Familiar battle lines emerged on Sunday on the eve of a conference to restore the credibility of the UN's talks on climate change after last year's near-disaster in Copenhagen. Campaigners said the interests of the environment and poor countries would not be sacrificed to help boost the faltering process, while the European Union (EU) called on China, the United States and India to agree to "fair" curbs on their carbon emissions. Nearly...

Discussions at an international forum in Russia on restoring the global tiger population from the brink of extinction have resulted in a United Nations-led alliance to fight wildlife crime and put an end to the key drivers threatening the wild cats around the world. The meeting held this week in Saint Petersburg saw the governments of 13 Tiger Range Countries agree to double tiger numbers by 2022 and the heads of...

The main greenhouse gases have reached their highest concentration levels since pre-industrial times, a United Nations climate research body said today. The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) 2009 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin warns that carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have all increased their presence, increasing their burden on the earth’s atmosphere. “Greenhouse gas concentrations have reached record levels despite the economic slowdown. They would have been even higher without the international action taken...

The MMRDA is in the process of signing an MoU with the Regional Centre for Urban & Environmental Studies (RCUES) to prepare a Human Development Report on the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). United Nations Development Programme has also agreed to be associated with the report. The scope of work for the RCUES would be introducing geography of MMR, demographics, economic dimensions, health, education, housing and shelter, quality of life and environment....

Six years after a Human Development Report on Gujarat was published, the state government has embarked on another survey for a similar report, albeit district-wise, whose publication date is yet to be decided. So far, study reports on five districts — Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Sabarkantha, Dangs and Surat — have been submitted whose drafts have been reviewed and sent back to the authors for consideration. G K Vyas, Director, Human Development, said that...