Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Jagan Prasad Tehriya Vs State of Uttar Pradesh dated 23/05/2025. The applicant has alleged large-scale illegal felling of green trees within the Agra district, Uttar Pradesh. The application revealed instances of illegal tree felling at Fatehabad, Sadar, Kiraoli and Agra …
The summer of 1998 was a wet one. Danes fled to the warmer latitudes to get some sun in their holidays. While they were away, the rain, though unsuitable for sunbathing, was collected in pots, pans, barrels and large storage tanks. Collected to help conserve dwindling drinking water resources. In …
JAPAN After battling both water scarcity and floods, the Sumida City in Tokyo has become a trailblazer in catching and using rainwater Rain falling in the reservoir area is a must whereas rain falling in the communities is a nuisance, thinks the average person in Tokyo. Makoto Murase, director of …
MAKE WATER EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS JUST suppose for a moment, howsoever impossible it may sound: the state just disappears one day. There is nobody to supply you with piped water. What will you do? Even the idea sounds preposterous at the end of the 20th century. But less than 150 years …
INDIAN cities are among the most polluted in the world. Delhi has already been slotted among the top-most polluted cities of the world. The main source of the air and noise pollution ailing the metros are petrol-powered two and three wheelers. There are close to 18 million petrol-powered two wheelers …
In the wake of the recent forest fire disasters the world over, Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has said that governments, UN agencies, on-governmental organisations and those directly involved in fire-fighting operations must strengthen their cooperation, in order to be better prepared and jointly …
Nature means life. It also means death. Whether it means life or death depends on the quality of nature. And whereas progress can greatly enhance our ability to fight disease, it also has the extraordinary ability to degrade the quality of nature and increase the load of disease. Soil degradation …
The World Bank's report on the environment in East Asia says that disease and death will increase steeply among China's city dwellers unless the country tackles its growing air pollution. The report claims that if urban air pollution continues to grow at current rates, the number of premature deaths in …
the brightly lit skyscrapers of North American cities attract migrating birds. But these skyscrapers are also the cause of their death, as every year hundreds die after crashing into them. But in Toronto their prospects are being made worse by local seagulls, which have learnt to guide the birds towards …
ONE aluminium can of coca cola, if recycled rather than thrown away, saves enough electricity to run a television set for three hours. Need we calculate the magnitude of energy that is consumed by the unending chain of metal clad, steel reinforced artifacts - our buildings? Architecture as a symbiosis …
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------BHANUSINGHA GHOSH out of a world population of 5,384 million in 1991, about 43 per cent lived in urban areas. Current projections based on the data assembled by the United Nations predict that by the year 2005, more than half of the world would be living in urban areas. Most …
A problem of mammoth proportions has besotted the Thai capital as well as Phuket, Pattaya and Chiangmai. Nearly 100 elephants from the northeastern part of the country have recently been brought to these areas to enable their mahouts earn a livelihood. While there are dangers posed by a rampaging elephant …
Annual emissions of anthropogenic Hg to the atmosphere in different regions of the world during the last decade show an interesting dichotomy: the emissions in the developed countries increased at the rate of about 4.5–5.5% yr−1 up to 1989 and have since remained nearly constant, while in developing countries the …
Meeting the needs of today... economic needs: access to adequate livelihood; economic security when unemployed, ill, disabled or otherwise unable to secure a livelihood. social, cultural and health needs: a shelter which is healthy, safe, affordable and secure, within a neighbourhood with provision for piped water, sanitation, drainage, transport, health …
The problems of the world's cities are likely to occupy centrestage at the second UN conference on human settlements in Istanbul, Turkey, this June. Some analysts, however, doubt whether urban issues should assume such an important role at the summit. "For whom are we building cities?" questions Sujit Chowdhury, chairperson …
As every available nook and corner on an already burdened earth sells for sky-rocketing prices, the raging issue of crowded cities,with,popu- lation tearing at its seams, once again takes centre stage. What have the cities of today the world over have to offer to its citizens? Squalor, diseases, scarcity of …
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is on a massive public aware- ness campaign against pollution, especially in urban areas. A new addition to its strategy is an electronic signboard (LED display panel) which highlights air pollution at a busy traffic crossing near ITO, New Delhi. The panel, perched atop …
ONE of Habitat Ws - the next mega UN conference (scheduled for June 1996) - primary emphasis will be on the future of cities worldwide. What will be the future city like? Will it resemble one of the 'science cities' being developed in Japan and the Republic of Korea, or …
