Full Coverage: Environment

31.12.2007 The Nepal government will spend US$ 1.1 million to set up a national science laboratory to carry out advanced research on biotechnology, biofuels and renewable energy. The laboratory, due to open in the beginning of 2010, will be managed by the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST).

31.12.2007 Hundreds of villagers stopped a recent public hearing on a proposed methane mining project in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, backed by a report by the Centre for Science and Environment that says the venture will adversely impact hydrology, agriculture and biodiversity. Australia-based Arrow Energy, the Swedish Energy Infrastructure Group, and GAIL India plan to mine methane in the Raigarh and Korba districts of the state.

28.12.2007 UNDPÂ’s latest Human Development Report 2007-08 titled: Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world, talks of how people across the globe have already started facing the adverse effects of climate change. It makes a passionate call to act now before this ecological catastrophe becomes unavoidable.

27.12.2007 A new book, Communicating Disasters: An Asia Pacific Resource Book released during Third Global Knowledge Conference held in Kuala Lumpur in mid December takes a critical look at the communication lessons of the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, and explores the role of good communications before, during and after disasters.

26.12.2007 The Phulbari coalmine in Bangladesh is set to cause major social and environmental upheavals in the region, displacing between 50,000 to 200,000 residents. World heritage site, Sunderbans mangrove forests, would also face extensive damage.

20.12.2007 Located in a small hamlet in Boormajra in northern Indian state of PunjabÂ’s Ropar district, a government school was adjudged as the countryÂ’s greenest school second time in a row. A Delhi-based organisation, Centre for Science and Environment under its Green School Programme, in a ceremony held here distributed the awards to 20 schools for their best environmental practices.

20.12.2007

20.12.2007 Increasing levels of greenhouse gases are threatening the disappearance of plants and animals in mountains globally, warns FAO, while also raising chances of flooding, species migration and loss of crops and life.

17.12.2007 OneClimate, a website by the OneWorld network, has helped people travel light to the UN climate conference at Bali through the online virtual world of Second Life.

14.12.2007 Yet again the US has chosen to go against the UN framework on climate change and instead has put forward a proposal without any binding international commitment. Greenpeace International says itÂ’s a made-in-the-USA plan for a climate catastrophe.

13.12.2007 Biogas systems in Nepal have been in use for last half a century and today thousands of households are using them. Every biogas system avoids nearly 7.5 tonnes of carbon emissions per year, which may be small when compared globally, but this is an example of how poor countries can help combat global warming.

12.12.2007 Magsaysay awardee Rajender Singh spoke to OneWorld South Asia, on December 9, in an interview after the culmination of nine-day long march to save the groundwater resources. His satyagrah on the banks of the Yamuna in New Delhi has been going on for the past more than 100 days. Following are the excerpts:

12.12.2007 A senior US Congressman will “travel” virtually to participate in the climate conference currently going on in Indonesia. This has been made possible by OneClimate along with Cisco to save the carbon cost of flying.

11.12.2007 A fair trade group has compiled a list of holiday gifts produced, without the use of health or environmentally hazardous chemicals, by workers receiving fair pay for their labor.

11.12.2007 The United Nations 'framework convention' on climate change currently going on at Bali, Indonesia is halfway through and yet no breakthrough is in sight, says Anil Netto. The official view, however, is one of optimism that progress has been made in laying the ''building blocks'' for a future agreement.

07.12.2007 Centre for Science and Environment, an India-based organisation, rubbishes the clean development mechanism, saying that developed nations are more interested in capturing markets in developing economies than addressing the issue of clean development. No high-end technologies have been transferred from the rich to poor countries, claims its director Sunita Narain.

07.12.2007 A two-day national seminar on ‘Adapting to Climate Change’ in Pune, a city in Indian state of Maharashtra was held to take a dedicated view of global warming and its impact on water resources in the wake of projections about intense changes in the hydrological cycle. It has called for a review of five-year old national water policy to counter climate change.

06.12.2007 Earthquake of 2004 and the tsunami that followed had destroyed the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, a part of India in the Bay of Bengal. Tourists stopped flocking the picturesque islands out of fear. The worried government began promoting tourism by sending its employees for excursions granting them leave travel concession but this policy is now proving to be disastrous.

03.12.2007 Faced with the shortage of fodder, the villagers of north Indian state Himachal Pradesh went against the government's planting of pines in favour of broadleaved species of trees, which could also be used as food for cattle.

01.12.2007