The key message of the book is that agriculture in South Asia is quite heavily stressed due to A complex set of socio-economic, agro-climatic, and hydrological factors WATER, AGRICULTURE AND SUSTAINABLE WELL-BEING: Edited by Unai Pascual, Amita Shah, Jayanta Bandyopadhyay; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 750. “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less...

In energy infrastructure alone, the transformational ambitions the Copenhagen meet is expected to set will cost more than $10 trillion in additional investment.  If negotiators reach an accord at the climate talks in Copenhagen it will entail profound shifts in energy production, dislocations in how and where people live, sweeping changes in agriculture and forestry and the creation of complex new markets in global warming pollution credits. So what is...

Around 80 per cent of global trade is transported by sea but challenging times are ahead for the shipping industry, which is faced with a surge in the supply of vessels and tumbling freight rates amid the economic crisis, says a report released today by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The agency’s Review of Maritime Transport 2009, known as RMT, notes that international seaborne trade grew...

Recently there has been considerable media discussion about the issue of rise in prices of essential commodities and the problem of food inflation. In a country like India, where the cost of food forms major part of the monthly or daily expenditure incurred by an average family, this is a debate which acquires poignant significance. This is a government that came into power based on a concern for and commitment...

The G8 countries have promised to increase the spending on agricultural development by $20 billion over the next three years. The amount is woefully less than the $44 billion that will be needed each year to end malnutrition.  At the world leaders’ meeting in Copenhagen, it is imperative that governments pledge to adopt up-to-date technologies to boost food production as well as outweigh the negative impacts of climate change. A...