By Baher Kamal ROME, May 18 2017 (IPS) – The world’s forests are being degraded and lost at a staggering rate of 3.3 million hectares per year. While their steady destruction in many Asian countries continues apace, deforestation of the…
Category: Biodiversity
Changed climate befool Dhaka cadamba tree to flower early
Dhaka, May 18 – Changed climate conditions not only make life full of uncertainties at times, but also befool plants and trees. Mostly cloudy sky with intermittant rainall of the last fortnight has made this neolamarckia cadamba tree in Dhaka…
Revive Mongla-Ghasiakhali channel to spare Shela of Sunderbans
Terming the commercial operation of vessels in the Sundarban’s rivers ‘a grave threat’, the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways (NCRSRR) urged the government on Wednesday that it should keep the Mongla-Ghashiakhali river route operational round the year,…
Genetically engineered disappointments
By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Tan Zhai Gen Kuala Lumpur, May 16 (IPS) – Advocates of genetically engineered (GE) crops have long claimed that genetic engineering is necessary to raise crop yields and reduce human exposure to agrochemicals. Genetic engineering…
Fight against corruption to defend the Amazon
By Milagros Salazar Tarapoto, Peru, May 3 (IPS) – Corruption has penetrated the Amazon rainforest like an illness that infects everything, said Ruben Siqueira, coordinator of the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), during the VIII Panamazonic Social Forum (FOSPA), which brought…
Bangladesh-India to promote Sundarbans tourism together
AKM Moinuddin, UNB Staff Writer Dhaka, Apr 29 – Bangladesh wants to promote the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove and a Unesco world heritage site, working together with India and promote cross-border tourism keeping the environment unhurt. An official at…
Agroecology in China’s new ‘Ecological Civilization’
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition in 2014 and three regional symposia throughout 2015. Building on the recommendations of these symposia, a multistakeholder International Symposium…
Bamboo gaining traction in Caribbean as climate savior
By Desmond Brown Kingston, Jamaica, Apr 24 (IPS) – Keen to tap its natural resources as a way to boost its struggling economy, Guyana struck a multi-million-dollar deal with Norway in 2009. Under the deal, Norway agreed to pay up…
Environmentalists slam power plant near Sundarban
Mumbai. More than 70 environmental groups have warned the construction of power plants near the Sundarbans in Bangladesh, a mangrove forest that is home to the Bengal tiger, would damage the environment and affect the livelihoods of millions. The coal-fired…
What caused fish, bird deaths in Sunamganj haor waters
Dhaka, Apr 22 – Nearly 50 tonnes of fish have died so far in several haors (water bodies) of Sunmaganj district as the oxygen level in the water fell due to formation of ammonia gas, said the Ministry of Fisheries…
Ammonia gas behind haor water oxygen fall, fish death: Ministry
Sunmaganj – Nearly 50 tonnes of fish have died so far in several haors (water bodies) of the district as the oxygen level in the water fell due to formation of ammonia gas, said the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.…
Govt. hiding correst information of Rampal: Sultana Kamal
National Committee to Protect Sundarbans Convenor Sultana Kamal has alleged the government is hiding the correct information about the Rampal coal-fired power plant project from the public. Addressing a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Wednesday, she said the…
Sustainability train has already well and truly left the station
Climate change and risks to fossil fuel industry: sustainability train has left the station Dhaka – Commercial activity in fossil fuels is increasingly at odds with global actions to reduce the threat of climate change. Burning coal, oil, and natural…
Disease burden growing as vector insects adapt to climate change
There were surprised gasps when University of the West Indies (UWI) Professor John Agard told journalists at an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting in late November 2016 that mosquitoes were not only living longer, but were “breeding in…
Stopping deforestation: ‘Indigenous people are the best park rangers’
Trees soak up greenhouse gases, so how do we ensure their protection? Our experts offer seven ideas for the conservation and restoration of forests s1 | Stop subsidising agriculture that harms forests Countries need to stop using outdated fiscal policies…
Masjid-e-Nabawi Khatib for Muslim unity against militancy Dhaka
Masjid-e-Nabawi Khatib for Muslim unity against militancy Dhaka – The Imam and Khatib of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (Prophet’s Mosque) in Madinah in Saudi Arabia Abdulmehsin bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Qasim has called upon the Muslim Ummah to get united against…
Four more eco-parks along rivers planned
Dhaka – The government will construct four more eco-parks along river banks to protect them from encroachment and for the development of environment including recreation for the city dwellers, shipping minister Shajahan Khan has said yesterday.
Backing for UK councils to reduce grass-cutting to save bees
London, April 6 – Over 80 per cent (81%) of the public back calls for councils to help Britain’s under-threat bees by cutting areas of grass less often in parks and roadside verges to allow wild flowers to grow, a…
Artificial ’embryos’ created in lab
Scientists have created “artificial embryos” using stem cells from mice, in what they believe is a world first. The University of Cambridge team used two types of stem cells and a 3D scaffold to create a structure closely resembling a…
CPB, BSD hartal observed with partial response
Dhaka, Feb 28 – A half-day hartal, enforced by Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) protesting gas price hike war observed in the capital with partial response from people.
Cement-laden trawler capsizes in river near Sundarbans
Dhaka, Feb 24 – A cement-laden trawler capsized in the Panguchhi River in Morelganj upazila of Bagerhat district, near the eastern fringe of the Sundarbans early Friday.
Improved Cookstoves Boost Health and Forest Cover in the Himalayas
Mountain communities in the Himalayan region are almost entirely dependent on forests for firewood even though this practice has been identified as one of the most significant causes of forest decline and a major source of indoor air pollution. Improper…
Sykes’s Nightjar bird spotted in Bangladesh: IUCN
Dhaka, Feb 18 – A new species of — Sykes’s Nightjar — has been spotted for the first time in Bangladesh showing a change in its distribution range. Sykes’s Nightjar (Caprimulgus mahrattensis), is a semi-desert species of bird, is generally…
Valuating biodiversity and ecosystem impacts of agriculture
Danielle Nierenberg Conventional agricultural practices can adversely impact biodiversity and ecosystem health, according to a recent report published in Solutions. In fact, both corporations and eaters rarely pay for the true cost of food on the environment, public health, and…
18 ways to Promote sustainable finance – Italian dialogue
Delia Paul A national dialogue process on green finance in Italy has yielded a list of 18 possible policy actions for redesigning the country’s financial system to meet sustainability aims. The one-year dialogue engaged Italy’s banking and finance sector to…
An existential threat to South Africa¹s food system
In December 2016 Monsanto shareholders voted in favour of the sale of the company to Bayer for US$66 billion, making it the largest-ever foreign corporate takeover by a German company.
Jordan resorts to cloud seeding tech for water
Environment-friendly technology set to narrow the gap between water demand and availability Experiments in six-month pilot increase rainfall, and government decides to extend the project Questions remain on the consistency of results and impact on neighboring countries Amman – The…
Trump’s wall puts wildlife at risk
More than 50 animal species that share the US-Mexico border ecosystem are in danger. Since 2011, researchers have warned that the number would increase if barriers grow. One study found that barriers affect the movement of animals, not undocumented people…
India mourns one of its oldest elephants, Indira
One of the world’s oldest elephants, Indira, has died in her eighties in southern India, forest officials say. She had been unwell and stopped eating earlier this month.
Bangladesh PM blasts anti-Rampal plant campaigners again
Dhaka, Jan 28 – Lambasting again those who are opposing Rampal power plant project Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said there is no possibility of environmental damage for implementation of the project.