Since the discovery of large offshore oil and gas reserves in 2014, Senegal has set its hopes on fossil fuel export revenue to help fund its plans to become an emerging economy by 2035. Senegal is actively seeking investors to help develop its offshore oil and gas reserves – both …
Despite international restrictions on its extensive use, pesticide trade has touched a new high. In 1998, world exports stood at US $11.4 billion, an increase of 5.4 per cent over 1997. Around 85-90 per cent of pesticides applied agriculturally never reach target organisms, but disperse through the air, soil and …
The Argentinean government has ordered 3,000 cattle to be killed, after ten Paraguayan cattle were found to be infected with antibodies of the virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease. According to agricultural officials, the cattle were not suffering from active cases of the disease. Since Argentine exports for grass-fed beef are …
the New Zealand government has decided not to destroy the bee-killing parasite, the varroa mite. According to the country's beekeepers, horticulturists and cropping farmers, the decision would prove to be a death sentence for the country's population of wild bees. The agricultural ministry has informed the government that pest attack …
Is the problem of Kashmir merely one of guns and guards or also one of hearts and minds? Unfortunately, neither the Central and state governments nor the Indian media have paid adequate attention to the latter dimension of the problem. C Subramaniam, the former finance minister, has written an interesting …
In recent times there has been an alarming trend: that of feeding ocean-caught fish to farmed fish. It takes five pounds of ocean fish to produce one pound of farmed fish, therefore putting an immense strain on the population of ocean fish. Going by the steadily decimating fish stocks in …
What causes desertification in impoverished developing nations? Trade policies. The very nations who suffer from desertification are forced to indulge in intensive cultivation of cash crops in order to earn foreign exchange through export and hence lose out on the benefits of growing food crops. South African nations like Somalia, …
the Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (tbgri), a Thiruvananthapuram-based autonomous research organisation under the department of science and technology, has exported medicinal plants to biotech firms in Singapore and Denmark without the prior consent of the Union government. This export was despite the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd) …
britain has agreed to clearly label its beef exports to other European countries to leave no doubt for consumers over where they originated, an European Commission (ec) spokesperson said recently. The spokesperson also said that under the agreement, European consumers would see a label on British beef
the mad cow disease and the dioxin scare in Europe has spelt doom for kangaroos in Australia. The animal has increasingly come under threat in the wake of export of large quantities of kangaroo meat to Europe in recent weeks. "Kangaroo meat is ideally suited for barbecue and char-grill, and …
Keen to fight the bad press they're getting in Europe for alleged environmental and labour abuses, Costa Rican banana-growers recently convinced world industry representatives to push the United Nations for a comparative study of plantation conditions in all banana-exporting countries. They're confident that Costa Rica will score high in the …
The West Bengal government has decided to challenge a high court order doing away with transit permits for inter-state rice export, said Kalimuddin Shams, state food and civil supply minister. He said rice mill owners were taking advantage of the high court order to export rice to other states and …
Thailand's position as one of the world's leading seafood exporter may soon be a thing of the past as overfishing has damaged the quality and quantity of catches. Prospects for the maritime industry seem dire, to the extent that there is an urgent need for the government to shift focus …
there is good news for mango lovers. According to the Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture Research in Lucknow, this year's mango crop is set to break all records of the past 20 years. Favourable weather conditions have helped extensive flowering in the mango orchards in Uttar Pradesh. However, growers of …
Before bowing out of power, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre lifted a seven-year-old ban on the export of sandalwood from Tamil Nadu. The Centre's decision followed an appeal by Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on January 16. The Centre had …
Years before the threat to turtles became a global issue, the US imposed trade sanctions on the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago's shrimp exports, because it believed that the trawlers were killing turtles. The Trinidad and Tobago government complied with the US demands, which wanted the trawlers to be fitted …
UNDER proposed timber purchasing laws in Los Angeles and New York, USA, preference would be given to wood certified by an environmental organization called the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Environmentalists are pushing to implement this certification process to keep logging at sustainable levels. "If these laws arc passed, it could …
Supreme Court (SC) directed the state governments to create effective hospital waste management systems in cities. This was followed by a notification from the Union ministry of environment and forests to the state governments. Despite this, few hospitals have taken the treatment of bio-medical waste seriously. In Ahmedabad, 90 per …
Oil is the biggest export earner and the main source of state revenue for Ecuador. In a significant move, the government has decided to increase the private sector involvement in the oil sector. The move comes at a time when the oil sector is plagued by problems, including low international …
