News Coverage
New research centre for environmental and water sustainability
Posted on: 15 September 2011 - 2:01pmA new S$120 million research centre at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will harness the powers of micro-organisms for environmental and water sustainability.
The Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), will look at innovative ways to process waste water efficiently and trapping greenhouse gases.
Green Jobs? New program to compensate poor for environmental protection
Posted on: 13 September 2011 - 10:45amBrazilian President Dilma Rousseff has introduced a new program, Bolsa Verde (Green Allowance), to compensate the poor for environmental protection, reports Globo News. Eighteen thousand families living in extreme poverty in the Brazilian Amazon are expected to benefit in the first stage of the program.
Himalayas in danger of becoming a giant rubbish dump
Posted on: 13 September 2011 - 10:45amThere's nothing like waking up to bright clear skies with spectacular views of the Lhotse and Amu Dablam ranges – and a rubbish dump. This heap of beer cans, mineral water bottles and other material was just a few minutes' walk outside the village of Tengboche.
It represents about a season's rubbish. The dump is not on the regular trekking trails which are, aside from the stray Fanta and instant noodle wrapper, admirably clean.
'Cancer villages' one offshoot of China's economic growth
Posted on: 13 September 2011 - 11:10amTo fight the cancer stalking their village, some late-stage patients in Xinglong, southwest China, eat bugs every day, in hope of a folk cure. Farmer Cui Xiaoliang hopes for another, more substantial remedy.
"I wish all the polluting factories would move away, but I worry, even if they move, it will be impossible to clean up all their waste in a short time," says Cui, 40, who blames nearby chemical firms for the deaths by cancer of his father and an aunt.
Can Eco-Tourism Help Underdeveloped Countries?
Posted on: 13 September 2011 - 11:10amTourism might not be the ultimate answer to poverty and economic woes, but it is a major boon for places around the world that suffer from a lack of natural resources or industry. For instance, tourism is a hugely important industry in the Caribbean. Without flocks of resort-goers, nations in this part of the world would have to rely more heavily on agriculture, leaving their economies at the mercy of the fluctuating prices of commodities like coffee, sugar and bananas.
Sulu town launches greening drive
Posted on: 8 September 2011 - 12:08pmThe Aquino administration’s National Greening Program in the countryside was formally launched here with over 2,000 people joining hands in planting about 5,000 seedlings of high-value forest and fruit trees along the roads of this municipality.
Papua New Guinea Drought Leaves Thousands Food Insecure
Posted on: 6 September 2011 - 11:10amAid workers say more than 6,000 people on a remote cluster of islands off the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG) have been left food insecure following an extended dry spell.
“The situation is now under control, but these people will need food in three months,” Ruger Kahwa, head of the Humanitarian Support Unit of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN from Port Moresby.
Cleansing the Ganga
Posted on: 6 September 2011 - 11:10amThe Ganga finds its name in the list of the five most polluted rivers of the world. The most disastrous effects of this are felt by freshwater species including the Gangetic dolphin. Now, there is hope that the river will be revived, thanks to the efforts of a UK charity that will clean the river and teach villagers along its coast to save freshwater wildlife and keep sewage away from the water.
Sri Lanka to promote bamboo products
Posted on: 6 September 2011 - 11:17amThe Ministry of Industry and Commerce has partnered with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to promote bamboo products such as bags, ornaments and various other handicraft, as a viable industry for the local economic growth.
With a total value of $15.9 million, the project would aim at developing a bamboo supply chain and product industry in the country. Indian experts were helping the project, ministry said.
Rwanda — ensuring the land heals
Posted on: 8 September 2011 - 12:08pmAmid the immense human toll of the Rwandan genocide, a silent victim of the 1994 conflict is frequently overlooked: the environment.
Months of fighting, which took the form of a scorched-earth policy, devastated the economic prospects of survivors, many of them subsistence farmers who lived off the land. But after a slow start, the Rwandan government has in recent years begun seeking to repair the damage with a number of environmental initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable development.
Climate change among topics at Montreal global conference
Posted on: 6 September 2011 - 11:04amThis weekend, more than 800 activists from civil society groups around the globe will gather in Montreal to discuss how to get ordinary people involved in tackling some of the thorniest issues facing humanity today, particularly climate change.
A key theme of the CIVICUS World Assembly from Sept. 10 to 12 at the Palais des Congres will be global warming, and one of the world’s most prominent activists on the issue says the timing and location of the event are critical.
Uganda: Flooding in the East - Why the Area Is Prone
Posted on: 8 September 2011 - 12:08pmHad Harriet Mutonyi known, she would have relocated earlier. Or stayed awake that night so as to at least save her herd of goats. But like people who are not expecting thieves, she and her eight children longingly retired to bed in their thickly thatched mud and wattle hut. Deep in slumber, after a day spent toiling in a nearby paddy, they did not even hear the thunder that occasionally accompanies rain. The thatch just absorbed the sound that rain usually makes on hitting iron roofs, which alerts those inside of its ferocity.
Millions of coconut trees old and dying
Posted on: 8 September 2011 - 12:26pmThe trees of life are on the brink of death. Millions of coconut trees in the country are aging and dying, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) said.
The country needs to replant a huge chunk of its coconut plantations as 44.8 million coconut trees are classified as old and senile, according to the PCA. Many are dying due to the stresses of weather and diseases, and should be cut to lumber, it said.
Climate Change Poses Major Threat to Cambodia’s Rural Poor
Posted on: 1 September 2011 - 2:08pmThe Cambodian economy faces major problems for its predominantly rural population in the event of more erratic climate shifts, according to the United Nations Development Programme’s 2011 Cambodian Human Development Report.
Sugar execs told: Act now vs effects of climate change
Posted on: 1 September 2011 - 2:09pm"Unless we take action now, all our efforts on social development and reducing poverty, even our very own survival, will be all for nothing.” Thus Presidential Assistant on Climate Change Elisea G. Guzon said Wednesday to the over 1,000 delegates during the official opening of the 58th Philsutech (Philippine Sugar Technologists, Inc.) Annual National Convention at Waterfront Hotel, Lahug, Cebu City where she was the guest speaker.
'Climate change affects developing world most'
Posted on: 1 September 2011 - 2:09pmWhile developed countries bear much historic responsibility for current levels of greenhouse gases, developing economies are at greater risk from the effects of these gases. This is according to Yannick Glemarec, director of environmental finance at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
CARE introduces Innovative learning and adaptive ways to fight climate change
Posted on: 1 September 2011 - 2:14pmMr Philip Christensen, Country Director, CARE International, on Tuesday called for more support to improve gender budgeting. That, he explained, would help in the fight against poverty and vulnerability to the effects of climate change among women.
UNEP: Farming Can Double Production, Protect Ecosystems
Posted on: 25 August 2011 - 12:07pmA “radical overhaul” in agriculture could double production while protecting ecosystems, according to a report released today by the United Nations Environment Program and the International Water Management Institute.
The authors warn, however, that the world must act quickly to save the Earth’s breadbasket areas, where resource depletion is so severe that it threatens to decimate global supplies of fresh water and cripple agricultural systems worldwide.
IPS: No Option but to Adapt to a Changing Climate
Posted on: 16 August 2011 - 1:45pmExtreme weather conditions predicted because of climate change in Namibia are likely to have a tremendous effect on the 70 percent of the country’s people who live in rural areas and depend heavily on agriculture.
According to experts in climate change, Namibia has no option but to adapt to the changing climate as radical changes in weather, such as extreme dry spells and exceptionally heavy rainfall, are forecast for the southern African country.
Poor in a rich world
Posted on: 16 August 2011 - 2:03pmEnding extreme poverty has been embraced as a common task by the international community, but Xinhua photographers around the world find there is a long way to go.
'Green infrastructure needed to spur growth'
Posted on: 11 August 2011 - 1:19pmSustainable development and adoption of green business practices has become the cornerstone of any debate one environment. With India's economy recording a steady growth rate, it has become even more important for sustainability to feature prominently in the country's development plans. To address these concerns, The Economic Times organized the InfraGreen'11, an initiative by Times Grey Cell, with a focus on 'making green the national agenda'.
Land degradation threatens Kalahari
Posted on: 25 August 2011 - 12:07pmThe Molopo-Nosob area in southern Kalahari continues to experience land degradation, loss of biodiversity as well as primary productivity due to inappropriate land use practices, lack of knowledge and inappropriate policies. In order to mitigate the impacts of these land uses, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa established the Kalahari-Namib project.
Natural disasters: Up to 5m people at risk again this year
Posted on: 3 August 2011 - 11:58amOne year after Pakistan suffered its worst flooding in modern history, international aid agency World Vision is calling for relief efforts to be ramped up for at least another year as families struggle to return to their pre-flood standard of living.
Shell oil spills in the Niger delta: 'Nowhere and no one has escaped'
Posted on: 25 August 2011 - 12:07pmThe air stinks, the water stinks, and even the fish and crabs caught in Bodo creek smell of pure "sweet bonny" light crude oil. The oil has found its way deep into the village wells, it lies thick in the mudflats and there are brown and yellow slicks all along the lengthy network of creeks, swamps, mangrove forests and rivers that surround Bodo in the Niger delta.
MDGs: So much done, so much more undone
Posted on: 3 August 2011 - 11:58amWith 2015, the target year for the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) four years away, Sulaimon Olanrewaju reviews the efforts of the Federal Government towards the actualisation of the goals.
Horn of Africa famine: How to help
Posted on: 3 August 2011 - 11:59amSomalia, already one of the world's poorest countries, is in midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe, as a third of its popultion - 3.7 million people - face starvation. Throughout the Horn of Africa, in countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, as many as 11 million people are currently at risk of severe malnutrition or starvation as the region faces the worst drought conditions in 60 years.
Droughts Do Not Happen Overnight
Posted on: 3 August 2011 - 11:59amAs the international community struggles to provide all possible assistance to more than 11 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya – adversely affected by the lack of food and long spell of drought – Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Luc Gnacadja, has drawn attention to an often ignored fact that droughts do not happen overnight.
Famine relief must "scale up" efforts: UNICEF
Posted on: 3 August 2011 - 12:06pmEven for a continent sadly accustomed to famine and misfortune, the situation in eastern Africa is dire. Close to 11 million children and families are suffering from the effects of the worst drought in 60 years. Thousands are fleeing Somalia on foot, leaving behind a nation plagued by malnutrition, disease and poverty.
UN chief says sustainable development top priority
Posted on: 11 August 2011 - 1:19pmGlobal development that reduces poverty but preserves the environment for future generations will be the top priority during Ban Ki-moon's second five-year term as U.N. secretary-general, he said Tuesday. Ban, whose second term at the helm of the United Nations starts Jan. 1, laid out his overarching theme for his next administration during a speech to the World Trade Organization.
In Rush to Find Gold, Indonesians Defy Dangers
Posted on: 11 July 2011 - 10:42amSEKOTONG, Indonesia — On an otherwise verdant and untouched mountain, a patch of orange and blue tarpaulin stood out incongruously near the summit, the telltale sign of an illegal gold mine. The footpath leading there, freshly carved out of the thick bush and pockmarked with stones, suggested that the mine was new.
Women with 50-pound sacks of rocks on their heads clambered down the path, carrying the loads to a nearby village where they would be crushed by hand and by machine, mixed with water and mercury, in a search for specks of gold. At the mine itself, discovered about a week earlier, scores of men were crouching on a steep incline, each digging just below the surface and filling their sacks with stones.
