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 …
a plan of the uk government to tax the profits of oil companies was halted after the oil industry said that such a move could jeopardise investment in North Sea exploration. Gordon Brown, the country's chancellor of the exchequer, said he would not do anything to damage investment and job …
ON THE face of it, democracy in India has won a small battle. People's aspirations have been met by the creation of the three new states - Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand. The people agitated for decades against apathy and skewed development of the mother states - Madhya Pradesh (MP), Uttar …
RAIPUR'S air is euphoric. The secretariat, earlier the main civil hospital of the city, still smells of fresh paint. A huge cutout of chief minister Ajit Jogi overlooks its premises, while residents of Raipur eagerly debate the future of this natural resource-rich state and the opportunities it brings. The general …
WHILE the first chief minister of Uttaranchal was being sworn in at midnight on November 9, 2000, many leaders who fought for statehood swore to continue the struggle. "It is not over yet," summed up Kamla Pant, a leader at the forefront of the movement and member of the Uttrakhand …
ON NOVEMBER 15, 2000 when the collective dream of some 22 million people for half-a-century rolled into reality, there was hardly anybody to celebrate. Jharkhand, India's youngest state and one of the richest, was born at midnight. Twenty minutes later, a new government was sworn in to chart out its …
A farmer in Thailand has made a fuel from coconut oil. Yuthachai, claims that the fuel is a good alternative to diesel. At present the fuel is being used by 60 per cent vehicles in the Thap Sakaetrict region. Earlier, there was a little difference between the prices of the …
the California Air Resources Board ( carb ) has recently announced a programme which will provide a total of us $18 million in grants to reduce the incremental cost of new zero emissions vehicles ( zev s) over the next three years. zev s are an integral part California's efforts …
The Indonesian government has announced that it will allow more logging in large parts of the country's rainforest to give a boost to its devastated economy. This decision may prove to be fatal for the country's diminishing rainforests, the world's second largest. According to reports, in almost 50 per cent …
the Southern perspective on the linkage between trade and environment, which has resulted in some conflicts between developed and developing countries, is moving from mere protests to more proactive proposals. Several South Asian countries are making serious attempts to consolidate their positions on how the link between environment and trade …
The United Nations (UN), in association with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), has granted an aid of US $153.7 million out of the total US $461.2 million cost of 14 environmental projects in various countries. Among the projects approved was a US $7.85 million grant to scientifically assess climate change …
Asia has more polluted cities than any other continent. That's what a comparison of 20 leading cities of the world shows. Rapid economic growth spurs the growth of big cities, which in turn bring in more vehicles. While the growth rate of vehicles in most developed countries has stopped or …
South Africa and Namibia have rejected an offer of the us to provide financial assistance for purchasing anti- aids drugs. A total of us $1 billion was offered by the us Export-Import Bank to 24 sub-Saharan countries in annual loans. Bank officials said that till now none of the countries …
civil society in India associates the World Bank with economic growth infrastructure, and fiscal stabilisation. This book to some extent confirms this perception. It argues that economic growth alone will create a demand for labour, which would reduce poverty on a sustained basis. This in turn requires macroeconomic stability, sound …
Japan is a country with a long history and an intricate culture. It has done its best to maintain its own cultural identity despite immense economic globalisation and material Westernisation. Even today less than one per cent Japanese speak English. Intrigued by the extraordinary complexity that is Japan, I took …
THE reality of participation has often differed from the rhetoric. In fact, much development, which is participatory in nature, has remained top-down in practice. This may be so because even though participation has been promoted, there has been no change in personal attitudes and more so in the bureaucratic set …
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Anil Agarwal Many journalists have been asking the question: What will India's environment look like in the 21st century? Since India is already one of the most polluted countries in the world, an important question is: Will India ever be able to control pollution and, if so, when? Most of …
many journalists have been asking the question: What will India's environment look like in the 21st century? Since India is already one of the most polluted countries in the world, an important question is: Will India ever be able to control pollution and, if so, when? Most of the Indian …
THE reds are being forced to turn green in the Nizamabad, Adilabad and Warangal districts of the Telangana region where the people have embraced the Andhra Pradesh government's joint forest management (JFM) programme in a big way. What is unusual is that forest officials move around freely in the remote …
Recently, a group of social activists visited the Telangana region to probe police atrocities against the Naxalites. What they were shown by the extremists as their concern for poor villagers was amazing: check dams, boulder-filled dams and water harvesting structures. That the Naxalites are getting involved in water conservation is …
