Beijing, June 24 (AP/UNB) – A county government in southwestern China says around 100 people from 40 homes are feared buried by a landslide that crashed into their homes.
Category: Natural
Excessive use of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury…black soils
By IPS World Desk Rome, June 23 (IPS) – Soils are polluted due mostly to human activities that leave excess chemicals in soils used to grow food, the United Nations reports.
Austrian claims property Barrister Moudud evicted from
Dhaka – An Austrian citizen has claimed the heir of the property from which BNP standing committee member Barrister Moudud Ahmed has recently been evicted.
Bangladesh braces for another heavy rain spell
Dhaka, Jun 19 – Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to occur at places of four divisions of the country due to active monsoon for 24 hours of Monday.
Climate change may trigger more landlsides: Experts
Md Rafiqul Islam, UNB staff writer Dhaka, Jun 16 – In the wake of recent devastating landslides in Chittagong region taking more than 150 lives, experts predict that the country’s hilly region will face more landslides in future due to…
More landslides in Ctg, Sylhet likely
Dhaka – Landslide is likely to hit the hilly regions of Sylhet and Chittagong divisions in the next 24 hours beginning from 5pm on Wednesday following heavy to very heavy rainfall. -UNB
‘Flash’ deep depression breaks up over Bangladesh
A prevailing low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal beat all forecasts to intensity with blinding speed into a deep depression overnight and crossed Bangladesh coast early this morning. This had escalated the strength of the system to only a…
193 nations urge action to protect oceans: US protests
United Nations, Jun 10 (AP/UNB)- The 193 U.N. member nations issued an urgent call for action Friday to reverse the decline in the health and productivity of the world’s oceans – with the United States backing the action plan but…
Changing the way the world views and manages water
The High Level Panel on Water and Connect4Climate announced Thursday that the winner of the Instagram Photo Competition – #All4TheGreen Photo4Climate Contest Special Blue Prize – for the best photo on water is Probal Rashid, from Bangladesh, with a photo…
CSIRO kicks off biggest marine pollution survey
The CSIRO has begun what it says is the world’s largest marine pollution survey, in collaboration with other countries, to find out the extent of pollution and examine steps to reduce the litter that enters the oceans. Among the countries…
‘Water resources require topmost crisis management’
Dhaka – The policymakers and water experts at a meeting on Wednesday acknowledged that water resources management is the topmost crisis management issue for the country.
Fight against illegal mining in River Ganga
Bhim Singh Rawat Finally on World Environment Day, Swami Shivanand has withdrawn his fast unto death agitation. It was thirteenth day of his indefinite hunger strike including six days of water fast (from May 25 – 30, 2017) against illegal…
Over 1 lac marooned following heavy rainfall in Moulvibazar
Dhaka – The flood situation of three upazilas in Moulvibazar have remained unchanged as floodwater has been entering through some eleven points of the Manu River and the Dhalai River, marooning more than one lakh people of some one hundred villages…
Saving the oceans is saving future
The oceans’ health is only getting worse and the cycle of decline must be reversed, said representatives at the opening of a high-level UN conference. Approximately 5,000 representatives from governments, civil society, and the private sector from around the world…
Industrial waste destroys Narsingdi rivers
Dhaka, June 6 – Industrial chemicals and wastes have destroyed most rivers including Shitalakhkha, Brahmaputra and Harikhola Rivers in the district of Narsingdi, 20 kilometres east of capital Dhaka, inflicting damage to the entire ecosystem of the locality.
BAU female students stage demonstration for water
Mymensingh – Female students of a residential hall of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) demonstrate for water in front of Vice-Chancellor residence on Friday at noon.
Why we need to save our oceans now—not later
By José Vicente Troya UN, Jun 1 (IPS) – What if the blue fades way as seawaters become brown andcoral reefs become white as marine grasslands wither and life below water vanishes? This is already happening at a staggering rate.…
The ‘water-employment-migration’ explosive nexus
By Baher Kamal Rome, May 30 (IPS) – Water–everybody talks about it, warns against its growing scarcity, excessive waste, the impact of climate change, the frequent severe droughts and so on. Now, a global action network with over 3,000 partner…
The Ocean Conference: An integrated vision must be delivered
By Jan Kellett UN, May 24 (IPS) – In March 2015 at the Sendai World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction, the then President of Kirbati, Anote Tong, made it very clear how vulnerable his country was to climate and disaster…
Valuing water beyond the money
By Paula Fray Johannesburg, May 29 (IPS) – Amid the worst drought in a century, South Africans are kick-starting a global consultative process to agree on the values of water in a bid to ensure more equitable use of the…
Depression in Bay, rain bring relief to people
The well-marked low over southeast bay and adjoining central bay concentrated into a depression over the same area, a Met Office weather bulletin said here today. It was centered at 9 am today about 790 kilometers south-southwest of Chittagong port,…
Fall in groundwater level triggers water crisis in Jessore
Jessore – An immense shortage of safe water hit the district town due to the continuous fall in underground water level with the advent of dry season, causing sufferings to people. UNB newds reported
8 years after Aila, an intractable crisis of freshwater
Satkhira – Eight years have passed since the deadly Cyclone Aila struck the south-west of Bangladesh on May 25, 2009. But many of the scars it left behind still remain, which means the ‘ghost of Aila’ still haunts the people…
400 Dhaka RMG workers fall sick due to hot spell
Dhaka, May 25 – At least 400 employees of several garment factories fell sick due to scorching heat at Konabari and Kashimpur in the Gazipur city on Thursday.
Growing ME urbanisation worsens water scarcity, food imports
By Baher Kamal Rome, May 24 (IPS) – Conflict and insecurity remain the key barriers to development progress in the Middle East and North Africa. In Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, about half the population—around 40 million people—require humanitarian assistance.…
Delhi wants Dhaka to tap sea resources together
India wants to work very closely with Bangladesh to exploit sea resources in the best possible way for enormous economic benefits of the two countries and create a ‘secure and sustainable’ Bay of Bengal and beyond. “Certainly, I think, that…
People’s unity, world meet on water sought on Farakka Day
Dhaka – Expariate Bangladeshis at a discussion meeting in New York on 16 May underscored the need for increasing mass awareness about problem of river water the people of Bangladesh are facing and urged the government to take steps in…
In Sylhet, court orders come a cropper against illegal stone mining
Sylhet – An influential syndicate continues to extract stone from some 14 acres of privately owned land at Kandubasti in Chailakhal, adjacent to the Piain River in Sylhet’s Gowainghat, in violation of court orders. UNB news agency reported
Defence of water right drives land reform call in Chile
By Orlando Milesi Santiago, May 18 (IPS) – Water at high prices, sold as a market good, and small farmers almost a species in extinction, replaced by seasonal workers, are the visible effects of the crisis in rural Chile, 50…
Cauvery suffers a slow death – urbanisation flourishes
(Editor’s (firstpost.com) note: This is the fourth piece in a multi-part series on the nature of human excesses that have imperiled the fragile ecosystem of the Western Ghats, home to at least 325 globally threatened species of flora and fauna,…