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 controversial Enron power project in Maharashtra's katnagiri district has been referred back to the ministry of environment and forests (MFF) for clearance. The decision was taken on September 27 by a division bench of the Bombay High Court, following a writ petition filed in August by the Bombay Environmental …
CITIZENS groups have often ganged up to fight against environmental crime. When an impervious government fails to redress wrongs then crusaders trudge to the law courts. Today, public interest litigation has become a part of accepted legal practice. "When we started in 1978 our credentials to act as watchdogs of …
Legal Resources for Social Action Vallam Chengalpattu 603 002 Tamil Nadu Human Rights Lawyers Network Sterling Towers 123 Sterling Road Nungambakkam Madras 600 034 Indian Council for Enviro-legal Action 5 Anandalok New Delhi 110 049 Centre for Environmental Law WWF-India Secretariat 172-B Lodi Estate New Delhi 110 003 Public Interest …
IN a bid to reduce vehicular pollution, the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 1994, has stressed upon incentives for the utilisation of vehicles run on non-conventional energy. The amendments, which have received Presidential and Parliamentary assent and are to be notified shortly, gives the Union government more powers with regard to …
GENDER'S role in social organisation, economic production -- and their attendant problems -- are attracting the notice they so completely deserve. This book is particularly interesting because it is a comparative study of slum cultures in the 2 Asian countries of Sri Lanka and Thailand. As Thorbek points out, by …
What led the HMS to join the environmental battle? We were aware of the growing environmental awareness in the industrial sector through our occupational health and safety programmes. We realised that workers' safety goes beyond the workplace and is closely connected with the environment. Workers have fallen ill and died …
THE Short Filmfest (July 29-August 7) at Delhi's Shakuntalam Theatre truly disappointed viewers who expect social reality to be reflected in documentary and short films made by independent filmmakers. The despondency deepens as one sees the absence of environmental elements in any social documentation. The only film that comes through …
CHINA's explosive economic growth rate has wreaked havoc on its environment. The signs are everywhere: from the algae-clotted Chao Lake in Tangxi, Hefei's putrid tap water, to the acid rain-ravaged Great Wall and smog-covered Benxi in Manchuria. Vaclav Smil, a professor at the University of Manitoba in Canada, believes that …
The US-based Carrier Corporation has come up with what it claims is the world's first chlorine-free, non-ozone-depleting airconditioner. Carrier says that the new unit, Weathermaker 134a, uses hydrofluorocarbon 134a and is 50 per cent more energy efficient than traditional airconditioners using chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). With CFCs due to be phased out …
THE Chinese government, on the face of it: the saga of a mere mortal whose ideas on democracy and free speech exposed a state at its Draconian best begins on February 28, 1989. A book, condemning the construction of the world's largest dam in the Three Gorges area of the …
GERMANY is having the jitters about losing its reputation as the producer of world class technologies. In an open acknowledgement of the country's technological downslide, German chancellor Helmut Kohl is creating a National Technology Council to focus on technological shortcomings and revise policy. Kohl pointed out that in microelectronics, the …
FLOWERS have traditionally been used to display humane emotions. Of late, however, they have become a symbol of profit. Dutch floriculture firms and Indian entrepreneurs are joining hands to cultivate exotic varieties of roses, lilies and gladioli. However, there are fears that the deals may have adverse environmental consequences. Earlier …
THE 2 books under review have established, dependable credentials, which is why they have the rare virtue of being eagerly awaited every year for additional insights on global developments. This year, the Human Development Report (HDR) introduces the somewhat controversial concept of human security; the World Development Report (WDR) focuses …
GERMAN concern for child labour has hit carpet manufacturers in Nepal. A Panos report says that approximately 35 per cent of their export orders have fallen through and 100,000 sq metres of carpet meant for export lie in stores as a fallout of an adverse German television programme. On April …
BRAIN tonics have proliferated in Pakistan. A report by the Association for the Rational Use of Medication has identified 20 brain tonics in Pakistan, which are freely promoted for a variety of ailments such as dizziness, memory loss, cerebrovascular impairments, and mental and physical retardation. However, the report warns that …
QUETTA in Pakistan has set a precedent by completely prohibiting the sale, purchase and use of polythene bags in the city, as of May 1. Manufacturers have received directives to wind up business, says a Panos report. If the measure proves successful, it will strengthen the case of environmental NGOs …
Earth as Witness: A Dialogue with Buddhism (40 mins), as the name suggests, is too profound a topic to do justice to on film. It may pass the credibility test by the skin of its teeth, but does not manage to rise above philosophical mumbo-jumbo to make sense to environmentalists. …
This month, Doordarshan's elite third channel is airing India's first comprehensive weekly programme on the environment, a repeat of which will be aired on the first channel after a fortnight. Produced by Delhi-based Miditech, it has been a year in the making. The team has trained its cameras on subjects …
TANZANIA will be invaded by red locusts if preventive measures are not taken on a war footing. The country's agriculture minister, Jackson Makwetta, says large colonies of locusts were spotted in the traditional breeding areas. The "red army" is expected to move into Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire. Makwetta …
LOGGING may resume in the forests of Seattle in USA after a 3-year ban, but on a limited basis. Judge William Dwyer had issued the logging ban in 1991, after environmentalists had filed a lawsuit against the erstwhile Bush administration for "deliberately refusing to comply with the laws protecting wildlife". …
