The global environmental fiasco
After six meetings on how to restructure the Global Environment Facility, a consensus remains elusive.
Going public
A unique experiment to involve the people in bringing water to desert communities is under way in Rajasthan.
Beyond home
Bill Clinton's absence from the Copenhagen summit on social development underscores the post-Cold War parochialism that has gripped the American …
Walking tall
Jonas Salk, the man who humbled the dreaded polio virus, was that rarest of scientists, the "unconventional upstart"
Global democracy tilts at the axis
Are the "forces of freedom" in the West muscular enough to deepen democracy at the global level?
Earth health
Clinically clean, gleamingly coloured, hermetically sealed fruits and vegetables face the challenge of organic food
A green front is not enough
It is time to question whether the new green urgency of big business is a genuine change of heart
Straight from the puppet's mouth
Why should it matter if messages are effectively conveyed through tales, songs and plays rather than from the mouths of scientists bogged down in …
Sprucing up
...production techniques could go a long way in creating a pollution-free milieu as the final aim would be to achieve a no-waste company discipline
Urbane and stupid
Sitting in urban comforts and planning for a rural set-up can only spell doom for any activity on the development front, for the village is a …
Wealth engenders debt...
... seems like a paradox, but when that wealth is produced by affluent countries through importing undervalued resources of the poorer regions,…
After the last tree is felled
'Sustainable development' cannot afford to be another epithet in the lexicon of development, but should dispel myths about human-made and natural …
The silver spoon
Development in the small-farm sector holds the key to a holistic progress in the Asia-Pacific countries
For a new deal
The role of non-government organisations (NGOs) in the international arena is changing. They have to devise new strategies to consolidate their …
Bridge to nowhere
Sweden and Denmark, two of the world's most eco-friendly countries, compromise on environment to go ahead with the construction of Europe's …
Speak up!
As Brazil's energy industry undergoes an overhaul, consumers must take a more active role in protecting public goods
Budgeting for science
The government should not only increase funding for science and technology but overhaul institutions of research
Shades of equity
Negotiators from developing countries lack the strategy to put equity on the global climate change agenda. But the US has already begun to define …
Manna from the sky
You can now 'telecommute' for sustainable use of resources and take an 'edutainment' break! overseeing more than what an overseas aid by a …
New raj wars the old
Its high time the panchayati raj institutions in India reviewed their actual role in spelling out developmental processes
Crimes against the environment
The Environmental Crimes Bureau (ECB) of New Jersey in the US is a state agency that is entrusted with the job of taking action against those …
Reaction time
Electronic conferences can speed up decision making which lengthy, costly and conventional deliberations cannot
Locking horns with the bull
International agreements like the Basel Convention are not enough to defeat corporate agendas firmly rooted in the stock market
No laughing matter
Activists are increasingly resorting to attention-grabbing techniques to bring development issues into the public domain
Agenda for people's participation
Two new amendments to the Constitution promise greater effectiveness in civic administration and urban planning; but is that enough?