I have just returned from attending the second Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum in Bangkok on March 12-13. It was supposed to have been held in October 2011 but had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the floods that devastated Bangkok at that time. It was jointly organised by the United Nations

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In a series of articles over the last several decades, I have reported on the major first-order role of land use change as a regional and global climate forcing. A sample of the papers we have authored on this subject include: Pielke, R.A. and R. Avissar, 1990: Influence of landscape structure on  local and regional

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Very few faces are as closely linked with the American debate over climate change as Michael Mann’s. The Pennsylvania State University climate scientist is one of the authors of the famous “hockey stick” graph, a chart showing reconstructed temperature records stretching back 1,000 years. The graph swings upward sharply post-industrial revolution, looking a bit like

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Federal cabinet has approved national policy on natural disaster management. Under the policy, effective measures will be taken and arrangements made to cope with natural calamities. Session of the cabinet was held in the PM Secretariat, Islamabad. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani chaired the meeting. The cabinet approved the national disaster management policy which

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A caste system operates where the technical assistants do a lot of the boring dirty work essential for the progress of the project Professor Khadg Singh Valdiya is a well known geoscientist working at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre in Bangalore. His recent article in the 25 February 2012 of Current Science is a lament on

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Gross National Happiness (GNH), a concept largely identified with Brand Bhutan, is set to become a key referent point in shaping Bhutan’s economic and development policies. This became evident during a recent speech delivered by Prime Minister Thinley on February 10, 2012. The speech was on the relevance of GNH and in response to the

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