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 …
Villages situated on the banks of the Shenzen river in south China are at the receiving end of the booming development in Hong Kong, as thousands of tonnes of industrial, livestock and human waste are dumped into the river. Efforts at cleaning up the river by Hong Kong have proved …
the Reds seem to be going green as environmental consciousness descends upon them in a big way. Prime Minister Li Peng, at an environmental protection conference held in mid-July in Beijing, said that greater efforts were needed to "curb the deteriorating environmental trend by 2000'. The conference was also attended …
Following economic liberalisation, China has seen an upward swing in profits and pollution. The government is now planning to expand a scheme in which factories have to pay a fee according to how much they pollute. The scheme is focussed mainly on curbing the emission of sulphur dioxide. Millions of …
Workplaces are great. They give you money, satisfaction and a sense of belongingness. But some of them in China are giving their workers considerable nightmares. About 230,000 workers, mostly women, employed in 74 shoe factories in the city of Putian in Fijian province are exposed to benzene and toluene on …
Despite reports of health benefits and the energising effects of oxygen bars, which have become the latest craze in China, David Valacer, pulmonary specialist at New York Hospital contends that there is much hype associated with the use of these bars and prolonged inhalation could be toxic to certain cells …
A large proportion of China's population is physically and mentally impaired. This condition could be remedied with a simple solution. According to health ministry estimates, more than 10 million cases of mental retardation in China - including hundreds and thousands with the visible handicaps of cretinism - are a result …
CHINA's hopes of completing the largest hydroelectric project in history, received a temporary setback when the Export- Import Bank of the us refused to help finance the Three Gorges dam on May 30. The bank's board voted against issuing letters of interest - which allows foreign countries to buy us …
Chinese herbs are facing extinction due to increasing demand for herbal medicines. According to the natural medicine marketing report, prepared as part of a Sino-British project, the lucrative market for these herbs has led to large-scale pillage of wild flora. Sales of Chinese traditional medicine shot up by 113 per …
A fossilised jaw discovered last year in the Yuanqu river basin, in the southern part of China's Shanxi province is probably an early ancestor of the modern monkey, ape and even humans. Scientists at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, US, and the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and …
The proposed Three Gorges dam in China might just run into rough weather. The US Export-Import Bank is yet to take a decision on whether to lend the money required for the Chinese dam. The Three Gorges is supposedly the largest public undertaking in the world ever since the Great …
Recently, China has received US $3 billion to support its forthcoming Cross-Century Green Project - the biggest contributors being the World Rank, the Asian Development Bank and Japan. This was stated by Xia Kunbao, director, International Cooperation of the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). The country is proposing drastic measures …
Disturbed by the increasing tendency of some industrialised nations to dump their hazardous waste on its shores, China has strengthened its anti- dumping laws. The new law, aimed at curbing the "invasion of foreign garbage", came into effect from April 1. Now, those who ship solid wastes into China for …
SHANGHAI households are in for a surprise as they open their mailboxes this month: the city government will charge them for treating waste water. Companies and work units face a rise of the already existing fee. Pressurised by the World Bank (WB), China has decided to introduce 'the-polluter-pays' principle. "This …
China's space programme received a setback with the explosion of a Loug March 313 rocket carrying a us satellite, Intelsat 708. China suspended all satellite launches' after the blast, which killed four people. The suspension is likely to delay the launch of two satellites, Dongfang 3 for China and the …
Chinese authorities and a dredging contractor are involved in a mud-slinging match. The government stopped the contractor, Gitanes Engineering, from dumping nearly 250,000 cu m of sludge in Chinese waters. The dispute over contaminated mud has reached the High Court with the contractor issuing a writ claiming US $18.76 million …
A draft law in China seeks to bring down noise pollution. The law authorises municipal authorities to crack down on everything from deafening construction sites to boisterous folk dancing. Some big cities are planning to build noise screens alongside major highways where decibel levels exceed safety levels, said Guo Xiulan, …
TO MEET the rising demands of electricity, the Chinese government plans to augment its nuclear facilities by constructing 12 more nuclear plants apart from the present two. Nuclear power is projected to rise from the current one per cent usage to six per cent in AD 2020. Being cash-strapped, however, …
It IS time for rare rhododendrons to strike their roots in the native soil nearly a Century after they were sown on foreign soil by a British botanist, Ernest Wilson (1876-1930). 1 lie Royal Botanic Garden. Edinburgh, Scotland, is organising the project under which more than 200 rare and endangered …
China is going ahead with its plans to build the Three Gorges dam billed as the world's largest water- control project on Yangtze river, despite concerns raised by environmentalists. They have voiced fears about the fate of millions of people who would be displaced forcibly. Besides, the dam would destroy …
