UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on Monday for leaders in Asia to bolster efforts towards finding a peaceful solution to the bloody crisis in Myanmar, sparked by the military coup in February
India's Fast Breeder Reactor: A Civilisational Bet on Nuclear Self-Reliance and Sustainability
The reactor that has now gone critical at Kalpakkam, on the Bay of Bengal coastline in Tamil Nadu, is not the end of that journey. It is, more precisely, the end of the beginning. The real test is whether India can now scale fast breeder capacity rapidly enough to make a material difference to its energy-mix building on the Kalpakkam template, the industrial supply chains it has validated, and the engineering confidence it has earned.
Dying Rivers, Disappearing Species: Zoological Cost of Pollution in Pakistan and India
The Indus and the Ganges are dying slowly, and with them disappear species that evolved over thousands of years within these waters. If current patterns continue, future generations may inherit rivers that exist geographically but are biologically empty. South Asia still has an opportunity to reverse this trajectory, but only if environmental protection becomes a shared regional priority rather than an afterthought.
Climate Migration: The Next Global Humanitarian Crisis?
Climate migration isn’t just about the loss of land. It is about the loss of memory, culture and home. When people are driven out of the places where they were born, few things that matter are merely economic. Over the next decades, the world will confront a fundamental dilemma. Can humankind handle the climate crisis in a surer way? Or will the future consist of millions searching for a new place to call home?
India Should Scale up its Fast Breeder Reactor Program to Meet Rising Energy Needs
The constraint on India’s expansion is fissile inventory, particularly between 2035-2045. At present, the breeder program depends on plutonium from a limited set of eight unsafeguarded reactors. Meanwhile, India has accumulated spent fuel from uranium imported for its safeguarded reactors. This significant plutonium is lying idle because we lack safeguarded reprocessing facilities.
More on Climate, Sustainability and Energy
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The Earth’s temperature continues to rise unabated, with 2020 being one of the three warmest years on record, as extreme weather events combine with the COVID-19 pandemic, impacting millions
Concerted action needed across borders to tackle diverse challenges: Jaishankar
Underlining that the world order built after the Second World War was under ‘serious stress’, India on Monday called for coordinated and concerted action across borders to tackle diverse challenges like terrorism, radicalisation, drug trafficking and organised crime
Guterres urges cities to embrace ‘generational opportunity’ for climate action, sustainable development
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a “revolution” in urban planning and urban transport to beat back the impacts of climate change and build a green and sustainable future for all
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The COVID-19 pandemic is leading to “an even more unequal world”, the Deputy UN chief said on Thursday, speaking at the closing session of the Financing for Development (FfD) Forum, with many lower-income countries now seeing development gains reversed
UN satisfied with relocation of Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island
The team of the United Nations who had visited Bhasan Char island - the new site for the relocation of 100,000 Rohingya refugees - has expressed its satisfaction with the facilities developed by the Bangladesh government
UN Security Council hearing on sexual violence in conflict
“Prevention is the best and only cure” to stem the multiple, devastating and enduring consequences faced by survivors of sexual violence in conflict, especially as a brutal tactic of war, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday
Museums must not be overlooked in pandemic recovery, UNESCO chief warns
Faced with alarming and extended closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s museums are of “fundamental importance” to reviving cultural life and preserving our shared heritage “in all its diversity”, said the UN cultural agency chief on Tuesday
As Biden sets new 9/11 withdrawal deadline, India invited to Afghan peace meet in Istanbul
India has been invited to an Afghanistan peace conference in Turkey to back up the slowed down negotiations in Qatar between the Taliban and the Kabul government ahead of a delayed US withdrawal from that country, according to diplomatic sources
COVID complicates efforts to shut down drug traffickers: UNODC
The growing complexities of the world drug problem are hampering efforts to achieve sustainable development by the end of the decade: a situation which the COVID-19 pandemic has only compounded, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said on Monday
Guterres calls for ‘paradigm shift’ to recover from COVID setbacks
A “paradigm shift” aligning the private sector with the global goals is needed to address the challenges of the future, including those triggered by COVID-19, the UN chief said on Monday, addressing the Financing for Development (FfD) Forum
Pakistan highlights socio-economic fallout of pandemic at ECOSOC session
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged creditors to provide debt suspension, relief and liquidity to help developing nations cope with the negative economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Project to help 30 developing countries tackle marine litter scourge
An UN-backed initiative aims to turn the tide on marine litter, in line with the global development goal on conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources
Why we should support refugee athletes at Tokyo Olympics: UNHCR
Ahead of Tokyo 2021, it’s never been more important to support the refugee athletes who have escaped conflict and persecution and who continue to train, despite the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic
UNICEF head for simplifying COVID vaccine intellectual property rights for universal availability
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore has called for simplifying intellectual property rights governing COVID-19 vaccines in order to make them universally available but expressed reservations about completely suspending the patents during the pandemic as demanded by India and South Africa
