This paper presents a status report of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) on two crucial development parameters—inequality and poverty—that have a significant bearing on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; especially SDG-1 and SDG-10). The paper tracks the origins and movements of absolute and relative poverty, …
russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States ( cis ) are working with the United Nations Environment Programme ( unep ) to dispose of toxic wastes in an environmentally-sound manner. At two separate meetings held in July, experts from the cis and a number of organisations met …
kazakh foreign minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev played down concerns that China's plans to siphon-off water from the Irtysh river would cause economic and ecological damage in the ex-Soviet republic. China revealed that it planned to build a canal in the far northwest of the country, diverting water from the Irtysh, a …
more than a decade after the explosion of Ukraine's Chernobyl's nuclear power station, the radioactive leak is threatening to cripple the health of the younger generations. "Statistics show rising numbers of radioactivity-related diseases,' said Olha Bobyleva, Ukraine's deputy health minister. "We have also registered a growth in the number of …
for the first time, Russian scientists have decided to counter polychlorinated biphenyl ( pcb ) contamination after seven other Arctic countries agreed to pay us $160,000 to investigate the source of pcb s in Russia pcb s, which are widely used as insulators in electrical equipment, are highly toxic. Countries …
after maintaining a prolonged suspense, Russia, the world's second largest producer of greenhouse gas ( ghg ) emissions, has signed the Kyoto Protocol. Countries already party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( un fccc ) had to sign the protocol negotiated at Kyoto on December 11, …
Ukraine has said that it would keep its promise to shut down the troubled Chernobyl nuclear power plant by the year 2000, but only if it received enough financial assistance from the West. "Till date, Ukraine's position is unchanged. Ukraine is ready to fulfil its obligation to close the Chernobyl …
russian scientists' attempt to reflect the Sun's light towards dark areas of the Earth floundered when the giant mirror failed. Astronauts aboard the Russian space station Mir were to bounce sunlight off a 25-metre (82 feet) fabric mirror and direct the rays toward the ground, producing beams up to 10 …
The remains of the once powerful Soviet nuclear submarine fleet are lying in crumbling shipyards. Many of these are in the northern Kola Peninsula. With Russia lacking the money to dispose of the nuclear waste safely, the radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel pose a tremendous environmental hazard. At least …
environmental group Greenpeace has released a document revealing secret efforts by Russian officials to secure lucrative contracts to allow illegal dumping of nuclear wastes from Switzerland, Germany, Spain, South Korea and Taiwan in Russia. The document, "Protocol of Intentions', is linked to another leaked document published by Greenpeace on January …
THE Russian branch of Greenpeace has launched a campaign for a more rational use of forests, Russia's greatest assets. The former Soviet Union occupies one sixth of the world's land surface, much of which is covered by evergreen trees. Yet the plumpest, best-shaped firs at the Moscow market are imported …
FATHER Valentin and son Sergei Pazhetnov were former hunters. But now they specialise in training orphan bears to survive in Russia's deep forests. With help from international donations, the Pazhetnovs have raised and released 64 bear orphans in the last eight years. The facility is the only one of its …
RUSSIAN and Kazakh experts explained why they did not like the recent nuclear tests in India and Pakistan at an anti-nuclear conference. "We are still suffering from the radiation effects of nuclear tests carried out by Russia and China," said Tatiana Leschenko, an eye specialist and president of the Union …
A NEW ozone-destroying chemical has been found in the atmosphere, muddying repair efforts of the ozone layer. Halon-1202, a firefighting chemical suspected of being used by the Russian military, has increased five-fold in the atmosphere over the past 20 years, say Australian scientists. For the last two years, the chemical …
RUSSIA today is sitting on a bomb - thousands of bombs really. The real nightmare is not that it cannot get rid of more than 36,000 metric tonne of chemical weapons, but that it cannot find the thousands of bombs that lie in abandoned and uncharted weapons dumps, according to …
THE cases of mv infection in Russian soldiers have quadrupled in the past one year. Half of these soldiers are in Moscow's military district itself, say army officials. They blame the rise of drug abuse among the country's abused and hungry soldiers. Mikhail Kislitsyn, Moscow military district prosecutor, says that …
JUMPING genes, also known by other names (one of them being "transposable elements"), are quite extraordinary in themselves. These fragments of parasitic DNA found within the genetic material of almost all organisms, can jump from one gene sequence to another with no apparent difficulty. Their existence implies that genetic material …
Moscow and Oslo have signed a landmark deal that allows Norwegian companies help clean up Russia's nuclear debris. The long-overdue agreement should also pave the way for companies to work on Russian nuclear projects. Norwegian officials say the deal became possible when Russia stopped insisting that Norway should pay for …
fresh leaks from the Chernobyl nuclear plant have revived fears about whether the plant should stay open. Recently, officials suddenly closed the plant's only working reactor. Authorities admitted that there was a slight radioactive leak. However, the reactor was reopened after assurances that all was well. Vadim Grichenko, a senior …
negotiators from the us and 28 other countries are nearing agreement on a treaty to restrict the production and use of toxic chemicals. But reports that Russia still produces and uses polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs), the poisonous chemical that has been banned years ago in the us and other countries, came …
the old, frail and battered Mir spacecraft will be abandoned by December 1999, say Russian space officials. Cosmonauts on board would soon begin to manoeuvre it into a lower orbit. The officials say that a module would be launched towards Mir that would carry fuel to propel the station towards …
