Large-scale destruction of mangroves contributed heavily to the damage inflicted by cyclone Nargis in Myanmar last week, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Myanmar, home to the eighth largest mangrove area in the world, has lost large swathes of mangroves over the last four decades. FAO estimates from 2005 put the loss at around 70,000 hectares between 1972 and 2005, but 2008 estimates suggest this could be much higher.
An estimated 100 million people
It's not just the average Delhiite, even those involved in the project are slowly getting disillusioned by the bus rapid transit (BRT) system and are worried about its success rate. For officials who are in the transport department, the prospect of other project like tramways is also bleak. "The BRT is a complete failure. The BRT does not contribute to capacity building at all rather it adds to the mess thereby slowing traffic. It should not have been brought to existence at all. The concept should have been studied in detail before its implementation.
The government has decided to formally launch a campaign for constructing major dams as the concerned authorities have agreed to go slow on "controversial" Kalabagh dam, sources told Business Recorder on Thursday. "The formal launch of the campaign will help the government in procuring foreign and local funding for the dams, whose construction is must to save the country from becoming water-scarce country," the sources said.
Amidst a hue and cry of global warming causing glaciers to melt at a rapid pace, there's some soothing news for environment enthusiasts. A recent study by the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) says that the receding pace of Gangotri glacier, one of the largest glaciers of the Himalayas, has slowed down during the last two years.
In a major break through, a vaccine for meningitis B, caused by bacterial infection, has performed well in a preliminary trial in Britain. Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. Vaccines are available against meningitis A and C, but none yet exists for meningitis B, the leading cause of bacterial meningitis throughout the world. Annually there are between 20,000-80,000 cases of meningitis B all over the world and of these 10 per cent result in death.
First, the water level in a pond inexplicably plunged. Then, thousands of toads appeared on streets in a nearby province. Finally, just hours before China's worst earthquake in three decades, animals at a local zoo began acting strangely. As bodies are pulled from the wreckage of Monday's quake, Chinese online chat rooms and blogs are buzzing with a question: Why did n't these natural signs alert the government that a disaster was coming?
Punjab may be flopping on fronts like health, information technology but its flavoured Verka lassi, desi ghee,ice-cream, sweetened milk, panjiri, paneer, curd, and kheer are doing very well in the national and international market. Milkfed, state's leading cooperative, known for Verka brand in and outside the country has achieved 64 per cent growth in the sale of lassi, 37 per cent in sweetened flavoured milk, 31 per cent in ghee, 21 per cent in ice cream, 70 per cent in kheer and 39 per cent in paneer last year. Desi ghee and lassi have been traditionally strong area of Punjab.
Indonesia's health minister said today she would start sharing all genetic information about her country's bird flu virus with a new global database to monitor whether the disease is mutating into a dangerous pandemic strain. China, Russia and other nations, that have long withheld influenza virus samples and DNA sequencing data from international databases, are also taking part in the initiative.
The humanitarian organisation founded by actor George Clooney and other Ocean's Thirteen stars has donated $250,000 to help children and families in Burma affected by Cyclone Nargis.
Congress' new agriculture bill, which looks certain to become law, would tighten rules for lumber imports in an effort to discourage environmentally destructive, illegal logging overseas. The 2008 farm bill, which Congress passed this week in bipartisan votes strong enough to overcome a White House veto, includes new rules that would prohibit imports of illegally logged wood and wood products.
China warned the death toll from this week's earthquake could soar to 50,000 while the government issued a rare public appeal on Thursday for rescue equipment as it struggled to cope with the disaster. Rescue workers cleared roads to the epicentre in the race to find survivors.
Rising amounts of nitrogen entering the oceans from human activities are less beneficial than previously thought as a fertiliser for tiny marine plants that help slow global warming, scientists said on Thursday. "As much as a third of the nitrogen entering the world's oceans from the atmosphere is man-made," according to a team of 30 scientists writing in the journal Science. "It's not as good a thing as some people would like it to be," said Peter Liss, of the University of East Anglia in England which led the study with Texas A&M University.
The global scenario on preserving biological diversity remains dismal. The latest findings of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) show that nations, including India, all signatories to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), are unlikely to achieve the target set for them by 2010 to protect their biodiversity.
At least 124 persons were killed in various accidents across Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday night when a duststorm, accompanied by a short spell of rain, lashed through several parts of the state, according to official sources.
Torrential tropical downpours lashed Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta on Friday, deepening the misery of an estimated 2.5 million destitute survivors of Cyclone Nargis and further hampering the military government's aid efforts. Despite the latest storm, which is likely to turn already damaged roads to mud in the swamp-covered region, the former Burma's ruling generals insist their relief operations are running smoothly.
The death toll from Monday's earthquake could climb as high as 50,000, China's state council said on Thursday as rescue workers continued to struggle to reach some of the worst affected areas. The number of deaths announced so far has reached 19,500 in Sichuan province, where the earthquake was centred. However, the sharp escalation in the expected death toll indicates that hopes are fading for the tens of thousands of people who are still buried under collapsed buildings.
Japan is debating whether to set a target for cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but reaching a conclusion before the G8 in July summit is not a "diplomatic imperative", a foreign ministry official said. Japanese newspaper reports earlier this month said Japan, the world's fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases that cause global warming, would announce in June a target of cutting its emissions by 60 to 80 percent to boost its leadership credentials as host of the Group of Eight summit in July.
Rio Tinto last night slammed Chinese steelmakers over increasingly aggressive negotiating tactics, after the China Iron & Steel Association called for its members to boycott the Anglo-Australian mining group's spot sales of iron ore. The steelmakers have failed to agree a 2008-09 annual contract price with Rio and BHP Billiton despite months of talks. Earlier this year, the Chinese authorities delayed issuing permits needed to import some shipments of Australian iron ore, a move that was also considered a negotiating ploy.
Biofuel manufacturers at an international gathering in Spain have strenuously denied media charges they are driving up food prices and world hunger. As the world seeks sustainable energy supplies and ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions, concern has grown that land used for plant-based fuels is competing with land for growing food. Speaker after speaker at the World Biofuels convention, which ended on Thursday in southern city Seville, said plant-based fuel production accounted for just 3 percent of world demand for grains.
