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The recent dust storms that originated in the Middle East not just impacted the neighbouring areas but also had a significant effect on multiple states across India. The storm disrupted daily life in Pakistan, while Indian cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Pune have witnessed ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ air quality since Sunday. Experts say that, on average, around 44 billion pounds (20…

Yacouba Sawadogo, 76, has been a farmer for much of his life, tending a plot of land in a semi-arid stretch of central Burkina Faso. But in the 1980s, that way of life almost came to an end. Severe droughts triggered soil erosion and land degradation, crippling farms across Burkina Faso and much of Western Africa. “People were leaving, and the animals and trees were…

Deadly wildfires, noise pollution and other looming environmental threats could cause widespread ecological damage, and need to be urgently addressed, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a new report published on Thursday. “The Frontiers Report identifies and offers solutions to three environmental issues that merit attention and action from governments and the public at…

A new World Economic Forum white paper sets out how our economies stand to gain from nature-positive policies. Implementing nature-positive policies could generate an estimated $10 trillion in new annual business value and create 395 million jobs by 2030. The regulatory and business environment needs to change to enable nature-positive opportunities to deliver a competitive…

DYK: 52% of agricultural land is already degraded, costing the world $400 billion per year in lost productivity, and it is predicted that land degradation could reduce global food productivity by 12%, increasing food prices by 30% over the next 25 years. In June 2021, G7 leaders once more acknowledged their duty to safeguard the planet and called for ambitious action to halve…

Environmentally harmful subsidies comprise a double burden on the national budget: firstly, as excess expenditure by the state and loss of tax revenue; secondly due to the increased costs for clean-up of damage to the environment and health. Environmentally harmful subsidies worth over €57 billion were granted in 2012. Direct and indirect subsidies The term “subsidy”…