Category Health & Science

Ozone threatens food security

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Health & Science
Photo Credit: ©Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 24.06.2021 (SciDev.Net): Tropospheric and surface ozone pollution pose significant threats to global crop production and food security, but farmers are largely unaware of its impact on agriculture and damage to ecosystems, say scientists.

According to scientists, ozone, as an air pollutant, is highly oxidising and damages plant tissues. But because it is an invisible, odourless gas that often co-occurs with other stresses, such as heat stress, farmers do not directly experience it.

Baerbel Sinha, head of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, in Mohali, India, says: “If one wants to look at where ozone is possibly disturbing the economics on a large scale, and where one may also be able to educate farmers better, it would be the legumes — soybean, chickpeas and beans in general are very ozone sensitive, their prices are not regulated and they display visible ozone damage on the leaf.”

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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.

Difficulties Australians of CALD backgrounds face in accessing the NDIS

0 Comments read Disability, Health & Science, NDIS

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 21.06.2021 (Hireup): Twenty-five percent of Australians with profound or severe disability don’t speak English at home but most of the information provided by the NDIS is in English. So how do people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds access the needed supports in their plan?

The term ‘CALD participants’ refers to participants of the NDIS who don’t use English as the primary language at home. Historically, Australians from CALD backgrounds have been underrepresented in the disability sector.

According to the National Dashboard in 2020, there were 40,391 people from CALD backgrounds; 9.3 percent of the 442,209 people nationally on NDIS. And further data shows that CALD participants are utilising 66 percent of their plans on average compared to 68 percent for non-CALD participants.

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COVID-19 widens digital divide, but cuts e-waste

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 15.06.2021 (SciDev.Net): Consumption of electronic and electrical equipment at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic fell in low- and middle-income countries by almost a third, according to a UN report, despite a growing need to be connected with the world in lockdown.

While the reduction means that millions of tonnes of potential e-waste has been saved, it also highlights a deepening of the north-south digital divide, said the report, published 9 June by the UN University’s (UNU) Sustainable Cycles Programme (SCYCLE) and UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

The report analysed Electric and Electronic Equipment consumption during the first three quarters of 2020 as compared to the “business as usual” scenario before the pandemic and used it to estimate future e-waste. Consumption of electronic and electrical equipment at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic fell in low- and middle-income countries by almost a third, according to a UN report, despite a growing need to be connected with the world in lockdown.

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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.