The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
To put it in a nutshell, the factors that have contributed to the lack of development of organic market in India include low awareness about the perils of chemically farmed products, high prices of organic produce, lack of consumer confidence in organic food standards and their erratic supply. Smritee Singh, …
The government's interventions have focused on promoting certified organic production, missing out the challenge of using the organic route to reward traditional, marginal farmers. This misplaced priority seems to be changing. A master plan for the production of organic coffee is almost ready. Formulated by the coffee board, the plan …
black carbon aerosol pollution, produced by humans, can impact global climate as well as seasonal cycles of rainfall shows new research based upon satellite data and a multi-national field experiment. Aerosols that contain black carbon both absorb and reflect incoming sunlight, therefore they can exert a regional cooling influence on …
The world's first solar-powered aircraft, Helios, has made a world altitude record. It reached 24.7 km, five hours and 16 minutes after its launch from the us navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, Kauai. Helios, the aircraft of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (nasa), surpassed the all-time …
we may not be the only ones. With the discovery of a new planet, a team of astronomers has come a step closer to finding solar systems that might have characteristics similar to our own. The team recently found a Jupiter-sized planet in a circular orbit around a faint star …
a global network of non-governmental organisations ( ngo s), business associations and scientific institutions has launched the World Council for Renewable Energies ( wcre ), to encourage the use of renewable energy. The organisation has been set up because, its supporters say, the World Energy Council favours the use of …
Sixty per cent of the world's important fish stocks are in urgent need of management to rehabilitate them or keep them from being overfished. While the idea of sustainable fishing remains mired in inter-nation conflicts and controversies, 35 per cent of the most important commercial fish stocks show a pattern …
Remember the cartoon of the European explorer in North America, waving an axe to clear forests while moving towards the west coast a few centuries ago? The slogan "exploring the west' in China has a similar ring in the ear. China now has its eyes fixed upon its wild, barren …
a nearly complete view of the world's air pollution has been recently assembled by the National Aeronautical Space Administration ( nasa ). The images reveal expansive clouds of carbon monoxide and other air pollutants over continents and oceans worldwide. The major sources of these pollutants include air pollution from forest …
A dozen notoriously toxic chemicals have been outlawed, or restricted around the world under a landmark United Nations treaty signed in Stockholm in May. It is a rare piece of good news for the global environment. The accord will ban, phase out or severely cut back a range of industrial …
global installed wind power capacity will increase by 39 per cent in 2001, according to the World Market Update 2000 prepared by btm Consult, a Danish wind industry consultancy. The update further states that wind power capacity in 2002 is expected to increase by 10 per cent, 16 per cent …
human activities in coastal areas are endangering marshes, estuaries, coral reefs and mangrove forests, warns a new report. "Unless things change very quickly, the world's coastal areas face a bleak future,' says Jonathan Lash, president of the Washington dc -based World Resources Institute ( wri ), which released the report …
the International Maritime Organisation (imo), a un agency, has recently approved a convention that sets up rules and regulations about liability and compensation in cases of oil spills by ships. Until now imo rules covered spills from tankers carrying oil as cargo. The convention covers pollution damage in the territories, …
experts on climate change agree that cost-effective technologies are available to stabilise emissions of greenhouse gases (ghgs) like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane at a low level, but there is a need to initiate major policy changes to make such a transition. Delegates from about 85 countries met in …
the sturgeon population is fast declining due to poaching, illegal trade, habitat loss, dam constructions, pollution, damaging aquaculture practices, lack of regional cooperation in conservation programmes and poor law enforcement. This was revealed during a recent international meeting of more than 40 experts, including scientists, representatives of government and non-governmental …
the infrastructure for coordinating research about various worldwide environmental changes must be restructured for taking correct decisions on issues such as greenhouse gas emission policies. This was stated in a report by the National Research Council (nrc), which aims to influence president George Bush's administration. The report
an international team of fertility experts has decided to clone human beings for the first time in the world. Despite opposition from scientific and religious communities, who contend that more than 95 per cent of the cloning experiments on animals have failed so far, the experts have decided to go …
It was Henry Ford who invented the assembly line system of manufacturing automobiles and today the car is a victim of its own success. Therefore it is not surprising that Europe is stricken by a crisis, which is the result of the factory-like food production techniques adopted in the Continent …
