Though considerable research on the problems facing the Asian environment is ongoing, there are four major areas that still remain mostly unknown and pose fundamental unanswered questions.

     The first relates to the El Nino effect and how it can be anticipated and its possible effects on land and sea. The second revolves around what is known as tropical expansion, about which there has been no consensus among climate scientists.

    The third is the impact of global warming on the ocean’s capacity to absorb part of it and its consequences on the marine life. And the fourth is on the ground in Indonesia where the forest fires have exposed the country’s inability to halt deforestation, even as the real reasons for the failure of the policy framework have not been conclusively identified. Let us first take the El Nino effect. After a period of drought conditions in almost ten States in India, there is good news....