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Showing posts from June, 2019

World Bank approves USD 310 mn loan for climate resilience

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Thursday, June 27, 2019 - 01:00 Read Original Article   Climate Resilience Multi-Phase Programmatic Approach project is the first of a three-phase investment program totaling $774 million and to be implemented over eight years  This comprehensive climate resilience program will reduce losses to people’s livelihoods and public assets while reducing shocks on the economy The World Bank approved a $310 million loan to reduce and mitigate flood risks in the lower Kelani basin in Colombo and improve weather forecasting and early warning systems across Sri Lanka, yesterday. The Climate Resilience Multi-Phase Programmatic Approach project is the first of a three-phase investment program totaling $774 million and to be implemented over eight years. Sri Lanka ranked second among countries most affected by extreme weather events in 2017 and is expected to see a 1.2 percent annual GDP loss by 2050 due to climate change. Floods impacted around 14 million people between 2010 and

Chennai’s air quality takes a turn for the worse

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CHENNAI,   JUNE 19, 2019 01:08 IST By Deepa H .Ramakrishnan Read Original Article Chennai’s annual air pollution report card is out. The city’s air quality index (AQI) mostly alternated between moderate and satisfactory, with good days being few and far between. Even Adyar, a location with the best air quality levels when compared to other places in the city, saw poor days, according to the AQI for the period between April 2018 and March 2019 and this, despite being near the sea where dispersion happens due to sea breeze. Satisfactory days are when air quality levels are between 51 and 100 micrograms/ cubic metre and moderate days are those with levels between 101 and 200 micrograms/cubic metre. The report released by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) shows the annual average values of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide to be within prescribed standards in all the 28 stations that it monitors manually. The PM10 (particulate matter in the ambient air be

No Drips, No Drops: A City Of 10 Million Is Running Out Of Water

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June 25, 20194:20 PM ET  By  SUSHMITA PATHAK  Read Original Article These satellite images from June 15, 2018, (left) and June 15, 2019, show the diminishing size of the Puzhal Lake reservoir in Chennai, India. Copernicus Sentinel-2 Satellite Image/Maxar Technologies via AP In India's sixth-largest city, lines for water snake around city blocks, restaurants are turning away customers and a man was killed in a brawl over water. Chennai, with a population of almost 10 million, is nearly out of water. In much of India, municipal water, drawn from reservoirs or groundwater, typically runs for only a couple of hours each day. That's the norm year-round. The affluent fill tanks on their roofs; the poor fill jerrycans and buckets. But in Chennai this summer, the water is barely flowing at all. The government has dispatched water tankers to residential areas to fill the void. Still, some people in especially hard-hit areas have vacated their homes and m

Beat Air Pollution

In many countries  Air Quality didn't take as a serious environment threat yet. This video contain summary our Air Quality work by FECT and by this we hope to bring this Air Pollution to attention of our viewers. #World_Environment_Day 2019 w/ theme #BeatAirPollution In #lka , we find alarming rise in air pollution in Puttalam, Nawalapitiya & Colombo from #coal using instruments of @climatelk & @USEmbSL @Dilmah @NalakaG

Government Okays three new coal power plants CEA goes all-out to fight worsening air pollution

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By Ifham Nizam The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and other stakeholders especially working for the betterment of energy efficiency would today (June 5) go all out to improve air quality in the country as the latest world Air Pollution Report has identified Sri Lanka as the 18th worst nation in terms of air pollution. However, last week the Cabinet approved proposals for building three new coal power plants at Sampur and Norichchcolai and President Sirisena as the Environment Minister, too, gave his nod. Plans are afoot to monitor continuously the dangerous particulate matter 2.5 and PM 10, from today (June 5) to coincide with the World Environment Day (WED). President Maithripala Sirisena will launch the programme. Since 1973, the 5th of June every year is celebrated throughout the world as the World Environment Day pursuant to a collective decision made at the Environment Summit held in Stockholm in Sweden in 1972. Since then a comprehensive course of action i

Beating Air Pollution

Daily News Editorial The environment is very much in the news, thanks to what humans have done to alter it in so many ways. Our planet is changing before our very eyes as a result of the callous way in which we have treated the environment. Climate Change and Global warming are two terms used to describe these changes, which may make the planet virtually inhospitable in a couple of centuries. From plastic waste to extinction of flora and fauna, there is a whole raft of other issues as well. The United Nations, aware that the protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue, has designated today (June 5) as World Environment Day. Since it began in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach celebrated in more than 100 countries. The World Environment Day is organised around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. The theme for 2019, “Beat Air Pollution,” is a call to action call to combat this glo