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Bangladesh, Brick Kilns and Climate Change
When work is done, brickfield workers lay down to rest, but the hard work leaves behind its scars. Photo: Khaled Hasan
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Bangladesh, Brick Kilns and Climate Change
In the evening, after a day of hard labour, brickfield workers usually rest, play card games, listen to the radio or indulge in gossip. There is no other source of entertainment. Photo: Khaled Hasan
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Bangladesh, Brick Kilns and Climate Change
Farzana, a women worker said, “Women work as hard as men but we get lower wages. This is common for most industries in Bangladesh.” Women work the same amount of hours, but get much less money than men. Photo: Khaled Hasan
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Bangladesh, Brick Kilns and Climate Change
The elder generation of brickfield workers does not have much to leave behind but the skills in making bricks. These footprints, shown against chimney dust, are those of children, teenagers and adult workers. Photo: Khaled Hasan
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Bangladesh, Brick Kilns and Climate Change
The Brick Kiln Control Act (2001) prohibits the establishment of kilns within a radius of three kilometres from human inhabitation and fruit gardens, but there is no central agency looking after its implementation. Photo: Khaled Hasan
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Bangladesh, Brick Kilns and Climate Change
Bangladesh, the fastest-growing megacity with nearly 13 million people, is on a fast track to build homes for its population. The construction boom has led to an increase in the growth of brickfields, such as these in Gazipur district near the capital Dhaka. Photo: Khaled Hasan
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Our Picks
Brickmaking Spells Trouble for Bangladesh
By Khaled Hasan*
DHAKA, Apr 18 (IPS Asia-Pacific) – The world is changing, and that includes Bangladesh. Long among what had been derisively called the ‘basketcase economies’ of the world, this South Asian country has been posting a GDP growth rate of more than five percent for the last 10 years.
PHILIPPINES: In Climate Change, Ducks to the Rescue?
By Bong D Fabe*
PAGADIAN City, Philippines, Jan 21 – It may seem a bit far-fetched or far too simple to many, but local experts say that growing ducks on the Philippines’ rice paddies goes a long way in reducing emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from rice farming.
Rice Farmers Need to Pitch In Too
“Methane emissions are unique to rice…If Asian countries are exploring possibilities to reduce greenhouse gas, they have to look at rice production. I’m not saying it’s the biggest source, but in Asia it’s a source that cannot be neglected.” - Reiner Wassmann, climate change specialist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
Malaysia Shows Little Change in Fossil-fuel Habits
By Meng Yew Choong, The Star*
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 (IPS Asia-Pacific) – Malaysia’s energy usage pattern is enough to make any environmentalist weep: A staggering 94 percent of its electricity is generated using fossil fuels, and this is not expected to change much over the next decade.
Reads
Eternal Energy Revolution Picking Up Steam
By Stephen Leahy
UXBRIDGE, Canada, Apr 15 (IPS) - “Be a climate-protection hero, not a climate victim” is the message energy experts from around the world are bringing to San Francisco Tuesday.
Original link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/04/eternal-energy-revolution-picking-up-steam/
International Carbon Markets Expanding But Still Contentious
By Carey L. Biron
WASHINGTON, Apr 10 (IPS) - Nascent carbon emissions-trading exchanges in several countries are increasingly looking at options to interlink with one another, which advocates say would offer investors long-term stability, increase revenues for the development of renewable energy and strengthen corporate support for climate policy.
Original link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/04/international-carbon-markets-expanding-but-still-contentious/
Voices
Towards Disaster-resilient ASEAN Community
By A.K.P. Mochtan
Dec 16 (The Star) – ONE of the key challenges in building the Asean community is coming up with tangible outcomes that benefit the people directly. This is a tall order, since many of Asean’s objectives are at the regional level.
Asia-Pacific Can’t Ignore Rising Threat From Climate Change
By Bindu Lohani
DOHA, Dec 3 (South China Morning Post) -The jury may still be out on the link between climate change and natural disasters. But one thing is clear: weather-related disasters are increasing in both frequency and intensity. Witness the string of severe recent floods across Asia – from Pakistan to Thailand and the Philippines – and Hurricane Sandy in the US, which have vividly shown us how extreme weather events can bring entire countries to a virtual standstill. Volatile weather extremes are hitting Asia and the Pacific more often than any other region of the world.
What’s Up
To Report On Climate Change, Go Beyond It
BANGKOK – The phrase ‘climate change’ occupies a lot of column inches these days, but there is a lot of room for reporting it far beyond just a scientific, or environment, or disaster story. Often, climate change straddles different news beats and needs to be covered as such in order to show how it affects people’s daily lives.
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