News Coverage
Straws of steel: Earthquake-proof houses
Posted on: 10 January 2012 - 11:41amWhen young Nepalis opt to study outside their native land, they often do so with the hope of improving their own lives. But Ashraya Dixit used the opportunities in America to make a difference back home in Nepal.
A student at Grinnell College, Ashraya is a recipient of the prestigious Davis Projects for Peace, 2011, which grants US$10,000 to youth with innovative methods of building peace.
Ashraya’s project titled Straws of Steel took place in the summer of 2011 and aimed to “introduce a new, efficient, low cost, and safe building technique using straw bales to Shivagadi village in the Kapilvastu district of Nepal, an area that frequently faces flashfloods, droughts, fires and earthquakes.
Development of maritime activities in Bangladesh
Posted on: 10 January 2012 - 11:41amBangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It has achieved tremendous progress in agricultural sector but still finds it difficult to feed the nation. Apart from controlling the population through strict family planning, it has to educate and train the human resources to turn them into useful man-power. It has to diversify its economy.
Call to open restricted trekking areas
Posted on: 10 January 2012 - 11:42amTourism entrepreneurs urged the government to amend the four decade old restrictions on trekking routes.
There are a number of trekking routes like Upper Mustang, Upper Dolpo, Lower Doplo, Manasulu and Rara lake trekking routes that are restricted areas. “The government should either declare the region as normal or reduce the royalty charged to the trekkers,” said a member of aviation and tourism department of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) Rajendra Bajagain.
Landslide in Philippine village kills 25
Posted on: 6 January 2012 - 1:21pmMANILA - A landslide tore through a tiny gold-mining village in the southern Philippines yesterday, killing 25 people and burying dozens more, months after the government warned residents the mountain was certain to crumble.
The mountainside in Napnapan village in Pantukan township collapsed around 3 a.m., when most residents were asleep, sweeping away about 50 houses, shanties, and other buildings, officials said. A fissure in the mountain discovered last year likely was aggravated by heavy rains and continuous mining in the saturated ground.
Environment, priority issue in SAARC meet
Posted on: 6 January 2012 - 1:29pmThe 11th SAARC Summit conference rescheduled to begin tomorrow in Kathmandu, the capital of the kingdom of Nepal, is expected to give high priority to the conservation of environment—a factor which is a key of poverty alleviation, sustainable development and ecological balance in the South Asia region. Now the responsibility of grappling with environmental degradation and terrorism, the two formidable challenges in recent days has to be shouldered by SAARC, a regional forum established to foster fraternity and mutual co-operation vis-à-vis a spirit of regional block in a bid to accelerate the pace of economic development in the entire region.
Beijing to issue new air quality data after outcry
Posted on: 6 January 2012 - 4:09pmBeijing's government on Friday bowed to a vocal online campaign for a change in the way air quality is measured in the Chinese capital, one of the world's most polluted cities.
Authorities said they would start publishing figures this month showing the smallest, most dangerous pollution particles in the air after considering the wishes of residents, expressed on China's popular microblogs.
The Chinese capital currently bases its air quality information on particles of 10 micrometers or larger, known as PM10, and does not take into account the smaller particulates that experts say are most harmful to human health.
Indonesian garbage helps save environment
Posted on: 3 January 2012 - 10:53amCrouched and concentrated, August and Karma rip open knotted plastic bags at the foot of a big pile of rubbish.
Yoghurt cups, paper packaging, plastic, pineapple rinds, cabbage leaves, chicken bones and the like fall out. The young Indonesian men begin sorting. Organic material goes to one side, and bottles, plastic and paper to the other. ''A super job,'' remarks Karma, 23. ''Finally, reliable work.''
Amazon rainforest imperiled in gold rush
Posted on: 3 January 2012 - 10:53amRecord gold prices are claiming an unlikely victim: the lush, spectacularly biodiverse rainforests of the Peruvian Amazon.
Since the global economy fell off the edge of a cliff in 2008, sending investors scrambling to put their money into the ultimate safe haven, gold, thousands of illegal miners have flooded into the Madre de Dios region of central Peru.
Food, fuel saving is the way forward
Posted on: 3 January 2012 - 10:53amThe United Nations has designated 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. Broadening access to sustainable energy is essential in solving many of the world's challenges including food production, food security and poverty. For a rapidly developing economy such as India it is all the more critical that there is sustained production and consumption of energy but it is done in a manner that advances environmental sustainability.
Government hit for failure to act on flood peril
Posted on: 27 December 2011 - 12:01pmBarely a month into the Aquino presidency, green activists warned Cabinet officials of a looming climatic catastrophe.
The warning went largely ignored, but the Climate Change Congress of the Philippines (CCCP) headed by Archbishop Antonio Ledesma plodded on, raising alarm bells.
The warning was repeated to Cabinet officials in an antipoverty conference two weeks before Tropical Storm “Sendong” struck on December 16.
Helping the poor and the environment – a way forward for Panama?
Posted on: 17 January 2012 - 11:47amA recent report published on the United Nations web site describes a program that might be beneficial for Panama’s poor, and the environment while creating a potential manufacturing project and jobs.
UAE to chair discussion circle at water conference in France
Posted on: 27 December 2011 - 12:01pmThe 6thWorld Water Forum in Marseille is the largest international meeting dealing with water issues; every three years, and it brings together more than 10,000 participants from every country in the world. The ministerial conference scheduled for 13 March 2012 is one of the Forum's key events and is being organized by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.
Central America declares 2012 the Year of Sustainable Tourism
Posted on: 27 December 2011 - 2:09pmCentral America will attend FITUR 2012 in order to inaugurate its Year of Sustainable Tourism, an initiative set up by the Heads of State and Government of the countries that make up the Region, namely Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. This measure makes part of the Region's Plan 2009-2013, whose purpose is to promote sustainable development through tourism.
Thai floods leave tech firms pondering
Posted on: 20 December 2011 - 9:46amThailand's floods crisis is exposing just how heavily the world's technology sector leans on a drab industrial zone north of Bangkok.
As the last floodwaters recede, after killing 600, the crisis is exposing just how heavily the world's technology sector leans on a drab industrial zone in a floodplain north of Bangkok.
If certain PCs, hard drives or other electronics are suddenly more expensive or backordered in your city, chances are their production relies on Thai factories recovering from neck-high floods.
Flood-hit Philippine cities prepare mass burials
Posted on: 20 December 2011 - 9:46amThe Philippines set up mass burial sites Monday for decomposing bodies of flood victims after a cyclone disaster left an estimated 700 people dead on the southern island of Mindanao.
Officials in the port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, where sleeping families were swept to sea from coastal slums, said unclaimed cadavers piling up in mortuaries were posing health risks and had to be interred.
Philippine Flood Relief Shifts to Aid Survivors
Posted on: 20 December 2011 - 9:46amStella Cabilogan’s house was hit hard by the flash floods over the weekend that killed about 600 people, but she has decided against moving with her two children into a nearby evacuation center.
“The situation in the evacuation center is very difficult,” she said by telephone on Monday from the southern city of Cagayan do Oro. “There is no water or sanitation there. It’s very easy to get sick.”
COP-17: Durban UN climate deal hailed as ‘watershed’
Posted on: 13 December 2011 - 1:37pmTHE United Nations (UN) climate change negotiations that ended in Durban on Sunday were "historic" and had delivered a "watershed" deal that took in developed and developing nations, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said yesterday.
The talks, which went on a day-and-a-half over schedule, start a process that will see the Kyoto Protocol, which holds only developed nations to targets to reduce their emission of gases related to climate change, extended to 2018. This is a fundamental shift, and was hard won.
'Elvis' monkey, psychedelic gecko found in SE Asia
Posted on: 13 December 2011 - 1:38pmA psychedelic gecko and a monkey with an "Elvis" hairdo are among 208 new species described last year by scientists in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, a conservation group announced Monday.
Drip irrigation could change African life
Posted on: 13 December 2011 - 1:37pmRural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa live under risky conditions. Many grow low-value cereal crops that depend on a short rainy season, a practice that traps them in poverty and hunger.
But reliable access to water could change the farmers' perilous situation. Stanford scientists are calling for investments in small-scale irrigation projects and hydrologic mapping to help buffer the growers from the erratic weather and poor crop yields that are expected to worsen with climate change in the region.
Decision looms for controversial Mekong dam
Posted on: 8 December 2011 - 12:49pmThe Mekong ministers responsible for southeast Asia's "Mother River" are expected to pass judgment on Thursday on the most controversial dam ever proposed for the vast waterway.
Laos hopes to built a 1,285 MW hydroelectric plant at Xayaburi that would supply Thailand with electricity and open the door to a host of other proposed dams on the Mekong. But until now its plans have been fiercely opposed by Cambodia and Vietnam, which fear the blockage would sharply reduce the water needed for downstream fisheries and irrigation.
UN urges Asian media to help promote climate-friendly, inclusive growth
Posted on: 8 December 2011 - 12:53pmThe United Nations Wednesday called on Asian media leaders to engage proactively on climate change issues to persuade governments, business and the public to accept choices needed to transform current unsustainable growth patterns.
The appeal was made by the senior-most United Nations Asia-Pacific official in her keynote address to a forum of Asian media industry leaders and multilateral institutions held here concurrently with the United Nations Climate Change Conference under way in Durban, South Africa.
Beijingers battle pollution
Posted on: 8 December 2011 - 1:46pmBeijing’s winter winds have never been much cause for celebration, typically prompting locals to grumble and groan about the capital’s harsh, frigid weather.
This week, it seems there are worse things than cold weather. A cold front and strong winds that pushed in on Wednesday drove out some of the worst air pollution of the year, and Beijingers found relief in the gusts.
UNEP: Women most at risk from climate disasters, says UN report
Posted on: 8 December 2011 - 2:08pmWomen, particularly those living in mountain regions in developing countries, are facing disproportionately high risks to their livelihoods and health from climate change, as well as associated risks such as human trafficking, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Farmers: COP17 must take agriculture sector seriously
Posted on: 1 December 2011 - 3:13pm
The Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Wednesday said the agriculture sector must be considered seriously at this year's COP17.
Changing Climate Compounds Environmental Degradation
Posted on: 29 November 2011 - 2:17pmAs Daniel Chakunkha and Mussa Abu talk on the side of a dirt path in Makunje village, Malawi, a steady stream of bicycles loaded with charcoal passes by. The men stand at the halfway mark between Mwanza, a small city in the country’s southwest, and Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial hub.
Poverty drives deforestation in northern Bekaa Valley
Posted on: 29 November 2011 - 1:35pmWith the beginning of winter, residents of villages and towns in northern Bekaa, many of whom are unable to afford fuel, are turning to wood from the area’s forests. While burning firewood is the only option for many to stay warm, the practice is driving deforestation and striking a blow to local conservation efforts.
Sudan – battling the twin forces of civil war and climate change
Posted on: 22 November 2011 - 2:44pmOn 28 November, 195 parties and 17,000 delegates will descend on Durban for the latest round of global climate talks.
Africa is the continent most vulnerable to climate change, because of its vastness, its poverty and its diversity. Its people also stand to lose the most because they have the least resources to adapt.
Before the talks, John Vidal embarked on a journey between Africa's two most industrialised countries – South Africa and Egypt.
Davao dev’t body says mining crucial to anti-poverty drive
Posted on: 22 November 2011 - 2:44pmMining investments, now under threat from restrictions imposed by a growing number of local governments, are needed to help Davao Region reduce its poverty rate to about 22% by 2016 from an estimated 26% currently, a member of the regional development council (RDC) said here late last week.
“That 22% is a conservative estimate -- we can even reach less than 10% poverty incidence,” a statement quoted Vicente T. Lao, co-chairman of Davao’s RDC and chairman of the Mindanao Business Council, as claiming during the council’s meeting last Nov. 17.
Arab nations face challenging hurdles to go green
Posted on: 22 November 2011 - 3:11pmFor decades, oil was the engine of development in the Arab world. But the oil era is drawing to a close and Arab societies are poorly prepared for this change, according to the Arab Forum for Environment and Development.
Environmental decay threatens progress in poorest countries, says UN report
Posted on: 17 November 2011 - 1:54pmAs the gap between rich and poor grows, along with reports of environmental disaster, many of the world’s people worry that their children’s lives will be worse than their own.
A report released Wednesday by the UN’s Development Program warns that unless there’s a serious global change of direction, living standards will plunge in the poorest countries by 2050, reversing decades of gradual gains.
