Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Govt taps ADB on tourism

Dispur has sought help from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to improve tourism after the sector was accorded top priority by the new Congress government in the state.

Principal secretary, tourism, Assam, H.S. Das, said a project proposal was sent to the ADB, which has given a positive nod, at a seminar on tourism yesterday. The seminar was attended by leading tour operators of the state and tourism officials.

The ADB will study the proposal in detail to find out whether it suits its scheme of assistance.

At present, Sikkim is the only state in the Northeast to have... Read more..

Puma Releases Initial Results from Environmental P&L

Sport and lifestyle brand Puma released initial results from its groundbreaking effort to develop an Environmental Profit & Loss (EP&L) statement for the company’s operations, valuing its environmental impact at EUR 94.4 million.
 
This innovative accounting establishes an economic valuation of EUR 94.4 million for the environmental impacts caused by Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and water consumption along the company’s value chain.
 
The direct ecological impact of operations translates to the equivalent of EUR 7.2 million of the overall impact valuation... Read more..

Aditya Birla group, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel & Power and others shortlisted for Bandanna Energy bid

India's Aditya Birla, JSW Steel and Jindal Steel & Power are among firms shortlisted to bid for Australian coal explorer Bandanna Energy in a potential billion-dollar-plus sale, sources said.

A number of Chinese firms were also in the race, the sources familiar with the deal told Reuters.

One source said China's CITIC Resources Holdings and a subsidiary of China Coal had made it to the second round of the sale process.

Peabody Energy, Xstrata and Wesfarmers also expressed interest, but it was unclear whether their bids had advanced, the source said.

... Read more..

Two villages to get solar power

Karanje and Mayre, two remote villages near Joida taluk in Uttara Kannada district, will get solar power from Sunday. The villages are being covered under Jyotirgamaya project of Freemasonry Society, an international charity organization.

The villages are located 140km from Belgaum and 45km west of Joida. Mayre has 23 houses with 101 population, while Karanje has 57 houses with 400 population. The villagers travel to Goa, Kumbharwada and Joida for work. Their other problem is the lack of road access during monsoon.

Society's Grand Lodge of India project aims at ensuring power... Read more..

Efforts on to strengthen energy, infrastructure: PM

The government today said it has continued its efforts to strengthen the country's energy and infrastructure sectors, which have been identified as key areas for India's economic growth momentum going forward.

"We continued our efforts at strengthening the energy and infrastructure sector during 2010-11," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in the UPA government's 'Report to the People'.

Notably, the country has achieved record capacity addition in the power and the renewable energy sectors.

Singh, further said that in the power sector the country saw a record capacity... Read more..

World Bank, Himachal sign carbon credit agreement

 World Bank on Sunday signed an agreement with Himachal Pradesh government for what is to be the world's largest and India's first clean development mechanism (CDM) project. Under this, the bank will buy carbon credits from the new forests being developed on degraded lands under a watershed management programme.

In presence of chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, the agreement was signed by Hurber Nove Josserand, deputy country director, World Bank, on behalf of International Bank for Reconstruction & Development: World Bank Bio Carbon Fund, and Sudripto Roy, additional chief... Read more..

RVCE students develop “Chimera”

A group of students from R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore, have indigenously developed a fuel (hybrid) system for the Reva electric car. The prototype of this hybrid electric car is names as “Chimera,” said a press release. The group has worked in conjunction with REVA Electric Car Company, National Instruments and Bosch India to conceptualise a fully automated series plug in a hybrid vehicle.

This concept, the release states, uses an IC engine to charge the batteries, both of which are present on board the vehicle. The batteries are, in turn, used to power a DC traction motor... Read more..

Alva favours use of hydropower as safe, clean form of energy

Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva today said hydropower is the safest, cleanest and the most acceptable out of all other power generation methods such as thermal and nuclear.

She was speaking as the chief guest at the First Sustainable Mountain Development Summit-2011, a conclave of eleven Indian Mountain states, with the theme 'Hydropower Projects in the Mountain Region. The Summit is being organised by the Central Himalayan Environment Association (CHEA) under its Indian Mountain Initiative programme.

In her speech, Ms Alva stressed that small dams, check-dams; wind and... Read more..

Environment & Forests Ministry to Organize Stakeholders’ Consultations and to Launch UN Decade on Biodiversity for Asia and Pacific

India is hosting the eleventh Conference of the Parties (CoP-11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the sixth Conference of the Parties serving as Meeting of the Parties (CoP/MoP-6) to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to be held on 1-19 October, 2012. 
The Ministry of Environment & Forests is organizing Stakeholders’ Consultations and launching the UN Decade on Biodiversity for Asia and Pacific on 23rd May, 2011 in New Delhi.  The event will be presided over by Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Environment and Forests.  Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary... Read more..

Viable sites to be found

The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is establishing seven Solar Insolation Monitoring Systems in the State to identify viable locations for installing solar power projects. While four are coming up in the southern areas of Kayathar, Ramanathapuram, Karaikudi, and Tiruchi, the other three would be at Chennai, Erode, and Vellore.

The project is being implemented through Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA), which would collect the data and analyse it.

S.E.S. Syed Ahamed, Deputy General Manager, TEDA Madurai Region, which comprised 11 southern and... Read more..

Climate change creates socio-economic stress on community: Dr Assadi

Climate change has led to a large number of socio-economic implications on the community, observed Dr Muzaffar H Assadi, Professor in Political Science, University of Mysore. Such disasters have resulted in social dislocations, he added. 

 
He was addressing participants of state level workshop on 'climate change and possible solutions', organized by Citizens' Global Platform (CGP), Karnataka unit at Dhwanyaloka here recently.

Climate change is a cumulative result of exploitative practices of multinational companies.
Most of our forests have been destroyed by the... Read more..

Focus on better water use in desert State

The significance of water policy and the action plan formulated for its implementation in Rajasthan were highlighted at a meeting organised at Sinchai Bhavan here on Wednesday with a call to the water resources officers to make all efforts for achieving the targets.

Principal Water Resources Secretary Ram Lubhaya, presiding over the meeting, pointed out that water in 12 of the 14 basins in the State was inadequate during the summer season, while a better coordination was needed among different wings of the department for water conservation and optimum utilisation.

“Increasing... Read more..