Cloudburst

Cloudburst is a extreme rainfall that lasts for very few minutes and leave with heavy damage to the land. It differs from rainfall as pouring water shower from sky from a big vessel of water. Imagine the situation and its effects. After this rainfall remains only the flood and chaos. It seems a simple and very few minute disaster but its recovering needs more time.

Bt Brinjal

Bt brinjal is a transgenic brinjal created by inserting a Cry1Ac gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into brinjal. The insertion of the gene, along with other genetic elements like promoters, terminators and an antibiotic resistance marker gene into the brinjal plant is accomplished using Agrobacterium. The cry gene gives the brinjal plant resistance against lepidopteron insects like the Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) and Fruit Borer (Helicoverpa armigera). When the Bt toxin is ingested by the insect it binds to receptors in the insects midgut and then forms pores, ultimately killing the insect. Monsanto, an American company, has developed the Bt brinjal and it is being marketed in India by Mahyco.


Bt brinjal in India

On 9 February 2010 the government of India officially announced that it needs some more time to release Bt brinjal. Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said that there is no overriding urgency to introduce Bt brinjal in India.

On 17 February 2010, Indian Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday reiterated that the Centre had only imposed a moratorium on the release of transgenic brinjal hybrid, and not a permanent ban. “Until we arrive at a political, scientific and societal consensus, this moratorium will remain”. On the same day the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC)-Govt. of India , made it mandatory for companies with any seeds of Bt brinjal to register the details with the government, to ensure none of it is sowed or otherwise gets into the market . In order to effectively enforce the moratorium on Bt brinjal,it was further communicated that the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) shall be responsible to store all the Bt brinjal seeds in India.

Climate Change

Climate change is already happening and represents one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet.

The European Union is working actively for a global agreement to control climate change and is taking domestic action to achieve substantial reductions in its own contribution. It is also developing a European strategy for adapting to climate change.

The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that the Earth's average surface temperature has risen by 0.76° C since 1850. Most of the warming over the past 50 years is very likely to have been caused by emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other 'greenhouse gases' from human activities.

Without action to reduce these emissions, the global average temperature is likely to rise by a further 1.8-4.0°C this century, and by up to 6.4°C in the worst case scenario, the IPCC projects. Even the lower end of this range would take the temperature increase since pre-industrial times above 2°C - the threshold beyond which many scientists believe irreversible and possibly catastrophic changes would become more likely.

The European Union has long been at the forefront of international efforts to combat climate change and was instrumental in the development of the two United Nations climate treaties, the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997.

The EU has also been taking steps to limit its greenhouse gas emissions since the early 1990s.

In 2000 the European Commission launched the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) which has led to the adoption of a wide range of new policies and measures, including the pioneering EU Emissions Trading System.

The Kyoto Protocol requires the 15 countries that were EU members at the time ('EU-15') to reduce their collective emissions in the 2008-2012 period to 8% below 1990 levels. Emissions monitoring and projections show that the EU-15 is well on track to meet this target.

In 2007 EU leaders endorsed an integrated approach to climate and energy policy and committed to transforming Europe into a highly energy-efficient, low carbon economy. They made a unilateral commitment that Europe would cut its emissions by at least 20% of 1990 levels by 2020. This commitment is being implemented through a package of binding legislation.

The EU has also offered to increase its emissions reduction to 30% by 2020, on condition that other major emitting countries in the developed and developing worlds commit to do their fair share under a future global climate agreement. This agreement should take effect at the start of 2013 when the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period will have expired.

The Copenhagen Accord reached in December 2009 represents a step towards such an agreement. The EU is pressing for a global deal that is ambitious, comprehensive and legally binding.


Courtesy: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/home_en.htm

Haiti 2010 Earthquake

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake centered approximately 10 miles (16 km) from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, at 16:53:09 local time (21:53:09 UTC) on Tuesday 12 January 2010. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 6.2 miles (10.0 km). The United States Geological Survey recorded a series of aftershocks, twelve of them between magnitudes 5.0 and 5.9.

Estimated Population Living in Hardest Hit Areas

Estimates of the population living in the hardest hit areas were determined using USAID's Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) Population Explorer. Based on the United States Geological Survey's maps for the areas hardest hit, the estimate of people living in this area is 3,725,615. Of this total there are an estimated 495,509 children between the ages of 0 and 5 years of age. These estimates are based on Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Landscan data (2008) and USAID FEWS NET's Population Explorer tool. The table below provides an estimated gender and age breakdown. These are based on Landscan and Haiti demographic data. Note these estimates were made on 13 January 2010.


The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake centred approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, which struck at 16:53:09 local time (21:53:09 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 13 kilometres (8.1 mi). The United States Geological Survey recorded a series of aftershocks, fourteen of them between magnitudes 5.0 and 5.9. The International Red Cross estimates that there have been as many as three million people affected by the quake, and an estimated 45,000–50,000 deaths.

Most of Port-au-Prince's major landmarks were significantly damaged or destroyed in the earthquake, including the Presidential Palace (though the President survived), the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and the main jail. All hospitals were destroyed or so badly damaged that they have been abandoned. The United Nations reported that headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), located in the capital, collapsed and that a large number of UN personnel were unaccounted for. The Mission's Chief, Hédi Annabi, was confirmed dead on 13 January by President René Préval.