South Asia

seeking Climate aid: Bangladesh's interim leader Fakhruddin Ahmed has called on rich nations to pay billions of dollars to help his country fight the effects of climate change because they are the biggest environmental culprits. Ahmed said this while speaking at the International Symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia, which concluded in Dhaka recently. Ahmed said that his country needs at least US $4 billion by 2020 to build dams, cyclone shelters, plant trees along the coast and build infrastructure and

South Asia

Loss from Sidr: The economic loss caused by super cyclone Sidr that hit Bangladesh on November 15, 2007, is more than us $ 4.4 billion, reveals a survey conducted by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh. The cyclone completely destroyed about 4,10,000 hectares of farmland and damaged 12 lakh tonnes of the Aman paddy crop, which accounts for 40 per cent of the country's total rice output.

Muddy Water

About 1.2 billion people in the world live with inadequate access to safe drinking water. Over 2.6 billion do not have access to sanitation facilities In developing countries 80 per cent of the health

South Asia

Petrol price hiked again: Pakistan's government has raised petrol and diesel prices by 14 per cent--the highest ever increase. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority increased the kerosene price from Rs (Pak) 49.73 a litre to Rs (Pak) 57.93; that of light diesel oil from Rs (Pak) 49.05 to Rs (Pak) 58.54; and of petrol by Rs (Pak) 10.97 a litre to Rs (Pak) 86.66. This is the sixth increase in petroleum prices since the new government assumed office in the end of February. The price of petrol then was Rs (Pak) 58.70.

South Asia

Afghan Leopards Threatened: After surviving decades of warfare, snow leopards in Afghanistan now face a new threat: foreigners involved in rebuilding the country. Military bases and tourist bazaars present a new market for pelts to be sold as souvenirs. Foreigners are willing to pay prices high enough to encourage impoverished Afghans to break the 2002 hunting ban protecting the leopards. The US embassy and conservationists are now using educational programs and raids to crack down on the buyers.

Desperate measures

Coping strategies: countries adjust to all-time-high oil prices Bangladesh increased fuel prices for the first time since April 2007. The government maintained subsidies on diesel and kerosene, used predominantly by the poor. Texan motorists, in search of cheap gas, crossed the border into Mexico, which subsidizes its fuel.

Can Bangladesh trap silt?

Recently in Dhaka, Dutch ambassador Bea Ten Tusscher suggested that Bangladesh, decidedly to be worst-hit by global-warming-induced sea level rise, could outpace this disaster by trapping the silt three great rivers carry through it to the sea. It is a fascinating idea from the ambassador of a nation actively associated with the development of Bangladesh's water sector since the 1950s. Nobody's said this before

According To Report

China overtakes US: China has edged ahead of the US as the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases (ghg). According to the findings of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China's emissions increased by 8 per cent in 2007, which is two-thirds of the growth in the year's global ghg emissions. With this, China's emissions were 14 per cent higher than the us's.

South Asia

Kalabagh aborted: Pakistan's new government has decided to shelve the controversial Kalabagh dam project "once and for all" in the name of national reconciliation. The announcement follows the government's recent plans to save energy and end load-shedding by 2009. Addressing a press conference, Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said Sindh and North-West Frontier Province had passed resolutions against the dam and, therefore, its construction could endanger the federation. "For a strong and united federation, it is

Gas crisis hits Bangladesh

the Bangladesh government is mulling over not giving out new gas connections as a measure to check the depleting supply in the country. The measure comes at a time when the demand of gas is increasing everyday in the country. "We have not stopped new connections. We are only rationing it because the gas pressure in the pipelines has reduced in many places," says a senior official