The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
The Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project under the consideration of the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India, envisages creation of a ship navigation channel to suit different draughts (9.15 m, 10.7 m and 12.8m) through dredging/excavation in Adam’s Bridge, parts of Palk Bay and Palk Strait. The navigation route will originate …
small-scale diesel generator set manufacturers have once again managed to evade adherence to the Environment (Protection) Second Amendment Rules, 2002. The regulations specify emission norms for various categories of off-road diesel gensets. The Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) recently granted a one-year extension to diesel gensets below 19-kilo …
Silent Valley, one of the few remaining tracts of undisturbed tropical evergreen forests in India, is once again testing the resolve of environmentalists and the never-say-die dam builders of Kerala. The war is not over, after all. Silent Valley, one of the few remaining tracts of undisturbed tropical evergreen forests …
It may disregard its massive carbon emissions and try to explain away the greenhouse effect. But when it comes to defence equipment, the us is choosing to play it environmentally safe. The Pentagon is paying Minnesota-based Alliant, the world's largest ammunition manufacturer, us $5 million to develop lead-free combat bullets. …
The crisis that hit the Karachi port in Pakistan on July 27 has steadily gained catastrophic proportions. Tasman Spirit, the 24-year-old Greek tanker that ran aground off the Karachi coast, was carrying 67,000 tonnes of crude oil at the time of the accident (see:
The Colombian government is caught between a rock and a hard place. A court has ordered the country's government to stop spraying Monsanto's glyphosate herbicides on coca and other crop plantations until more research is done on the chemical's possible ill-effects on health and the environment. But the us-backed glyphosate-spraying …
in an unprecedented development, the members of a gram sabha in Himachal Pradesh (hp) exercised rights conferred on them under the fifth schedule of the Constitution and disallowed the Rs 7,759-crore Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Power (hep) Project. Permission was denied on the ground that the authorities were rushing through procedures …
Human survival-biodiversity conservation interdependence is globally recognized and scientifically established. The inadequacy of the current national and international policy and legal framework to contain and limit the forces triggering disequilibria in human survival-biodiversity conservation linkages has prompted national and international policy makers to search for innovative and workable solutions for …
The Supreme Court recently issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on the state's plans to construct a commercial corridor between Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. The court cited the Krishan Mahajan report, which was commissioned to research the environmental aspects of tourism promotion around the Taj. The report …
On the Vietnam war: No war in the 20th century has seen as massive an assault on the environment. Some 70 million litres of Agent Orange, a herbicide and defoliant, and other toxic chemicals were rampantly used by us armed forces. It completely destroyed about 10 per cent of forests …
At a time when the threat of war looms large over Iraq, here's more ammunition for peaceniks to confront warmongers with. The United Nations Environment Programme (unep) recently released the findings of assessments conducted in the violence-wracked Occupied Palestinian Territories and Afghanistan. The reports have brought into sharp focus the …
an unprecedented legal battle is being fought in Pakistan's Lahore High Court. Responding to a petition filed by two food rights groups against the import of genetically modified (gm) soyabean from the us, the Pakistan government has declared that the transgenic variety is safe in terms of its impact on …
with the recent discovery of an extremely large offshore petroleum reserve in the northern sector of the Caspian Sea, an environmental disaster is in the making. Leading oil companies
Protests are mounting in Germany over a pipeline being built in Ecuador. At a recent summit in Sassenberg, Germany, about 40 non-governmental organisations and a number of German politicians vowed to step up the campaign against the Ecuador Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (Oleoducto Crudos Pesados or ocp) pointing out its …
environmentalists are strongly opposed to a 75 megawatt (mw) windpower installation of 75 windmills on the hilltop ridge of Bababudangiri hills in Chikmagalur district of Karnataka. This range forms the outer rim of the Lakkavalli and Muthodi areas where lies the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary. The reserve has been identified as …
