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 …
Realising that there was a need to go beyond the "business as usual" scenario, the Hague ministerial declaration on water security in the 21st century recognised the diversity of needs and situations from around the globe. To achieve water security, the seven challenges were listed. They are l meeting basic …
EVERYBODY wants growth and development. Yet, there is a serious cost attached to it. The point is what kind of growth is both desirable and sustainable. Resources of all types constitute our capital for growth. But, for growth to be made meaningful and enduring, the capital base has to be …
much before genetically modified organisms ( gmo s) were a reality in the true sense, I read an article that spoke of the possibility of wings on pigs through genetic modification. To say the least, it was so very amusing. Today, many of these things are at our doorstep, generating …
a paradigm shift from nari (National Agricultural Research Institutes) to nas (National Associated Societies), the integration of various disciplines of scientific research and availability of scientific information to end-users through Information Technology was imperative for development. This was what participants felt at the International Conference on 'Managing Natural Resources for …
Armed conflict and civil strife were major sources of food insecurity in the 1990s and will continue to be this century, although their number and the losses associated with them may have passed their peak. Depending on which of the various definitions of the term is used, from 30 to …
Armed conflict and civil strife were major sources of food insecurity in the 1990s and will continue to be this century, although their number and the losses associated with them may have passed their peak (see Figure 13). Depending on which of the various definitions of the term is used, …
in the recently-concluded World Trade Organisation meet in Seattle, usa, countries fought over a variety of trade-related issues, including genetically-modified (gm) foods. Ironically, a few days before the meet, one of the biggest manufacturers of gm foods, Monsanto, won an important court case in uk. Monsanto, a us-based biotech company, …
china will soon have to import foodgrain to meet the demand of its growing population. For the past 20 years, grain production in China has averaged 98.6 per cent of the demand, mainly due to its traditional policy of self-sufficiency. But this has come at a high financial and environmental …
this is the belief of Georges Brossard who is on a mission to make insects an integral part of our lives. In future, the human race will have to look for alternative sources of food, like insects, to sustain itself, he says. Brossard, who is the founder-director of Insectarium de …
as a twelve-year-old, Gurdev Singh Hira, now a senior soil physicist at the Punjab Agricultural University ( pau ) in Ludhiana, saw the water in his well rise so fast that he could touch it with his hands. But as he grew up the water level went down to such …
Can foodgrain production in India be increased further? I see no reason why foodgrain production in the country cannot be increased. To think that only Punjab represents the entire country, is wrong. In many areas foodgrain production can be increased by using increased inputs, like fertilisers. We tend to compare …
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth. In this case, the meek dosa and the meek samosa may hold the key to the future of food security in the world. It is, therefore, time to dislodge the burger and make it give way to its humble cousins
As the world gears up to face the challenges of the new millenium, India's growing population threatens to break all records and touch the one-billion mark. At this juncture one worrying question before us is whether we will be able to feed our masses. The answer lies in maintaining the …
More and more people are taking sides. Some are for genetically modified organisms and some are against them. Eminent people and organisations, Prince Charles of England, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (fao) of the United Nations, the Church have all advised restraint. Altered food may be good they say, but …
A series of ingenious selective breeding experiments carried out over the millennia by generations of unknown farmers in the Indian subcontinent have enormously expanded the genetic diversity of the Indian rice, Oryza sativa var. indica. This diversity is embodied in thousands of varieties of rice, also called landraces.As a result, …
Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, have developed a new strain of rice, which they claim has more iron and gives more yield per hectare, taking less land and time to grow. Called "super rice', it may hopefully belie the grim predictions of famine that half the …
GLOBAL food security and how to meet the food demands of the burgeoning population in the next century is an issue facing agriculturists the world over. Food requirement projections for 2025 are alarming. Unless current agricultural techniques are modified and improved upon, it may be a Herculean task to meet …
For growing economies the stress has to be on patterns of natural resource use and not on the status of natural resources; that is, dealing with the causes rather than the symptoms of the problem of climate change. The time has come for rapidly growing Asia to distinguish between the …
Small changes in urban human behavior and increased energy efficiency will have a positive impact on our natural resources. Mukul Sanwal[1] The recently released report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established by the United Nations, “Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability,” details the impact of climate …
The training has been conceived for development practitioners involved in design, implementation, management, monitoring and backstopping of projects and programs with a focus on food and nutrition security. The training shall capacitate staff of development organizations to make good use of the opportunities offered by the national policy makers and …
