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 …
• A British television channel has been criticised as "irresponsible' for making a drama in which US President George Bush is assassinated. Death of a President, on More4, uses actors and computer effects to portray the president being shot dead during an anti-war rally in Chicago in 2007. The makers …
using gadgets available on three satellites, scientists at the us National Aeronautics and Space Administration (nasa) have measured the complete water cycle of an entire continent
About 80 members of the remote Nukak-Maku tribe of Colombia recently wandered out of the Amazon forests and set up camp in the southern part of the country, declaring themselves ready to join the modern world. "While it is not known for sure why they left the jungle, what is …
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, …
