In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion. The year 2024 was marked by extreme temperature events in Asia that caused thousands of deaths, severe droughts in Africa affecting over 25 …
Estimation of the number and rate of deaths by age and sex is a key first stage for calculation of the burden of disease in order to constrain estimates of cause-specific mortality and to measure premature mortality in populations. We aimed to estimate life tables and annual numbers of deaths …
Woodfuels (firewood and charcoal) are the dominant energy source and the leading forest product for most developing countries. Representing 60 to 80 percent of total wood consumption in these nations, woodfuels often account for 50 to 90 percent of all energy used. Although woodfuels are widely perceived as cheap and …
The LSE Cities/ICLEI survey on Cities and the Green Economy provides an up-to-date overview on the experiences of cities around the world in the transition to the green economy. The survey was conducted in the run-up to Rio+20 in order to increase awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of cities …
According to this new WHO report India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea bear the largest burden of malaria in the Asia-Pacific region & account for 89% of all malaria cases in the region. A new report "Defeating malaria in Asia, the Pacific, Americas, Middle East and Europe," the …
Global food experts have come out unanimously against GM crops declaring that there is no evidence to show that GM crops help enhance a nation’s security. Prof. Jack Heinemann from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Christchurch, New Zealand, and a lead author of the prestigious International …
A central paradox of the global monsoon record involves reported decreases in rainfall over land during an era in which the global hydrologic cycle is both expected and observed to intensify. It is within this context that this work develops a physical basis for both interpreting the observed record and …
The temporary halt to tourism in core zones of tiger reserves is a wake-up call to an industry that has grown rapidly and become disruptive in some places. Rather than view the Supreme Court’s interim order as a setback, tourism operators should see it as an opportunity to set things …
Despite having protected status, the biodiversity in a large number of tropical forests is still continuing to decline, a study has suggested. The authors said the findings should cause concern because the areas have been seen as a final refuge for a number of threatened species. Habitat disruption, hunting and …
Promotion of physical activity is a priority for health agencies. We searched for reviews of physical activity interventions, published between 2000 and 2011, and identified effective, promising, or emerging interventions from around the world. The informational approaches of community-wide and mass media campaigns, and short physical activity messages targeting key …
In an article that forms part of the PLoS Medicine series on Big Food, Carlos Monteiro and Geoffrey Cannon provide a perspective from Brazil on the rise of multinational food companies and the displacement of traditional food systems, and offer suggestions for the public health response.
This paper addresses the mass supply and use of butterflies for live exhibits, discusses the risks to biodiversity which this creates, and the educational opportunities it presents. Over the past 30 years a new type of insect zoo has become popular worldwide: the butterfly house. This has given rise to …
New Delhi The stagnation in domestic gas and coal production has led to a revival of interest in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) business, despite it being the most expensive fuel for power generation. Among the growing list of energy companies looking at the LNG business are government-run Indian Oil …
The growing risks and impacts of climate change and the accompanying loss of ecosystem services require the world to urgently invest in a new development paradigm. As the UN’s global development network, UNDP recognizes the increasing urgency of mainstreaming climate change into sustainable development planning at all levels, linking development …
Colonial cinnabar mining and refining began in Huancavelica, Peru, in 1564. With a local source of mercury, the amalgamation process was adopted to refine silver in Potosí, Bolivia, in the early 1570s. As a result, large quantities of mercury were released into the environment. Original Source
The study tracked the waxing and waning of the range and diversity of families of mammals that inhabited the continental United States during this extended period. Diversity is the mammal's best defense when it comes to adapting climatic changes. That is one of the conclusions of the first study of …
The nature and scale of pre-Columbian land use and the consequences of the 1492 “Columbian Encounter” (CE) on Amazonia are among the more debated topics in New World archaeology and paleoecology. However, pre-Columbian human impact in Amazonian savannas remains poorly understood. Most paleoecological studies have been conducted in neotropical forest …
Aedes aegypti dispersion is the major reason for the increase in dengue transmission in South America. In Brazil, control of this mosquito strongly relies on the use of pyrethroids and organophosphates against adults and larvae, respectively. In consequence, many Ae. aegypti field populations are resistant to these compounds. Resistance has …
The government yesterday struck a deal with an Indian company to find out Bangladesh's potential in generating electricity from wind energy. India's ReGen Powertech Pvt Ltd, a manufacturer of gearless wind turbine generators, and Bangladesh's Power Division signed a memorandum of understanding at the Biddut Bhaban in Dhaka. ReGen will …
The United States remained the primary backer of biotech crop technology in 2011, but adoption spread internationally as the total global planted area of genetically modified seeds grew 8 percent from a year ago, according to a report issued Tuesday. Roughly 160 million hectares, or 395.2 million acres, were planted …
A multinational, prospective clinical study was carried out in South-East Asia (SEA) and Latin America (LA), to ascertain the proportion of inapparent dengue infections in households of febrile dengue cases, and to compare clinical data and biological markers from subjects with various dengue disease patterns. Dengue infection was laboratory-confirmed during …
