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A new study has raised concerns over forest carbon projects across Southeast Asia, warning that schemes designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are struggling to deliver social protections and biodiversity benefits. Despite their promise as tools to combat climate change, weak governance, insecure land rights and fragmented policy frameworks are limiting their success. Researchers examined 170 social science reports on forest carbon programs, including REDD+ initiatives, and found repeated shortcomings. Projects often prioritize carbon profits over community rights, and in many cases, Indigenous peoples have faced harassment, legal challenges and loss of access to traditional lands. One prominent example is Cambodia’s Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, where communities reported crop des...

Throwing plastic bottles, cups or wrappers into a recycling bin may feel like the right thing to do, but experts say this habit will not solve the world’s growing plastic pollution problem. According to environmental researchers, recycling has been promoted for decades as a solution, yet it has failed to stop the rising tide of plastic waste harming ecosystems, wildlife, and human health. In the United States, less than six percent of plastic waste is actually recycled, a figure that surprises many consumers who have been encouraged for years to separate their trash and believe their efforts make a significant difference. Former officials and environmental groups say this belief was never entirely true. Instead, they argue that major fossil fuel and chemical companies intentionally prom...

New Delhi: Air quality in the national capital deteriorated sharply on Tuesday evening, pushing several parts of the city back into the hazardous category. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board showed a rapid rise in pollution levels over the last forty-eight hours, with nineteen out of thirty-nine monitoring stations recording air quality in the “severe” range. By 9 p.m., Delhi registered an Air Quality Index reading of 390, a steep increase from 304 on Monday and 279 on Sunday. The areas showing the highest concentration of pollutants included Burari, Anand Vihar, Mundka, Bawana, Rohini, Vivek Vihar, Punjabi Bagh, Sonia Vihar, and Ashok Vihar. The Air Quality Early Warning System has stated that no immediate relief is expected. According to its forecast, the city’s air qual...

New Delhi - Groundwater contamination in the capital has emerged as a serious public health concern, with the latest Annual Ground Water Quality Report 2025 indicating that between 13-15 % of water samples collected in Delhi were contaminated with uranium above the permissible limit of 30 ppb (parts per billion). The report, released by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, is based on approximately 15,000 amples gathered across India in 2024. It places Delhi as a key hotspot, ranking it among the states with the highest proportion of uranium contamination after Punjab and Haryana. The contamination is part of a larger trend in northwestern India, with Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and parts of Rajasthan and UP emerging as the main uranium hotspot. The CGW...

Gurugram - Residents in several sectors of Gurugram have been urged to conserve water as the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has announced a 48 hour suspension of water supply starting Wednesday, December 3. The disruption, which commenced at 11 AM on December 3 and will conclude at 11AM on December 5, is necessary to facilitate essential maintenance work. This includes the connection of a new 1,600 mm water pipeline at the Sector 51 pumping station and various preventive maintenance activities at the Chandu Budhera water treatment plant (WTP). The following areas will be impacted by the closure: • Sector 37 • All sectors from 42 to 74 • Villages of Badshahpur and Khandsa The GMDA has requested all residents in the affected areas to minimize inconvenien...

    Rome — The global food system is approaching a critical breaking point as agriculture will need to produce approximately 50 percent more food, animal feed and fiber by 2050 than it did in 2012 to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population. This warning comes from the latest edition of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s report, The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2025 (SOLAW 2025). The study highlights severe pressure on natural resources and warns that current farming practices are undermining agriculture’s future ability to sustain food supplies. Released on December 1, the report describes a worsening cycle where land, soil and water are being depleted faster than they can regenerate. As these natural foundations er...

Batangtoru, Indonesia - The death toll from last week's catastrophic floods and landslides in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand has tragically surged past 1,300 with rescue efforts hampered by damaged infrastructure and ongoing severe weather. Authorities confirmed that more than 800 people remain missing across the three nations following days of heavy monsoon rains and cyclones. The confirmed death toll breakdown highlights the immense scale of the disaster: • Indonesia: At least 712 people confirmed dead, with 507 still missing, predominantly on Sumatra island. • Sri Lanka: 410 people confirmed dead, with 336 missing in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah. • Thailand:181 people confirmed dead, after massive floods affected over 1.5 million households. In Sri Lanka, President...

TÜBINGEN, Germany – Scientists are transforming our understanding of prehistory by extracting and sequencing ancient DNA aDNA directly from cave sediments, turning the dirt beneath our feet into a vast "biological time capsule." This advancement, known as palaeogenetics, offers a new way to reconstruct Ice Age ecosystems and human presence without relying on bones or artifacts. The revolution in aDNA analysis, fueled by massive technological leaps in sequencing and robotics, is enabling researchers to ask questions previously impossible, such as whether Neanderthals and modern humans overlapped in the same caves. The Power of Sediment DNA For decades, palaeogenetics depended on the physical remains of humans and animals to sequence genomes, which led to discoveries like the interb...

New Delhi - The Delhi Development Authority DDA is set to initiate a crucial pilot project to channel treated wastewater from the Vasant Kunj Sewage Treatment Plant STP to a dry waterbody in Rangpuri village. This initiative is a core component of the recently released Delhi Drainage Master Plan, which aims to address the city's chronic waterlogging and severely depleted groundwater levels by leveraging natural catchments. The project entails laying ductile iron DI pipelines from the STP in Vasant Kunj's E2 block to the waterbody located at Khasra number 660 in Rangpuri, which remains dry for most of the year. Boosting Groundwater and Easing Flood Pressure The move is a strategic shift from the current practice, where the treated water from the STP is discharged into drainage line...

The fate of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, one of the most vulnerable glacial systems on Earth, has become a central scientific and policy question as global sea levels continue to rise. Researchers agree that the collapse of parts of this ice sheet is now likely, but major uncertainty remains over how quickly it will happen and what that means for communities across the world. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet contains enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by five metres. If that volume were released into the ocean, it would redraw coastlines and threaten major cities including New York, Miami, Houston and New Orleans. An estimated one billion people worldwide live less than ten metres above sea level. The first major warning came in 2014, when NASA announced evidence that severa...