By Alison Kentish UNITED NATIONS, Jan 12 2021 (IPS) – French President Emmanuel Macron convened the 4th edition of the One Planet Summit for Biodiversity with a concession – that after a decade, the world has failed to take the…
Tag: Environment
IFAD, GCF act to better life, boost African Great Green Wall
Paris, 11 January 2021 – Millions of poor farmers living in the world’s most climate-impacted parts of the Sahel have cause for hope today because of their governments’ support for accelerating Africa’s Great Green Wall (GGW), an area covering 11…
Hill cutting in Chittagong: Toma group fined Tk 50 crore
Chittagong, Dec31 -The Department of Environment (DOE) has fined Toma group of construction, a contracting firm, Tk 50 crore for cutting hill illegally in Loghagara Upazila of Chattogram during the work of Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar rail line project.
Taka 18.82 bn for water supply in 98 arsenic-hit Upazilas
Dhaka, Dec 22 – A Tk 1,882.59-crore project for the improvement of water supply and sanitation in arsenic and iron-hit 98 Upazilas of 30 districts was cleared by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday along…
World carbon dioxide emissions drop 7% in pandemic-hit 2020
A locked-down pandemic-struck world cut its carbon dioxide emissions this year by 7%, the biggest drop ever, new preliminary figures show.
Dense fog halts ferry services on Shimulia-Banglabazar route
Ferry services on Shumulia-Banglabazar remained suspended from early Tuesday due to poor visibility caused by dense fog.
Dhaka’s polluted air makes Covid-19 deadlier
Dhaka, Nov 23 – Dhaka, one of the most polluted cities in the world, ranked 3rd worst in the Air Quality Index on Monday morning. Dhaka had an AQI score of 185 at 09:02am and the air was classified as…
The Environmental Consequences of Political Repression
by Henry Munangatire HARARE – Zimbabwe was once Africa’s rising star. Boasting robust human capital, considerable natural-resource wealth, and modern infrastructure, it was the continent’s leading producer of crops such as maize, wheat, and soybeans. Agricultural exports earned it the…
Europe and China Take the Climate Reins
by Laurence Tubiana PARIS – In the space of just a week during this year’s United Nations General Assembly, representatives of the world’s largest single market and the world’s second-largest economy each laid their climate cards on the table. One…
Glorious days: Waste dumping remains a never ending story
Mostafa Kamal Majumder Despite the official announcement from the highest level of the government of rejection of their proposal for the import of toxic industrial wastes in the guise of generating cheap electricity for a caustic chlorine plant, the waste…
Glorious days: Campaign blocking waste import had life risks
Mostafa Kamal Majumder My lookout for news stories landed me on a move by some greedy people coming up with a formal proposal submitted to the government in October 1988 to import toxic wastes camouflaging it under the cover of…
Dhaka ranks worst in global air quality index Sunday morning
Dhaka, Oct 18 – Dhaka, one the most polluted cities in the world, ranked worst in the Air Quality Index (AQI) on Sunday morning. It had a score of 188 at 10:24am. The air was classified as ‘unhealthy’.
Provide ‘decisive leadership’ on climate action: UN chief
12 October – With nations striving to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impacts, efforts must focus on decarbonizing the global economy and building a more inclusive and resilient future, the UN Secretary-General said on Monday.
Citizens’ movement to protect wetlands in Jammu & Kashmir
• Jammu & Kashmir’s wetlands provide habitat for migratory birds and act as buffer zones during floods. • Now, a citizen’s movement to revive these wetlands and water bodies has gained momentum.
Savar, Dhaka, Oct 08 – The Department of Environment (DoE) on Wednesday fined eight tanneries at Savar Tannery Industrial Estate Tk 21lakh for polluting the environment.
We Need Nature, Biodiversity if We Want a Sustainable Future
By Samira Sadeque UNITED NATIONS, Oct 1 2020 (IPS) – “Investing in nature is investing in a sustainable future,” was one of the key messages from yesterday’s first-ever United Nations Summit on Biodiversity where world leaders and experts agreed on…
Medical waste plant operation begins in Rajshahi
Rajshahi, Oct 1 – Operational activities of the newly established clinical waste management plant began on Thursday aimed at making the city free from contamination and pollution caused by the medical wastes.
Bending the Biodiversity Loss Curve Requires big Change
By Jamison Ervin The UN will be hosting the first-ever Biodiversity Summit – remotely – on September 30. UNITED NATIONS, Sep 23 2020 (IPS) – A spate of reports on biodiversity – the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystems,…
Air pollution in cities takes a toll on bees
by Mohit M. Rao • A study shows that air pollution causes behavioural, physiological and genetic changes in wild bees. • Pollutant impact on bees is observed even in areas well-within the current national standards for Particulate Matter pollution. •…
What Would the Buddha Do?
By David Loy Maybe every modern generation feels confronted by some crisis that will affect the fate of the world, but unless your head is buried in the sand (or some Buddhist equivalent) it’s impossible to be ignorant of the…
The Environmental Consequences of Political Repression
Henry Munangatire HARARE – Zimbabwe was once Africa’s rising star. Boasting robust human capital, considerable natural-resource wealth, and modern infrastructure, it was the continent’s leading producer of crops such as maize, wheat, and soybeans. Agricultural exports earned it the moniker…
The Neglected Water and Sanitation Crisis
Kevin Rudd SUNSHINE COAST – The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the importance of access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene. As we all know now, hand washing is one of the best frontline defenses against the virus. Yet three…
Plan to conserve, develop local species of fish, snail
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday cleared four projects, including a Tk 202-crore one to conserve and develop local species of fish and snail in the country.
Climate change to ultimately cost $100,000 per ton of carbon
Two geoscientists and a philosopher from the University of Chicago (UChicago) estimated that an “ultimate cost of carbon” to humanity comes out closer to 100,000 dollars per ton, a thousand times higher than the 100 dollars or less routinely calculated…
Air pollution causes 7mln premature deaths: UN Chief
Highlighting the dangers posed by air pollution, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said air pollution causes an estimated seven million premature deaths every year.
Tk 32.80 bn being spent to protect Bangladesh coastal areas
The government is constructing 139 polders in the coastal belt to protect the areas from tidal surges and floods, State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque said Saturday.
Stimulating Brazil’s Bioeconomy
by Pedro Frizo SÃO PAULO – In the midst of the growing climate crisis, the world can no longer rely solely on old models of economic development. In this context, the concept of a bioeconomy – activities that produce relatively…
Maritime ports asked to keep hoisted signal 3
Maritime ports of Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Mongla and Payra have been advised to keep hoisted local cautionary signal number three following the influence of strong monsoon and steep pressure gradient over the North Bay.
Mild heat wave sweeping over Bangladesh, Met offfice says
Dhaka, Aug 03 – A mild heat wave is sweeping over parts of the country including Dhaka, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) said Monday.
The True Price of Pesticides Is Unaffordable
by Layla Liebetrau NAIROBI – A mounting body of evidence suggests that industrial agriculture is failing the planet and its people. In particular, harmful chemical pesticides increasingly threaten the environment and public health.