beginning next month, fourteen Italian cities, including Rome, Florence and Milan, will ban cars in the city centre every Sunday in an attempt to reduce smog levels that kill thousands of people every year and destroy ancient monuments. According to a plan announced by the government, all city centres will …
The European Court of Justice said Italy has failed to uphold European clean water legislation in the San Rocco valley. The court found Italy's failure to prevent waste from entering streams and rivers had jeopardised the environment and health of valley residents. Italy was charged by the European Commission with …
People suffering from hypertension who lie awake at night may be at a greater risk of heart damage than those who sleep through the night. Researchers at the University of Pavia in Italy examined the effect of lack of sleep on blood pressure and heart rate. They monitored 36 people …
On January 23, 1999, an Italian/ Dutch satellite called BeppoSAX spotted an unusually intense burst of gamma rays. The dazzling burst is the most violent explosion of gamma rays ever witnessed in the universe, and its source was estimated to be about 10 billion light years away. The afterglow suggested …
a plan to use flood barriers to save Venice from flooding is likely to be abandoned because experts say it will harm the environment. The project was decided in the aftermath of the devastating floods in 1966 when the Venice lagoon's natural defences were badly breached by a storm surge. …
the existence of the so-called redundant genes has been a major embarrassment for molecular biology. In a variety of systems, scientists have observed many genes, believed to be important for the functioning of the organism, could be removed without any apparent ill-effects. Such genes were said to be redundant and …
FRIUILI VENEZA GIULIA or Friends of Earth (FOE) an Italian environmental group, is opposing the Tarvisio town, the venue for the 2006 Winter Olympics. They fear that the games would pose a threat to the rich biodiversity around the town. Valcanale, a suburban area, contains one of the last ancient …
A GERMAN physician noticed an illness about 250 years ago, which he coined the phrase "the pulse of the doctor". Now, the same illness has got a new name: white coat hypertension. It refers to an increase in the pulse rate and blood pressure (BP) of a patient when he …
the landmark for Venice may also be its nemesis. The floods that submerge Venice's streets, with which the city is identified with, may drown this historical city one day. Floods have of late become more frequent. In early 1980s, St Mark's Square - the city's lowest point - was flooded …
most Italians have stopped making babies. The country's chief statistical body confirms that the country has the lowest fertility rate in the world. Women now bear 1.2 babies per individual. Only the Spaniards, in western Europe are as unproductive. In 1996, when the counting was last conducted, deaths had outpaced …
Animal experiments could become obsolete with the development of a transgenic mouse by Maria Sacco of Italian Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies in Milan, Italy. The mouse, sensitive to tiny amounts of toxic chemicals, could slash the number of rodents sacrificed during drug development. Companies test compounds on these animals …
