News Desk : dhakamirror.com A zebra foal was born at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park in Gazipur in the middle of the month. With the latest one, the number of the Zebra stands at 26, our Gazipur correspondent reports quoting the park’s in-charge Assistant Conservator of Forest Rafiqul Islam. However, the sex of the baby ... Read more
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More heatwaves are coming our way. Are we prepared?
Views While Bangladesh has a lot of experience in tackling cyclones and floods, we have not taken heat stress into consideration until now. Saleemul Huq The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently completed its sixth assessment report (AR6), with the Synthesis Report coming out in March. The Synthesis Report carries some key messages about ... Read more
Women must be at the forefront of the transition to a low-carbon economy
Opinion Veronica Mendizabal Joffre and Pinky Serafica Can we truly reimagine a path to a low-carbon transition and change the climate narrative? This is hard to envision when we witness the unprecedented damage we are inflicting on the planet. For women, the effects of climate change are already a lived experience. Where environments are damaged ... Read more
Egypt finds 2,000 mummified ram heads in an ancient temple
Mummified ram heads found in Ramses II Temple in ancient city of Abydos News Desk : dhakamirror.com An American archaeological mission has unearthed over 2,000 mummified ram heads, at the temple of Ramses II in the ancient city of Abydos in southern Egypt. In addition to this remarkable find, the team also uncovered a much ... Read more
Why collaboration is in our collective interest
ViewsRMG NOTESClimate ActionWithout fashion retailers and their suppliers working together, our industry as a whole will continue to see emissions rising. Mostafiz Uddin According to the latest report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world is likely to fail to reach its most ambitious climate target – limiting global warming to ... Read more
Will our universities survive in 25 years?
Views Syed Saad Andaleeb Quality education is the backbone of a wholesome and prosperous society. But finding the “quality” in quality education continues to be elusive in Bangladesh. The “so called” universities (more like community colleges) are rife with social, economic, political and ideological problems that work against building learning organisations. Teachers, the kingpins, don ... Read more
Giant sunfish spotted last year believed to be world’s largest bony fish
Fishermen and boaters saw the huge creature floating near the Azores islands last December News Desk: dhakamirror.com In last December, Portuguese scientists learned that fishermen and boaters noticed a dead sunfish in the central North Atlantic. When researchers saw the carcass near Faial Island in the Azores, they nearly couldn’t believe it. Scientists say the ... Read more
Can teachers be the pivot of change in education?
Views Manzoor Ahmed “No system of education can be better than its teachers” is an aphorism that remains meaningful. The nostalgic and idealised image of the teacher as a scholar, dispensing knowledge and wisdom to the young selflessly, who lives a simple life with little concern for material rewards and who is looked upon by ... Read more
Excavated 1.4M-year-old bones in northern Spain have the potential to alter human prehistory
News Desk : dhakamirror.com The oldest human fossils ever discovered on the European continent are 1.4-million-year-old facial bones, which could change the course of human prehistory, according to the researchers involved in the historic discovery. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Aurora Martin, the archaeologist and general coordinator of the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos, said: ... Read more
Waterways disappear as rivers die
World River Day today Rashad Ahamad Inland waterways, once the prime mode of transportation in Bangladesh, have declined fast as many rivers, canals, and other water bodies have disappeared in riverine Bangladesh over the past decades. Due to geographical location, inland waterways were the main mode of transportation in Bangladesh, a country part of the ... Read more
Climate loss and damage are clearly visible in southwest Bangladesh
Views Ashish Barua, Sawkat Chowdhury The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) by Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that the sea level, over the last 120 years, has increased by 0.20 metres, and continues rising fast, caused by thermal expansion, glacier ice loss, ice sheet loss, etc. The sea level ... Read more
Amazing Planet: Elephants can hear with their feet and understand different languages
Beatrice Christofaro Elephants are skilled communicators with memories that could give humans a run for their money. But culling and habitat loss is making it harder for them to pass on this expertise. They’re known as gentle giants. Elephants, found across Africa and Asia, are the largest mammals on land. And their massive bodies — ... Read more
Chattogram city produces 249 tonnes of plastic waste every day
Will generate 428 tonnes by 2052 News Desk : dhakamirror.com Chattogram city produces 249 tonnes of plastic waste every single day — 56 percent of which remains uncollected and littered in the environment, according to a new study. “Of the plastic waste, the most are sachets, single-use utensils, and personal care items, ” the study ... Read more
How can Dhaka solve its traffic problem?
Views Debra Efroymson If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that “traffic was particularly bad today,” I could have retired already. Over the years, people have hazarded various suggestions as to the cause of the terrible Dhaka traffic and its potential solutions. Causes include: not enough roads for all the cars; poor ... Read more
Tigers in the Sundarbans survive hardship
News Desk : dhakamirror.com Tigers in the Sundarbans are in imminent danger of being hungry due to the rising spotted deer poaching. The big cats, well-known as the Royal Bengal Tiger in the southern mangrove forest of the country hunt spotted deer, monkey, and wild boar. According to a review study by the Implementation, Monitoring ... Read more
Celebrating 50 years of global environmental movement
Opinion Saleemul Huq The global environmental movement started in 1972, with the first global environment conference held in Stockholm, Sweden, hosted by then Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. Among the heads of governments who also attended was the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who famously declared that environment and poverty were two major global issues ... Read more
Non-stop river pollution threatens water security
World Environment Day Non-stop river pollution threatens water security Laws, rules, HC directives go in vain Rashad Ahamad No pragmatic step is yet to be taken to protect the four rivers surrounding Dhaka even after declaring them ecologically critical 13 years ago. In September 2009, the Department of Environment declared the four rivers Ecologically Critical ... Read more
Saving earth from disasters
Opinion By Md Zillur Rahaman TODAY is World Earth Day. The day is celebrated worldwide each year to show support for the protection of the environment. It was first observed in 1970 and is now held globally by the Earth Day Network. The UN-sponsored conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 3 to June 14, ... Read more
Women for women
Opinion Faria Rashid PATRIARCHAL societies like to deceive women into thinking that women cannot get along, work together and stand in support of one another. Given the patriarchal history of society, it has mostly worked to keep women in their places and apart from each other. This is why we hear so much about women ... Read more
No country for elephants
Mostafa Yousuf As if it wasn’t hard enough for elephants to survive in this country, in a tragic development, it was discovered that they are not just dying by electrocution. Shooting down the animals straight up has become seemingly rampant to protect encroached forest lands. In Cox’s Bazar, 18 elephants were shot down in the ... Read more