The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
When the houses in the Latur villages came crashing down, death, as usual, chose its social classes. The earthquake spared the thatched huts of the poorest and the cement and concrete houses of the rich. It was mostly the mud houses of those in between -- made of stone stuck …
"ONE OF the best investments the global community can make is in AIDS prevention," says Dr Michael H Mezon, director of the Global Programme on AIDS (GPA) of the World Health Organisation. "Money spent now on changing behaviour to slow the spread of infection will return billions of dollars of …
IN 1988, Seattle city's officials announced a plan to recycle 60 per cent of its garbage in 10 years. Five years later, however, this ambitious programme is running out of steam. The programme has become a big-city benchmark. About 42 per cent of all the city's trash goes into recycling …
Indian industry has once again disregarded a government deadline to implement compulsory environment audit. The scheme requires all manufacturing units to list such details as materials used, sources of energy and effluent constituents. By August 30, manufacturing units were to have submitted evidence of having carried out these audits to …
WHAT HAPPENS when a tiny nation's only tradeable natural resource runs out? It gets a ravaged environment, some compensation and a bleak future. This is exactly what happened to the Pacific island-state of Nauru, whose only natural resource, phosphate, was mined by Australia. After a 30-year battle, Australian Prime Minister …
THE GROWING fear of losing jobs has fuelled the debate on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Among the major opponents to the pact between the US, Canada and Mexico, are Ross Perot, a contender for the US President's post in 1992, the American Federation of Labour-Confederation of Industrial …
In 1977, the UN organised a conference on desertification in which a resolution was passed to start a fund for desertification control. Besides, UNEP also started a desertification programme, but most industrialised countries showed no interest in this. Do you think there has been a change in their perception? It's …
WHEN WILLIAM Morris began his epic, The Earthly Paradise, with these lines in 1868, he was reacting to the effects of the Industrial Revolution and the unbridled urban growth of 19th century England. A century later, what was confined to the West has spread across the globe. And because we …
THE PACIFIC island-state of Nauru, once abundant in phosphates deposited by birds, now lies devastated and desolate. Most of the phosphate was mined by Australia and royalties made the Nauruans one of the richest people in the world. Now, they are left without any natural resources and only an investment …
Genetically engineered products have faced a tough battle to gain acceptance by users. Public perception of biotechnology is influenced alternately by vociferous public-interest groups like Jeremy Rifkin's US-based Foundation for Economic Trends shouting foul, and public relations officers of biotechnology companies who try to assert the inherent safety of engineered …
Genetic engineering today means moving genes -- molecules that contain biological instructions -- from one species to another -- something that is virtually impossible in nature. The very definition of the word 'species' means it is impossible for organisms of different species to interact sexually -- the basic mechanism of …
The impact of biotechnology on medicine has been profound. Researchers now approach drug design in completely novel ways, leading to exciting therapies. Says Jurgen Drews of Hoffmann-La Roche, "Molecular biology has invaded all areas of biology and pharmacology and there is hardly any drug research project that does not somehow …
TOBACCO came to India in the 17th century with the Portuguese and today, the plant is grown over as much as half a million hectares in the country. India was one of the first countries in the world to report the adverse health effects of tobacco use. In 1902, the …
AFTER being called "a little squit" and "an inconsequential little creep", British environment minister John Gummer now has a new insult to add to his list of 'Names the World Called Me'. At an election rally in Norway, Norwegian environment minister Thorbjoern Berntsen, angry because Gummer was "insolent to Norway" …
UNRELENTING pressure from environmentalists in Udaipur finally seems to have forced the Rajasthan government's environment department to take action to stop the pollution of the city's lakes. After years of protests, in August, the state environment department sent off notices to 10 hotels located around the Pichhola, Fateh Sagar and …
THE BELIEF that economic liberalisation and competition will motivate India's industry to upgrade its research and development has become almost axiomatic. However, a study of private sector R&D;, carried out by the Delhi-based Centre for Technology Services (CTS) and sponsored by the department of science and technology (DST), shows this …
MORE THAN 50 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from across the world met recently in the sub-Saharan city of Bamako as a prelude to the intergovernmental convention on desertification, which was proposed by African countries at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. When the industrialised countries did not show much interest …
You've been writing about environmental issues for a long time, but your writings are people-oriented. Is this due to your personal background? My personal background is almost horrid. I have been a writer and novelist and written more than 80 dramas. I have tried almost every conceivable medium of self-expression. …
AS A FRONTIER technology today, genetic engineering is attracting the best scientific minds the world over. The ability to manipulate the genetic make-up of living things has the potential, theoretically at least, to transform human health and world agriculture. It also has immense ethical and safety implications for humankind and …
FOR CENTURIES, human behaviour has been governed by regulations. And, in step with technology advances, environmental problems have come to need more and more stringent regulations. But most of these problems are multinational in character and fall within the domain of international law and multilateral management. International Environmental Negotiation, edited …
