Dengue - reality bites

The millions affected have many to curse -- the mosquitoes, officials and the scientific communityby Ritu Gupta

International pressure and the civil society

The beacon

Several social groups are trying to restore the link between Hinduism and the environment

Erosion of values

...and how it leads to environmental degradation

Up in smoke

National programme on improved chulhas put on ice

Arsenic control

West Bengal, severely affected by arsenic in its groundwater, takes slow but steady steps to deal with it

Strangers in their own land

The final notification of the Great Himalayan National Park has jeopardised the livelihood of a tribe of migratory pastoralists. It has also …

Shawls, an antelope and the law

The question is not just of farming chiru. It is about the policy that a country should have towards wildlife conservation, forest dwelling …

Bridging the gap

Pressured by a highly active civil society, the Kerala state government is actually giving power to the people. The decentralisation theory has …

Defiling the sacred

How the environment --- sacred to Hindus --- is bearing the brunt of pollution in the name of religion

Enter -The green rating project

Indian industry is huge. But most environmentalists believe it has done little to reduce pollution, which will only rise as the economy grows. …

MAIght of OECD

A no-holds-barred treaty on investments would hand over the world on a platter to MNCs

The climate-forest continuum

How to plant trees for development

There is no economic value seen in forests, but there is value seen in the development project for which forestland is required

Colonial hangover persists

Forest Act Amendment Bill maintains the forest department as the supreme controlling agency

Tackling poverty

INDIA: REDUCING POVERTY, ACCELERATING DEVELOPMENT, A WORLD BANK COUNTRY STUDY·Oxford University Press·New Delhi·260 pages

Battle for turf

If the South wants to protect its interests against the power of the Bretton Woods institutions and WTO, it will need its own, equally powerful forum

Polluter says' principle

GEF should have been a liability fund, rather than a 'guilt fund' set up by the North to make up for the global damage it had caused

Free, not fair

Does a country have the right to demand that its domestic standards on environmental protection be applicable to all countries?

Wood-headed proposal

After almost 10 years of fighting for or against a forest convention, there is not even a common view on why forests are under threat and what …

Toxic travellers

Developing countries are wary of the proposed treaty as chemicals like DDT are still used in many malaria-prone regions for vector control

Rio's stepchild

Northern countries still see desertification as a local problem caused by population pressures rather than international trade patterns and …

Biodiversity

To energise the biodiversity convention, the world will have to first deal with difficult countries like the US

Boiling point

Climate change negotiations get emotional because carbon dioxide emissions are closely related to individual lifestyles - and to national …

Fighting for a cause

K N Narayana Pillai, 75, is an ordinary citizen who has been suffering because of pollution from an industrial unit operating beside his house. …