Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
UGANDA, Rwanda, Brazil and Thailand have been identified by the World Health Organisation as testing sites whenever an AIDS vaccine is ready. So far, only Uganda has agreed to the proposed large-scale trials though responses from the other countries are still awaited. India refused to provide a testing site for …
THE alleged rape in Brazil of an 18-year-old teacher by Paulinho Paiakan, chief of the Kayapo tribe, may be seen as symbolic of the rape of the Amazon rainforests using as a lure the theory that marketing forest produce is more economically beneficial and ecologically friendly than selling timber. Attracted …
PRODDED by fears that the ozone layer is being depleted at a much faster rate than reported initially, representatives of 56 countries met in Geneva recently and largely agreed on a proposal to bring forward the date for phasing out use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from 2000 to the end of …
UNION environment minister Kamal Nath's order of July 30 -which has yet to reach the Orissa government -to stop work on the Chilika Aquatic Farms project till an independent consultant assessed its likely environmental impact may have, at best, bought some time for him. Orissa chief minister Biju Patnaik and …
DESPITE the cynicism of sceptics, a brace of proposed constitutional amendments could empower the people to take control of their environment and turn it clean and green. But this dream will come true only if the proposed political decentralisation is truly democratic and results in the creation of participatory institutions …
THE TECHNOLOGY for manufacturing carbon fibre reinforced composites -- state-of-the-art materials used in making products as diverse as missiles, spaceships, top-quality sports goods, and prosthetics -- have long been the monopoly of the industrialised nations. But not any longer, for National Physical Laboratory (NPL) scientists have indigenously developed the technology …
DURING the dissemination of an improved, smoke-removing chulha (called nada chulha to honour the women of Nada, a harijan village, who developed it), I visited hundreds of rural kitchens in seven northern states to train local women as chulha mistris (stove repairers). In talking with the Nada housewives using the …
ARAKHAKUDA is a fishing village in Brahmagiri block of Puri district and its residents have been fishing in Chilika lake for generations. What makes Arakhakuda significant is that it is the last village on the Magarmukh channel that links the lake to the Bay of Bengal. Hence, the villagers know …
IT IS indeed unfortunate that the two Constitutional amendment bills to strengthen Panchayati Raj institutions and urban municipalities have received little public attention. Political decentralisation has the potential to revitalise this country in more ways than one. Theoretically speaking, it can give power to the people in a way that …
THIS BOOK by two of India's most eminent environmental historians makes a first attempt at constructing an alternative, ecological view of Indian history. Coming on the heels of Clive Ponting's A Green History of the World, this is a very welcome first step. The book is divided into three sections: …
SAUL Bellow, in one of his novels, The Dean's December, anticipates the transformation of American cities into vast urban ghettoes teeming with people who are unable to cope with the jungle law of modern civilisation. These are the people whom he calls the "unwanted and dispensable population", who, like Jews …
EVERYONE recognises the importance of forests. We have over the years set up several structures and evolved policies to try and conserve them. How effective these are is, of course, another question. Wetlands, on the other hand, remain an area of darkness. And the recent imbroglio over the Chilika lake …
IT IS perhaps unfair for an economist to review a book which was originally submitted as a PhD thesis in anthropology. Unlike other anthropological works, a doctoral dissertation is necessarily less than a good read. And, as an academic work, the reviewer inevitably shows a bias, wondering much of the …
On JUNE 24, Tamil Nadu governor Bhishm Narain Singh inaugurated a national seminar on diesel conservation in road transport and exhorted bus and truck operators to conserve fuel. Just four days later, the ruling AIADMK arranged a massive jamboree at Madurai, with an eye tilted at the Guinness Book of …
THE NEED for a comprehensive book on forestry seeds has long been felt. Ram Prasad's and A K Kandhya's Handling of Forestry Seeds in India is therefore a welcome addition to the existing literature in this field. The book begins with a chapter on afforestation activity in the country and …
"Traffic jam on Everest", read a startling headline in The Rising Nepal, Kathmandu's leading English daily. The report went on to say that 34 mountaineers were on the way to the peak following the same route and they would all be jostling their way to the top. The headline, meanwhile, …
GLOBAL trade wars are turning green and, across the world, battles are raging to enforce environmental decisions through the power of trade restrictions and embargoes on the countries deemed responsible for environmentally unfriendly products. Japan faced punishment for endangering the hawksbill sea turtle whose shell is used to make jewellery. …
AT FIRST sight, Gandruk village, which is high up in the middle Himalayas, seems no different from other villages on a popular trekking route in Nepal. Children and dogs scamper about, seemingly oblivious of the mid-day heat. But, on closer scrutiny, differences become manifest. For a start, the village is …
Japan, once described as an ecological outlaw in a civilised world, faced punishment in March 1991 for its role in endangering the hawksbill sea turtle. The US administration threatened to restrict import of all wildlife products from Japan, including pearl import worth US $53 million, unless the Japanese mended their …
NESTLED amid pine forests, apple orchards and vegetable gardens at Kausani, in UP"s Almora district, is Lakshmi Ashram, a residential school begun 45 years ago and featuring a distinctive pattern of education, placing special emphasis on ecological consciousness. The students come mostly from remote hill villages and from extremely poor …
