Two years ago, Anand Shah, founder of Indian firm Sarvajal, wrote in our op-ed pages about how the company had developed solar-powered ‘water ATMs’ to get clean and affordable water to people in remote parts of India. Shah ended by…
Category: Natural
IFC NY finalises plan for human chain before UN on Feb 25
The International Farakka Committee (IFC), New York at an opinion exchange meeting at Jackson Heights on Sunday finalised the preparations to make its 25-February programme of Human Chain and demonstration in front of the United Nations to protest the diversion…
Brazilians urged to cut water use
Brazil’s Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira has said the country’s most populous region is experiencing its worst drought since 1930. The states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais must save water, she said after an emergency meeting in…
Teesta falls to a quarter of its normal flow: Dhaka tells Delhi
As the flow of the Teesta River has hit extremely low – less than one fourth of the flow recorded between 1973 and 1985) levels seriously affecting its environment Bangladesh has written to India to ensure adequate flow of the…
Lack of river protection blamed on IWTA corruption
Rights and environmental activists at a discussion in Dhaka on Sunday described the pervasive corruption and irregularities at the state-owned Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) as the main obstacle to the protection of rivers and development of the shipping…
Wastes pollute rivers, water bodies in Rajshahi
Existing surface water resources especially the Baranai River flowing through the northern part of the city is being heavily polluted and contaminated with disposal of wastes and toxic chemicals, scientists and researchers here said.
Dhaka should raise ‘river, issue of life and death’, at UN
Speakers at a roundtable in Dhaka on Saturday called for concerted efforts to unite the people against threats to the country’s physical and environmental security posed by diversion of rivers that have treated and sustained Bangladesh for ages. This land…
Kanhar Project: Another unwanted dam in UP, India
Debadityo Sinha Kanhar Dam is one of those projects which is an example of how so called developments worsen the situation for the people and environment. The project conceived 37 years ago has been in abeyance since last 25 years.…
16 new Ganges barrages plan: IFC, NY plans UN demo in Feb
The International Farakka Committee New York Inc would organise a demonstration before the United Nations in February to protest the diversion of water of all common rivers at upstream of Bangladesh and the move to construct 16 new barrages on…
Human chain protest move for 16 new barrages on Ganges
The International Farakka Committee (IFC) today orgaised a human chain to protest the move to construct another 16 barrages at the upper reaches of the Ganges and unilateral withdrawal of water of the Teesta and all other common rivers, in…
Catastrophic oil spill endangers rare species – dolphins, tigers
Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com An oil spill from a crashed tanker is causing what officials are calling an ecological “catastrophe” in the Sundarbans mangrove region of Bangladesh, putting two rare species of dolphin and several other forms of wildlife at…
Environmental disaster set in motion in the Sunderbans
The furnace oil that spilled in the Sundarbans’s Chandpai range from an oil tanker is gradually being absorbed in the ground leading to a reduction in the volume of the oil in the water, locals have said. The oil spread…
Secondhand smoke too dreadfully dangerous
Mir Lutful Kabir Saadi Secondhand smoke is simply other people’s tobacco smoke. Wherever people smoke, there is secondhand smoke in the air. There is no doubt breathing second-hand tobacco smoke (SHS) is dreadfully dangerous to health. It causes cancer, as…
No permanent shutting Shela River route: Shipping Minister
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan has shot down an environment ministry recommendation to permanently shut down Sundarbans Shela River route. “We are not thinking about closing the route yet,” he said after an inter ministerial meeting Sunday. Ministry of Environment and…
BWP discuss project selection with focal points for climate funding
How ecosystem services can be integrated to enhance resilience of the coastal islands against climate change through planned actions to stop erosion and accelerate land accretion was the topic of a draft project proposal submitted at a consultation organised by…
Locals collect spilled oil with tubs, experts for using soaking fibre
Five days after oil tanker ‘OT Southern Star 7’ capsized in the Shela River, the authorities on Saturday started removing the spilled oil from 30 cannels of the Sundarbans engaging 200 workers. Amir Hossain, divisional forest officer (DFO) of Sundarbans…
Missing likns to the oil tanker capsize baffle experts
Khulna – Some missing links in the movement of the oil tanket – ‘OT Southern Star 7’- from mongla depot to the Shela River have surprised concerned quarters in Khulna, highly placed sources have said. It is gathered that the…
The missing oceans
Ronny Jumeau, Seychelles Ambassador for Climate Change and SIDS Issues For islanders, the ocean is never an afterthought. The ocean is at the core of every part of our lives; we are shaped by it and in turn the way…
Water needs to be put on the global climate finance agenda
Maika Müller, Global Water Partnership (GWP) Water is the common medium through which a changing climate impacts us, but it is also the bloodstream of our universal wellbeing. The impacts of climate change through water are revealed in extreme weather…
Protecting our liquid assets
Peter McCornick, International Water Management Institute Negotiators at COP20 need to take a serious look at water. The more extreme temperatures we will now face are likely to alter the amounts and distribution of rainfall, river flows, groundwater availability, and…
‘Weather bomb’ storm brings disruption to northern UK
Thousands of Scottish homes are without power as a “weather bomb” storm hits western coastal areas.
Stern warning: Legally-binding climate deal ‘not necessary’
A legally-binding international treaty may not be the best way to tackle climate change.
Bangladesh Water Partnership 12th AGM held
The 12th annual general meeting (AGM) of the Bangladesh Water Partnership held at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) auditorium on Saturday decided to highlight in detail in its secretary general’s report the activities of the local area water partnerships,…
Upstream superpowers: Chinese, Indian policies more alike
by Sanjib Baruah Chinese and Indian policies on river systems are more alike than different. On November 23, the first power-generating unit of the Zangmu hydropower complex on the Yarlung Tsangpo or the Brahmaputra in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region became…
UK’s warmest year on record predicted
This year could be the UK’s warmest for almost 250 years as measured by the world’s oldest temperature record, say researchers.
13 cyclone shelters being constructed in Koyra: 30,000 can take refuge
Construction works of thirteen school-cum-cyclone shelters in coastal Koyra upazila of the district are progressing fast with a February-deadline.
Risk from extreme weather set to rise
Climate change and population growth will hugely increase the risk to people from extreme weather, a report says.
Optimum aquifer recharge, viable abstraction in Barind area urged
Optimum aquifer recharge in the Hard Barind area is very important to protect its overall public health alongside the existing agricultural ecosystem by managing a groundwater basin efficiently and effectively, scientists and researchers at a workshop here said Saturday. They…
Not proceeding with river linking if eco consequences adverse: Uma Bharti
“Government will not proceed with interlinking of rivers if environmental consequences are adverse”, says Uma Bharti, Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation at the India Rivers Week 2014 Sushri Uma Bharti, Union Minister of Water Resources,…
Assess state of South Asia’s rivers: B’desh paper for People’s Saarc
Mostafa Kamal Majumder A country-paper being presented from Bangladesh at the seminar on “Strengthening People’s Perspective on South Asia Water Commons” proposes the assessment of the current state of rivers and river basins in the South Asian region. Assessment of…