Jiang Kejun and Jonathan Woetzel Beijing – At the start of 2017, China announced that it would invest $360 billion in renewable energy by 2020 and scrap plans to build 85 coal-fired power plants. In March, Chinese authorities reported that…
Category: Think green
HC summons Health Secretary over toxic paracetamol episode
Dhaka – The High Court on Monday summoned health secretary to explain his position over the present status of taking action against two officials of the drug administration for negligence in dealing with a case filed for manufacturing toxic paracetamol…
Berlin confce on Rampal Power Plant and alternative energy held
Berlin – The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports in Bangladesh (NCBD), European Network has demanded the cancellation of Bangladesh Government’s ongoing heinous project of 1320 MW Rampal Coal based power plant situated near world…
Save Sundarbans and Green Energy confce in Berlin
Berlin, (Germany) – The construction of a 1320 MW capacity coal-fired power plant is going on near the world largest mangrove forest Sundarbans in Bangladesh. According to the researchers, this coal fired power plant will endanger the biodiversity of this…
Weathering the violence of climate change
Gulrez Shah Azhar Santa Monica – With India experiencing its worst drought in 140 years, Indian farmers have taken to the streets. At a protest in Madhya Pradesh this summer, police opened fire on farmers demanding debt relief and better…
A greener grid for East Asia
Sung-Young Kim and John A. Mathews Sydney – Not long ago, the future of nuclear power was in Asia. In 2015, nine of the ten reactors that opened globally were on the continent. But recent declarations by South Korea and…
Historic settlement in ACLU case of three torture victims
“It is a clear warning for anyone who thinks they can torture with impunity.” New York — In a first for a case involving CIA torture, the American Civil Liberties Union announced a settlement today in the lawsuit against the…
Unsustainable river management causes excessive floods-water scarcity: IFC
GreenWatch Report Leaders of the International Farakka Committee (IFC) said on Friday that excessive floods and too much of water scarcity faced in Bangladesh during wet and dry seasons are the outcomes of Unsustainable river management of rivers.
Minamata Convention, curbing mercury use, is now legally binding
By IPS World Desk Rome, Aug 16 (IPS) – The Minamata Convention — a legally-binding landmark treaty, described as the first new environmental agreement in over a decade – entered into force August 16.
Wonder woman should still be a UN Ambassador
By Felix Dodds New York, Aug 15 (IPS) – I realize it’s a lot easier saying this now after the film of the same name has come out and has taken over $400 million in US box office receipts. It…
Gharial released at Rajshahi Zoo
As part of a Gharial exchange programme, an adult male Gharial was released at Rajshahi Zoo on Sunday morning bringing it from National Zoo (Dhaka) aiming to create pairs and thus boost the population of the critically endangered freshwater reptiles.“The…
Safe accommodation for working women far too little
Dhaka, Aug 13 – Women’s participation in outdoor jobs in the country is increasing at a faster pace than expected but having safe and secure living places for such single women in the capital still remains a distant dream. Private…
Cancel public hearings on Pancheswar Dam: SANDRP
GreenWatch Report The South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) has demanded cancellation of the public hearings being organised for the Pancheswar Dam, based on the Mahakali Treaty with Nepal, in the Uttarakhand state of India, on the…
Jordan makes strides toward inclusive green economy
By Safa Khasawneh Amman, Aug 10 (IPS) – Jordan may be one of the smallest economies in the Middle East, but it has high ambitions for inclusive green growth and sustainable development despite the fact that it lies in the…
BNP finds Justice Khairul’s remarks on SC verdict indecent
Dhaka, Aug 10 – BNP on Thursday termed ‘indecent and tantamount to contempt of court’ the remarks of Law Commission Chairman ABM Khairul Haque on Chief Justice SK Sinha and the Supreme Court’s verdict that annulled the 16th constitutional amendment.
World still lags on indigenous rights 10 years after historic declaration
By Mariam Wallet Aboubakrine, Albert K. Barume and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz Geneva/New York, Aug 7, (IPS) – The world’s indigenous peoples still face huge challenges a decade after the adoption of a historic declaration on their rights, a group of United…
Why world needs indigenous communities to steward their lands
By Manipadma Jena Bhubaneswar, India, Aug 7 (IPS) – “Showing them a picture-book crow, I intone ‘kaak’ in Bengali, the State language. While others repeat in chorus, the tribal Santhali first-graders respond with a blank look. They know the crow…
Guyana’s Model Green Town reflects ambitious national plan
Bartica, Guyana, Aug 3 (IPS) – At the head of Guyana’s Essequibo River, 50 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean, you will find the town of Bartica. Considered the gateway to Guyana’s interior, the town has a population of about…
Which country is the most sustainable?
Danielle Nierenberg The Food Sustainability Index (FSI), developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) with the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) Foundation, ranks countries on food system sustainability based on three pillars: food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture,…
Dams turning floods into disasters: Sandrp
All through the month of July, several states in India have been battling severe flood situation. The Northeastern (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam), Western (Rajasthan Gujarat), Central (Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh) and Eastern (Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal) regions have been particularly affected…
Can economic growth be really green?
By IPS World Desk Rome/Seoul, Jul 27, (IPS) – The answer to this big question is apparently “yes” – Economic growth can be really green. How? The facts are there. For instance, in 2016, solar power became the cheapest form…
India-Bangladesh to sign MoU on elephant conservation
India and Bangladesh are expected to soon sign a MoU on elephant conservation and management as top forest and environment officials of both the countries met in Shillong on Thursday to discuss on how best to alleviate the human-elephant conflicts.…
The unnoticed demise of democracy
By Roberto Savio Rome, Jul 24 (IPS) – Politicians are so busy fighting for their jobs, they hardly seem to notice that they risk going out of business. Democracy is on the wane, yet the problem is nowhere in Parliaments.…
Electric vehicles form future of auto industry
Electric cars constitute less than 0.1 percent of the vehicle market today, but the market and regulatory forces all but ensure electric vehicles will be the future of the auto industry. According to the 2016 Global Electric Vehicle Outlook from…
Dhaka can reclaim its lost canals ‘as Seoul did’
Abdur Rahman Jahangir, UNB Staff Writer Dhaka, July 22 – Though it looks to be a daunting task to recover the capital’s 43 lost canals and many other wetlands to restore its natural drainage network, green activists think well-thought-out plans,…
Climate vulnerable nations must get support: BD
UN, Jul 21 – Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said the developed nations must support the climate vulnerable nations like Bangladesh, particularly in the forms of financing, innovative solutions and technology transfer, to combat the perils of climate change.
Toilets as the path to health and dignity
Guangzhe CHEN Mollar Bosti is a crowded slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, home to 10,000 people: garment workers, rickshaw drivers, and small traders, all living side-by-side in tiny rooms sandwiched along narrow passageways.
Don’t move resources from development to security: UN Chief
By António Guterres UN, Jul 17 (IPS) – Twenty years ago, when I was starting my functions as Prime Minister of Portugal, the world was surfing a wave of optimism. The Cold War had ended, technological prosperity was in full…
We have to reclaim public policy space for SDGs
By Jens Martens Bonn, Jul 13 (IPS) – At the High-Level Political Forum which currently takes place at the United Nations in New York several events, for instance, SDG Business Forum, are devoted to the critical role of business and…
Communities step up to help save Jamaica’s forests
By Desmond Brown Kingston, Jamaica, Jul 12 (IPS) – According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 31.1 percent or about 337,000 hectares of Jamaica is forested. Of this, 26.1 percent or 88,000 is classified as primary forest,…