-Down to Earth New climate report warns of longer droughts, extreme weather, and increase in ocean acidification The world's atmosphere is already locked into a 1.5 °C temperature rise because of past and predicted greenhouse gas emissions, posing serious threat to lives and livelihoods around the world, according to a new climate study commissioned by the World Bank Group. The report, Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal, warns...

-The Hindu Vellore (Tamil Nadu): Farmers have urged the district administration to provide organic fertilizers to restore soil fertility and improve nutrition of the crops. At the farmers' grievance redressal meeting on Friday, a farmer, Pichandi of Serpadi village said the nutrients in the soil were destroyed by using fertilizers such as urea, potash and complex in the last few decades. "Nearly 35 years ago, the government distributed neeli seeds, known as...

-The United Nations One in three known victims of human trafficking is a child, and girls and women are particularly targeted and forced into "modern slavery," according to the 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, released today by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna. "Unfortunately, the report shows there is no place in the world where children, women and men are safe from human trafficking," said...

-The New Indian Express BHUBANESWAR: In its bid to ensure food security and sustainability in agriculture sector, the Odisha Government has woken up to the need of promoting organic farming. In its draft Organic Farming Policy, the Agriculture Department has proposed formation of a State Organic Commodity Board which will not only facilitate organic farming but also promote trade of organic commodities through knowledge sharing. The Department has decided to take a leaf...

There is some good news amid gloom! Preliminary findings of a survey in India as quoted by the Global Nutrition Report 2014 shows that prevalence of malnutrition among children aged below 5 years has come down between 2005-06 and 2013-14, even though we have a long way to go. (See links and bullet points below). The survey on malnutrition and hunger, called the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC), was conducted after...