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 historic development pathway of Europe and the US is clearly not sustainable in developing Asia, with its larger population, constrained by resource limitations, and now facing the global challenges of climate change. So far, however, Asia has not framed an alternative future that simultaneously provides for an escape from …
This handbook is based on the results an EU Asia Pro Eco co-funded project "CURB-AIR: CDM and urban air pollution: partnerships enhancing synergies in urban air and health in Kyoto mechanisms'. The CURB-AIR project intends to pave the way for projects that both improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gases …
In times of crisis there are two things one can do: crib and cry or do something about it. When the groundwater in the industrial city of Coimbatore plunged to 300 m at some places four years ago, its corporate houses and residents opted for the second way out: they …
Ata-Ul-Haq is CEO of Green Technology Environmental Corporation, which set up Pakistan's first mega composting plant in Lahore in 2006. He tells Arnab Pratim Dutta that the model adopted for the plant can be replicated across South Asia Why a composting plant for Lahore? Getting this plant up and running …
This is the fifth sustainability report issued by POSCO. The report demonstrates the responsibility to the stakeholders and reflects the activities towards sustainable development. This report covers the operations related to sustainability management at Pohang Works, Gwangyang Works, Pohang Head Office and Seoul Office. Related data from the major subsidiaries …
The Sharma household at Chaina village in Faridkot is buzzing with activity. Charanjeet Kaur is busy ensuring that she does not run out of gram flour, jaggery, green chillies, garlic and neem leaves. No she is not preparing for a lavish lunch. This is a "magic potion' for her two-hectare …
One doesn't usually associate medical and scientific journals with anti-poverty campaigns. But more than 200 such journals from 34 nations ran simultaneous articles on a range of poverty and development-related topics in their October issues. There are commentaries on microfinance programmes and health; China's health care system; health effects of …
DTE tracks the developments in Sukhomajri which became a model of self-reliant development in the 1980s due to successful management of ecological wealth by HRMS. But the situation has changed now. The forest department has hijacked the forest created by the villagers, while control of water is going into private …
Bunga took the sukhomajri story forward The first village to follow Sukhomajri's development model was Bunga, just 30 km away in Haryana's Panchkula district (see timeline: Divergent trajectories). Its success is on a surer footing for now, because it is not dependent on the forest department, but it still needs …
Government must facilitate, not control The experiences of Sukhomajri and Bunga have a lesson: given the right conditions, external and internal, villages can be self-sustaining. But their inherent problems are also important lessons. Fixing these is the key to the success of the country's 2,000-odd rural development programmes. The National …
the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers is deliberating on a mechanism to promote neem-coated fertilizers. The move is an attempt to prevent soil fatigue caused by imbalanced and excessive use of urea, and increasing crop yields. With the government set to promote neem-coated fertilizer, its manufacturers recently approached the …
Some 15 years ago, pine-covered hillsides were the typical images of Karsog in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district. But pine provided little fodder for cattle. People in its villages preferred broadleaved species, so they started planting oak and other fodder trees. Over the years, pine monoculture in Karsog has been replaced …
Business is under pressure to play a lead role in tackling climate change. If companies take action now it will allow the realisation of significant efficiency gains and cost savings. Recent research by KPMG in the UK indicates that many have only just begun to think through the implications of …
Addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation involves many stakeholders, cuts across short and long timeframes, and requires that all development projects be assessed for their sensitivity to climate concerns. This integration of climate concerns in the development process has been mainstreamed in India through high-level multistakeholder committees. The National Committee …
After suffering the idiosyncrasies of a dysfunctional government housing programme, tribals in Jharkhand are building their houses under the scheme. They are now spared the depredations of contractors and the uncertainties of houses that either never get completed or aren't worth living in. The state government announced the Birsa Awas …
A hill in Orissa's Ganjam district used to be barren about 20 years ago. In 1985, the state forest department planted saplings, including Acacia and Eucalyptus, as part of its state-wide social forestry programme. Villagers of Sasan Ambagaon took it upon themselves to take care of the saplings and are …
Hyderabad hitec (Hyderabad Information Technology Engineering Consultancy) city exudes all the glitz of post-liberalised India. Plush office complexes, exuberant it parks, swanky exhibition centres showcase a township riding the crest of the country economic boom. Amidst this opulence, a structure stands out: cii- Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre (gbc). The …
Jeeth K Iype, an architect with Bangalore-based Good Earth, an organisation of architects and engineers experimenting with alternatives in architecture, lives with his wife and two kids at Kengeri town, about 15 kms away from Bangalore city hub on Bangalore-Mysore highway. This is where Good Earth Enclave is located and …
it's time we got worried about the way we build our houses, offices and markets. As more people migrate to cities, the need for more buidlings is causing a construction boom. This in turn makes astronomical demands on construction materials as well as energy
compensating people for conservation is happening at a regional scale. Local residents of Jamestown in Rhode Island, us, are paying farmers to delay haying their fields until after birds have completed nesting. Experts claim it as a unique test to establish investment markets for ecological services. The compensation is meant …
