Rising sea level and salt water intrusion threaten Mekong Delta agriculture

By Marwaan Macan-Markar 19 April 2012 BANGKOK – With Vietnam’s fertile Mekong delta threatened by rising sea levels and salt water ingress, the country’s future as a major rice exporter depends critically on research underway in the Philippines. Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) are working with Vietnamese counterparts in the town of […]

China, Iceland announce deal on oil-rich Arctic as sea ice recedes

REYKJAVIK, 21 April 2012 (AFP) – China and Iceland announced a deal on the oil-rich Arctic region Friday after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao flew in to Reykjavik on the first stage of a four-nation European tour. The deal was part of a package of six agreements signed on the first day of the Chinese premier’s […]

Despite deadly fungus, frog imports continue, accelerating mass extinction of amphibians

By JOHN UPTON7 April 2012 A clerk serving Cantonese-speaking customers at a cluttered market in San Francisco’s Chinatown reached into a tub of American bullfrogs. She drew a one-pound frog from the top of the pile. She whacked its head, sliced its neck and placed its body in a plastic grocery bag. The frog cost […]

China agriculture at risk from climate change

Beijing, 3 Apr 2012 (UPI) – China’s agricultural security is at risk from climate change and the selling of arable lands. “Food security remains the weakest link in China’s national economic security,” Han Jun, deputy director of the State Council’s Development Research Center told China Daily. Seeds, water, and land, he says, will be essential […]

Bankruptcies have German solar industry on the ropes

By Stefan Schultz3 April 2012 The German solar industry is at a turning point. The bankruptcy of Q-Cells this week shows that the days of German solar cell production are numbered. Asian competitors took the lead years ago, and German government subsidies were part of the problem. It wasn’t so long ago that people viewed […]

Global poaching crisis: ‘We’re losing all of our wildlife, and people are just sitting back and letting it happen’

By Rachel Nuwer26 March 2012 Reeking of infection, the elephant stumbled into the Tanzanian camp where Thomas Appleby works as a safari manager. Its back legs festered with gangrene radiating from the open, pungent wounds that the animal had evidently endured for at least two long weeks. Ivory poachers had shot the elephant in both […]

Graph of the Day: Premature Deaths from Ground-level Ozone, Projected to 2050

Urban air pollution is set to become the top environmental cause of mortality worldwide by 2050, ahead of dirty water and lack of sanitation. The number of premature deaths from exposure to particulate air pollutants leading to respiratory failure could double from current levels to 3.6 million every year globally, with most occurring in China […]

Urban air pollution to become top cause of environment-related deaths by 2050: OECD

By Tom Arup 17 March 2012 URBAN air pollution will become the top cause of environment-related deaths globally by mid-century unless action is taken, one of the world’s peak economic groups says. In a study of the global environmental outlook to 2050, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warns there may be 3.6 […]

Poachers slaughter hundreds of elephants in Africa wildlife park, killing half of the population – ‘A long, agonising death’

By Daily Mail Reporter16 March 2012 These heartbreaking photos show the extent of an elephant slaughter in the troubled nation of Cameroon. At least half the elephant population in Bouba N’Djida reserve have been slaughtered because the west African nation sent too few security forces to tackle poachers, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) […]

Water pollution rises from farms, costing billions

By Tara Patel13 March 2012 Water pollution from agriculture is costing billions of dollars a year in developed countries and is expected to increase in China and India as farmers race to increase food production, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said. “Pollution from farm pesticides and fertilizers is often diffuse, making it hard […]

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