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 most disturbing spectre on the horizon of environmentalists in the West is the one that they feel most guilty about. They survey the output of greenhouse gases of their own economies and note the evident reluctance of everybody to do anything about it even as summers grow warmer, storms …
On whether the World Bank ( wb ) has a hidden agenda while helping developing countries: I think its agenda has always been the belief that development can best take place in a free market system and that the role of the state in the economy should be reduced. Deregulation …
listening to climate change talk in the us and in Europe, I wonder whether we all are living on the same planet. Several European governments have detailed plans for cutting down their use of fossil fuels (hence emissions of the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide) by 15 to 20 per cent …
chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs) are not the only threat to the ozone layer. Nitrous oxide (n2o), also known as laughing gas, has been quietly eating into the layer that screens out harmful ultraviolet radiations. The gas has a tremendous global warming potential, with a heat absorption capacity 250-290 times that of carbon …
ACCORDING to a survey in Australia, opinion is divided among businessmen about the hardline stance of Prime Minister John Howard on greenhouse gas emissions. The survey conducted by the Australian Institute of Company Directors surveyed company directors of various business firms. They were asked whether greenhouse reduction targets should be …
on october 6 a very significant environmental meeting was held in Washington dc. It was a meeting that policy-makers in the South should take serious note of, because, it could have serious impact on their future economy and environment. The all-day meeting was called by the White House as a …
deficiency of iron in the microscopic plant-like organisms that populate the seas - called phytoplankton - may have interfered in the carbon dioxide cycle and contributed to global warming. Scientists are now investigating reversal of this process. Confirmation of this fact will provide answers that may help combat global warming. …
international smuggling of chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs) - gases used as a coolants in refrigerators and air-conditioners that lead to global warming - are generating a lot of heat in political circles. September 16, 1997 marked the 10th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, a path-breaking global agreement to phase out cfcs after …
One of the victims of the climate changes that threaten the Earth would be the ethos of democracy, said William Ruckelhaus, formerly with the Environmental Protection Agency, to the Pulitzer prize winning journalist Ross Gelspan. Henry Kendall of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, and the recipient of the 1990 …
global warming is set to make a horrifying mark on the high altitudes. While climate changes are taking a toll on the giant glaciers on the Himalaya by melting them, they are threatening the lives of thousands of native people and a host of rare animal species. The melting glaciers …
the Maldives may soon disappear from the global map due to the rise in the sea level of the Indian Ocean. Researchers at the Antarctic Research Centre in Hobart, Australia say that the sea level has risen by 3.55 cm during the last 25 years. If the Ocean rises by …
with the death of Carl Sagan, a philosopher-astronomer, in December 1996, the world has lost a great person who popularised science. The impact that Sagan had on the us and on the rest of the world is evident from the fact that his book Cosmos is an all-time bestseller. In …
There has never been a dearth of people in human history indulging in massacres and injustice in the name of God. The latest of the world's moralisers is a group called environmentalists, especially western environmentalists. And they come in all shapes and sizes - from conservationists in the Switzerland-based World …
increase in the use of fertilisers and cultivation of crops that 'fix' atmospheric nitrogen is leading to loss of soil nutrients, rising atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, and increasing acidification of lakes and rivers. Peter M Vitousek and eight ecologists from the Stanford University, California, say that …
•A review of the five years since Rio, Earth Summit II showed collective irresponsibility by nation states for the earth's future •The special session of the UN General Assembly was marred by nations wrangling to settle for the minimum possible •The biggest disappointment was the decision on climate change. The …
Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Britain: "The biggest responsibility falls on the countries with the biggest emmissions' Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, 'Global environment protection and sustainable development need a clearly audible voice at the UN... this could lead to a creation of a global umbrella …
The G-7, after the Denver meet (weekend before UNGASS), issued a statement that made it clear that they were not willing to accept their responsibilities, but would blame the developing world for inaction on global warming.
The Indian delegation had gone unprepared to UNGASS and found themselves at sea over India's position on the forest convention. As negotiations entered into the final phase, The Netherlands co-chair on the forest session had put forward a partisan proposal which effectively included the forest convention into the text. The …
The Indian delegation was led by the minister of environment and forests (MEF) Saifuddin Soz. That the Indians had decided to keep a low profile was apparent as the negotiations progressed. The Indian delegation decided to keep silent at the time of important discussions. For most of the times, it …
• By 2002, the formulation and elaboration of national strategies for sustainable development should be completed, and efforts by developing countries to effectively implement national strategies should be supported. • Freshwater : It identifies an urgent need to formulate and implement policies and programmes for integrated watershed management; strengthen regional …
