-The Times of India Ever since data released earlier this year showed that in the past 15 years, global average temperatures had not risen as fast they had earlier, there has been much hue and cry. Climate change sceptics naturally seized upon this to declare that they had been proved right. Last month, leaked portions of the forthcoming IPCC report, too, were reported by Western media outlets to contain this...

-FAO Direct economic costs of $750 billion annually - Better policies required, and "success stories" need to be scaled up and replicated Rome: The waste of a staggering 1.3 billion tonnes of food per year is not only causing major economic losses but also wreaking significant harm on the natural resources that humanity relies upon to feed itself, says a new FAO report. Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on Natural Resources is the first...

-The Indian Express Bangalore: It was a Lok Sabha byelection fought and won by fulfilling a basic, daily need. In the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency in the suburbs of the city, winning Congress candidate D K Suresh offered the people a straightforward deal- bottled drinking water dispensed through innovative "Water ATMs". Suresh, the brother of Congress leader D K Shivakumar, set up 33 Water ATMs, dispensing kiosks attached to reserve...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The whole world depends on fertilizers for growing crops because they provide one of the most essential elements needed for plants - nitrogen. Although nitrogen is the largest component of air, plants do not have the ability to absorb it directly. So, they have to depend on nitrogen in the soil. Only legumes like peas, beans and lentils have a method of absorbing nitrogen by...

-The Telegraph North India is among a small number of regions scattered across the globe vulnerable to severe and multiple impacts of climate change, a study by an international team of researchers has predicted. The study, based on computer simulations of future climate scenarios, suggests that northern India may experience sharp drops in yields of key crops and severe ecosystem changes that may show up as altered landscapes. While earlier studies have explored...