The UN’s trade and development body has downgraded its global economic growth projection for 2022 to 2.6% from 3.6% due to the Ukraine war and to changes in macroeconomic policies made by countries in
Some of the major airlines of the world seem to be lately realizing the adverse role of their big passenger jets on climate changes resulting in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the engine-exhausts into the earth's atmosphere. In this context Virgin Atlantic's first flight of a commercial aircraft powered with biofuel from London to Amsterdam on February 24, 2008 to show it can produce less carbon dioxide than normal jet fuels was an appreciable endeavour. This particular flight was partially fueled with a biofuel mixture of coconut and babassu oil in one of its four main fuel tanks and is expected to produce much less CO2 than regular jet fuel. Since aircraft engines emit gases and particulates that reduce air quality, spearheading the test flight was indeed a potentially useful experiment aimed at cutting down emission of greenhouse gases. A few weeks prior to this, an airbus A 380 too had taken off on a similar test sortie, powered on a blend of regular fuel and liquid fuel processed from natural gas with the hope that the super jumbo will become a centerpiece of efforts to develop the next generation of cleaner fuel. Besides, Air France-KLM is reported to invest almost US$3 billion a year until 2020 to modernize its fleet with the aim of cutting pollution. Several other airlines have also pledged to clean up their fleets as fears about global warming and fuel costs have mounted. Usually, people form their opinion on the adverse impact of air pollution by observing petrol and diesel-driven vehicles leave harmful trails of smoke on the roads. However, the great damage being done by thousands of air turbine fuel (ATF) guzzling aeroplanes that release tonnes hazardous fumes into our biosphere daily goes unnoticed. The increasing size of aircraft, the emission of black smoke during take-off, and the density of air traffic at major airports, have drawn environmentalists' attention to pollution by aircraft. A loaded jumbo 747, for instance, uses tens of thousands of litres of fuel on merely take-off. Further pollution by aircraft arises from the jettisoning of spare fuel after being airborne. Under such circumstances, it must be released at a height sufficient to allow it to vaporize so that it does not reach the ground in liquid form. Commercial jet planes make a significant contribution to the problem of global warming. According to a UN report, aviation is responsible for over half of the pollution caused by transportation on the surface. Scientists estimate that the effect of aviation emissions on the climate is up to five times the impact of emissions occurring on the ground. The primary gas emitted by jet aircraft engines is carbon dioxide, which, scientists believe, can survive in the atmosphere up to 100 years. It means denying the coming generations from living in a world where they can breathe clean air, enjoy diverse ecosystems and eat healthy food. In India the number of passenger and freight aircraft flown by private airlines is fast multiplying. Similarly, the Indian Air Force, currently in aircraft acquisition mode, is likely to increase its flying operations in the coming years. Its increasing use of supersonic combat aircraft flying at high altitudes may lead to increasing pollution of the upper air, where pollutants may accumulate since natural dispersion at such heights is not very effective. This development is going to be a major contributory factor in the destruction of ozone and the accumulation of green house gases in the upper layers of the atmosphere. It is estimated that one multi-engine passenger aircraft is being added every fortnight to the fleets of India's domestic carriers that are engaged in cutthroat competition to fly to the remotest corners of the country. As a result, the number of aircraft flying the Indian skies has gone up considerably. Here, one must not forget the domain of military aviation, Air Force, Army, Navy and the coast guard, where more than 1,000 fighter jets, transport planes and helicopters are kept aloft in routinely scheduled day and night flying. As per the estimates, the movement of aircraft in Indian airspace is growing at an annual rate of 15 per cent. Incidentally, kerosene happens to be the principal component of ATF. It is used as a propellant in modern commercial as well as military aircraft. Like other fossil fuels, kerosene produces carbon dioxide and water vapour on combustion. As the combustion process can not be said to be entirely efficient, carbon monoxide and oxygenated organic compounds, that are the products of partial oxidation, are emitted into the upper layers of the atmosphere. Hence, the extremely harmful environmental impact of pollutants left behind by aircraft engine exhaust fumes should be a great cause of concern for enlightened citizens. Though the International Civil Aviation Organisation (IACO), a UN body is reportedly supposed to regulate aircraft engine emissions by setting emission certification standards for all aircraft but it more or less appears to be an exercise on paper. In December 2007, the UN Climate Conference in Bali, Indonesia negotiated a new climate policy to chart out long term goal for global green house gas emissions. The world will not be able to realise these objectives unless technological breakthroughs are achieved in drastically reducing exhaust emissions from commercial as well as military aircraft gas turbine engines. This will necessitate a global effort in finding alternative jet fuels and developing engines that burn existing fuels more slowly.
The United Nations has praised the "swift and comprehensive' measures taken by India to bring under control the "worst-ever' outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal, while urging the country to maintain vigilance in view of similar incidents reported in its neighbourhood. Culling The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation's veterinary expert Mohinder Oberoi said intensive culling in the predominantly backyard poultry sector of West Bengal appeared to have stopped the disease in its tracks. Mr. Oberoi made the comment after a recent field trip to the affected areas, where no new outbreaks have been reported since February 2. FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech, however, urged the country to maintain intensive surveillance in high-risk areas as the possibility of new occurrences remained high. "The virus could still be present in the environment despite heavy slaughtering and extensive disinfection of affected areas, or it could be reintroduced from other countries,' he said. Praised The officials praised the national and State governments' political and financial commitment to stamp out the disease. They said public awareness campaigns, a strong command chain from districts to villages, compensation payments and an effective collaboration between animal and human health departments at field level were the key factors for the success.
Over 55 per cent of Indians will live in urban areas by 2050, a big change from now when only about 30 per cent of the country's population is urban, according to projections in a United Nations report. In terms of numbers, over 900 million people in India will be living in urban centres in another 40 years, three times the over-300 million urbandwellers today. However, India will still not be as urbanised as China where the number of people living in cities will go up to 70 per cent from the current 40 per cent. India will remain the country with the largest rural population during most of the future decades, according to the 2007 Revision of World Urbanisation Prospects released by the UN on Tuesday. By 2025, Chennai will be another mega city of over 10 million people, besides Mumbai with 26.4 million (up from 18 million in 2005), Delhi at 22.5 million (up from 16 million) and Kolkata with 20.5 million residents (up from 14 million). The population growth in many second tier cities will even be high er. In Ahmedabad by 2025, the population will grow to 7.7 million, up 50 per cent from the current 5.1 million. In Pune, 6.8 million people will live by then, a growth of 60 per cent from the current 4.4 million. Migration from rural to urban areas would continue despite attempts by the country's planners to prevent people from moving to cities, said Hania Zlotnik, director of department of economic and social affairs' population divi sion, while releasing the report in New York. Ms Zlotnik said Indian planners should try to promote economic development in rural areas. But improving agriculture and establishment of agroindustries would mean fewer people would be needed in that sector, pushing excess labour to the non-farm sector in the cities. She outlined two scenarios - either people would migrate to cities such as Mumbai, or one-time rural areas would transition into urban centres by generating other activities as has been happening in China. The annual population growth in India's rural areas has been declining since reaching a peak of 1.9 per cent during 1980-85. It will record negative growth by 2025. In comparison, the urban growth rate reached a peak of 3.9 percent during 1975-80 and has been declining since, yet will remain above two per cent till 2040. Projecting for the world, the UN report said half the global population would live in cities by the end of this year, for the first time in human history. Their number would rise to 70 per cent by 2050, most of that growth being concentrated in Asia and Africa. The number of mega cities is expected to double from the current 20 to 40 by year 2025. The greatest expansion, however, would happen not in metropolises but in cities with populations of less than 500,000 and even some of the rural areas will graduate into urban areas. The report notes that its projections will be realised only if fertility rates in the developing world continue to decline.
Half of them will live in urban areas by end of 2008:U.N. Half the world's people will live in urban areas by the end of this year and about 70 per cent will be city dwellers by 2050, with cities and towns in Asia and Africa registering the biggest growth, according to new U.N. projections. But India is expected to urbanise at a significantly lower rate than China, and is expected to remain the country with the largest rural population during coming decades. The report predicts that there will be 27 "megacities' with at least 10 million population by mid-century compared to 19 today, but it forecasts that at least half the urban growth in the coming decades will be in the many smaller cities with less than 500,000 people. According to the latest U.N. estimate last year, world population is expected to increase from 6.7 billion in 2007 to 9.2 billion in 2050. During the same time period, the report said, the population living in urban areas is projected to rise from 3.3 billion to 6.4 billion. "Thus, the urban areas of the world are expected to absorb all the population growth expected over the next four decades while at the same time drawing in some of the rural population,' the report said. "As a result, the world rural population is projected to start decreasing in about a decade, and 600 million fewer rural inhabitants are expected in 2050 than today.' The report stresses that these projections will take place only if the number of children in families in the developing world continues to decline, especially in Africa and Asia. Hania Zlotnik, head of the U.N. Population Division, expressed the hope that increasing urbanisation "will go hand in hand with economic growth.' She said more than 70 per cent of the population in Europe, North America, and many other richer developed countries already live in urban areas. But only 39 per cent of Africans and 41 per cent of Asians lived in urban areas last year . "During 2008, for the first time in history, the proportion of the population living in urban areas will reach 50 per cent,' it said. By mid-century, Asia is projected to see its urban population increase by 1.8 billion, Africa by 900 million, and Latin America and the Caribbean by 200 million, it said. China at this moment is 40 per cent urban, Ms. Zlotnik said. The U.N. expects its urban population to reach more than 70 per cent by 2050 , she said. By contrast India, currently has just over 300 million urban residents, or 29 per cent of its population living in urban areas, Ms. Zlotnik said, and by 2050 it is expected to have only 55 per cent of its population, about 900 million, in cities. "So India is expected to urbanise much less than China, and therefore it is expected to remain the country with the largest rural population during most of the future decades.'
As it hurts agricultural productivity and environment, climate change could also have an adverse impact on the quality of life of farmers and tourism industry, particularly in the developing countries. Climate change will have a telling impact on the farmers. It will be harder for them to carry on in the increased temperatures, Mr M.V.K. Sivakumar, Chief of Agricultural Meteorology Division, WMO (World Meteorological Organisation), told Business Line. Recognising this, the WMO and UN Habitat (the UN body on human settlements) have started working to address this issue, he said.
2008 has been declared the year of the potato by the un. You can expect lots of new research projects, films and exhibitions on one of the most important staple crops. Over the years, breeders have
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