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 MINISTRY of Environment and Forests recently produced a document formally entitled National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development. The document purports to spell out details of the government's strategy to reconcile conflicts between environment and development. Unfortunately, the document does not leave anyone any wiser. It …
FOR SOME publications, it is more interesting and instructive to review the context rather than the content. In the case of One Earth One Future-Our Changing Global Environment, the content is by now common knowledge. Based on the discussions and presentations at the "forum on global change and our common …
FOR A change, it's the children who are the focus of a conservation programme that is inspired by the saying "We have not inherited the earth from our forefathers, but only borrowed it from our children". Anil Chitrakar, a Kathmandu-based engineer-turned-conservationist. is responsible for the movement to educate children -- …
WOMEN are the worst victims of environmental degradation. A number of voluntary organisations now realise the crucial linkages between women and the environment and that only by empowering rural women so they have greater control over natural resources can they have better control of their own lives. Controlling commons THE …
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: …
Botswana faced international opposition to its plans to develop the Okavango swamps by dredging channels to supply drinking water to the town of Maun and to a nearby diamond mine. Greenpeace International became incensed by the scheme and threatened to start a boycott of Botswana's diamonds with the slogan, "Diamonds …
A green war raging at sea is the use of driftnets by fishing fleets. Driftnets have been called "walls of deaths" by conservationists as these immense nets, at times 40 km long, strip mine the oceans. The US has already enacted legislation to prohibit trade in fish caught by driftnets. …
What makes the King Mahendra Trust different from other NGOs working in the field of nature conservation? The Trust is the only non-governmental organisation which has been established through an Act of Parliament. It is guided by an independent, autonomous board of trustees. We are self-sustaining. Our approach is also …
EUROPEAN countries are making substantial investments in environmental protection. Amongst members of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) -- the Paris-based club of affluent countries -- Austria spends the most on environmental protection, as a proportion of its GNP. West Germany is second and now that the two …
MORE AND more US companies are appointing executives for environmental affairs, according to a survey of Fortune 500 companies. Consultant Arthur D Little says 49 of the top 100 US companies on the Fortune 500 list appointed "green" executive vice-presidents in 1991, a rise from 38 the previous year. Another …
THE REFUSAL of the Union railway ministry and the Goa administration to participate in the Kamla Chowdhury committee, set up by the Union ministry of environment and forests to review the Konkan railway project, has rendered the work of the committee both difficult and meaningless. The railway ministry, in fact, …
THE RECENT Group of Seven (G-7) summit clearly indicated what the outcome of the Rio conference is likely to be. There was no significant mention of any environmental issues nor was the subject of environmental aid debated at the summit. The single environmental issue discussed at the G-7 summit -- …
CARLO Ripa di Meana, the European Community's commissioner for environment since 1988, has resigned reportedly following criticism by member-states of his refusal to attend the Earth Summit in Brazil in June. He will become the environment minister in his own country, Italy, and be replaced at the EC by commission …
A US high-level military planning group has issued a report strongly recommending the development of nuclear weapons for specific use against Third World enemies. Some of the proposed weapons include an electromagnetic pulse bomb that can knock out enemy communications and other electronic gear at low risk to human beings …
A RECENTLY released report, Defending the Earth, prepared by the US-based Human Rights Watch and Natural Resources Defense Council, is a first-ever effort at documenting state harassment of individuals and groups protesting environmental degradation in different countries. The report covers nine countries, including the now-defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. …
BRAZIL: Trade union leader and environmentalist Chico Mendes was one of 1,681 rural workers and activists killed in the struggle over land in Brazil between January 1, 1964, and January 31, 1992. The Pastoral Land Commission reports only 26 of the murders have gone to trial. Only 15 ended in …
Truth is what once my father taught me, but that was years and ages back. Today it gives me a cynical look from the ozone hole. Its voice has lost its music, choking on chlorofluorocarbons, it is just a voice that has airlessness to cross. What do I care about …
MOST OF the world believes industry can only harm the environment, Stephen Schmidheiny disagrees and in Changing Course, he explains why. The main theme of his book is that governments and industry can cooperate to preserve the environment, or at least not harm it. The argument, for which one has …
DESPITE resistance from his country's religious leaders, Pakistan's Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, is going ahead with plans to implement a comprehensive family planning strategy. And this is being done through Pasbaan, the social development wing of the Family Planning Association of Pakistan (FPAP). Pakistan, with a projected population growth of …
EARTHWORMS may hold the key to the problem of disposing urban waste. For the last 18 months, Lata Srikhande, honorary secretary of the Save Pune Citizen's Society, has been disposing of all her domestic organic waste, from banana peels to egg shells, in her roof-top garden which is rich in …
