By Tharanga Yakupitiyage UN, Nov 23 (IPS) – Despite a few victories, the UN’s annual climate change conference ended without achieving its goals or injecting a sense of much needed urgency.
Category: Environment
Wrangling on addressing ex-ante information on public finance
Penang, 23 Nov (TWN) — Developed countries’ reluctance to address the modalities for the ex-ante information on public financial resources to be provided to developing countries referred to in Article 9.5 of the Paris Agreement (PA) delayed the closing of…
US Foreign Minister for action against Rohingya ethnic cleansing
The Trump administration declared on Wednesday that Myanmar’s brutal crackdown on its Rohingya minority constituted “ethnic cleansing,” a long-anticipated designation that will open the door to sanctions against the country’s military commanders and intensify pressure on its civilian leader, Daw…
BD, Myanmar sign deal on Rohingya repatriation
Bangladesh and Myanmar today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas who fled to the neighbouring country to escape a military crackdown in Western rakhine state, the foreign office said. “Bangladesh and…
BD, Burma strike deal on Rohingya repatriation
Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar), Nov 23 (UNB) – Bangladesh and Myanmar finally signed an ‘instrument’ on Rohingya repatriation on Thursday with no ending deadline amid high hopes that the forcibly displaced Rohingyas will start returning to their homeland within the…
Light pollution: Night being lost in many countries
By Victoria Gill A study of pictures of Earth by night has revealed that artificial light is growing brighter and more extensive every year. Between 2012 and 2016, the planet’s artificially lit outdoor area grew by more than 2% per…
Conclusions adopted to advance Paris Deal work programme
Kathmandu, 22 Nov (Prerna Bomzan and Meena Raman) – The meeting of UNFCCC’s Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) eventually closed after 1 am, early morning of 18 Nov, with the adoption of conclusions to advance the…
Myanmar must find solution to Rohingya crisis: PM
Dhaka, Nov 22 – Reiterating that Myanmar has to find a solution to the protracted Rohingya crisis, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said her government is committed to taking steps for sending back the forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens to…
Dhaka WASA asked to recover its 13 canals
Dhaka, Nov 22 – A government Taskforce on Wednesday day asked the authorities concerned of Dhaka WASA to take necessary measures to recover its 13 canals from illegal occupation.
MoU likely: BD for timeframe, UN role in Rohingya repatriation
Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar), Nov 22 – Bangladesh and Myanmar are expected to sign an ‘Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State’ here on Thursday as some vital points are still to agree on. “We had a good…
Thousands flee over Bali volcano eruption fears
Thousands living in the shadow of a rumbling volcano on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali fled Wednesday as fears grow that it could erupt for the first time in more than 50 years. Mount Agung belched smoke as high as…
Pesticides driving mass extinction in the Anthropocene
We are in the Anthropocene and likely experiencing the Earth’s sixth mass extinction, the first to be caused by humans. In 1962, Rachel Carson warned in her book, ‘Silent Spring’ that the decline of birds (primarily due to DDT exposure)…
Developing nations welcome COP23 decisions, worry over finance
Kuala Lumpur, 21 Nov (Jade Chiang and Meena Raman) – Despite the delayed ending of the climate talks at Bonn by nearly a day, developing countries, in welcoming some key decisions adopted at COP 23, also emphatically registered their unhappiness…
Desperate need to halt ‘world’s largest killer’ — pollution
By Baher Kamal Rome, Nov 20 (IPS) – Now that the lights of the UN climate change summit’s meeting rooms have been turned off in Bonn, after a week of intense negotiations and some partial results, another major environmental event…
Amnesty accused Myanmar of imposing Aparthied on Rohingya
Myanmar’s suffocating control of its Rohingya population amounts to “apartheid”, Amnesty International said Tuesday in a probe into the root causes of a crisis that has sent 620,000 refugees fleeing to Bangladesh. Distressing scenes of dispossessed Rohingya in Bangladeshi camps…
Air quality again deteriorates in Indian capital city
Air quality in Indian capital city of Delhi has once again deteriorated and slipped from poor to very poor category, state-run broadcaster – All India Radio (AIR) said Tuesday. The broadcaster quoting Central Pollution Control Board saying the Air Quality…
Climate goal in peril as science points to 3 degree warming
Saleem Shaikh Bonn – As developing countries push the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement, scientists and leaders at the UN-led climate talks underway in Germany say the world will fail to meet the key goal of limiting global average…
ASEM participants agree on cessassion of hostilities in Rakhine
Foreign Ministers of Asian and European countries have agreed on the broad points of the Rohingya issue, and asked for the immediate cessation of hostilities, halting the outflow of Rohingya from Rakhine State, and early return of the displaced population…
US Senator calls atrocities in Burma crimes against humanity
Visiting US Senators today dubbed as “war crimes” the atrocities inflicted on Rohingyas by Myanmar security forces as they called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a day after visiting them in their makeshift refuge in Cox’s Bazar.
Delhi half marathon goes ahead despite smog, health warnings
Tens of thousands of runners braved smoggy conditions for the Delhi half marathon on Sunday despite dire health warnings from doctors who wanted the race postponed in the heavily-polluted capital. Around 35,000 people registered for the race in the Indian…
Satellite signals bring hope of Argentina’s missing sub rescue
After days of searching for its missing submarine with 44 crew aboard, Argentina’s navy received distress signals late Saturday, authorities said.
Sounding the alarm on biodiversity loss
Robert Watson Norwich – With the United Nations’ climate change conference underway in Bonn, Germany, rising global temperatures are once again at the top of the world’s agenda. But why care about the increase in temperature, if not because of…
‘Save Gumti, Dakatia rivers from pollution, encroachment’
Dhaka, Nov 18 – The National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways (NCPSRR) on Saturday demanded immediate excavation of river Gumti and Dakatia by making those free from pollution and grabbing for the free flow of water and movement…
Dhaka south building owners protest holding tax hike
House and apartment owners of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) formed a human chain at Kalabagan on Mirpur Road in the city on Saturday protesting the rise in holding tax and blatant indiscrimination in the name of revision. The residents…
Solar powered health posts to serve Rohingyas
IOM, the UN Migration Agency, is harnessing solar energy to power its remote health posts in Cox’s Bazar’s giant Kutupalong and Balukali makeshift settlements, which are now home to an estimated 440,000 Rohingyas from Myanmar, an IOM press release said.…
UN climate envoys agree to 2018 stocktake of planet
UN negotiators agreed at climate talks Saturday to take stock in 2018 of country efforts to cut fossil fuel emissions as part of a pact — rejected only by Washington — to limit global warming. Closing two weeks of talks…
Winged guests add to winter charm of JU campus
Migratory birds have started arriving at the lakes of Jahangirnagar University with the advent of winter. A huge number of enthusiastic bird loving people are thronging the university campus everyday to watch the migratory birds twittering and swimming in the…
Abducted businessman Aniruddha-Return home
Dhaka, Nov 18-Businessman Aniruddha Kumar Roy has returned to his Gulshan residence on early Thursday after 70 days of his reported abduction, police said quoting his family members.
China prefers mediating Bangla-Burma talks on Rohingya
Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday expressed his country’s willingness to facilitate talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar to resolve the protracted Rohingya crisis which has hit Bangladesh hard. Wang Yi made the offer when he met Prime Minister…
Trump puts elephant trophy imports on hold
US President Donald Trump has suspended the import of elephant hunting trophies, only a day after a ban was relaxed by his administration. Imports of trophies from elephants legally hunted in Zambia and Zimbabwe had been set to resume, reversing…