The larger economic choice for South Asia is therefore broader than whether to participate in carbon trading. The region can remain primarily a supplier of relatively inexpensive mitigation outcomes, or it can also develop the technology, professional capacity, financial products and verification systems that determine what those outcomes are worth.
On top of that is our own unsustainable living that is creating large-scale havoc on the planet. They include construction of large dams, roads, and tunnels in the fragile Himalayan region. These activities together with the melting of glaciers due to global warming are bound to create worse natural disasters in the coming years.
The regional opportunity is particularly significant in electricity. Nepal and Bhutan can potentially export hydropower; India can provide the scale of demand and investment required to create a regional electricity market; Bangladesh can become an important electricity consumer; and Sri Lanka and Pakistan can expand solar and wind. Greater cross-border electricity trade could allow countries to exploit complementary renewable resources and reduce the need for expensive domestic backup capacity.
A genuinely regional approach could eventually include - besides Nepal, China and India - Bhutan and, where relevant, downstream institutions in Bangladesh. Organisations with established Himalayan expertise, particularly the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, could offer scientific and institutional support.
In an under-four minute video message, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed United Nations the mirror and urged it to take a long, hard look at its "crisis of confidence" while ratcheting up the call for a new template of multilateralism that "reflects today's realities" on the first day of the United Nations high level week being live streamed to the world from the UN headquarters in New York City
The UN's unfinished agenda item is tackling terrorism emanating from its epicentre in Pakistan, India has said here replying to Pakistan bringing up the Kashmir issue at the international organisation's 75th Anniversary Commemoration session
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the coronavirus pandemic has shown that both developed and developing nations need the United Nations more than ever
The UN General Assembly committed itself to put “new life” into the stalled reform of the Security Council in its Declaration for the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations on Monday
There has been no informed discussion in the UN Security Council about Covid 19, its origin, its spread, its impact and the search for remedies and an effective vaccine. The UN Secretary General has been seen to be half-hearted in his response, writes Amb Bhaswati Mukherjee (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The Sri Lankan government has appointed Dr. Mohan Peiris, a former Chief Justice and President’s Counsel, as the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York, USA, local media reported
Gorakhpur's Dr Kafeel Khan has taken his battle against the Yogi Adityanath state government in Uttar Pradesh to an international level
As many as 20 million girls may not return to schools even after the COVID-19 crisis is over, warns UN Messenger of Peace Malala Yousafzai
Responding to media reports on remarks made by the Cabinet Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella at the Cabinet Press Briefing on Thursday (17) in relation to the UN Human Rights Council, Director General of Government Information Nalaka Kaluwewa said the Sri Lankan government has not taken any decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 25 would focus on Kashmir dispute, the Foreign Office said
A prominent rights activist from Mirpur at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva said that people in Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) were desperate to get freedom and join the Indian union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has donated IT equipment to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and Maldivian Courts under its grant assistance program
The United Nations has recently shortlisted a number of celebrities and public figures for a film based on actions that can tackle contemporary issues, ranging from COVID-19 to poverty and inequality
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called upon India and Pakistan to move in a positive way to resolve their differences
Afghanistan won a seat at the United Nations Commission on Status of Women for a four-year term, said Afghan embassy to the UN
