Dhaka – The three-member high-profile Unesco delegation that visited the Sundarbans to assess the possible impacts of the proposed coal-based Rampal power plant and vessel plying through the mangrove forest left Jessore for Dhaka on Saturday. The ‘Unesco Reactive Monitoring…
A first group of 150 migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh late on Monday were transferred – handcuffed and under police escort – from the island’s registration centre to a passenger ferry that would take them to the mainland by early…
A Japanese whaling fleet returned home Thursday from its annual Antarctic hunt, the government said, a trip that angered environmentalists and nations opposed to the slaughter. The ships had set sail for the Southern Ocean in December, with plans to…
Plants respond a bit better to global warming than scientists had thought, according to a new study that suggests their potential contribution to worsening global warming is not likely as bad as researcher believed. When it gets hotter, plants breathe…
Asia has the largest number of people exposed to natural disasters, but African countries are the most vulnerable to them, largely because of political instability, corruption, poverty and inequality, a new global assessment shows.India has a billion people at risk,…
Dhaka – Amid concern over frequent incidents of vessel capsize in the Shela River in the Sundarbans, the government on Wednesday imposed a permanent ban on the plying of all types of vessels through the river. The recent sinking of…
STAFF REPORTER The High Court yesterday summoned 10 tannery owners to appear in person before it on April 10 to explain their position for not implementing its earlier order in shifting the tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar.
Staff Reporter ‘Green Dhaka’, a project initiated by Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) to make Dhaka a green city within three years, started its campus campaigning with a view to encouraging students in tree plantation.
January and February 2016 smashed temperature records, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday as it warned climate change was advancing at an “unprecedented” rate.Temperatures in the first two months of 2016 soared to new highs, following a year…
Australian authorities said Sunday coral bleaching occurring in the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef had become “severe”, the highest alert level, as sea temperatures warm. Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt said while the bleaching at this stage was not as…
In yet another major initiative strengthening people-to-people cooperation between South Asian nations, people’s movements in India joined hands with their Bangladesh counterparts to save the Sunderbans. This was declared in Delhi by a delegation of 11 senior activists who took…
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…
The IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) have today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the aim to accelerate sustainable, carbon neutral development.
Dhaka – The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has suspended the plying of vessels through the Shela River following the capsize of a coal-laden cargo vessel in the river at Harintana of the Sundarbans under Mongla upazila. BIWTA Chairman…
The world’s largest mangrove forest Sundarbans must be saved from destruction. But our government is turning a deaf ear to this public demand.Their short-sighted ‘development’ plans has overshadowed the importance of protecting the environment. They are eager to give local…
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…
Dhaka – National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads & Railways (NCPSRR) on Sunday urged the concerned authority to take necessary steps to stop plying of vessels through the Shela River in Sundarbans to keep it and its bio-diversity unhurt.
The world heritage site Sundarbans is still reeling from the effects of the oil spill, though the pollution level has fallen. The 2014 oil spill severely damaged the life and soil of the Sundarbans. The number of trees, fish, snakes,…
Dhaka – A coal-laden cargo vessel sank in the Shela River in Harintana area of the Sundarbans in Mongla upazila on Saturday evening. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Sundarbans East Zone M Saidul Islam said Khulna-bound cargo vessel ‘Sea Horse’,…
Rafiqul Islam, UNB Staff Writer Dhaka – The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has targeted to produce additional 2,000 metric tonnes of citrus fruit production, including orange, blood orange (that we call malta), grapefruit and lemon, by 2021. “About 800…
Prince El Hassan bin Talal and Sundeep Waslekar Amman – This year’s World Water Day, on March 22, provides an opportunity to highlight what in many countries has become a grim reality: The availability of fresh water is increasingly a…
Northern Europe is one of the few regions to have achieved the coveted ideal of near zero-waste. Ahead of the 2016 Macao International Environmental Co-Operation Forum & Exhibition, Eco-Business speaks to Danish waste management expert Torben Kristiansen on how Asia…
The Palm Oil Innovation Group – a collective of companies and organisations which advocate for stronger industry standards on sustainable palm oil – has unveiled a new set of criteria to verify that the commodity is truly deforestation-free. The Palm…
Kathmandu: The Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) has unveiled on 14 March the Power Development Agreement (PDA) of one of the national pride projects of the country — Upper Karnali hydro power project– in the capital on Monday. The document…
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…
In Bangladesh, about 20 million people still lack access to safe drinking water. Since 1998, the World Bank has supported the government to enhance access to safe water. Built on the experience of two earlier projects, the Bangladesh Rural Water…
Scientists have uncovered an 80 million-year-old fossil bearing a healed attack wound, revealing the dangers of life in Earth’s prehistoric seas.In the early 1960s, palaeontologists exploring rural South Dakota unearthed the fossilised leg bone of a Hesperornis: a large aquatic…
Bagerhat – Bangladesh Forest Department has introduced community patrolling involving locals to protect forest resources and check wildlife poaching in the Sundarbans, the lone natural habitat of Bengal tigers. “The Forest Department has gone for its first-ever community patrolling in…
Brussels – The European Union outline deal with Turkey announced on March 8, 2016, contradicts EU principles guaranteeing the right to seek asylum and against collective expulsions. EU and Turkish leaders meeting in Brussels announced an agreement in principle to…
By Thalif Deen In recent days, some countries are building barriers to limit the flow of refugees to Europe. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS United Nations (IPS) – When the United Nations commemorated “Zero Discrimination Day” on March 1, there was an…