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 …
This report highlights the importance of social protection in the struggle against global poverty. Social protection aims to enhance the capacity of poor and vulnerable persons to manage economic and social risks, such as unemployment, sickness, disability and old age.
Bolivian President Evo Morales recently signed a pact with the heads of Cuba and Venezuela in Havana to endorse a trade alternative to the us- backed free trade. Bolivia joined the group
This article examines the divergent political responses to unplanned exposure to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the Global South. Although scientific and domestic political considerations have some relevance to explaining different positions among developing countries, trade considerations appear to be a principal driver of GMO policy. This consideration is strikingly …
FRA 2005 examines current status and recent trends for about 40 variables, covering the extent, condition, uses and values of forests and other wooded land, with the aim of assessing all benefits from forest resources. In the main section of this report, results are presented according to six themes representing …
Caribbean states have been hit hard by a recent World Trade Organisation ruling that pronounced as illegal the new us $280 per tonne eu tariff on bananas imported from the Most Favoured Nations (mfn). The 25-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific group are pitted against mfn, comprising Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, …
a medicinal herb easily available in India can increase the resistance to disease and ensure better growth among some of the commonly consumed fish, according to a recent study by scientists at the Delhi University. Rina Chakrabarti and Vasudeva Rao studied the effect of Achyranthes aspera on Catla catla (commonly …
This paper examines the main ways in which Payments for Environmental Services (PES) might affect poverty. PES may reduce poverty mainly by making payments to poor natural resource managers in upper watersheds. The extent of the impact depends on how many PES participants are in fact poor, on the poor’s …
a community similar to the European Union will soon be created in South America. The Rio Group, a cluster of 18 South American nations, has agreed to form the "South American Community of Nations' to foster political, economic and infrastructural integration. The decision was taken by the foreign ministers of …
This paper shows that attenuation formula for peak ground acceleration (PGA) for Chile subduction zone, derived from a homogeneous database for thrust interplate and inslab of intermediate depth earthquakes recorded on ‘hard rock’ and ‘rock and hard soil’, give systematically higher values than universal formulas proposed for subduction zones. Also …
The Antarctic ozone hole is bigger than it has ever been at this time of the year, threatening populated regions of South America and New Zealand with harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation. Last year's hole was smaller than those recorded over the previous decade, leading to hopes that the protective …
Extreme climate events such as aridity, drought, flood, cyclone and stormy rainfall are expected to leave an impact on human society. They are also expected to generate widespread response to adapt and mitigate the sufferings associated with these extremes. Societal and cultural responses to prolonged drought include population dislocation, cultural …
Pristine forests in South America have an unexpected nitrogen cycle that is driven largely by air pollution, acid rain and artificial nitrogen fertilisation, shows a study from the US Geological Survey and New Jersey-based Princeton University. Prior to this study, most scientists believed that nitrogen cycle consisted of forms that …
FOR three minutes, the night sky lit up on March 1, 2002, at the European Space Agency (ESA) launch centre at Kourou in French Guiana on the northern coast of South America. It was from here that an Ariane-5 rocket blasted off and put into orbit ENVISAT - the largest …
THE contagion appears to have been contained before it could assume epidemic proportions. But it has still claimed four lives. The recent outbreak of plague in the Rohru-Jubbal belt of Himachal Pradesh (HP) highlights how a surveillance mechanism is conspicuously absent in India. While the disease is said to have …
what does the temperature of the sea and deadly South American disease have to do with each other? A lot, say climatologists at the us national Aeronautical Space Administration (nasa) and the us military health specialists. They have used changes in the sea surface temperature to predict outbreaks of Bartonellosis, …
W hales and dolphins of St Lucia island are being killed in large numbers, according to the International Whaling Commission ( iwc ). At least 96 dolphins and 65 whales were killed on the island during 1999. "These numbers amount to one of the largest officially recorded inten-tional mammal kills …
an international team looked at the seasonal growth rings in 28 specimens of 500 centuries old Fitzroya cupressoides , a conifer found in South America to trace a picture of the world's climate 50,000 years ago. The scientists were able to study the trees as a result of two natural …
it is time to take out sun creams, ultraviolet protective sunglasses, wide brimmed hats and clothing with long sleeves because the largest ever ozone hole over Antarctica has just been detected by the us National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( nasa) . The ozone hole over the Antarctic is the …
