This Global status report on physical activity is WHO’s first dedicated global assessment of global progress on country implementation of policy recommendations of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) 2018-2030. It also presents an estimate of the cost to health systems of not taking action to improve physical …
The relentless drive towards blanket modernisation is proving to be the death knell for six tribes that inhabit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The islands are home to the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Jarawas, the Sentinelse, the Nicobarese and the Shompens. According to Kalpavriksh, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), a …
each civilisation has a different attitude towards nature and wildlife. And one of the best indicators of how a culture relates to the environment is its attitude towards large carnivores, who are not only an important factor in maintaining the ecological equilibrium but also a source of potential conflicts and …
the long, winding roads leading to hill stations in the Himalayas are dotted with small towns, that act as popular stopovers for tourists, bustling with activity. These towns give an impression of a bustling economy pregnant with the promise of providing the locals a source of livelihood
nature flourishes most alone, far from the towns where (humans) reside, wrote the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau. According to him, cities do not have an ecosystem of their own. Frederic Clements, the American plant ecologist went a step further and describes habitats as a series of closed loops that …
People who live alone and have few friends are prone to early death as their hearts' responses to stress are altered, say Myriam Horsten and her colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. In a study conducted on 300 healthy women, the researchers found women who lived alone and …
ONE of the less desirable features of globalisation is that decisions made in far away cities can drastically and adversely affect small local communities across oceans and continents. These communities are often helpless in reversing the decisions made by people who have little understanding of, or sympathy for, the cultural …
a growing body of research shows that it is their will and lifestyle and not genes that ensures individuals' passage into their hundreds. Their longevity depends less on who they are and more on what they eat and how much they exercise and keep their minds employed. "I am a …
David Gems of University College, London, says that contrary to held belief, males are genetically programmed to live longer than female but the relentless pursuit of sex is behind the shorter average male life span. During research on a species of worms, Gems observed that isolated male worms lived longer …
GIVEN the almost explosive interest in and proliferation of environment-related documentaries in India in recent times, it is perhaps possible now to explore a defmition of the niche or slot itself. Are environment-related documentaries primarily about wildlife, or investigative reportage on environmental degradation, or merely doc- umentaries of ecological complexes …
Fifteen thousand years ago, when human-hunter gatherers decided to settle down to an agrarian lifestyle, they took the first plunge towards a sedentary existence that has now made hypochondriacs out of the entire human race. The gradual growth of urbanism and the Industrial Revolution marked humankind's final dive towards ulcers …
Living conditions remain abysmally poor in India, with a big difference between urban and rural areas. Nearly three-quarters of urban households lived in pucca houses, compared to only about a quarter in rural areas. The difference between urban and rural households with an electricity connection is about the same. Again, …
Balancing national strategic interests and global concerns requires new rules for collective action The upcoming sequel to the 1992 Earth Summit, once again to be held in Brazil, will provide fresh opportunities to draft a common global agenda to safeguard the well-being of humanity -- and the planet. But serious …
