In this report, ESCAP explores the future of urbanization in Asia and the Pacific, focusing on the dynamic shifts in the region’s urban landscape. It highlights the region’s demographic transformations, including population ageing, and the persistent challenges of urban poverty and inequality. The analysis covers urban areas of all sizes, …
Asian countries seem to compete with each other to spew out waste. Rising populations, increasing urbanisation and better incomes mean the volume of waste generated is bound to go up in the future. How much of the municipal solid waste is organic and what other substances present depends, to a …
Half the watershed area of the world's freshwater systems is estimated to have been lost in the twentieth century, as land was converted to agriculture and urban use, or levelled to combat diseases such as malaria. Physical alteration, habitat loss and degradation, water withdrawal, overexploitation, pollution, all contribute to declines …
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) has been launched by Govt. of lndia for promoting urban reforms and investments in the selected 63 cities of India. Ludhiana is one of the eligible cities. CDP is a requirement to access the funds under JNNURM as per the guidelines. A set …
just whom would you vote for as the greatest Gandhian in the Indian sub-continent of the post-Independence era? Our vote will unhesitatingly go to the Pakistani social scientist Akhtar Hameed Khan, in whose memory social activists from all over Pakistan met on October 12, 2000, his first death anniversary in …
Asia has more polluted cities than any other continent. That's what a comparison of 20 leading cities of the world shows. Rapid economic growth spurs the growth of big cities, which in turn bring in more vehicles. While the growth rate of vehicles in most developed countries has stopped or …
In 1990, senior government officials gathered at Paro to draft broad parameters for the country’s development agenda. The conclusion was the “Paro Resolution on Environment and Sustainable Development”, a statement that redefined sustainability in the Bhutanese context. It read as, “The capacity and the political will to effectively address today’s …
With modernisation has come the pressure on the forests. Though almost three-fourths of the country is still covered by dense foliage, the demands from a growing population can put unprecedented demands on them. Be it for construction, fuelwood consumption, infrastructure development, it cannot be underestimated. At the same time, 60 …
T he challenges that Bhutan is faced with are indeed daring, but rather than taking corrective measures, one cannot deny the fact that the government is taking proactive steps to mitigate the evils of development. For instance, air pollution. Though not of the proportion Indian metros like New Delhi are …
On the road to destiny The tradition-bound Himalayan kingdom readies itself to brace modernism In 1958, when the then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, went to Bhutan on a state visit, the only way he could reach the capital Thimpu was over land. He demanded to be met at the …
The library of the Centre for Science and Environment ( cse ) has just put together a collection of clippings from April 1999 onwards on floods in major cities of India. First it was drought and now it is floods, not just rural floods but also urban floods. Urban environmental …
Many fruits and vegetables are grown in wetlands of Bihar, the most important ones being makhana and singhara. Known as foxnut, makhana (Euryle ferox) is now gaining the status of a major cash crop. Bihar accounts for 75 per cent of country's total output. The fruit has a high nutritional …
Kawar Jheel Bird sanctuary, district Begusarai The Kawar lake, as notified "protected' by the state government on June 20, 1989, is 6311.63 hectares (ha). When it was notified, farmers opposed the move. Local politicians also supported them. "Even the former agriculture minister of Bihar, Ram Jeevan Singh, who is among …
The Sahanis are known as "masters of water'. This fishing community had been living in the wetlands of north Bihar for aeons, relying on them for sustenance. They did so by fishing or helping people cross the surging rivers that crisscross the floodplain. Or by displaying their art of trapping …
india's overall health care system performance has helped the country to the 112th position among World Health Organisation members, according to the World Health Report 2000 released in the latter part of June. India stands 133rd on the basis of per capita expenditure in the field of health. With these …
The population of pied myna is declining alarmingly in Bangladesh. Being an insectivorous bird, the myna plays an important role in protecting crops. "Random destruction of the myna's nesting trees, increasing pressures of human population and unscientific use of insecticides have led to its decline," said Khalilur Rahman, a bird …
Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation has issued a guidelines for greening of urban areas and landscaping in Delhi.The guidelines provides that unnecessary and excessive tilling of the roadside pavements should be avoided.
what makes a nation strong? Democracy? Dictatorship? What makes a people happy? Economic liberalisation? Centrally planned economy? Well, the people who know and count in today's world, seem to consider only these two alternatives. But a few fools think of the possibility of a third path. I consider myself to …
Incredible but true: in the last 30 years rise in human population has been the same as in the 1,00,000 years prior to the mid-20th century. as a result, human encroachment on agricultural and forestland have increased considerably. Particularly because the amount of land used by each person has expanded …
as the largescale destruction of forests continue, there are small pockets of trees all over the country that are still holding out against the mindless deforestation. Sacred groves - small patches of forests which contain a temple and a deity. The copses formed an integral part of the traditional lifestyle …
for the tourist, Goa is a kaleidoscope of pretty beaches, picturesque landscape and the beckoning sea. And the state has always been under pressure from industrial moguls and commercial ventures eager to rake in the big bucks that Goa's tourism generated. So much so that
