A high-profile Unesco delegation will visit the Sundarbans soon to assess the possible impacts of the proposed coal-based Rampal power plant on the world’s largest mangrove forest.
Category: Environment
NATO to fight against human smuggling
Nato ships are being deployed to the Aegean sea to deter people-smugglers taking migrants from Turkey to Greece, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg says.The announcement followed a request from Turkey, Germany and Greece at a defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels.Mr Stoltenberg…
The environmental costs of Valentine’s Day flowers?
Kathleen Buckingham With Valentine’s Day around the corner, World Resources Institute research associate Kathleen Buckingham examines the environmental impact of flowers. Valentine’s Day has come around again. Far from a modern invention, pre-Christian Romans celebrated the Saint beheaded by Claudius…
New British envoy assures easing visa for Bangladeshis
New British High Commissioner Alison Blake has assured the foreign minister of her “cooperation” to make visa processing easier for Bangladeshis.She called on Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Tuesday.The foreign ministry said the minister highlighted the role of Bangladesh…
Forest Deptt plans eco-restoration scheme in Northern Bangladesh
Dhaka – The Department of Social Forestry has planned a project with the prime objective of establishing plantation for biodiversity enhancement coupled with improving socio-economic condition in the country’s northwest zone. The scheme also intends to check desertification process through…
Spanish water rights fight raises fears for Ebro delta
Environmentalists say one of Europe’s most important wetland areas is under threat as Spain and Catalonia argue about the future of the Ebro river.Campaigners say Spanish government plans to restrict water flow could destroy the fragile landscape.They are worried that…
New concept of food to reduce global warming
With the latest breakthroughs in artificial intelligence a whole new concept of food may soon radically change what we eat. And at the same time, some experts believe it could reduce global warming.
Long march towards Rampal, Orion power plants announced
Staff Reporter The National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports will stage another long march to the Sundarbans in the next month, demanding scrapping of the construction of the coal-fired Rampal power plant and Orion…
Norway/Russia: Don’t Jeopardize Asylum Seekers
Norway should stop using fast-track procedures to return asylum seekers to Russia based on the presumption that it is a safe country of asylum for them, Human Rights Watch said today. Russian and Norwegian authorities plan to meet on February…
Zaha Hadid distances self on Qatar labour issue
by Neha Bhatia Meanwhile, Architect Zaha Hadid has reportedly distanced herself from the Qatari government’s 2022 FIFA World Cup preparations, saying the country should work on improving the rights of the migrant workers it employs. Hadid has designed Al Wakrah…
FIFA under pressure to reform
By Lasse Højstrup Sørensen Unions and the sporting goods industry have had enough of FIFA and demand a showdown with the past and reform of football’s governing body. At last week’s forum on the future of FIFA, held in the…
The coming wave of oil refugees
by Michael Meyer Nairobi – The idea that oil wealth can be a curse is an old one – and it should need no explaining. Every few decades, energy prices rise to the heavens, kicking off a scramble for new…
Right wing renaissance
By Hassanal Noor Rashid With 2016 still at its infancy, the beginning of the year has been marked with extraordinarily explosive events that may very well set the trend for the year and will continue to persist for a longer…
WaterAid Chair Tim & CEO Barbara reach today
Tim Clark, the chair of Board of Trustees of WaterAid, an international non-profit organization, and Barbara Frost, chief executive officer, arrive here tomorrow on a six-day visit.
Access to Clean Water and Job
Watersprint, the Sweden-based environmental technology company, has joined the Business Call to Action (BCtA) with a commitment to provide 50,000 people in Bangladesh with access to safe and clean drinking water by 2020. To support this effort, the company will…
Qatar to recruit 3 lakh BD labour
Qatar has shown interest to recruit about three lakh overseas jobseekers from Bangladesh over the next two years.Qatar Administrative Development and Labour and Social Affairs Minister Issa Saad Al-Jafali Al-Nuaimi said this at a bilateral meeting with the visiting Bangladesh…
Complete Regulatory Vacuum around India’s Wetlands
The recent Chennai Flood Disaster of Dec 2015 and the Jammu and Kashmir Flood disaster of Sept 2014 have underlined that Wetlands are important not only for biodiversity & livelihoods of millions, but they are an integral mechanism for flood…
Refugee children missing in Europe
More than 10,000 unaccompanied refugee and migrant children have disappeared in Europe, the EU police agency Europol said on Sunday, fearing many have been whisked into sex trafficking rings or the slave trade.Europol’s press office confirmed to Al Jazeera the…
Why water governance is key to growth in Bangladesh
Reports previewed today by WWF and H&M find that the gap between water policy and implementation in Bangladesh is likely to affect the country’s economic growth. Findings suggest that national ambitions such as improved living standards, food security and textile…
Dhaka for joint river basin management
Dhaka – Terming water-sharing issue between Bangladesh and India, a “sensitive”, Bangladesh has said it is in favour of setting up of a joint basin management system for common rivers. Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali said this…
Sweden to expel up to 80,000 refugees
Sweden intends to expel as many as 80,000 refugees and migrants who arrived in 2015 and whose applications for asylum have been rejected.”We are talking about 60,000 people, but the number could climb to 80,000,” Interior Minister Anders Ygeman was…
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…
El Niño leaves hunger in its wake
An estimated 10.2 million people are now food insecure in Ethiopia, as a result of an exceptional drought exacerbated by the El Niño event that began last year. The situation not only in the country but also across the whole…
Freshwater fish are at risk
A third of the world’s freshwater fish are at risk due to dams on three large rivers, researchers warn, calling for more rigorous construction planning to prevent biodiversity and socioeconomic losses.“The world’s most biodiverse river basins — the Amazon, Congo…
Time to clear the air
A public health emergency is causing 3.3 million premature deaths a year — more than malaria and HIV combined. But the culprit isn’t a disease pandemic: it’s the toxic air polluting the world’s major cities. In India’s capital Delhi, the…
Nepal fixes minimum wage for migrant workers in Oman
Muscat: Nepalese government has fixed minimum basic salary and food allowances for unskilled and domestic workers at OMR120 ($311) in Oman, according to a statement issued by the Nepalese Embassy in Muscat. “Those sponsors willing to recruit Nepalese workers through…
HC asks for info on initiatives taken on air pollution
The High Court yesterday asked the government to inform it on what steps it has been taken to tackle air pollution including, dust, smoke and other deadly elements causing damage to people’s health in Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj cities.
When New York under massive blizzard
The massive blizzard that walloped New York on Saturday came up one-tenth of an inch short of history. The storm dumped a whopping 26.8 inches of snow on the city, just short of the record set in 2006 and the…
WHO unveils alarming data on air pollution
New figures to be released from the World Health Organization show some incredibly alarming statistics on global pollution.
DiCaprio’s climate remarks wont help: Canada PM
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Leonardo DiCaprio to tone down his “inflammatory rhetoric” on climate change saying it was not helping those who have lost their oil-industry jobs.The movie star had told the World Economic Forum in the Swiss…