It is increasingly becoming evident that the world may not be ready for a binding international climate treaty at the ongoing climate summit in Cancun, Mexico. Global attention is now shifting towards domestic policies in the major economies. Japan and South Korea plan to launch their own versions of national …
Cause for worry for India Share of total employment in agriculture decreased from 63.3 per cent to 55.7 per cent between 1995 and 2008 Share of employment in industry increased marginally from 11.2 per cent to 12.8 per cent between 1995 and 2008 Share of employment in the services sector …
GROUNDWATER is becoming important to sustain agriculture, industry and drinking water. But as we exploit aquifers, more water becomes part of the hydrological cycle. A recent study shows evaporation and precipitation of groundwater is responsible for a fourth of the annual sea level rise of 3.1 mm. The study, to …
This latest IEA annual report contains estimates of CO2 emissions by country from 1971 to 2009, selected indicators such as CO2/GDP, CO2/capita, CO2/TPES and CO2/kWh & CO2 emissions from international marine and aviation bunkers.
SEVERAL industrialized countries are negotiating a treaty that could deny developing countries access to low-cost medicines, making them dependent on expensive patented drugs. The pact is very likely to go further than the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) trademark- related arrangements by branding any item suspected of violating patents as counterfeit. …
Oil spills: a way of life in niger delta Using two large tubes to funnel polluted water into his small wooden boat, a Nigerian teenager helps mop up the latest oil spill in the Niger Delta. The government estimates there were over 7,000 spills between 1970 and 2000, and some …
US $1 TRILLION WORTH OF MINERALS Afghanistan is suddenly richThe Pentagon recently announced that Afghanistan is sitting on mineral wealth worth US $1 trillion—about 1,000 times the government’s annual revenue. The untapped mineral deposits, including iron, copper, cobalt, gold and lithium, a key raw material for laptop, cell phone and …
The present decade could be called as disaster management decade. There have been a number of large mega geo events such as Sumatran earthquake of magnitude 9.3 in December 2004, and destructive earthquakes in India (Bhuj earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on 26 January 2001), Pakistan (Kashmir earthquake of magnitude 7.9 …
Globally, many fish species are overexploited, and many stocks have collapsed. This crisis, along with increasing concerns over flow-on effects on ecosystems, has caused a reevaluation of traditional fisheries management practices, and a new ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) paradigm has emerged. As part of this approach, selective fishing is widely …
Rapid expansion of the standardised approach to tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment that is recommended by WHO allowed more than 36 million people to be cured between 1995 and 2008, averting up to 6 million deaths. Yet tuberculosis remains a severe global public health threat. There are more than 9 million …
As the world prepares for the largest investment in nuclear power in decades, owners of uranium mines last week raised the prospect of fuel shortages. To make things worse, the reliability of estimates of the amount of uranium that can be economically mined has also been questioned.
The Electric and Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (EV/PHEV) Roadmap for the first time identifies a detailed scenario for the evolution of these types of vehicles and their market penetration, from annual production of a few thousand to over 100 million vehicles by 2050. It finds that the next decade is a …
Hypotheses about the genesis of novel H1N1 influenza (the pandemic strain of swine flu) range far and wide. Some public health and epidemiology experts are taking a fresh look at concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) , which they say provide ideal conditions that facilitate the mutation of viral pathogens into …
Intrinsic antibiotic resistance has been a fact of bacterium life since long before humans discovered the use of antibiotic drugs. However, the introduction of pharmaceutical antibiotics in the 1940s and explosion in use ever since dramatically accelerated the spread of antibiotic-resistance genes. Today, the problem of antibiotic resistance is so …
This is the first biennial global assessment of disaster risk reduction prepared in the context of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. It focuses on the nexus between disaster risk and poverty, in a context of global climate change. The 2009 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction is the …
Q.The office of the President of America is considered to be the most powerful office in the world and given the slugfest among democratic nominees, you would have been an ideal candidate. It would have given you an opportunity to push your agenda, which is climate change. Yet you chose …
AL GORE FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT OF USA, NOBEL LAUREATE, AUTHOR AND AWARD WINNING FILMMAKER To me, there is a striking contrast between the confidence and dynamism, the success and legendary energy drive of modern India
Next week, government negotiators will gather in Bangkok, Thailand, for the latest round of international climate change talks. Once again the focus will be on mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Yet for many poor communities in poor countries, mitigation is not the most pressing issue. Climate change …
As many amphibians face the very real threat of being completely wiped out by disease, climate change and pollution, Emma Marris looks at a controversial approach to save some of them in glass boxes.
