News stories by IPS Correspondent, page 5

A 15-volume documentation of 3,000 natural dyes by a 19th century British textile entrepreneur will be the focus of an upcoming international seminar on natural dyes in India.

On Sunday, when this eastern India metropolis of moderate winter experienced one of the chilliest days of the season, the weather was no deterrent for tens of thousands who lined up the streets to catch a glimpse of a 95-year-old communist leader’s body soon after a teary-eyed comrade announced his death.

An ambitious plan to establish a chemical industry complex in an ecologically fragile coastal zone of India’s eastern state, West Bengal, has snowballed into a debate, with the ruling communists facing resistance from environmental groups and political rivals over the project.

Mauritian experts are helping set up cogeneration systems to feed the hunger for electricity in Tanzania, Zambia and elsewhere. An example of how appropriate technology can be applied to problems common to countries in the global South.

Awareness of pollution and the amount of waste going into limited landfill space is encouraging the growing adoption of products with biodegradable plastic packaging. But environmentalists are challenging the claims made for these green products.

Many of the adverse effects of floods which swamped northwest Botswana in early March could have been avoided if the Okavango River Basin Commission (OKACOM) had an early warning system in place.