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 …
USA: Domestic and international travellers made nearly 287 million visits to the 378 parks under the US National Park Service in 1998 compared to the 275 million visits in 1997. This travel generated US $14.2 billion and supported almost 300,000 tourist-related jobs during 1996. Nepal: The Annapurna area is the …
If there is an ideal ecotourism destination in India, it is Sikkim. This eastern Himalayan state of India with its pristine mountains, crystal clear lakes and rich cultural and natural diversity, is fast gaining popularity. Attracting some two lakh tourists a year, of which 12,000 are foreigners, it has witnessed …
Not everyone is thrilled with ecotourism. Many believe that the big business of tourism people is only using the people in destinations, who offer their natural, social and cultural resources to make the
If tourism revenues are generated by the quality of natural goods like a healthy tiger habitat or an excellent coral reef, then should tourists not be asked to pay an ecotax to conserve them? This year the socialist-green regional government of the Balearic Islands in Spain has attempted to do …
even for the most rich and famous, every penny counts. So is the case with the Silicon Valley that is troubled by the rising cost of making silicon chips. The soaring costs are due to a complicated process known as photolithography which is used for fixing transistors and wires on …
Bamboo flowering is considered a bad omen in several northeastern states of India, especially when accompanied by an increase in rodent population. It is believed to lead to famines and natural calamities. The next bamboo flowering is expected around year 2003-04. Should we prepare ourselves? On October 29, 1958 the …
Efforts to reduce the impact of business and industry on nature are falling short, reveals a new United Nations Environment Programme (unep) report. Very few companies in each industry are actively integrating social and environmental factors into business decisions. Furthermore, improvements are being overtaken by economic growth and increasing demand …
On July 1, Denmark will take over chairpersonship of the European Union. Then it will be the responsibility of the newly elected right-wing Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, to help define and promote the global role of the only group of nations in a position to challenge the dominance …
THE good news: the Planning Commission has come out with its first national human development report. The bad news: like any other human development report (HDR) (there is no dearth of them now), this report too has refused to acknowledge the real meaning of development for India. Dwelling extensively on …
This book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the joint forest management (JFM) programme. The beginnings of this initiative can be dated to the early 1970s, when people had just begun to question the 'industrialise at all costs' policy. However, it took another decade and a half …
A constructive critique should consider desirable consequences, intended or otherwise. The Bush administration's climate change plan, us Climate Change Strategy: A New Approach , obviously deserves the same treatment, particularly in the light of the numerous domestic initiatives that have recently sprung up in the us , and their potential …
Despite its environmental impact, China has begun building a 4,200-kilometre gas pipeline costing us $18 billion. Its aim: boosting economic growth in the impoverished western provinces and delivering fuel to the booming eastern city of Shanghai. The pipeline's trial construction has already kicked off in fragile wetlands and on the …
FARMERS in Karnataka are now enjoying the fruits of labour in more ways than one. Not only are they earning from their produce, even carbon dioxide (CO2) trapped by the plants they grow is being sold by them. And, in the process, they are providing an economical option to developed …
The poor in Nepal appear to possess the Midas touch. Wherever the government has handed over control of degraded forestland to them under the leasehold forestry programme, the Himalayan country's ecology has staged a magical turnaround. In the process, the below poverty line (bpl) households have unfolded economic miracles also. …
If Arunachal Pradesh has over 80 per cent forest cover, one of the highest in India, what sort of appreciation does it get? The Supreme Court's ruling of 1996, which places restriction on felling of trees, says that the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, has to be implemented in order to …
it is a paradox of sorts. Even as the Orissa farmers reel under recurring spells of droughts and floods, the state government has decided to raise the water tax for irrigation. The raised tax, to be imposed from the next kharif season, is substantial. The farmers will now have to …
according to a recent study by the us based non-governmental organisation Natural Resources Defense Council (nrdc), China has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 17 per cent in the four-year period from 1996 to 2000, even as its economy grew by 36 per cent. This reduction was the result of …
