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 London High Court's recent intervention in a case could make the difference between life and death for an anorexic girl. In late April, she had won the right to be treated at a special adolescent unit for eating disorders after her parents were given a go-ahead by the High …
British researchers are developing a voice recognition system that can identify a speaker if he or she is drunk or even has a cold. This could help reduce fraud involving cash machines and credit cards, which British banks say costs them over f,150 million annually. The new system, called Time-Encoded …
WEATHER and climate exercise tremendous influence over human wellbeing and health. Humans make dwellings for themselves to escape the vagaries of climatic variations. Sitting in the relative comfort of our airconclitioned offices and homes - between a past in which electricity was unimaginable and a future in which it probably …
AMERICAN greens are seeing red. April 22 this year, the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, saw them bludgeoning the Republicans with slogans and protests. America"s environmentalists, so far one of the most influential pressure groups in the country, have never felt so betrayed before. Congress" attempts to "remodel" the major …
RUSSIA's nuclear industry faces a battle for survival in the coming years. Last year, the industry produced 97.8 billion kilowatts (kw) of electricity, 18 per cent less than in 1993 - the decline apparently caused by fuel shortages, transmission problems and reduced demand. The main problem is finance. At present, …
THE Independent Inspection Panel of the World Bank ( WB ) has inspired hope among many environmental activists and organisations. They expect it to provide the much-needed scrutiny of the Bank"s activities, many of which aid and abett the wasteful exploitation of natural resources, environmental degradation and consequent human suffering. …
WRITTEN for city administrators, these 3 books are meant to be handbooks which collate the facts of urban areas degeneration, the theories of a constructive approach to urban management, and state-of-art update of city governance.The facts reveal a chilling story of the facets of urban living conditions in developing countries. …
WE CANNOT help being sceptical when the World Bank tells us that it is henceforth going to encourage and practice participatory decisionmaking. The move to have an Inspection Panel is the latest gimmick of the World Bank's (WB), resourceful public relations system. Apart from the fact that such gestures are …
THE book is an attempt to theorise the relationships between the many factors responsible for the degradation of forests. Although it does not deal with the latest developments in India in forestry - Joint Forest Management and the new, proposed Forest Act - it nevertheless provides a useful backdrop for …
THE Aravallis, the oldest and hoariest mountain range in India, are today some of the most barren sentinels in the country. At the foothills of this range, which extends all the way from Haryana to Rajasthan, lie villages which live in desperate poverty, lacking food and water. Aravalli Paharian Hariali …
In 1930, Iddu, a major volcano, erupted on Stromboli island in Italy. In 1951, a film was shot on the devastation wrought on islanders. Shot by director Roberto Rosselini. the film turned out to be a disaster. Today, Stromboli, surrounded by the Mediterranean blue and with its incredibly beautiful beaches, …
Officials from the ministry of environment and forests and the Delhi government have been issued show cause notices by the Delhi High Court. The reason: their inability to care for the environment and preserve the capital's impressive green cover. The notice was in response to a petition filed by the …
A GHANAIAN research institute says that after 9 years of research, it has identified a bacteria which can control breeding of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Janet Ofori, principal research officer of the Accra-based Institute of Aquatic Biology, says, "We have identified a bacterial strain, Bacillus sphaerius, which has been found to have …
SECRETS spills of radioactive nuclear waste in Russia are creeping insidiously into the seas and may plague the world for the next 300 years. For more than 3 decades during the Cold War, billions of gallons of atomic waste had been secretly pumped directly into the earth at 3 sites …
ENVIRONMENTAL protection has become the conscience-digging concern of mankind. It is uppermost in the minds of the planners, policy makers and legislators. It has also been the all-important preoccupation of several conferences convened at the global and regional levels. "Precautionary principle" (pp) has been recognised as a valuable catalytic agent …
THE range and volume of environmental publications available these days creates an impression that the major environmental problems faced by the world are being tackled efficiently. Research has made it possible for humans to grasp not only full-blown environmental problems, but also to detect potential ones. The evolving status of …
THE protagonists of "art for art's sake" have been humbled in all ages by the vast majority of artists, who have responded and reacted to their immediate social, cultural and political environs. It is but natural that the artists in these days of environmental degradation should in this respect follow …
AFTER Vasundhara it is Dharti. Environmentalism is surely growing on the theatre groups of the Capital. Dharti, a Hindustani musical was staged by the Delhi Art Theater to commemorate the World Drama Day (March 27). The play took off from the Big Bang theory. The son et lumiere pyrotechnics were …
THE European Community's (EC) recent attempts to harmonise legislation on chocolates have kicked up a major controversy. The proposed EC directive would allow the incorporation of 5 per cent vegetable fat in chocolates. Several members of the African, the Caribbean and Pacific Nations (ACP) - supported by France - in …
Indonesia is excited over the development of a new strain of cocoa. The locally- developed strain has twin benefits: it makes far tastier chocolate, and is also resistant to a disease that has wrecked havoc on a greater part of the country's cocoa crop. Elated industry spokesmen foresee bigger cocoa …
