Navvi

Mapping Natural Resources in South Asia

How Can Poverty Mapping Support Development in Bhutan? As my plane glides over the lush, green forest on the side of the mountains and descends into the narrow valley where the airport is located, I start to feel ...happy? Yes, happiness is the motto of the country of Bhutan—which is actually a kingdom. Interestingly, Bhutan is known for its development…

Drought prone conflict zones as analyzed by the . Relevant to current reality.

www.unisdr.org

While the Millennium Development Goals contributed to “tremendous progress for children,” the report said, they also may have indirectly caused the opposite, by inadvertently encouraging nations to measure progress through national averages. “In the rush to make that progress, many focused on the easiest-to-reach children and communities, not those in greatest need.” - Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director

Unicef Report Describes Grim Trends for the Poorest Children The United Nations Children’s Fund said improvements in national averages had obscured worsening trends among the world’s poorest children.

Tanzanian Farmers Turn Small Plots Into Cash Crops | U.S. Agency for International Development Obare used traditional farming methods—as many farmers in Tanzania do—to plant untreated seeds in sunken beds at random distances apart. These practices, along with the improper use of fertilizers and pesticides, reduce yields, leaving little for sale.

India to Increase Solar Energy Five-Fold by 2022 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the nod to increasing the country’s solar capacity five-fold, to a goal of 100 gigawatts by 2022.

"We need informed conversations to hammer out the details required to act and move forward on how to develop and share the Himalayan rivers for an equitable and sustainable future. Complexity of transboundary water issues demands learning from other river basins – like the Nile, Jordan, and Danube - and adapting to local situations. Interconnectedness and interdependence of issues as well as competing and conflicting values and priorities for water allocation make the process of charting a path for the future difficult."

A new future for the Himalayan rivers The question of whether and how to harness rivers for irrigation, hydropower generation, urban development and sustainability of ecosystems continues to be an issue of great concern, conflict, and cooperation for this region.

"Ebola, HIV/AIDS, SARS and MERS - All of those were zoonoses—diseases that initially spread from animals to people. In fact, pathogens infecting wildlife are twice as likely to jump over to humans as those without wildlife hosts... Scientists are developing methods for treating animals and preventing viruses from spreading to the point where they become a public health threat."

How Healthcare for Wild Animals Could Stop the Next Pandemic As diseases such as Ebola and MERS jump from creatures to humans, we need to keep a closer eye on wildlife illnesses.

"India has always been keen to secure its border zones once and for all, and has, over the past few decades, kept a close eye on the settlement of people and movement of troops along its borders with Bangladesh, Pakistan and China. That the long-standing issues related to claims along the border may be settled at last means that India will have one less border to worry about, at a time when its relationship with China seems to be moving to a positive note, too."

Read more about Prime Minister Modi's tour: http://www.nst.com.my/node/87440

Heading towards stable borders? THE announcement that the border zone between India and Bangladesh might be secured at last, thanks to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh over the weekend, was greeted with some degree of relief by analysts, as it signals a move towards the firming of borderlines and a de-esca…

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/08/daily-chart-15

China’s territorial disputes From the Himalayas to the Pacific, China’s territorial claims worry its neighbours