Unsustainable growth, population, urbanisation & consumption increase impact region's environment

Emissions in India and China is set to rise as the Asia-Pacific region faces mounting challenges in tackling climate change, water scarcity, species extinction and hazardous waste and their economies forge ahead, a UN report has warned. The region needs to improve governance structures and accountability and scale up successful policy initiatives to achieve sustainable development, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a report.

After the pet project of the former President PURA (provision of urban amenities in rural areas) failed to take off, the Centre has restructured it into PURA 2.0 to focus on rapidly urbanising rural areas, which are not being administered by municipal bodies. Unveiling PURA 2.0, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said the scheme would focus on Trishanku, a term he coined to describe neither rural nor urban, areas.

The Lakshadweep group of islands, one of the most biologically diverse and fragile environments in India, is under pressure from population, urbanisation, development of tourism, unregulated construction, pollution, and land use changes.

A study on the state of the environment of the union territory, conducted by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), has found that rising sea level and climate change are as much of a threat as human activities to the archipelago comprising corals, lagoons, sea grass, beaches, and sand dunes.

This year, World Environment Day comes at a time when India’s growth story has run into trouble.

The Sri Lankan government is to finalize the construction of the first phase of the Colombo-Kandy highway in two months.

The people in Keraniganj on Friday protested at a reported move to acquire land for building a mega city project at Teguria in Keraniganj upazila.