The environment in the news thursday, 19 June 2008
General environment news Centre formulating action plan on climate change
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- China rushes to repair dams; 9,000 square miles flooded
- Floods leave 300,000 homeless in Indias east
General environment newsCentre formulating action plan on climate change18 Jun, 2008, 1934 hrs IST, PTI BANGALORE: The Centre is formulating a national action plan to find out measures to help adapt to consequence of climate change, Shyam Saran, special envoy of the Prime Minister said here on Wednesday. "The plan will look at science behind the phenomenon of climate change, risks it poses to the country and to achievement of its economic and social development objectives", Saran said at the Clean Air Summit being held here. The plan, expected to be released by the Prime Minister later this month, was formulated after deliberating with the academic institutions who are studying the subject closely. "There will also be a strategy to enable India to pursue, in a significantly enhanced manner, sustainable development, which means a development pattern that assumes a graduated shift from fossil fuels to non-fossil fuels, non-renewable to renewable sources of energy and conventional to non-conventional sources of energy", he said. "This would enable the country to stabilise its greenhouse gas emissions at a lower and more sustainable level and eventually reduce them significantly", he said, adding the national action plan will also contain mechanisms for implementation of various policy measures. "We envisage a key role for private sector and would welcome public-private partnerships to achieve the objectives of the plan", he said. There will also be an acknowledgement that in several areas reliance on market mechanisms may be more efficient in delivering results than administrative processes. "There will be a focus on improving fuel efficiency and emissions standards for vehicular traffic and for promotion of mass public transportation in general", he said. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Centre_formulating_action_plan_on_climate_change/articleshow/3142632.cms .................................................................... China rushes to repair dams; 9,000 square miles floodedBy John Ruwitch, Reuters FENGKOU, China -- China has posted hundreds of police and rescue officials to shore up dams threatening to burst under torrential rain that has already flooded thousands of square miles of crops and homes. The rain and floods, concentrated in the southern industrial hub of Guangdong, have killed at least 171 people and left 52 missing since the start of the annual flood season and forecasters have warned of more downpours in coming days. More than 750 government officials and police had been sent to conduct rescue work for six reservoirs in "danger of bursting" in southern Guangxi region, Xinhua news agency said. Some 3,000 people had already been evacuated downstream from a reservoir with a capacity of 1.8 million cubic meters, the agency said. More than 1.66 million people have been evacuated across nine provinces and regions in southern China since major flooding started 11 days ago. Families were perched on the roofs of homes flooded up to the first floor ceiling, enduring the latest in a series of disasters in Beijing's Olympic year after record snowstorms in January and February and the devastating May 12 earthquake. Rain-triggered floods have toppled 134,000 houses, damaged or destroyed 2.32 million hectares (9,000 square miles) of crops and caused economic losses of 27.7 billion yuan (US$4 billion). China's meteorological bureau forecast storms in western Guangdong and southern Guangxi and warned authorities to halt outdoor work and guard against damaged electric cables. Water levels in the swollen Xijiang and Beijiang rivers in Guangdong were subsiding slowly, but rain forecast over the next three days would provide renewed risk of flooding, Xinhua said. Heavy rains forecast for neighboring Fujian province could also "cause geological disasters". Provincial water authorities earlier reported the Pearl River Delta, a major exporting base, had suffered its greatest flooding in 50 years. Sherman Chan, an Australia-based economist with Moodys.com, said the economic cost would be measured not only in the direct damage and lost output in the flooded areas, but also in worsening food price inflation across the country. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/china/national%20news/2008/06/19/161640/China-rushes.htm .................................................................... Floods leave 300,000 homeless in India's eastIndian soldiers have evacuated thousands of stranded people from submerged villages as floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains swept across the country's east and north-east. More than 300,000 people have lost their homes so far, and are scattered between camps, highways and makeshift shelters on higher ground, officials said. Rising river waters have broken through mud embankments and flooded vast areas. "Flood waters have submerged thousands of acres of land, disrupted electricity, roads and rail communication in many districts," S Barai, a senior state government official said in Bhubaneswar, capital of the eastern state of Orissa. Hundreds of people are camping on highways and authorities have asked them to move to higher ground, saying the weather could worsen in the next few days. Others are stranded. "We are not able to move out of our homes, because the roads are cut off since last night in our town," Mohhammed Rafiq Khan, a resident of the worst-hit Balasore district said. In the neighbouring state of West Bengal, soldiers used speedboats to help evacuate flood victims. Monsoon rains have also lashed India's remote north-east, killing at least 30 people in the region since the weekend. In tea-rich Assam state, thousands of people were still living in waist-deep water. Officials said teams of doctors and paramedics had been sent to flood-hit areas. "Although there are no reports of any outbreak of diseases, we are taking no chances," Assam's Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. Assam accounts for about 55 per cent of India's tea production, but officials said they were still to get reports of rains affecting the tea trade. – Reuters http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/19/2279123.htm?section=world …………………………………………… Directory: cpi -> briefs briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news Download 257.69 Kb. Share with your friends:
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