Why does pollen make some people sneeze? Will eating honey help with your allergies? And what’s the heat got to do with it? Pollen-covered honeybees (Apis mellifera) hang out in a pumpkin in Germany. But the pollen that bees carry…
Category: Climate
Climate change could cost global economy US$24 trillion
Jessica Cheam A new report by the London School of Economics and Political Science is the first comprehensive study to use an economic model to put a number on the “climate value at risk”. A new report published on Monday…
Violence against women rises 74%
Violence against women rose by 74 per cent in 2015 compared to the year before, says a report of BRAC.The report was prepared on the basis of field reports done by BRAC staff working in 55 districts across the country.The…
Two year on, Saad murderers in BAU are still at large
The murderers of Saad Ibn Momtaz of the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) in Mymensingh who was killed two years ago on this day, are yet to be punished. The university authority has also not disclosed the complementary probe report of…
Otters return to revitalised Kerala river
S. Gopikrishna Warrier A sustained local community effort to restore the health of the Thoothapuzha in Kerala has seen otters return to the river after many years Even as the blistering heat sucks lakes and rivers dry in the southern…
Bangladesh char people being motivated to adapt with climate change
Dhaka – People in char areas in five unions of Jamal[ur district are being motivated to adapt with climate change. Due to climate change vulnerability in the char areas have already increased to a great extent and the char people…
Australia invests $760 million in tech to fight climate change
AFP, Sydney – Australia will invest Aus$1 billion in clean energy technologies, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Wednesday, in a stark shift away from his predecessor’s climate change policies as an election looms. Turnbull, long known as a supporter of…
RU students stage demo protesting Tonu killing
RU Correspondent: The students of Rajshahi University (RU) staged a demonstration protesting killing of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a 3rd year student of history department and cultural activist of Comilla Victoria College, murdered by unidentified miscreants and demanding exemplary punishment of…
We’re changing climate at an unprecedented’ rate
By Elaisha Stokes Hardly a week goes by anymore without some scientific agency reporting that Earth has surpassed some sort of alarming threshold: biggest monthly temperature anomaly, lowest amount of sea ice in the Arctic, highest wind speeds of any…
Keys to success of Paris Agreement: World Bank climate policy officer
The historic climate agreement reached by more than 190 nations in December 2015 will require more than just the individual efforts of participating countries to meet their commitments to mitigate climate change. Too often overlooked is the crucial role the…
Drastic fall in Ganges flow this season, says minister
Dhaka – Water resources minister Anisul Islam Mahmud on Sunday said Bangladesh experienced a drastic fall in the Padma River’s water flow during this dry season. ‘Generally, we get at least 65,000 Cusec (cubic feet per second) of water in…
Green Climate Fund adopts information disclosure policy
New Delhi (Indrajit Bose) — The Green Climate Fund’s Board adopted a comprehensive Information Disclosure Policy at the 12th Board meeting in Songdo, South Korea, held from 8-10 March. This included the decision to webcast live the Board’s meetings until…
Green buildings top in next episode of Construction Climate Talks series
In the second episode of the Construction Climate Talks series released today, European Commission Policy Adviser Josefina Lindblom, elaborates about the question ‘what is a green building?’ See the episode on link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy9Di33ThP0
Intense discussion over GCF project preparation facility
Kuala Lumpur (Hilary Chiew) – The Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved its first grant of US$1.5million under its Project Preparation Facility (PPF) at its 12th meeting held in Songdo, South Korea from 8-10 March. The funding is…
Has air pollution made Kathmandu unliveable?
With smog five times worse than the levels which prompted Paris to ban cars, the capital of the supposedly pristine mountain nation of Nepal is choking. Hospital doctor Andrew Lodge reports jay’s 63-year-old frame strains with each breath. He is…
Climate change to force deadly diet shift
Tania Rabesandratana Climate change will severely impact global food production, causing an estimated 529,000 deaths by 2050 from resulting diet shifts compared with a future without higher carbon emissions, a study says. Changes in temperature and precipitation “are expected to…
USAID, NASA to expand flood early warnings in Bangladesh
News Desk In May, the first rains of the monsoon season are just starting to fall. In some countries, the rains signal relief. In Bangladesh, they mean preparing for potential disaster.
Kim Jong Un criticizes S.Korea’s ‘hysterical’ president
Experts worry that harsh invective by leaders could escalate, lead to local provocations Ha-young Choi Kim Jong Un directly criticized South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s “hysteria” and “rash behavior” on Friday, saying it would result in her destruction.
Warmer Water Leads To Respiratory Distress In Aquatic Animals
Until now, the link between rising water temperatures and higher mortality rates in aquatic animals was a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation.
Hail, thunderstorm across Bangladesh kills 10
Dhaka –A nor’wester accompanied by hailstorm and heavy rainfall swept many parts of the country on Wednesday noon, leaving two sisters dead in Narsingdi and around 30 injured in Barisal and Munshiganj. A trawler capsized in Dhaleshwari River in Naraynganj,…
Supreme Court calls halt to Obama climate initiative
President Barack Obama’s plans to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide from US power plants have been stalled by the US Supreme Court. The court ruled that the president’s Clean Power Plan could not go forward until all legal challenges were…
Warmest temperature in Europe
Most of Europe has experienced strong summer warming over the course of the past several decades, accompanied by severe heat waves in 2003, 2010 and 2015. New research now puts the current warmth in a 2100-year historical context using tree-ring…
26 States fight Obama’s carbon emissions plan to curb global warming
The plan would establish the first-ever national standards to limit carbon pollution from power plants. A group of U.S. states led by coal producer West Virginia and oil producer Texas on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put a…
US East Coast states paralysed by record snowstorm
All non-essential travel has been banned in New York, transport suspended and bridges shut as the city is hit by one of its worst snowstorms. Parts of the eastern United States have received 40in (102cm) of snowfall in a huge…
‘Climate compatible dev requires participation of all’
Dhaka – Simon Maxwell, a leading thinker on international development on Saturday stressed the need for visionary leadership, appropriate policies and their implementation by enlisting the participation of all to make development climate compatible. Delivering the anniversary lecture 2015 of…
The right incentives for a low-crrbon future
Thomas Fricke Berlin – The climate agreement that world leaders reached in Paris last month has been widely celebrated for establishing the ambitious target of limiting the increase in global temperature to well below 2º Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But…
Trapped Heat Melting Greenland Ice Sheet
The Greenland Ice Sheet is the second largest ice sheet in the world and it’s melting rapidly, likely driving almost a third of global sea level rise.A new study shows clouds are playing a larger role in that process than…
Delhi plan leapfrog to Euro VI emissions standards in 2020 welcomed
New Delhi – The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has welcomed the landmark decision of the Union government to skip Euro V emissions standards and leapfrog to Euro VI standards in 2020. With this, India will take the first…
Huge fight in Paris to ensure ‘contributions’ are not mitigation-centric
Penang (T Ajit) — A proposal by the Like-Minded Developing countries (LMDC), aimed at ensuring that nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement are comprehensive and not mitigation-centric, was a hard fought battle that eventually succeeded in being reflected…
Climate change increasing vector-borne diseases
Dhaka – Bangladesh’s parisite experts have said that the frequency of vector-borne parasitic diseases is increasing in human and animals as weather has effects on vector population dynamics and disease transmission. They also said that high temperature and humidity favours…