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 worst drought of the century to have hit Australia has made the country realise what a valuable commodity water is. Much to the distress of the farming community and policymakers, traders are trying to cash in on the water shortage. The price of irrigation rights has shot up by …
The retreating monsoon is leaving a trail of death and destruction across much of India. Floods have submerged three states in misery, while a severe drought has left two others high and dry. The toll: around 10 million people affected in the past month alone. The Union and state governments …
Folk Artistes Gyani Baba (wise saint, literarily), a seven feet-tall puppet with handle moustache, is up for a big task in Rajasthan's Ajmer district. He is teaching the importance of good governance and asking people to fight drought. Immensely popular, Gyani Baba has already travelled to around 100 villages. But …
the intense heatwave that baked much of Europe for weeks has convinced many people about the changing climate. "We have not seen such an extended period of dry weather and sunny days since 1870,' says Michael Knobelsdorf, a meteorologist at the German Weather Service. "These extremes are happening at short …
• An analysis of news clippings* on water published between February 2002 and February 2003 shows a definite pattern. Media emerges as a matchmaker which plans, creates and packages news to catch the middle-class imagination • The two most popular subjects of reportage on water are scarcity of water, and …
A few days ago, most of India reeled under drought. Cities thirsted for water. Karnataka's chief minister S M Krishna - seeing water supply in his software capital reduced to once in three days - announced desperate measures, such as prayer. The entire country seemed to await the first emancipatory …
Even as negotiations on the relaxation of international patent protection rules enshrined in the World Trade Organization (wto) remain deadlocked, the eu has adopted a law that will provide 76 developing countries access to cheaper drugs. The affordable medicines will help the beneficiary nations, including India, to combat hiv/aids, malaria …
From a resource-rich area to a metaphor for poverty, the Balangir district of Orissa has covered a long distance. Plausibly, it is this journey that is driving its inhabitants to go away from their roots
India's drought-stricken people must weather more uncertainty. Indeed outright confusion, for the country could receive anything from 113 per cent excess rainfall to 25 percent below normal rainfall, if monsoon forecasting models are to be believed. Such science can only leave mouths dry. On the eve of the 2003 monsoon, …
Five successive years of debilitating drought. It had rained for barely a few hours last year in the region of Rajasthan I was visiting. I expected wasted lands, desolation and nearly-abandoned villages. Instead, I could see greenery, irrigated agriculture, people tending to vegetable crops and livestock. The village diary - …
With its awe-inspiring architecture and remarkable concepts of astronomy, the Maya was undoubtedly one of the greatest civilisations of Mesoamerica. At the peak of its glory, around 800 ad, the civilisation extended from Mexico's Yucat
When residents of Mansingpura village in Madhya Pradesh's (mp) Betul district successfully cultivated wheat in the year 1996, it was the grand finale of their water conservation efforts. Thanks to the Rajiv Gandhi Watershed Development Mission, the village's groundwater level rose by over 30 feet. The mission was started by …
It is a bumper crop that has raised quite a few eyebrows. Much to the chagrin of those leading the international fight against the drugs menace, Afghanistan harvested a bountiful poppy yield of 3400 tonnes last year. In a strange paradox, the country is struggling to gather enough food for …
breaking with tradition, Union finance minister Jaswant Singh chose not to conform to the two-part format while delivering his maiden budget speech on February 28. But there was no departure from practice in this year's Union budget as it was at the end of the day another populist document. No …
Parched koalas are roaming Australian towns in search of water. A long-drawn drought, that has been stretching for more than 11 months, has forced the koalas to abandon their babies and eucalyptus trees in the forest and head for household backyards, to drink water from taps and sprinklers. The lack …
The first comprehensive UN survey of Afghanistan's environment brings out the dismal state of affairs in the country. After more than two decades of war and three years of drought, air and water quality in the largest towns is badly degraded. The study also reveals chemical pollution, massive deforestation, declining …
