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 current food crisis has been largely policy-driven, which is probably good news because it means that policies can also reverse the process. THIS is not a sudden and unexpected crisis: the signs have been around for some time now. Even though international bureaucrats have been referring to the current …
Precisely when many in the developed bloc were frantically counting their money at the height of a surreal shock over subprime rate, the globalising world was jolted by a potential crisis of subsistence that would hit the poor and other vulnerable sections very hard. Is there a link, therefore, between …
South Pacific nations have taken steps to shore up dwindling tuna stocks, banning licensed tuna vessels from fishing in international waters between their islands and requiring them to always carry observers. The new rules, agreed to at a fisheries meeting in Palau on Tuesday, will take effect from June 15, …
This publication highlights the importance of sustainable agriculture not only to preserve biodiversity, but also to ensure that will be able to feed the world, maintain agricultural livelihoods, and enhance human well being into the 21st century and beyond. At the same time, it seeks to highlight the importance of …
The government should attach top priority to the country's agriculture and food security and public service sectors in the forthcoming national budget of fiscal 2008-09, speakers said in a discussion in Rajshahi on Tuesday. They also said, the budget should be pro-people and welfare-oriented so that it could bring economic …
As the world grapples with fears of a major food crisis, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator has decided to reserve $100 million from the world body's emergency fund to address immediate issues arising from it. John Holmes, who also serves as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that these funds …
A World Trade Organisation agreement removing barriers to commerce is "absolutely essential'' to bring down soaring food prices, European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said. "We have to address the underlying problems of demand and supply of food,'' he said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Monday in Sharm el-Sheikh, …
Fuel From The Fields: A Balance-Sheet What are biofuels? Made from renewable sources, biofuels promise a viable, eco-friendly substitute to fossil fuels. Can be made from a variety of crops like maize, sugarcane, beetroot, palm oil, jatropha-anything that is rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Typically, blended with petrol or diesel. …
This global food crisis is a complex problem that cannot be solved with simplistic approaches. More effective and coherent action is needed now to help the most vulnerable populations cope with the drastic hikes in their food bills and to assist developing countries with strategies to increase agricultural productivity, according …
The most important safety valve as far as food supply is concerned is the short production cycle. That rising food prices are a global phenomenon is well-known. Perhaps not as salient are the differences in the intensity of food inflation across the world. Focusing on Asia, while all countries have …
Even as the current negotiations in the Doha Round of world trade talks on agriculture have entered a crucial phase, developed nations are trying to push their commercial interests in the farm sector, undermining the livelihood and food security issues of the developing countries like India. All eyes will be …
The total number of food insecure people was probably closer to about three billion, or about half the population of the world, according to the United Nations midyear update of the World Economic Situation and Prospects. In addition, approximately 18,000 children die daily as a direct or indirect consequence of …
The Punjab government has asked the Centre to include the state in the National Food Security Mission (NFSM)-Rice to ensure higher contribution to the Central pool of foodgrains. In a communiqu
The Punjab government has asked the Centre to include the entire state in the National Food Security Mission (NFSM)-Rice to ensure better contribution to the Central Pool of food-grains on one hand and the long-term National Food Security due to improved ecological sustainability of agriculture production pattern in the state, …
IN a statement reminiscent of US President George Bush's remark that India's middle class was responsible for the global food crisis, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said that Mumbai's burgeoning population is responsible for the flooding woes of the city. The growing influx of outsiders is not only putting …
Russia, India, China and Brazil on Friday vowed to turn their four-way group into a powerful instrument for changing the world. At their first stand-alone meeting here, the Foreign Ministers institutionalised BRIC, agreeing to hold regular meetings at the level of Foreign Ministers. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee hailed BRIC …
