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A new report on the social impacts of the agrofuels boom.
Do the majority of farmers and peasants find themselves being assisted out of poverty? Does the production of soy,sugarcane and palm oil increase employment? Are the crops grown sustainably and without competing with food production? (…)

In failing to tackle climate change with urgency, rich countries are effectively violating the human rights of millions of the world’s poorest people. Continued excessive greenhouse-gas emissions primarily from industrialised nations are – with scientific certainty – creating floods, droughts, (…)

An expert group of the Planning Commission establishes a strong correlation between social unrest and the spread of Naxalism and poverty, landlessness and inequitable management of natural resources
An expert group on development challenges in extremist-affected areas (read: Naxalite-affected (…)

A large body of evidence suggests that rich oil resources obstruct democracy and equitable economic growth in developing countries because of a lack of transparency, and therefore accountability, in oil revenues paid by oil companies to governments.
The human rights implications of the (…)

Electronics equipment waste (“e-waste”) includes discarded computers, computer monitors, television sets, and cell phones. Less than 10% of e-waste is currently recycled. The United States and other developed countries export e-waste primarily to Asia, knowing it carries a real harm to the poor (…)

The publication shows how local residents, workers and the environment pay the price for ArcelorMittal’s success. The compilation contains case studies examining Mittal’s IFC- and EBRD-financed plants in Romania, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan. Download the (…)

Discontent, unrest and agitation engulf the coasts of our country. Fisherpeople, under severe duress, have no other way but to launch a national campaign to conserve the coastal and marine resources and to protect their lives and livelihood. The campaign begins on 1st May 2008. A central (…)

The electronics and information technology industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry. As a consequence of this remarkable growth, combined with the phenomenon of rapid product obsolescence, discarded electronic equipment, or e-waste, is now recognized as the (…)

Both, electronics production and WEEE-recycling have major social impacts on workers, neighbouring communities and the Chinese society: While electronics production is a major driver for the country’s economic development and makes up almost two thirds of the country’s export surplus, the (…)

Climate change is the biggest environmental threat faced by South Asia and may well be the biggest humanitarian and economic challenge that the developing world will have to face in the coming decades. While the world has woken up to the threat of climate change, the true enormity of what this (…)

Now they might start sitting up. They wouldn’t listen to the environmentalists or even the geologists. Can governments ignore the capitalists?
A report published last week by Citibank, and so far unremarked by the media, proposes “genuine difficulties” in increasing the production of crude (…)

In a narrow and formal sense, last month’s Climate Change conference in Bali achieved its objectives. The Kyoto Protocol is due to expire in 2012: the Bali gathering’s purpose was to adopt a roadmap for negotiating a new treaty — and that was done. A new roadmap, called the Bali Action Plan, was (…)

Recent studies on the negative impacts of fossil fuels have contributed to agrofuels becoming one of the most important issues of the day. Currently, the global energy matrix is composed of petroleum (35%), coal (23%), and natural gas (21%). Just ten of the wealthiest countries consume close to (…)

Now that the reality of climate change has been accepted even by its strongest sceptics, there is a rush to find answers. The latest buzz is to substitute the use of greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels with biofuels-fuel processed from plants. Unfortunately, the way we are going about (…)

Researchers from usa and Denmark have confirmed an association between increased exposure to persistent organic pollutants (pops) like polychlorinated biphenyls (pcb) and decreased antibody production in children vaccinated against tetanus and diphtheria. Action against pops was initiated in the (…)

Energy insecurity is India’s latest tryst with her post-liberalised destiny. It began in July 2006. Crude oil prices rose to all time peak, at US $79 a barrel. In India, retail prices of petrol and diesel rose, respectively, 59.6 per cent and 78.8 per cent from 2002 levels. A compelled (…)

The big players in the world seed industry are grumbling about loopholes in the plant variety protection system, which was the alternative to patenting that they set up in the 1960s. The Europeans want to get rid of farmers’ limited entitlement to save seed. The Americans want to restrict the (…)