Neighbourhood Scan

Singapore
Top spot in youth global index
Singapore came in first in a 2023 global survey of youth development, which measures the status of young people and their competence, capabilities and economic opportunities for full participation as active citizens. Singapore, the only Asian country in the top 10 rankings, was followed by Denmark, Portugal, Iceland and Slovenia. “The report examines the extent to which young people are learning, earning and living healthy, engaged and peaceful lives. It also shows whether they are living in societies that value their views and recognise their contributions,” said Baroness Patricia Scotland, a prominent British lawyer who serves as the Commonwealth’s secretary-general. The Straits Times

Taiwan
Black mosquito code cracked
Taiwanese scientists have cracked the genetic code of a tiny bloodsucker in an advancement of research on repellent and insecticide development, a study published in the journal Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology showed. Forcipomyia taiwana, commonly known in Chinese as the “tiny black mosquito”, is a species of blood-sucking insect that “wreaks havoc” throughout Taiwan, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said. Understanding the receptors that enable the sense of smell in female tiny black mosquitoes is a crucial step in creating lures for traps or repellents, said Lin Ming-te, study co-author and associate professor at Tzu Chi University’s Department of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics. Taipei Times

Nepal
World’s most polluted city
Kathmandu, the federal capital of Nepal, has again been ranked as the world’s most polluted city. According to data of the Air Quality Index on May 3, Kathmandu was followed by Chiang Mai city of Thailand in the second position and Medan of Indonesia was identified as the world’s third most polluted city. Air pollution is soaring in Kathmandu due to rising incidents of forest fire amidst the increasing temperature. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority recorded 165 incidents of forest fire in 39 districts across the country. According to wildfire expert Sundar Sharma, the increasing number of forest fires has contributed to air pollution in major cities of the country. The Himalayan Times

Bangladesh
Influencers push tree planting
Social media influencers are urging their followers to plant trees in a bid to make the cities, and the country, more liveable during heatwaves, which scientists say are becoming more frequent, more severe and longer because of climate change. In late April, Peya Jannatul, a model, actor and lawyer, asked her 1.6 million followers on Facebook to go out and plant 10 trees each. A student group launched a campaign on April 21 to plant 5,00,000 trees in just 10 days, while a popular cleric urged his 4.3 million Facebook followers to donate money to plant 300,000 trees. Green Savers, which allows people to sponsor tree planting across 22 districts, is helping translate the calls for tree planting into action. Dhaka Tribune