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 Visthapit Mukti Vahini (VMV) had its origins in protests against the adverse environmental and social impact of the Ichha and Chandil dams in Bihar, in 1978. The latest attack mounted on its members has been the one on Arvind Anjum because of his role in opposing the Subarnarekha Multipurpose …
KERALA is a land of contradictions. While a mean rainfall of 300 cm lashes the state every year shortage of drinking water remains a perennial cause for heartache. The state government admits that the problem has become a permanent fixture since 1983 in the list of ills ailing the state. …
AS IF a deep economic crisis was not enough, Russians have to now contend with the snowballing effect of the AIDS epidemic. Earlier, as part of the Soviet Union, the people led a comparatively sequestered life with low levels of drug abuse and conventional behaviour. With the opening up of …
A TEAM of scientists from Norway, Finland and Russia are studying one of the most polluted areas in the world, the Kola peninsula in Russia. The pollutants emitted out into the atmosphere from the smokestacks of Russian smelters get deposited on the region's soil here. The level of these pollutants …
THE fear of being choked to death by a smog of atmospheric carbon monoxide (co) has prevailed ever since the beginning of the industrial revolution (New Scientist, Vol 151, No 2045). The study of co gas is important because the levels of its emission are much more than that of …
DO YOU want a nuclear plant in your vicinity? This will be the question which residents of the Kostroma district in north-east Russia will answer in a referendum to be held on December 8. The referendum came about after a tireless campaign by In the Name of Life, a community …
WITH re-emergence of diseases once thought to have been eradicated, concerned us and European health officials are establishing a global early warning network which will keep abreast of all such outbreaks in these regions and also other parts of the world. The network on communicable diseases will first focus on …
Experts agree that the main inherent problem in the issue of the relocation of industries from Delhi is the failure of government officials to implement the relevant laws which prohibit setting up of such industries. But they add that the current litigation has not focused on this aspect. No responsibility …
IT is an irony that the Group of 77 (G-77) - a caucus of over 130 developing nations in the United Nations (uN) system - originally created at the first UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is the only global forum where meaningful global trade negotiations take place. The …
T N Khoshoo, a distinguished fellow at the Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi, has recently been awarded the Sasakawa Award instituted by the United Nations Environment Programme, for his contribution to environmental conservation. His initial research interest concerned the field of cytogenetics. But thereafter, it has shifted to the …
IT is beyond dispute that the pattern of economic development has substantially altered the relationship between humans and nature. But never has the underlying sociological, political and environmental impact of such economic development been called into question. Consequently, this monistic view of development has linked economic productivity to an energy-intensive …
THE issue of protecting the interests of indigenous people against the unauthorised use and piracy of their valuable genetic material and traditional knowledge has become an important one. The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime however, neither recognises such knowledge as being intellectual property nor JOs it contain any provisions to …
The foreigner came to India to teach us a lesson. The lesson - do not follow the West blindly - was delivered in Delhi a few weeks ago by the environment giant, Greenpeace. Greenpeace has just completed a study of the pollution being caused by the chlorine industry. The study's …
THE emerging rule today ironically seems to be that those who make a mess, will be paid to clean it up rather than obligated to undo the harm they have caused and cease committing further damage. International aid agencies look towards the timber industry to help preserve forests; the us …
The GEF (Global Environmental Facility) operates under the framework of conventions and rules established by a governing council consisting of 32 country representatives
IN WHAT is being described as the first comprehensive European Union (eu) attempt to prop a market hard hit by the beef crisis, farm ministers of these countries have arrived at a compromise deal. The agreement raises the level of beef the eu can procure and store away to hike …
A UNIQUE solution for the conservation of the greatly-endangered whooping crane (Grus americana) is currently under trial in the us. Kent Clegg, a biologist and rancher, belonging to south-eastern Idaho hit upon the idea of teaching cranes to migrate to areas where their lot would not be threatened, by following …
THE Japanese environment protection agency has bulldozed the concept of artificial lighting in the country's scenic areas. Wanting to cut down the number of floodlights, the agency has warned that it would damage the environment. Japan's national parks are not situated in the wild as is the wont and is …
Once a symbol of the emperor, Thai elephants have been reduced to penury and beggary. Loss of habitat and livelihood has driven these elephants to the streets of Bangkok. The capital's crowded streets and the vehicular and noise pollution are taking a toll on the elephants, especially the younger ones. …
FIVE projects in the country are under review as per the recent Supreme Court order directing the Central government to appoint separate scientific teams to verify the environmental viability of Cogentrix in Karnataka and four other projects. The apex court asked the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute's director P …
