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 …
The first thing that strikes about them is their eyes: questioning the unfairness of this world. They are child labourers employed by the carpet industry of Pakistan (Rights and Wrongs). In Nigeria, the Ogoni led by writer Ken Saro Wiwa protest against the denudation of their fertile land at the …
With the world increasingly worried about climate change, a new scheme is being cooked up to deal with the problem. The World Bank has an ingenious proposal - which is still confidential - in which the Bank would buy and sell, as the most "honest broker", the rights of present …
an elephant poacher-turned-sandalwood smuggler, Veerappan has used his intimate knowledge of the territory and his influence and terror among the locals to avoid capture. Over the years he has extracted a heavy price from the state of Karnataka. Crores of rupees have been spent, and 32 police personnel and 10 …
there seems to be more than meets the eye in the case. Veerappan appears to be, despite his notoriety as a law unto himself, the tip of the iceberg, an epiphenomenon. For one, political involvement in sandalwood smuggling is common. Apart from Veerappan, other gangs are known to deal in …
Veerappan, if he knew how to put it, could claim to be a refugee in the war that short-sighted development unleashed on the environment. His grandfather, Muniya Gounder, was a Mettur Dam oustee from Oothanagere village, and moved to Gopinatham village in the 1930s. On his death, his two sons, …
Why did you contact Veerappan? As a journalist, I saw this as a challenge. The man seemed impossible to trace. Then there were rumours that the villagers were suffering on account of police atrocities. We had been informed that the man had killed 2,000 elephants and looted sandalwood worth over …
when eight Karnataka forest department personnel held hostage by Veerappan were released in end-August after 45 days in captivity, the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu state governments
illegal cultivation of poppy and coca for opium and cocaine has brought about some serious environmental changes in the mountains of San Jorge De Las Hermosas in central Columbia. The damage caused by the nefarious activities is not restricted to the social and political ethos. The climate of region has …
Pemex, the Mexican government oil industry, has been held accountable for damaging the environment, health and economy of people in the Atasta peninsula. Greenpeace, cemda (Mexican Center for Environmental Law) and Marea Azul, a local environmental ngo , have been accused for polluting the Pom Lagoon in the Atasta peninsula …
global warming is set to make a horrifying mark on the high altitudes. While climate changes are taking a toll on the giant glaciers on the Himalaya by melting them, they are threatening the lives of thousands of native people and a host of rare animal species. The melting glaciers …
with the death of Carl Sagan, a philosopher-astronomer, in December 1996, the world has lost a great person who popularised science. The impact that Sagan had on the us and on the rest of the world is evident from the fact that his book Cosmos is an all-time bestseller. In …
immediately after the 1992 Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, it was fashionable to write about the meeting's historic, path-breaking and planet-saving achievements. Today, five years after Rio, it is equally trendy to comment in bleak and dreary terms about how the 'promise of Rio' has been squandered. While …
international environmental groups and those who defend the right to sustainable use of marine mammals have been debating the issue of banning whale hunting. Those who oppose whale hunting argue that the species is on the verge of extinction. However, for 30 Norwegian families, who are involved in hunting the …
There has never been a dearth of people in human history indulging in massacres and injustice in the name of God. The latest of the world's moralisers is a group called environmentalists, especially western environmentalists. And they come in all shapes and sizes - from conservationists in the Switzerland-based World …
the mood of the Secunderabad conference, which was attended by over 700 researchers, scientists, doctors, health workers and officials, including some 200 from outside India, was of cautious optimism. There was concern over implementation of the new global strategy to control malaria and the need for more funds for research. …
Most vector-borne disease control programmes rely heavily on the use of residual sprays and use of mats, coils and aerosol sprays. The greatest demand for private use is for aerosols sprays, and mat and coil repellents. Southeast Asian countries alone account for 60 per cent of the demand for mats …
while it is generally accepted now that the resurgence of malaria was largely due to poor public health infrastructure and development of resistance by the vector and the parasite, lack of knowledge was a major factor that had been ignored. The new global strategy to control malaria aims tocorrect this …
> Scientists in Goa are excited over the discovery of a species of fungi - simple plants that contain no chlorophyll - which is highly effective in killing mosquito larvae. The identity of the fungus has been kept a secret, since it may be patented by other countries, and code-named …
