REUTERS, SINGAPORE - If farmers think they have a tough time producing enough rice, wheat and other grain crops, global warming is going to present a whole new world of challenges in the race to produce more food, scientists say.

In a warmer world beset by greater extremes of droughts and floods, farmers will have to change crop management practices, grow tougher plant varieties and be prepared for constant change in the way they operate, scientists say.

Chief Advisor''s special assistant in charge of Power and Energy Dr. Tamim Wednesday said engineering, environment and geological conditions should dominate the decision in determining the coal mining methodology, reports agency.

Addressing a seminar on "Sustainable Energy Development in Bangladesh - Coal as an Alternative Source of Energy", he said the methodology should be mine-specific and that should be decided on three conditions.

REUTERS, LONDON- Millions of the world's poorest children are among the most vulnerable and unwitting victims of climate change caused by the rich developed world, a United Nations report said on Tuesday, calling for urgent action.

The UNICEF report "Our Climate, Our Children, Our Responsibility" measured action on targets set in the Millennium Development Goals to halve child poverty by 2015.

REUTERS, LONDON - Wild Asian vultures could become extinct in 10 years unless officials stop the use of a livestock drug that has caused the birds to decline faster than the dodo, British and Indian scientists said on Wednesday.

A new study shows the population of oriental white-backed vultures has plunged 99.9 percent since 1992 while the numbers of two species, the long-billed and slender-billed vultures, together have fallen by nearly 97 percent.

Developed countries must fund Bangladesh with grants to enable it to bear expenditures of mitigation and adaptation works in facing the future natural calamities as consequences of global climate change, speakers at a discussion said Wednesday, reports UNB.

They said Bangladesh would not compromise to realizing the fund from the developed world as global warming is increasing alarmingly due to uncontrolled industrialization in those countries.

In a renewed policy, Japan’s official agency JICA will look more into disaster management and climate change threatening permanent inundation of a huge area along the coast, reports agnency.

“Only a meter of sea level rise might devour 15 to 17 percent of Bangladesh’s total land. So, we are putting more emphasis on climate change and mitigation of its adverse impacts,” Resident Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Ms Nobuko Suzuki Kayashima told this correspondent on Sunday.

Agriculture experts at a seminar Saturday underlined the need for establishing a common food bank for the SAARC member countries to face adverse impact of climate change on food production, reports agency.

They also suggested carrying out more researches to invent more saline, drought and flood tolerant crop varieties and improving early disaster warning system to adapt with climate change.

The future food security of millions of people is at risk because over-fishing, climate change and pollution are inflicting massive damage on the world''s oceans, marine scientists warned this week, reports AFP.

The two-thirds of the planet covered by seas provide one fifth of the world''s protein-but 75 percent of fish stocks are now fully exploited or depleted, a Hanoi conference that ended Friday was told.

Speakers at a function in the city on Friday stressed the need for applying technical expertise on washing and finishing processes in the readymade garment (RMG) sector for protecting the country’s environment, reports UNB.

They were speaking at a certificate distribution ceremony at the Jatiya Press Club. IFC-SEDF organised the two-week training programme titled ‘Training of Trainers’ (TOT) on Garment Washing and Finishing’, said an IFC-SEDF press release.

Agency

Political inaction, poor decision-making and bad management in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries have turned the region into the most disaster-prone in the world, according to an international aid agency report launched Thursday.

Oxfam International that prepared the report, "Rethinking disaster," lauded Bangladesh for what it said was "impressive commitment" in the area of disaster-risk reduction.

BSS, Dhaka

Environmental groups including Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) and Paribesh Bachao Andolan have expressed deep concern over seismic survey by Chevron at Lawchhara forest in Habiganj district.

They served a notice upon the authorities concerned for permitting Chevron to conduct three dimensional seismic survey in the forest, home to 167 species of plants, large number of species of animals, birds and people of Khasia tribes in violation of what they said laws of the land protecting the national park.

Global temperatures will drop slightly this year as a result of the cooling effect of the La Nina current in the Pacific, UN meteorologists have said, reports BBC.

The World Meteorological Organization’s secretary-general, Michel Jarraud, told the BBC it was likely that La Nina would continue into the summer.

GENEVA, Reuters - Climate change could erode the human rights of people living in small island states, coastal areas and parts of the world subjected to drought and floods, the United Nations Human Rights Council said on Friday.

In its first consideration of the issue, the UN forum's 47 member states endorsed by consensus a resolution stressing that global warming could threaten the livelihoods and welfare of many of the world's most vulnerable people.