Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are the main driving force of climate change, and all economic sectors need to internalize their costs. Food systems (including land use, production, refrigeration, food processing) account for a quarter of global GHG emissions. Agricultural exports in Asia-Pacific account for 18% of total exports, twice as …
In a move to reduce dependence on highly priced Australian coking coal, India will acquire a mine in Mongolia and also set up the first steel plant in the quality coal rich country. The Indian delegation comprising of Chairman of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) C.S. Verma and U.P. Singh, …
Largely preventable or treatable infections with viruses, bacteria and parasites cause about two million new cancer cases and 1.5 million cancer deaths each year, said a study published yesterday. This amounted to about one in six of the 12.7 million new cancer cases reported in 2008, said the report in …
The government is set to enact a law to protect the rich biodiversity of the country and also to safeguard Indian agriculture from bio-terrorism and inflow of dangerous pests from outside. The proposed legislation, Agricultural Biosecurity Bill-2012, is high on the agenda of the Union Cabinet for its consideration, which …
Australia and New Zealand have missed a deadline to set post-2012 emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol, with both governments saying they will decide whether to continue to be legally bound to cut emissions of seven greenhouse gases later this year. Countries intending to sign up to a second …
Peruvian authorities are still trying to unravel the mystery of why hundreds of dolphins ended up dead on beaches in the country over the past 2 1/2 months. Deputy Environment Minister Gabriel Quijandria told The Associated Press in an interview on Friday that studies are incomplete but officials hope to …
SYDNEY: Australia's Qantas on Friday launched the nation's first commercial flight using a mixture of refined cooking oil, saying it would not survive if it relied solely on traditional jet fuel. The Airbus A330 left Sydney for Adelaide using a 50-50 blend derived from recycled cooking oil and regular jet …
The owners of a stricken container ship wrecked on a reef off a popular New Zealand holiday spot have been charged with causing the country's worst environmental disaster in decades, maritime officials said on Thursday. Daina Shipping, a unit of Greece's Costamare Inc., has been charged with discharging harmful substances …
Environmental advocacy groups have been arguing for the expansion of protected areas in the world's seas and oceans. The truth is that for centuries, man has been overexploiting the rich bounty of the open seas. They argue that protected reserves are vital for fish to be able to build up …
Disasters led by the Japan earthquake cost the world a record figure of more than $380 billion last year, a UN official said Monday. While countries are managing to control the disaster death toll, economic costs are increasing more than ever before, said Margareta Wahlstrom, the UN special envoy on …
The captain and second officer of a ship that caused New Zealand's biggest sea pollution disaster pleaded guilty to criminal charges yesterday and could face lengthy jail terms, officials said. The officers were in charge of the Liberian-flagged Rena when it ploughed into a reef last year, releasing an oil …
Constant aftershocks in Christchurch have pushed human remains up from burial plots in one of the quake-ravaged New Zealand city’s graveyards, a report said Sunday. In a grim reminder that the ground in Christchurch remains unstable 12 months on from a quake that killed 185 people last year, television images …
South Korea's parliament has delayed a vote on an emissions trading scheme scheduled for Thursday because of political wrangling between the government and opposition ahead of parliamentary polls in April, a government official said. If approved, the scheme to cap South Korea's growing emissions of carbon dioxide from early 2015 …
For the first time a private company, CIC Agri after many years of research, has produced a high yielding paddy seed (white) at their Pelwehera tissue culture laboratory. CIC Crops and Livestock Director/CEO Waruna Madawanaachchi told 'Daily News Business' that this has been named as CIC 301 and now available …
The death toll from the devastating earthquake in the New Zealand city of Christchurch last February has been raised to 185, the coroner's office said Thursday. The coroner initially found 181 people were killed as a direct result of the 6.3-magnitude quake, but more deaths had been recorded as part …
British Airways, Qantas and other airlines are calling on governments to find a swift resolution to a political dispute over the European Union's carbon scheme, because the deadlock may create competitive distortions. Since the start of 2012, EU law obliges all airlines using EU airports to be included in the …
WELLINGTON, New Zealand: A mass-stranding of whales on a New Zealand beach has left 36 of the creatures dead and threatens 40 more. Department of conservation area manager John Mason said 99 pilot whales stranded themselves on day on Farewell Spit on the South Island. By Tuesday, 36 whales had …
ADELAIDE, Australia: More than 50 dead New Zealand fur seals have been found washed up on a beach in South Australia in unexplained circumstances, environmental officials said on Tuesday. The discovery was made on Sunday in the remote Lincoln National Park with three of the seals taken to the University …
Natural disasters around the world last year caused a record US$380 billion in economic losses. That’s more than twice the tally for 2010, and about $115 billion more than in the previous record year of 2005, according to a report from Munich Re, a reinsurance group in Germany. But other …
Two further tremors rattled the New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday as scientists predicted aftershocks from last year's devastating earthquake would last for decades. The two latest aftershocks, the largest with a magnitude of 5.0, shook New Zealand's second-largest city just hours after a briefing called to address concerns …
Insurance industry damage claims from natural disasters like the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand reached a record $105 billion in 2011, said Munich Re, the world's biggest reinsurer. The cost to insurers from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March, which caused nearly 16,000 deaths, was estimated at …
