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 west is the best". Rocker Jim Morrison in a song called The End. The song revolves around the phrase, exposing its contradictions with images of incest and "children going insane". Today, Morrison is dead and the song has become a classic, mark of a bygone countercultural moment. But the …
MURPHY'S oft-proven first law -- "If something can go wrong, it will" -- is something which appears to have been given the go-by, on their fast-forward to striking paydirt, by the decisionmakers at the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), if the experience at the recent blowout at Allwaram village …
The Great Pyramids of Giza -- one of the 7 wonders of the world -- are threatened by a Cairo ring road. Anxious to ensure the priceless structures' survival, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has hauled up the Egyptian government for a 3-mile section of an …
THIS state-of-the-art report on women and sustainable development, supported by INSTRAW (United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women) is an outcome of several initiatives on the topic -- most specifically, INSTRAW's programme on Gender, Environment and Sustainable Development, launched in 1990. Women, the Environment and …
REMEMBER Hatari? Black beauty? Born Free? Gorrilas in the Mist- the story of the late Dianne Fossey among the great apes? Remember, also, those awe-inspiring images on celluloid: the spectacle of a tiger stalking a sambar; a lioness gambolling with her cubs; thousands of birds banking in uncanny unison over …
Union minister of environment and forests Kamal Nath has asserted the first users' right over natural wealth during his recent tour to Madhya Pradesh. Nath followed the statement with a letter to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh declaring that the state government should have the first users' right over …
The Chinese government is all set to take action against "fraud scientists". From 1995, stricter controls will be imposed on scientific achievements to weed out fraudulent breakthroughs from genuine discoveries. This was announced by Han Deqian, vice-minister, State Science and Technology Commission. As many as 33,000 research cases are sent …
THE first Indian product awarded the Eco Mark (EM) status over 10 months ago has failed to hit the market for reasons shrouded in mystery. Officials of Ms Tidewater Detergents, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Godrej Soaps (Pvt) Ltd, which manufactures the product -- a detergent for soft garments and woollens …
Decades of government monopoly in Bangladesh's energy sector may end soon. New measures have been drafted to facilitate restructuring of the Power Development Board and the Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority, and offer incentives to attract private sector participation. Other reform proposals include a computerised billing system and engaging private parties …
OBLIVIOUS of the Mandal-mandir bogeys, villages in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa witnessed linking of environmental and community development issues to electoral fortunes during campaigning for the assembly elections in November. The think tanks and candidates of most political parties at the hustings found that the electorate chose to ignore …
FOR international environmental technology firms, Asia's colossal environmental problems are a business paradise. The darker side of growing economic prosperity and a burgeoning population are the major invites. Plummeting air quality is just one indicator that Asia has much cleaning up to do. According to the World Health Organisation, 12 …
COMMITMENT to the environment is visible in every page of this small book. Gitanjali Singhal doesn't merely take note of the fact that Delhi's green areas are in for trouble from human acts of folly, but also suggests a line of action. This book aims at empowering Delhi's citizens with …
To encourage industrial units to provide accurate information in their environment audits, the government may soon amend the format of the environmental statement. The submission of the environment statement is mandatory for obtaining a no-objection certificate, which is issued by the State Pollution Control Board concerned. Organisations such as the …
Pakistan's Supreme Court has upheld an environmental rights case against the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA). The ruling makes it imperative for WAPDA to study the latest findings on health hazards like the impact of magnetic fields on humans, before constructing power stations. The court can even halt the …
TILL the other day, the Rajasthan chief minister, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, seemed to spend much of his time frozen on an anti-environmentalist platform, ranting against the Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF). Last fortnight, he seemed to have passed the megaphone to Orissa's Biju Patnaik. That both these stormy …
WHAT the United States proposes, the rest of the world meekly disposes. The most recent example is its stand on the Law of the Sea treaty of 1982, a wide-ranging document that covers issues like fishing rights, deep seabed mining, oil exploration, marine pollution and scientific research. After turning its …
THE 50th anniversary of the Bretton Woods Institutions (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) has certainly not been an auspicious one. Since early this year, these agencies have been ' facing a lot of flak. Environmentalists have constantly accused them of flouting basic environmental norms, and going ahead …
Your government inherited a much-polluted Delhi... There are many reasons for the pollution. See how much Delhi has grown in the past 2 decades. Its population has grown by 5 lakh every year. Half this growth is due to largescale inflow of people who come here to make a living. …
GONE are the days when environmental films could be seen only in the closed circles of filmmakers and critics. The general public was hardly ever exposed to environmental issues - except for the few spots which were shown once in a while between meandering programmes. But with the advent of …
BEHIND Commanding Officer Lt Col C P Singh Deo at the headquarters of the 127 Infantry Battalion in Dehradun, detailed maps and information sheets mark out the area in Mussoorie where his battalion operates. But the 127 Infantry Battalion (Eco) has nothing to do with war; the "boys", as Col …
