As one of its first steps towards reducing its greenhouse gas footprint, the United Nations – after one of the most wide-ranging and painstaking exercises in its history – announced today that it emits 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide annually worldwide. That amount, more than half of which is generated by peacekeeping operations, represents just 3.3 per cent of emissions generated by New York City, the host city of...

Climate change is forcing humans and tigers in the Sunderbans delta of eastern India into closer contact - and attacks on people are on the rise. The BBC's Chris Morris reports. They are magnificent, but deadly. Rarely seen, hidden in the jungles. But now the Royal Bengal tigers which roam through the vast mangrove forests at the mouth of the River Ganges are coming into closer contact, and conflict, with humans....

Wants exclusion of tiger reserve area falling within its purview  Says construction of dam will disturb the core habitat of wild animals Minister concerned at the ecological implications of project NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has asked the Centre to review the Ken-Betwa River-linking project in Madhya Pradesh in view of the ecological implications. In a letter to Union Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Mr. Ramesh...

Climate change is posing a serious threat to communities in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region, bringing both drought and catastrophic floods to hundreds of millions of people, according to a new United Nations-backed report. Food security, housing, infrastructure, business and even the survival of people living in mountainous regions and their neighbours in River basins downstream in the region are extremely vulnerable to climate change, it said. The publication was launched...

Governments and people have to make choices about accepting new scientific developments into their daily lives. Many attribute high levels of objectivity and integrity to scientists, which is not true of many of them. Scientists have been known to manipulate results to their advantage. Scientific issues are often complex, there are differing views among scientists and the layman finds it difficult to decide which scientific course is harmful or beneficial....