-Down to Earth A Rajasthan village has cylindrical houses that help people cope with extreme weather events It is a chilly December evening in Barmer. The average minimum temperature has dropped to 5° Celsius in this sandy district of western Rajasthan, which borders Pakistan. But thanks to his house, Dayam Khan, a Manganiyar, one of Rajasthan's many communities of traditional musicians, does not need an electric heater or a stove to keep...

-The Business Standard Does the Indian government's loud voice in international negotiations lead to results? At the recent Word Trade Organisation (WTO) meet in Bali, the Indian government went, with all guns blazing, to defend the rights of the country's farmers and to secure food security for millions of poor people. It opposed the Agreement on Agriculture, which limits government food procurement to 10 per cent of the value of total...

-IPS News Bhubaneswar: More than a month after Cyclone Phailin battered Orissa, tribes in the eastern Indian coastal state are still feeling its wrath. Besides the damage to their homes and hearths, it has also meant a loss of their traditional food. "Calamities like Cyclone Phailin affect all equally, but the tribes are far more vulnerable to the impact of calamities because of lesser resilience," Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Mahapatra tells IPS. This...

-The Guardian Developing countries threaten to walk out of UN talks in Warsaw over failure to reach agreement on financial recompense The proposal by developing countries that their wealthier counterparts be held financially responsible for the damage incurred by extreme climate events such as typhoon Haiyan and droughts in Africa has become the most explosive issue at the UN's climate change conference in Warsaw. With neither side prepared to give way on...

-The Hindu Warsaw: The G77+China group of 133 countries walked out of negotiations on Loss and Damage at around 3:30 am on Wednesday morning after the rich countries refused to budge from the position that the subject should be discussed only after 2015. The US, Australia and Canada have been the most vocal and trenchant advocates against setting up a separate mechanism on Loss and Damage while the EU, though not belligerent,...