India replaces ten million conventional streetlights with ‘energy-efficient’ LEDs
These LED streetlights have helped the country to reduce its greenhouse gas emission by 4.63 million tonnes annually.
South Asia
The Indian state of Chhattisgarhwill not build any new coal power plants
The falling costs of solar power means that Chhattisgarh is likely to rely on using solar to fill up any excess demand.
Air pollution in Delhi drops 25% in four years
Five years ago, in 2014, a global study on air quality trends by the World Health Organisation had declared Delhi the most polluted city in the world.
Extreme poverty in Pakistan declines from 28% to 4% in 15 years
The extreme poverty (or below $1.9 per day poverty line) in Pakistan has gone down from 28.6 percent of total population in 2001 to 3.9 percent in 2015, Asian Development Bank said in a report.
India bans six single-use plastic products
India is set to impose a nationwide ban on plastic bags, cups and straws on Oct. 2, in its most sweeping measure yet to stamp out single-use plastics.
Nepal bans single-use plastics in Everest region
Nepal will make the Everest region a plastic-free zone by 2020 by banning single-use plastics. The new rule will come into effect from January 1, 2020.
The Bangladeshi Supreme Court has given all rivers in the country legal rights
Now, people who damage a river can get taken to court by the government-appointed National River Conservation Commission. They’ll be tried as if they’d harmed a living entity.
Youth literacy rate in Bangladesh soars to 93%
Youth literacy rates in Bangladesh have risen to almost 93%, up from 62% in 2006 and 45% in 1991.
Tiger populations in India have doubled to nearly 3,000 in last 15 years
“It was decided in St. Petersburg that target of doubling tiger population would be 2022, we achieved it 4 years in advance.”
Sri Lanka is measles-free, World Health Organization says
Sri Lanka has defied the global trend in the battle against measles, with the country declared free of the highly infectious disease by the World Health Organization.