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 …
A two-member team of experts from the European Union (EU) has started inspection of the seafood processing units in Kerala as part of the move to review the EU ban on Indian marine-food exports. About 20 people have been killed in some districts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh by …
canada became the first nation to sign the historic treaty imposing a total ban on anti personnel landmines ( apls) in Ottawa, Canada, on December 4, when the treaty was opened for signing. By the evening of December 5 when the conference ended, 121 countries had signed the accord. India, …
Funding and technology cooperation in the past 17 years indicate that research and development (R&D;) is becoming increasingly globalised. Foreign funding of industrial R&D; in the US increased almost 800 per cent between 1983 and 1990
volcanoes eject large amounts of sulphur into the atmosphere when they erupt, and actually contribute significantly to global cooling. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines, on June 15, 1991, discharged huge amounts of ash and other debris into the atmosphere, creating the largest stratospheric cloud of sulphur dioxide ( so …
it's a battle between small fry and the big fish. Fisherfolk from 32 countries have launched a global forum to fight the fishing industry, aquaculture and marine pollution, which have affected their livelihood. Launched at the end of a five-day meet at New Delhi on November 21, the World Forum …
geneticists who gathered at a conference on human evolution in October at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, have come out with some estimates that could change our understanding of the evolution of our species. They say that as few as 500 individuals, who moved out of Africa some …
even as Japan expressed doubts whether the industrialised countries would agree to cut down greenhouse gas ( ghg ) emissions at the third Conference of Parties ( cop -3) in Kyoto, developed countries came in for criticism for not honouring their commitments to the un Framework Convention on Climate Change …
the most disturbing spectre on the horizon of environmentalists in the West is the one that they feel most guilty about. They survey the output of greenhouse gases of their own economies and note the evident reluctance of everybody to do anything about it even as summers grow warmer, storms …
In just less than a decade, a big shift has taken place in the substance of the dialogue between environmental ngo s in the North and the South. Whereas in the mid-1980s the focus was on national issues, for example, on how Indian and British ngo s could work together …
the first Conference of Parties for the Convention to Combat Desertification ( cop-i ) held in Rome from September 29 to October 10, 1997 took decisions on issues such as funding and the venue for a permanent secretariat for the convention. With no additional resources coming from nations of the …
Labour union membership has declined substantially over the past decade around the world. Even in European countries which traditionally had strong unions, the membership is decreasing. However, the Scandinavian countries have seen a steady growth of union membership. As a result, there have been fewer strikes in the past decade. …
chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs) are not the only threat to the ozone layer. Nitrous oxide (n2o), also known as laughing gas, has been quietly eating into the layer that screens out harmful ultraviolet radiations. The gas has a tremendous global warming potential, with a heat absorption capacity 250-290 times that of carbon …
ten years after the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed, it is being hailed as a success story of cooperation between policy makers, scientists, industry and non-government organisations. United Nations Environment Programme (unep) executive director Elizabeth Dowdeswell and Canadian member of parliament Clifford Lincoln, among …
the agenda for the 9th Meeting of Parties to the Protocol (mop-9) included measures to ensure compliance, curb smuggling of cfc s, and phase out hcfc s, methyl bromide, methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride and other cfc substitutes with a high ozone depleting potential (odp). A number of decisions were taken …
the Montreal Protocol is now hailed as an "extraordinary environmental success'and has come to be regarded as a "model-setting, green, global agreement'. A recent study commissioned by Environment Canada which was tabled at mop -9 concludes that the health and financial benefits of the protocol far outweigh its costs. It …
The good news... CFCs, halons, carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform have been phased out in developing countries to a large extent. Growth rates of CFCs and methyl chloroform in the atmosphere have slowed down. The trend of decision making based on science and technology assessments has been established. Over US …
international smuggling of chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs) - gases used as a coolants in refrigerators and air-conditioners that lead to global warming - are generating a lot of heat in political circles. September 16, 1997 marked the 10th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, a path-breaking global agreement to phase out cfcs after …
As of 1997, the world consumes five million tonnes of grain daily. To feed the world's human population of almost 5.8 billion - growing by 80 million people a year - production of foodgrains, including wheat, rice, corn and barley, has to increase by 26 million tonnes annually. However, grain …
