The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
The new environment minister of Somalia's non-resident government has urged the UN to examine the nature of the possible hazardous waste washed ashore in the country following the recent tsunami disaster. The minister, Mohamed Osman Maye, said reports of unusual illnesses and hazardous waste are reaching the government, based in …
Us scientists recently protested the massive biodefence research funding by the us government since the 2001 anthrax attacks. They claimed it had adversely affected basic microbiological research. Biodefence funding at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (niaid) was raised from us$53 million in 2001 to us $1.4 billion …
Burn the hazard: The Supreme Court (SC) on January 5, 2004, ordered the destruction of illegally imported hazardous waste oil, lying at Mumbai's Nhava Sheva port, by incineration. The consignment of 133 containers was illegally imported in August
Be careful, but not paranoiac about pesticides. They are harmful but only when consumed in large doses. We are what we eat and drink. And our increasingly insecure existence is mirrored in our food fears: pesticides in fruits and vegetables, mercury in fish, bad fats in snacks, bird flu in …
Fly ash is generated as waste in thermal power plants that run on coal. An ideal use for fly ash is in making Portland Pozzolana Cement (ppc). Though cement companies are producing ppc , the market appears to be biased against it. Why? Because the predominantly used Ordinary Portland Cement …
After crushing a French environmentalist to death, a shipment of nuclear waste reached Germany's Gorleben storage site on November 9, 2004, despite strong protests. The rail convoy of 12 containers, heavily guarded by 11,000 German police, was forced to stop at several places in its route from La Hague reprocessing …
Environmentalists have launched a global movement to encourage nitrogen management in view of the fact that reactive nitrogen can considerably improve but equally damage the quality of life on the planet. Through their call Nanjing Declaration on Nitrogen Management, 400 green experts have urged policy makers at all levels of …
even as the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal gas leak tragedy is observed, the toxic substances stored in the ill-fated Union Carbide factory continue contaminating the site. But there is hope of a cleanup once a us federal court, looking into the issue, pins down the responsibility on us-based Dow …
One sad reality often mirrors another. Environment and health ministers from 15 eu countries have been proved to be contaminated, albeit by industrial chemicals. Results of a survey undertaken by the World Wide Fund for Nature show that the average minister carried 37 highly toxic chemicals, including pesticides and flame-retardants, …
the global treaty regulating the cross-border movement of hazardous wastes will now also apply to ships that become hazardous wastes when they cease to be in use. The decision was taken by 114 member countries of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their …
September 30, 2004. Eleven trucks carrying imported metal scrap trundled into Sahibabad-based Bhushan Steels and Stripes Limited (BSSL), a steel smelting and rolling unit. One of them exploded, killing 10 workers
two years after 114 countries decided to minimise the adverse effects of chemicals on human health and environment by 2020, much work still remains to be done to achieve the goal. While government delegates and representatives of international institutions and non-governmental organisations (ngo) made some progress in discussions at the …
a can of worms has been opened by the explosion that rocked the premises of Bhushan Steel and Strips, Sahibabad, in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district. Ten people were killed and 15 others got wounded in the incident on September 30, 2004. The blast occurred while one of the 11 trucks …
Trade interests always reign supreme, usually disastrously so: the Rotterdam Convention on hazardous chemicals might soon be rendered purposeless if the trend spearheaded by Russia and Canada at the convention's first Conference of Parties (cop-1), held on September 20-24 in Geneva, is any indication. The two countries, along with India …
an encouraging precedent in environmental protection has been set by a Supreme Court (sc) committee of experts in a case involving pollution caused by a chemical plant. The Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (scmc) has asked state government agencies to clean up the hazardous waste dumped by the defunct Hema Chemicals …
The Mumbai Port Trust (mpt) has issued a notice to shipping agents to strictly follow the norms for offloading hazardous chemicals. The directive came close on the heels of incidents of workers falling ill after opening unlabelled cargo consignments. The notice makes it clear that all dangerous goods should be …
Draft proposals released by the European Commission (EC) suggest that over 200 hazardous chemicals could be banned in the eu. The curbs would be enforced through the 29th amendment to the eu's 1976 directive on marketing of chemicals and limiting their use. They would include chemicals newly classified as carcinogenic, …
the Allahabad High Court (hc) has issued notices to top officials of the Union and state governments regarding mismanagement of hospital waste at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh (up). The court's action came in response to a public interest litigation (pil) petition filed by Janhit Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (ngo). The …
Bbc, Earth Files According to an investigation by bbc's Earth Files programme, computer waste is being dumped in developing nations in contravention of the Basel Convention. And the two most popular dump yards are India and China. The Basel convention on the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal …
