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 …
Residents of Gurdwara Road in Delhi's Karol Bagh succeeded in preventing the chopping down of around 90 trees that are more than 50 years old. After the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (mcd) felled four trees under a road-widening project, the people of the locality threatened to take to the streets. …
A new report by African Friendship Fund, a non-governmental organisation (ngo), says that the lack of political will for sustainability in developing Zambia's forestry resources has led to sabotage of the forest sector. The report says that the country's 481 protected forest areas, 181 national forests and 300 local forest …
Ecowarrior Grigory Pasko was sentenced to four years of imprisonment by a Russian military court for passing state secrets to Japan. The decision stunned Pasko, a navy captain-turned military journalist, who had won the original case two years back but was convicted at the retrial. The three-judge panel dismissed nine …
Starting a five-year clean-up plan, China will spend us $7.85 billion and set stringent environmental control targets to combat pollution. The cabinet has given its nod to the environmental protection plan. The plan sets out pollution control goals and indices to evaluate progress. A deadline of 2005 has been set …
The closure of tunnels T3 and T4 comes even as a vast majority of people displaced remain to be rehabilitatedeven as recommendations of the Union government appointed Hanumantha Rao Committee remain to beimplementedeven as the Prime Minister appointed Murli Manohar Joshi committee is yet to submit its report and even …
Bangladesh has clamped a ban on the production and use of polythene bags. This has been done to protect the environment and promote the use of jute products. The flood-prone country's drainage system was being choked by polybags and there were recent reports of a layer of polythene on the …
the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (bwc), banning biological and toxin weapons, has reached a stalemate with the us proposing the termination of the ad hoc group (ahg) at the Fifth bwc Review Conference that was held in Geneva from November 19 to December 7. Ironically, despite the September 11 terrorist …
Environment protection as it exists today is more in the nature of response to a public outcry over government apathy. When the Indian law makers fashioned the constitution, little did they envisage the need for environmental legislation. The adoption of the great political document in 1950 was, therefore, sans any …
Following the conclusion of the un-sponsored talks on Afghanistan in Bonn, unep executive director Klaus Toepfer rightly said environmental issues should form part of the package being considered for the country's rehabilitation. Afghanistan today is at best a relic of years of war litters. The big challenge before the war-ravaged …
four chemicals that are thought to cause no damage to the ozone layer may be destroying the protective layer of the Earth, a new research suggests. The most harmful of the four is n-propyl bromide
It was a moment of truth for Indian automobile companies. On October 29, 2001, captains of the auto industry waited with bated breath to learn where they stood on the ladder of environmental performance. India's first environmental and most comprehensive rating of the automobile sector was to be released in …
A Pakistani court recently rejected a petition filed against a license awarded to Britain's Premier Oil for exploring gas in Kirthar National Park, the country's largest national park. "It is a bit of a blow, but not unexpected. We intend to appeal in the Supreme Court,' said Farhan Anwar of …
a polluting industrial unit in Gujarat continues to operate with the help of a minister, despite the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (gpcb) issuing notices to shut it down. In a bid to close the unit, the board suspended its production and cut its power supply. But a mere phone call …
The Tamil Nadu government is planning to reopen all the polluting tanneries of the state, despite the Supreme Court (SC) ordering for their closure. The state labour minister, Anwar Raja, recently announced that efforts are being made to open all the tanneries as they have installed common effluent treatment plants …
Rejecting the pleas of conservationists, the constitutional tribunal of Ecuador has taken a decision which would cause irreparable damage to the Mindo ecological reserve (see Down To Earth , Vol 10, No 3, June 30, p13). It has permitted multinational consortium ocp Ecuador sa to complete the construction of a …
A Canadian company's move to build a titanium loading facility off the Kenyan coast threatens to cause irreparable environmental damage, indicates a study. Tiomin Resources Incorporation plans to build the facility as part of its us $165 million titanium mining project near a marine conservation park in the Kwale district. …
the biggest coral structure in the world might be threatened very soon. The Australian government has left the option of future oil drilling open near the Great Barrier Reef. tgs nopec Geophysical, a Houston-based multinational company, has recently proposed to carry out exploration for oil near the world heritage area …
