More than 10,000 endangered whales and dolphins of six species have made the Bay of Bengal and the Sundarbans estuary a safe home, a month long survey reveals. A group of Bangladeshi wildlife scientists headed by Dr Anisuzzaman Khan carried out the survey and recently revealed that the Bay is still a good abode of ... Read more
Sections
Amur tigers in population crisis
The effective population of the critically endangered Amur tiger is now fewer than 14 animals, say scientists. Approximately 500 Amur tigers actually survive in the wild, but the effective population is a measure of the genetic diversity of the world’s largest cat. Very low diversity means any vulnerability to disease or rare genetic disorders is ... Read more
Rare goose spotted
A rare species of goose was spotted for the first time in the country in Hakaluki Haor of Moulvibazar district last Saturday. A group of bird watchers led by eminent bird specialists Dr Enam al Haque and Paul Thompson have found the ‘lesser white-fronted goose’ on the concluding day of the two-day bird enumeration session ... Read more
‘Climate change reshapes tropical forests’
bbc.co.uk Future climate change could change the profile of tropical forests, with possible consequences for carbon storage and biodiversity, a study says. It suggests that if current trends continued, the drier conditions would favour deciduous, canopy species at the expense of other trees. US researchers based their findings on the changes they recorded in a ... Read more
Managing biodiversity to slow down climate change
DR. M.A. BASHAR Adaptation is the habitual process of adjustment to a new or changing environment. These changes of environment could be negative or positive to the survivals in an ecosystem. Adaptive capability is the ability of a system to adjust to climate change to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to ... Read more
The organisational machine
Sarwar Ahmed What is an organisation? As you reach for Wikipedia in today’s digital world, you have access to a whole repertory of knowledge for free. An organisation is a social arrangement that pursues collective goals, controls its own performance, and has a boundary separating it from its environment. An organisation consists of people who ... Read more
Chernobyl birds small brained
Birds living around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident have 5 percent smaller brains, an effect directly linked to lingering background radiation. The finding comes from a study of 550 birds belonging to 48 different species living in the region, published in the journal PLoS One. Brain size was significantly smaller in yearlings compared ... Read more
Tiger numbers could triple if large-scale landscapes protected: study
Asia’s tiger reserves could support more than 10,000 wild tigers – three times the current number – if they are managed as large-scale landscapes that allow for connectivity between core breeding sites, a new paper from some of the world’s leading conservation scientists finds. The study, co-authored by WWF scientists, is the first assessment of ... Read more
Water crisis to rice crisis in coming decades?
Dr. Aminul Islam Akanda Bangladesh is blessed with suitable soil and climate for growing rice in all three crop seasons in a year. Rice grown during summer is locally known as Aus, during monsoon as Aman and during winter as Boro. The Boro is really the improved rice variety that is cultivated in almost all ... Read more
Two new mammals found
Two new species of mammals have been discovered in Bangladesh, taking the total number of mammals of the country to 124. The Himalayan Striped Squirrel (Tamiops macclellandi) and Least Leaf-nosed Bat (Hipposideros cineraceus) are only the second and third new mammals to be found in the country in last five years. The first new mammal, ... Read more
Women and workplace dilemma
Mamun Rashid I recently wrote a piece for The Daily Star business section on our lady colleagues. As usual, I received a few e-mails and phone calls. One of them was from a younger friend of mine, working for a regional conglomerate. He thought I did not do enough justice to the male colleagues, while ... Read more
Historic tiger summit closes with plans to secure more financial backing
St. Petersburg, Russia: The historic International Tiger Conservation Forum ended with crucial plans to discuss further financing options for the Global Tiger Recovery Programme approved at the meeting, kick-starting new efforts to double the number of wild tigers. On the final day of the summit, delegates met briefly to hammer out key dates in the ... Read more
A great leap in training
Mahmudur Rahman Technical and vocational education and training has come a long way. Once the mere acquiring of basic skills was considered enough to address the demand for technical expertise. Times and demands have changed. But in an age when emphasis is placed on technical competencies, especially in blue-collar jobs, Bangladesh faces a challenge. Parents, ... Read more
Over 1,000 Tigers Killed In Past Decade
The illegal trade in tiger parts has led to more than 1,000 wild tigers being killed over the past decade, a report suggests. Traffic International, a wildlife trade monitoring network, found that skins, bones and claws were among the most common items seized by officials. The trade continues unabated despite efforts to protect the cats, ... Read more
The black swan
Sarwar Ahmed It was a chilly April morning when Fakhruzaman, my Bangladeshi colleague who works for Syngenta in Europe, drove me for a sightseeing tour through the idyllic English countryside near Cambridge. We stopped over for some tea and muffins in a restaurant next to a small river. White swans floated on the cold water ... Read more
U.S. military ingenuity applied to epidemic destroying honey bees
A group of Montana researchers working with the United States military has proposed a new, unique answer to the ongoing global epidemic destroying honey bee colonies: A fungus and virus working in tandem, aided by mites, may be the cause. The ongoing honey bee deaths are widespread, causing losses in the USA, Europe and Asia. ... Read more
Chindia policy to boost domestic trade
Chindia policy to boost domestic trade Kingshuk Nag When the G7 was formed in 1976 as a major economic and political group of the seven largest industrialised nations, not even the optimistic of soothsayers would have predicted that 23 years later in Pittsburg, USA, the G20 would dethrone G8 as the primary council of wealthy ... Read more
Emotionally yours
Sarwar Ahmed Late at night, my mobile phone beeped with an SMS alert. I was startled and then enthused by the content: Sorry, my mom was around. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Please don’t get mad at me. Love you too. Poor thing. She must have been in a hurry to send this text and ... Read more
Our mothering colleagues
Mamun Rashid In the 1970s to 80s, teaching and nursing were the only largely female professions. Things have changed. Women are now also commonly lawyers, physicians, bankers, investment analysts, journalists, economists, doctors, psychologists, consultants, college/university professors, pilots, defence officials, IT professionals and scientists. Women have dramatically increased their numbers in professional and technical occupations for ... Read more
No room for complacency
Zillul Hye Razi The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) of the European Union (EU) is a preferential trade arrangement that allows reduced or zero import duties for imports from developing countries. It is a unilateral arrangement and includes the Everything But Arms (EBA) arrangement, which grants duty and quota-free access to all goods, except arms ... Read more