In 2019, the illegal wildlife trade reached staggering levels. Pangolin scales and ivory were being trafficked in massive quantities from Africa to Asia, exposing a network of crime syndicates operating at an industrial scale. The sheer volume of these shipments marked a disturbing milestone, one that revealed the global reach …
At a time when Chinese authorities are enforcing strict measures to control motor pollution, domestic refineries have started producing unleaded gasoline. Government authorities say that the shift in the production to unleaded petrol will not require extra imports, as several refineries in China have been gearing up to produce unleaded …
rapid urbanisation and development pressures plague China today. Ironically, the pressure to increase farm productivity to meet the present and future food needs is threatening the future of arable areas in the northwest. Scientists believe that by the end of this year China could lose more than 2,000 sq km …
scientists in China are attempting for the first time to create a test-tube panda. Since the beginning of this year, China's Laboratory of Genetic Embryo Engineering on Endangered Wildlife has been equipped to attempt this experiment. The only ingredients missing were the female panda eggs. But when the laboratory heard …
Lee Schiel, an amateur palaeontologist and a dealer in rare fossils in Los Angeles, USA, has claimed to have discovered a dinosaur egg containing an embryo of the prehistoric creature. His find is yet to be studied by experts. Schiel released a CAT scan image at a press conference on …
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has planned to launch environment projects in China that will focus on air pollution, water management and education. The cost of three projects has been estimated at US $2.85 million. One project, co-financed by the Australian government, will aim at developing an action plan …
Nearly 140 people were killed and over 20,000 injured due to floods in southern China this year. According to Red Cross officials this year's floods were not as devastating as last year's. This year's floods have destroyed tens of thousands of homes in five provinces - Zhejiang, Fujian, Guang-dong, Guangxi …
up to three per cent of worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide, the major global warming gas, could be emanating from the natural fires that are rampaging through coalfields in northern China. The situation is so serious that the Chinese government has called in Dutch scientists to help it put them …
Giant pandas mate but once a year, producing at the most two cubs, only one of which usually survives the reproductive habits that try the patience of zoologists working to save the endangered species. Frustrated with the failure of other artificial breeding methods, Chinese scientists are now considering the possibility …
As there is decline in the health scenario in mainland China, pharmaceutical companies seem ready to reap the benefits. The combination of rising living standards, especially in the cities, and new health problems is good news for firms that have already established their roots including Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers …
Ecological devastation in China is rampant: acrid, blackened air in industrial cities; rain that turns inky and corrosive with acidity; noxious mounds of untreated garbage and hazardous sludge spewed out by millions of township enterprises; dead fish in the Huaihe river; carbon dioxide emissions that account for one-tenth of the …
By the end of the century, China will emerge as a society comprising aged people. The number of people aged 65 and above is rapidly increasing in China reflecting a change in the age structure of the population, according to a recent nationwide sample survey. The survey, based on one …
In an effort to create more productive and disease-resistant strains of rice, Chinese researchers have created a gene 'map' that will eventually allow not only comparisons between different strains of rice but between other major grains as well. Scientists at Shanghai's Genetic Research Center have isolated and catalogued the individual …
The us $4 billion Xiaolangdi dam on the Yellow River is the other side of the coin of China's water conservation efforts. The massive dam is coming up on the Yangtze Kiang in the Henan province south of Beijing. The contribution of the dam - to be completed on June …
the Chemical Weapons Convention came into effect on April 22 with China and the us ratifying it at the last minute. The treaty bans the development, production, stockpiling or use of chemical weapons. It also requires member states to destroy their chemical weapons' stockpiles and production facilities within the year …
A cyanide spill in the Guijiang river near Wuzhou city in southwestern Guangxi province recently resulted in the death of a large number of fish in the river and suspension of water supply by some local water companies. The spill occurred when a truck carrying 10 tonnes of cyanide fell …
Two broad categories of organic fertilities - 'New Manor', for growing fruits and vegetables, and 'Green Manor' for cultivating grains obtained by recycling garbage - have been developed by a Beijing-based private firm. Research on the fertiliser technology began in 1994, and encouraged by the early results in 1996, the …
The country is planning to re-target its family planning programme in the rural areas to stem population growth and reduce the wide economic chasm between urban and rural citizens, announced Premier Li Peng recently. In an address to the national People's Congress, Li said that the government's one-child policy, which …
green wheels: Greaves Ltd, a New Delhi-based Thapar group company, will be launching eco-friendly petrol and diesel versions of three-wheelers in the coming financial year. The diesel version, known as Greaves Garuda six-seater, will cost around Rs 60,000 per vehicle and will be powered by the Greaves diesel engine. The …
measures to save China's ravaged environment finally seem to be underway. Even though the scale of penalties likely to be levied is not known yet, in March this year, China will make environmental pollution a criminal offence. In another move, nearly 57,000 small polluting units
