State of the Climate in Asia 2024
<p>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
Asia
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Empty Promises
The high-level conference at Rome was called to find a way out of the global food crisis. A series of consultations with experts preceded this important event that went to show that the UN had all good intentions. The good intentions unfortunately did not translate into good policy decisions that could slow, stop and reverse the food shortage. <font class="UCASE"><b>savvy soumya misra</b></font> reports from Rome on an opportunity squandered <br>
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World rice crisis:Issues and options
This paper attempts to analyse the current global crisis in the availability and prices of rice by drawing upon the long-term developments in the rice market. The instability and thinness in the world rice markets are shown to be mainly due to the predominantly precautionary export policies of major exporting countries, which in turn are a result of domestic food security considerations. Some possible policy options are also discussed.
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Analysis: U.S. poor are vulnerable to 'neglected' diseases
Tropical diseases that ravage Africa, Asia and Latin America commonly occur among the poor in the USA, leaving thousands of people shattered by debilitating complications including mental retardation, heart disease and epilepsy, an analysis showed Monday. The diseases, caused by chronic viral, bacterial and parasitic infections, disproportionately strike women and children and are largely overlooked by doctors, says author Peter Hotez of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, part of Sabin Vaccine Institute.
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Malaria bug seen as fatal
Plasmodium vivax, a strain of malaria thought to be mild and non-life-threatening is potentially fatal, according to a new study. Two malaria strains, P. vivax and P. falciparum, affect humans. The latter, the dominant strain in Africa, is considered to be more virulent and deadlier. But P. vivax accounts for 400 million cases every year in Asia, with about 300 cases reported annually in patients returning to Australia from malaria endemic countries. In Indonesia, the parasite has developed resistance to standard treatments.
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Growth and education revisited
MANOJ PANT
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Inflation in Asia to hit 5.1%: ADB
Kuala Lumpur: Inflation in Asia will hit 5.1% in 2008 due to surging food and fuel prices and could threaten economic growth in the region, the Asian Development Bank warned.
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How science can help feed the world
We thought wide-scale food shortages were behind us. Just a few years ago, most countries - with the exception of some in Africa - were looking as if they would be capable of adequately feeding their people, and the rich world was trying to figure out what to do with its food mountains. How things have changed. Droughts, high oil prices, changing diets, the rush to grow biofuels and other factors have caused shortages of most of the major food crops. On every continent there is concern over high food prices, and in some places even rioting. (Editorial)
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We must avert the water wars
The surface of our planet is mainly water, yet usable water is in short supply. In some parts of Africa people have to walk several kilometres a day to get water, and they are the lucky ones. There, and in Asia, the prospect of conflicts over water is increasing. A particular example is the scheme to bring more water into Turkmenistan and its capital city, Ashgabat.
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What price more food?
What do a student in New York, a farmer near Mexico City, a family in London and a nurse in Bangkok have in common?
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A perspective on reactive nitrogen in a global, Asian and Indian context
<p>Reactive nitrogen (Nr) includes the inorganic (NH3, NH4, NOx, HNO3, N2O, NO3) and organic forms (urea, amines, proteins, nucleic acids) that readily participate in various reactions of the global N cycle. Over the last half a century, anthropogenic perturbations of the natural N cycle have led to the increasing accumulation of inorganic Nr in the soil, water and air, intentionally through agriculture and unintentionally through fosill-fuel consumption and other activities, adversely affecting human health, biodiversity, environment and climate change.</p> <p><a href="http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Downloads/article_id_094_11_1375_1381_0.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>Original Source</strong></a></p>