That wealthy western nations have "over-polluted" the atmosphere may come as little surprise. But the degree to which they have done so is staggering. Thanks to the enormous amount of carbon dioxide that countries such as the US and European Union have emitted over the last century, developing countries such as India and China will never be able to emit even a fraction of carbon dioxide they are entitled to in...

-The United Nations   The United Nations is set to launch an all-out attack next week on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), bringing together dozens of heads of State to promote the lifestyle changes needed to curb the soaring toll of a scourge that already causes over 63 per cent of all the world’s deaths. The high level General Assembly meeting, held at the start of its annual General Debate on Monday and Tuesday, is...

-The Times of India   Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan has done well to recast India`s position on climate change. In a signi-ficant departure from her predecessor, Jairam Ramesh, she has rightly emphasised equity as the key principle for future climate negotiations. Given that we cannot get to zero emissions right away with present-day technologies, the individual Indian should have as much right to carbon space as the individual American or European. At...

-The Business Standard   India made it clear today that it wanted extension of the current Kyoto Protocol on emission cuts, but said it would not accept any further legally binding emission framework. “Before we decide on a new legally binding framework,” said environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan, “it is important to ensure that the existing framework does not crumble. There is at present a legally binding framework (Kyoto Protocol). We want it to...

-The United Nations   A new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlights significant gaps in areas such as education and health, mostly favouring males, as boys and girls in developing countries grow older. “While there is little difference between boys and girls in early childhood with respect to nutrition, health, education and other basic indicators, differences by gender appear increasingly more pronounced during adolescence and young adulthood,” said Geeta Rao...