ACTED has been working on a disaster recovery and preparedness programme in Cyclone Aila-affected regions of the Sunderbans in West Bengal, India, since February 2010.

Although most of the beneficiaries of this region- the largest delta in the world and covering parts of India and Bangladesh - are poor, they have access to fresh water ponds and so fishing is a huge source of food and income for them. However, Cyclone Aila, which hit in May 2009, washed considerable amounts of salty sea water

Now a new study from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Huge areas of land mass within Australia, India, China and USA are highlighted as suffering extreme pressure on their renewable water supplies by a new index and map that evaluate water stress down to 50km=B2 worldwide.

The Water Stress Index is developed by global risks advisory firm Maplecroft to identify the risks to governments, populations and business. The index is calculated by evaluating the ratio of a country's

The country remains extremely vulnerable to both seismic and hydro-meteorological hazards such as floods, cyclones, droughts and landslides. The vulnerability to disasters is aggravated by social, cultural, economic, institutional and political factors. Deforestation is adding to the environmental instability and contributing to global warming and climate change. There is evidence that climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of natural disasters such as floods and cyclones, and causing new and increased health problems. With rapid growth, poorly

The Mechanism provides satellite products for general drought monitoring and higher resolution products for identified high drought risk areas, and assists its members in developing localized products and services for relevant decision making. Space capable countries in the region committed to provide satellite information based technical

- The current main season Kharif crops are growing under normal conditions and a recovery over the drought-affected 2009 is expected.

- Prices of the staple food grains, rice and wheat, are stabilizing at high levels.

- High food and other primary products prices are a cause for concern as food security of low income population is affected negatively.

Unfavourable weather conditions,particularly the severe drought in the Russian Federation have led FAO to revise downward its earlier projection for the global wheat crop this year from 676=01million to 651 million tonnes.However, this does not point to a repeat of the 2008 food price crisis as ample stocks are available with traditional wheat exporters, FAO added in a statement. Dry conditions in Russia along with expected lower wheat harvests in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Canada have raised

PIA MALHOTRA

A small but rapidly expanding field is the one of 'environmental security'. According to this thesis a scarcity of natural resources can lead to conflicts and violence. Particularly in developing countries which face a shortage of resources, or are unable to tap their natural resources to the best of their abilities due to lack of funds or relevant technology, this scarcity can have security implications and these security implications can lead to regional instability and security

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet) - Without adequate intervention, rice production in Bangladesh could see a dramatic decline by 2050 due to the impacts of climate change, even as population is projected to continue rising, researchers say.

"Bangladesh faces formidable challenges to feed its population in the future," note the authors of a new report on adapting Bangladesh's agriculture to climate change.

And the problems may extend well beyond