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 …
ALMOST 90 per cent of dry cleaners in the us use a chemical solvent called perchloroethylene or perc for dry cleaning. Perc is a primary solvent. However, the health and environmental effects have been found to be quite disastrous and depend on the length of time and amount of exposure. …
Until the 1980s, Bharatbhai Bhagat, a farmer who lives a kilometre away from the Sarigam Industrial Estate (sie) in Valsad district of Gujarat, had 600 mango trees. He had been selling 10 truckloads of mangoes every year. "Today, we have to buy the fruit, even for our own consumption,' he …
in an event hailed as a "major breakthrough" by Klaus Topfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme ( unep ), a liability protocol which offers monetary compensation to victims hurt in the process of handling toxic wastes came into being in December 1999. While it is the first …
europe is in the middle of a major environmental disaster - the worst since the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine. On January 30, about 100,000 cubic metres of slurry, consisting major concentrations of cyanide and other heavy metals, from a containment dam spilled into the Szamos river in Romania. …
the government has decided to put an end to the use of harmful chemicals being used to suppress dust pollution in coal mining area. This was stated by Union minister of state for environment and forests Babu Lal Marandi at a meeting of senior officials of Coal Indian Limited and …
ignorance is bliss. This seems to be the state of mind of the Indian government for several environment-related issues, including that of hazardous waste like phosphogypsum (pg). A byproduct of the fertiliser industry, pg is used liberally by the construction industry and its use is promoted by the government What …
the sale of tea in mud kulhars by chaiwallahs up and down the country to the 11 million passengers who daily travel by train, has been - like so many of India's indigenous cultural habits, a guarantor of sustainable living, and a model for the industrialised world. The mud kulhars …
despite measures, hazardous waste generation continues to grow at the global level. This feeling was echoed by member states on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Basel Convention, dealing with the generation and trafficking of hazardous waste, held in Switzerland in the first week of December. In their …
most Andhra Pradesh hospitals lack facilities to treat the hazardous pile-up of waste that is generated everyday. There are more than 400 hospitals in the city and the total number of beds available is around 25,000. According to conservative estimates, at least one and a half kg of hazardous waste …
horticulture experts from the us have warned apple growers not to apply harmful compounds to trees that can kill aphid parasites and mite predators. These compounds can damage their produce and the production level will automatically drop. Experts visiting the apple-growing areas of Shimla have said that factors like drought …
the "healthy worker' effect has been a mystery to scientists. This effect is a paradoxical situation in which people working with hazardous chemicals, or those exposed to radiation at their job, often appear more healthy that the general population. Epidemiologists have suspected that among people employed in jobs involving hazardous …
according to the environmental group, Friends of Earth ( f o e ) an ici factory in Middlesborough is the uk 's largest polluter of a group of chemicals, alkylphenols, that has been shown to change the sex of fish. Basing its polluters' list on Environment Agency figures, f o …
for the first time, Russian scientists have decided to counter polychlorinated biphenyl ( pcb ) contamination after seven other Arctic countries agreed to pay us $160,000 to investigate the source of pcb s in Russia pcb s, which are widely used as insulators in electrical equipment, are highly toxic. Countries …
in an attempt to stop operation of hazardous waste plant in Izmit, Turkey, Greenpeace activists blocked the entrance of the plant recently. The incinerator had been operating despite a closure order from the nation's ministry of environment. Kocaeli Environmental Protection Association ( kepa ), a local environmental group, also took …
The European Commission (EC) is taking the UK and France to court for violating European Union (EU) pollution laws. The EC claims that the UK has failed to prevent water pollution from nitrates and France has not come up with adequate plans to deal with waste and hazardous materials. Under …
IN THE first week of December 1998, about 3,000 tonnes of industrial materials from Taiwan were dumped in Sihanoukville, a village in Cambodia. The villagers, who were unaware of the toxic nature of the dump, were thrilled with the contents. It contained cement-like materials in white plastic sacks which could …
The SC has stayed the export of three lions and three elephants by the zoo in Mumbai to the Yokohama zoo in Japan. The orders were given in response to a special leave petition (SLP) filed by Ahimsa, a non-governmental organisation which fights against cruelty to animals. Ahimsa had earlier …
The Madras High Court has given an interim order directing the plant of Sterlite Industries in Tuticorin, Chennai, to close down. Allegations of environmental hazards posed by the plant, reports of gas leaks and deaths have dogged the copper smelter plant since its inception in 1997. The court orders were …
LAWS in Europe are failing to protect the public and the environment from potentially hazardous chemicals, according to the European Commission (EC). An EC report on the impact of chemicals' legislation has found that laws brought in as recently as 1994 are proving inadequate. There is a need to 'implement …
