World

The battles of yesterday were fought over land. Those of today are over energy. But the battles of tomorrow may be over water. Nowhere is that danger greater than in water-distressed Asia.

This integrates the third edition, which was published in 2004, with both the first addendum to the third edition, published in 2006, and the second addendum to the third edition, published in 2008. It supersedes previous editions of the Guidelines and previous International Standards. 

This edition of the Guidelines further develops concepts, approaches and information introduced in previous editions, including the comprehensive preventive risk management approach for ensuring drinking-water quality.

This report by the Strategic Foresight Group is a follow-up to its earlier report The Himalayan Challenge: Water Security in Emerging Asia, 2010 . The growing water stress, plans for dams on shared rivers, and uncertainties about the precise impact of climate change have brought water to the forefront of the political agenda of countries in the Himalayan River Basins.

The report recommends policy options for national governments as well as strategies which can be implemented by local authorities and community groups in a politically viable manner. Some of the ideas may on the surface appear to be addressing micro-level issues. However, such micro-level issues do have an important bearing on security at the macro-level in a large continent such as Asia. This is the experience of many other regions as well, as illustrated in several of the chapters in this report.

The objective of this report is to explore how river basins in the Himalayan region, and particularly shared water resources, can foster cooperation and security between Bangladesh, China, India and Nepal. The conventional view is that depleting water resources, growing problem of pollution, uncertain risks posed by climate change together may lead to competition for resources, migration, social instability, internal conflicts and diplomatic tensions between countries. This view is realistic and was discussed in detail in a previous report of Strategic Foresight Group. It has contributed to spreading the awareness of security risks associated with water crisis in the Himalayan region.

National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in association with University of Liverpool (UK) is conducting online survey on the functioning of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in India and the UK. The purpose of the survey is to reflect on the experiences of professionals with EIA in the past and also to look ahead to the future role of EIA.

The first three parts of the survey is based on what your experiences of EIA are while the fourth part relates to what EIA should be like. The survey is anonymous and completing it will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes of your time. Please note the ‘save’ option in the survey does not actually let you save and come back to the survey later.

 An important aim of this guide is to facilitate the implementation of UNEP’s overarching Ecosystem Management Programme and new Marine and Coastal Strategy in countries and regions in line with its Medium Term Strategy 2010-13.

The goal of Film Southasia, an organisation within Himal Southasian magazine, set up in 1997 when the first edition of the festival of southasian documentaries was organised, is to popularise the documentary so that it entertains, informs and changes lives.

The Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP) supports developing world journalism and perspectives from the heart of the international climate negotiations. The CCMP encourages public debate and scrutiny on climate change issues in the media at the local, national and international levels.

CCMP is proud to announce the launch of a fellowship programme that will send journalists to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban (COP17)to be held during November 28 - December 9, 2011 .

Introduction: Energy versus emissions: The big challenge of the new millennium
By Rakesh Kalshian
To maintain its economic growth rate of 8-10%, India needs all the energy it can get. But the momentum of economic growth overrides crucial environmental concerns.

Hotting up: The science and politics of climate change
By Aditi Sen
The world is hotting up. Climate systems are changing. The 1990s were the hottest decade ever, sea levels rose by 10-20 cm during the 20th century, and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are 31% higher than in 1750.

The Postcode Lottery Green Challenge is for people who can instigate change – creative, innovative thought leaders and their organisations.

The Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, an initiative of the Dutch Postcode Lottery, calls on creative, innovative thinkers around the world to submit ideas for green products and services. This is an international competition that welcome ideas for sustainable, creative and innovative products and services. The winning inventions must reduce CO2 output and be realisable within two years.