ECOFRIENDLY VEHICLE

A local company in Dhaka, Bangladesh, will launch electric vehicles, the first of its kind in the country by March 2001. "We have already imported some vehicles for trial and are going to launch these vehicles in the city," said Niaz Rahim, director of Rahimafrooz (Bangladesh) Limited. They will travel 35-40 km per hour and cover a distance of 80 km with a single charge.

FOREST TAKEOVER

The Nepalese government has decided to hand over some community forests to the Royal Nepal Army (RNA). Local forest user committees have criticised the government for this decision. Three community forests in Kamalamai Municipality and six forests in Ranichuri village development council will be taken over by the RNA, to establish its battalion. "We will vehemently oppose this decision," said Bhisma Raj Shrestha, chairperson of the Federation of Forest Users Committee.

RELOCATING INDUSTRIES

The Supreme Court has directed the urban development ministry, the Delhi government, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to explain within seven days why they failed to relocate harmful industries away from the residential areas of Delhi. The directions were given by a division bench comprising justice B N Kirpal and justice Ruma Pal.

Moneymakers

friendly plastic: A new plastic made from plant sugar will be soon introduced in the market. The plastic called NatureWorks PLA is being manufactured by Cargill Dow Polymers, a Nebraska-based company. Unlike conventional plastic, NatureWorks can break down in a compost pile if subjected to the right combination of heat and humidity. It can be used to make products such as clothing, carpets, cups and candy wrappers. NatureWorks has the texture of natural fibers like cotton and silk.

Forest cover to double

in another 50 years time, China's forest cover is expected to double with the State Forestry Administration ( sfa ) having laid out an ambitious afforestation programme to improve the nation's ecological environment. The plan outlines four projects to be carried out in four different regions -- the environmentally fragile upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, arid Northern areas and the government-run key forest zones in the northeast and east China.

AFRICA

Plagued by torrential rain and floods, people in Africa are nevertheless faced with an acute shortage of water. According to the African Development Bank, two out of three Africans living in rural areas lack an adequate supply of water while nearly three-quarters have insufficient sanitation.

Lung Power

A clean air activist listens to a police officer during a demonstration held outside Hong Kong's Legislative Council recently. They were protesting the government's slow progress in improving the territory's air quality

SLOW PROGRESS

The construction of the Jessore-Khulna Drainage Rehabilitation Project (JKDRP) in Bangladesh is progressing at a snail's pace with only 20 per cent of the work completed. The project was designed to bring about 1,00,000 lakh hectares of land under cultivation. It includes building 355 km of canals, reconstruction of 29 km of embankments, 30 km of roads and 21 bridges. The project was launched with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank to remove problems of water-logging from Jessore and Khulna districts.

WARNING FROM STUDENTS

According to a survey carried out by a group of young students from Nepal and Japan, water flowing in Bagmati river in the Jorpati region of Nepal is heavily polluted. The students were from fourth to ninth standards. The survey showed that the acid content in the water was higher than the permissible limit set by the World Health Organisation. The students also found that dissolved oxygen (DO) was less than the standard level.

ECONOMICS VS ENVIRONMENT

A large number of people in Bhutan earn their livelihood by selling resin extracted from chirpine trees. But the question being raised these days is whether the socio-economic benefit to the villagers is more important than the damage caused to the natural environment. A Zangpo, a researcher at the government-funded Khangma forestry project, said the damage to chirpine forests can upset the biodiversity in the area. He said that hundreds of trees have been destroyed because of tapping that began several years ago.