Affidavit filed by the Chief Wildlife Warden, Assam in the matter of news item titled "the last feral horses in India" appearing in Mongabay, November 5, 2024. The matter relates to the critically endangered status of feral horses in the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park as well as of smuggling of these …
Sri Lanka ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by a cabinet decision in November 1993 and is among the first 50 countries that have ratified it. As an obligation of the UNFCCC Sri Lanka is required to prepare the National Communication on Climate Change periodically. Accordingly, …
This paper discusses the many limitations of the official poverty lines applied in Sri Lanka (and many other nations). These include poverty lines’ reliance on expert-based determination of basic food and non-food needs, the fact that they are a monetary measure and so do not measure whether food or non-food …
This report seeks to present a review of the current status of coastal governance with regard to its compatibility with Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) in Sri Lanka. The purpose of this review is to support the preparatory programme of work of the Mangroves For the Future (MFF) initiative, and as …
The United States government on Tuesday (November 22) has handed over three newly-constructed wards and a renovated administrative unit, along with much-needed furniture, to the Karadiyanaru Divisional Hospital in Batticaloa of Sri Lanka's Eastern Province. The U.S. Embassy in Colombo in a statement said that the Embassy's development arm, the …
With a view to effectively deal with the menace of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in India and 10 neighbouring countries, the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) formally inaugurated its Stockholm Convention Regional Center on POPs for Asia region in Nagpur on Monday. The Stockholm Convention on POPs is an …
Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) and Aedes albopictus Skuse mosquitoes transmit serious human arboviral diseases including yellow fever, dengue and chikungunya in many tropical and sub-tropical countries. Females of the two species have adapted to undergo preimaginal development in natural or artificial collections of freshwater near human habitations and feed on human …
A slight tremor had occurred in the South-Western sea off Sri Lanka on Saturday, Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) chairman Dr N P Wijayananda told the Daily News yesterday. He said that the tremor which occurred around 4.10 pm had been felt by the people in Balapitiya coastal area …
Despite remarkable achievements in the health sector, malnutrition has been a persistent health challenge in Sri Lanka. More than 1 in 5 under-five year olds are underweight in the country. Nearly 1 in 6 babies born has a low birth weight. These numbers are worse for some population groups in …
Practical measures have been introduced to control the human-elephant conflict which intensified during the recent past in Mahiyangana and Sorabora Wewa areas, said Wildlife and Agrarian Services Minister S M Chandrasena. It has been decided to construct an elephant conservation centre near the Mahiyangana Pradeshiya Sabha to take care of …
As agreed at the recently held 17th SAARC Summit in the Maldives, Sri Lanka will set up a ‘SAARC Seed Bank’ to boost agriculture production in the region. Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers yesterday approved a proposal made by the Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to establish the SAARC …
As agreed at the recently held 17th SAARC Summit in the Maldives, Sri Lanka will set up a 'SAARC Seed Bank' to boost agriculture production in the region. Sri Lanka's cabinet of ministers yesterday approved a proposal made by the Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to establish the SAARC …
The Sri Lankan government is planning to obtain a US$ 33 million credit facility from China to finance electrification of Sri Lanka's Eastern Province. The Cabinet of ministers Wednesday approved a proposal forwarded by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to obtain the credit facility through the Export Import Bank of China. The …
The toll from ever-more intense floods, drought, and heatwaves will crescendo this century unless humanity anticipates the onslaught, according to a UN report set to be unveiled on Friday. In an 800-page assessment, the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says global warming will magnify the frequence and force …
Countries like Bangladesh and India must endeavour to make the global green fund operational at the ensuing Durban summit to combat climate change impacts, said eminent environmentalists at an international workshop in New Delhi yesterday. Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) organised the two-day South Asian Media Workshop on …
With the Kyoto Protocol unlikely to produce a new set of targets, Carbon Forum Asia 2011 which concluded in Singapore last week, released IETA’s Greenhouse Gas Market Report for the first time in Asia Pacific, lending credence to the region’s increasing importance in the global emissions trading market. President of …
One in every ten Sri Lankans suffers from diabetes, which has become the leading cause of blindness, renal failure, lower limb amputation, strokes and heart diseases. Nearly 3.8 million people around the world die due to diabetes annually, Professor Chandrika Wijeratne said. Speaking at a media conference on World Diabetes …
The World Bank has ranked India at 8th position in South-East Asia for starting any business whereas Afghanistan stands first, Sri Lanka second, Maldives third, Bhutan fourth, Bangladesh fifth, Pakistan sixth and Nepal at seventh position. The above ranking has been given by the World Bank in its report on …
The Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority states that the use of energy efficient CFL electricity bulbs has increased. The CFL bulbs are saving around 80 percent of energy than the normal light bulbs. According to the No. 1611/10 Government Gazette dated July 22,2009 the label introduced by the Sustainable Energy …
High spending on medicines and health will push many Indians below the poverty line, the World Health Organisation has cautioned. “Due to the out-of-pocket spending of their income on medicines and healthcare services, about 3.2 per cent of India's population will come below the poverty line,” a senior WHO official …
Bangladesh has enhanced its status by one notch to 95th among 110 nations in a worldwide assessment of wealth and quality of life. The country was ranked 96th in the last year's Legatum Prosperity Index that provides the only global assessment of national prosperity based on both wealth and well-being. …
