Environment
Up one levelExperts warn species in peril from climate change
"Much of the predictions are gloom and doom. The ray of hope, however, is that we have not lost our opportunity. We still have time if we act now," said Jean Brennan, a senior scientist with Defenders of Wildlife and co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for her work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
India unveils national climate change action plan.
The country lists an eight-point agenda for climate change mitigation efforts in various sectors but does not set emissions targets or provide policy direction on its climate change mitigation programme
Deforestation: The Hidden Cause of Global Warming
In the next 24 hours, deforestation will release as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 8 million people flying from London to New York. Stopping the loggers is the fastest and cheapest solution to climate change. So why are global leaders turning a blind eye to this crisis? by Daniel Howden
Delhi an e-waste dumping yard?
Delhi, which is already reeling under high pollution, has now to deal with another environmental challenge - e-wastes. According to an industry lobby's estimate, over 2,000 trucks dump around 12,000 tonnes of e-waste in the city per day.
G8 aims to halve greenhouse gases
World leaders say they will aim to set a global target of cutting carbon emissions by at least 50% by 2050 in an effort to tackle global warming.
Melting permafrost will be major driver of global warming
The thawing of permafrost in northern latitudes will become a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study that more than doubles previous estimates of the amount of carbon stored in the frozen soils of Alaska and Siberia.
Sea level rises could far exceed IPCC estimates...
Could our coastlines disappear underwater much sooner than we think? The controversial view that sea levels could rise at a rate of more than 1 metre per century has found support from a new study of a long-melted ice sheet.
Climate Change: Impact on Indian Agriculture
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its fourth assessment report observed that, ‘warming of climate system is now unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global sea level’ (Solomon et al., 2007). In India, several studies have shown that while temperature marked an increasing trend over the previous century, rainfall had no such significant change.
Tackling Climate Change: Our Collective Way Forward
Vast stretches of dead, barren farms, covered with dried-up, stunted cotton and other crops lie abandoned even as jobless farmers and labourers gather at village chaupals, doing nothing ...
CFL lighting strikes Haryana
Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) have, quite literally, lit up the lives of both consumers and the overburdened power authorities in rural Haryana
Nuclear energy is not the solution to India’s power crisis
iting the example of the current fire and radioactive leakage from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, Greenpeace reiterated that nuclear technology can pose a serious threat to the environment and population. Greenpeace termed the Indian Prime Minister’s proposal to harness nuclear technology to combat Global warming and meet the Nation’s growing power needs alarming.
Gore and UN panel win Nobel prize
Climate change campaigner Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
HCL's new toxics phase-out policy is just eyewash: Greenpeace
Terming HCL's new plan for toxics phase-out from their products just the beginning, Greenpeace today criticised the company for falling short of making any clear-cut commitment to clean up its act. Greenpeace feels the new declaration on RoHS-compliance by the company is vague, and an eyewash, as it is silent on many crucial issues like phase-out of toxics substances from all its products or their commitment on time line for phase-out, and their intention on getting rid of other chemicals like BFRs and PVC.
Prosopis destroys bio-diversity of Gujarat
Sanctuaries and agricultural lands in Gujarat are facing a major threat of bio-diversity.
All Out To Recycle : The Eco Brigade
Recycling paper is one of the many steps towards forest conservation and environmental degradation – we all talk about it, but how many of us really get down to doing anything about it? The Eco Brigade shows the way may their tribe increase!
Electronics companies race to be greener
Acer and Lenovo are the latest of the top computer makers to commit to stop using the worst toxic chemicals in their products. Along with Motorola these companies are the biggest movers in the latest version of our Guide to Greener Electronics. Disappointingly for Mac fans, Apple has dropped to last place.
Nepal NGO to take govt to court
The Water and Energy Users’ Federation Nepal (WEUF) said it will file a case in the Supreme Court against the “unconstitutional decision” to allow a foreign company manage the water distribution system in the Kathmandu valley.
Today’s sportsmen and sportswomen are a powerful force for conservation
When a hunter dreams of a trophy elk, thoughts run to frozen mornings deep in the Rocky Mountains. Minnesota seldom comes to mind, and there’s little reason why it should, since the state issued only five permits to hunt elk last year. Nonetheless, when The Nature Conservancy needed help acquiring a critical 800-acre piece of Minnesota grassland, it was the hunters of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, based in faraway Montana, who stepped up.
WaterAid Reviews ADB South Asia Projects
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved its first water policy, Water for All, in 2001 and in 2005 began conducting a Comprehensive Policy Implementation Review. WaterAid has undertaken this study to provide an informed, evidence-based input to the Review process and to use the findings to seek changes to ADB’s project design, implementation and evaluation procedures so that ADB supported projects ensure sustainable water supply and sanitation services for the poor.
Coconut, livestock integration fetches higher income for ryots
INTEGRATED FARMING system (IFS) with diversified farming enterprises can be ideally taken up by coconut farmers in their gardens, according to Dr. V. Rajagopal, former Director, Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod, Kerala.
Meeting Water Demands in Water Stressed Regions
Rainwater harvesting, its conservation and sustainable utilization can remedy the water shortages in most, if not all, drought prone areas of our country quickly and cheaply with the active participation of the people.
Managing high level nuclear waste
The public wrongly believes that the vitrification process is storage in glass containers
Raising Energy Services to Reduce Carbon Emissions
Most governments drive into the future with only the rearview mirror to guide them. Despite growing scientific evidence that our present patterns of consumption and production are leading to massive disruption of the planet’s life support systems - particularly its climate and living resources – the momentum of our economies seems only to grow. International treaties have been negotiated to slow this headlong race to self-destruction, but the foot on the accelerator pedal continues to press harder than the one on the brake; the biggest polluters are still the biggest defaulters.
Killing the trees of Lahore
Trees in Lahore are in great trouble these days. They have been indiscriminately massacred in the name of projects ostensibly meant for the development purposes.
Contract farming of Coleus forskholii gaining popularity
CONTRACT FARMING of Coleus forskholii is gaining popularity among small and marginal farmers of Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu.
Pollution challenge in Indian cities more severe today, says CSE
Delhi would have been reeling under a pollution load of 38 per cent more particulates if the Supreme Court had not intervened to introduce cleaner fuels and emissions technology in the city (see graph). Delhi's air is cleaner today, but it is still not clean enough. What's worse, more and more Indian cities -- a number of which are small, non-metro -- are turning into smog-encased pollution hotspots.
Efforts on to save Musi river
Four hundred years ago, on the banks of the Musi river, the city of Hyderabad was born.
Jharkand miners battle pollution woes
Rising pollution levels in Singbhum in Jharkhand have made life miserable for mine workers.
Delhiites turn to rainwater harvesting
The depleting water table in Delhi may be a source of worry for many but few recognise the importance of rainwater harvesting.
New toxic ship heads for India
A former cruise liner with hundreds of tonnes of asbestos and other toxic material on board is heading for an Indian scrapyard, Greenpeace said on Tuesday, threatening a repeat of a controversy over a French warship.
16,000 species may soon be extinct
Polar bears and hippos are among more than 16,000 species of animals and plants threatened with global extinction, the World Conservation Union said on Tuesday.
Unclean fuels kill 1.5m people every year: UN
The World Health Organisation said women and children in Africa and Asia were especially vulnerable to indoor air pollution from open fires and poorly ventilated stoves.
Ozone layer slowly healing itself
The ozone layer is showing signs of recovering, thanks to a drop in ozone-depleting chemicals, but it is unlikely to stabilise at pre-1980 levels, researchers said on Wednesday.
It isn’t agriculture:Water use is increasing and it is industry that is taking it up
Industrial water use is closely linked to the economy of a country. So far as India is concerned, as GDP increases, so will industrial water consumption
Forest income can top $2 bn by 2020: World Bank
NEW DELHI, APRIL 3: The World Bank has suggested access to an open and efficient market for improving the livelihood of communities dependent on forestry. Creating such a market would generate higher revenues and offer a strong incentive for communities to take on increasing responsibility for forest management and promote more efficient forest utilisation, it said in its report titled ‘India: Unlocking Opportunities for Forest-Dependent People’.
Orissa bans mining on Gandhamardan Hills
The Govt. of Orissa has banned minning along the Gandhamardan Hills through an ordinance in the state assembly today.
Dhaka bans 'toxic' French liner
Bangladesh says it has imposed a ban on SS Norway, an asbestos-lined French ocean-liner, from being broken up in its ship-breaking yards.