Feature Article

Joseph Wright and Helene Muller-Landau suggest that regeneration of tropical forests might lead to far less species loss than is feared by most tropical biologists (12 May, p 42). There is currently very little reason to think so.

DOZENS of Indonesians killed by landslides this spring have paid the price of unchecked development. Many other innocents in developing nations die each year as rampant illegal logging and deforestation denude steep hillsides, loosening soil and allowing heavy rains to create deadly deluges. Such environmental perils are increasingly common across much of the world as native forests are fragmented, waterways polluted, and oceans over-harvested. The onslaught is especially alarming in the tropics, where an area of forest the size of 40 football fields is destroyed every minute.

"JAPAN threatens to quit whaling forum." It's a headline we have got used to reading, but behind the rhetoric this year's meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) saw a shift in power that has put Japan in a bind.

Ii the American Southwest heading for a megadrought? A projection based on climate models suggests this could be the outcome as global warming alters the Pacific weather patterns that normally bring rain to the region. Now tree rings are revealing just how dry things could get.

Supply-led water deprivation prevails in major cities in India. The per capita water availability in these cities is nowhere near the standards laid down by the World Health Organisation or the Bureau of Indian Standards (1993), and it is also far lower than that in other large cities in the world. The availability of water in Indian cities varies with socio-economic groups and areas.

The farming system in the Uttaranchal Himalaya comprises of agricultural crops, horticulture, herb culture, the garden practices and nurseries and fruit plantation or reforestation. These practices reflect the diversity in all respects. The farming of crops is mostly traditional.

Blood lead level BLL and growth parameters including weight and height, in children, living in lead mining area was surveyed.

The Kathmandu reaches of the Bagmati River are widely characterised as severely degraded. This article explores the rhetorical life and death of the concept of a 'Bagmati civilisation': a particular configuration of history, cultural identity and river ecology espoused by a prominent Nepali river restorationist.

Sequential batch reactor (SBR) process is basically a fill-and-draw activated sludge process. Being a very popular technology, SBR was not being frequently used for the treatment of wastewater like activated sludge process (ASP). This paper reviews two case studies, where SBR was used for capacity expansion of existing and ASP was converted to SBR.

Studies on the removal of zinc by adsorption on two types of flyashes, namely Bokaro Thermal Power Plant Fly ash and Fluidized Bed Combustion Fly Ash from Tata Steel, Jamadoba were carried out.