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 …
one of the world's renowned feeding grounds for whales, dolphins and seals in New Zealand is under threat following a rat poison spill. The spill took place off Kaikoura town on South Island after a truck crashed on the coastal highway and a trailer carrying 18 tonnes of rat poison …
A team of researchers from the us and New Zealand has found penguin chicks in the Antarctic covered in oil. It has completed an environmental survey of a former Antarctic research station at Cape Hallett and recommended steps to safeguard penguin chicks from melt pools contaminated with oil from an …
the New Zealand government has decided not to destroy the bee-killing parasite, the varroa mite. According to the country's beekeepers, horticulturists and cropping farmers, the decision would prove to be a death sentence for the country's population of wild bees. The agricultural ministry has informed the government that pest attack …
the 52nd annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission ( iwc ) was 'business as usual', riddled with controversy over resumption of whaling. At this year's convention, held from July 3-6 in Adelaide, Australia, the establishment of a South Pacific whale sanctuary became the bone of contention between pro and …
the New Zealand government recently passed an energy efficiency bill to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Greens party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the bill is the first piece of legislation in the country to address climate change. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill, put forward by the Greens, gives …
THOUSANDS of small industrial units in developing countries like India do not invest in clean technologies because of prohibitively high costs. Now the Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd (HortResearch) has developed a low-cost technology that can help treat contaminated soil and at the same time provide …
Even as the authorities in Delhi are preparing a crackdown upon 5,000 monkeys frequenting the corridors of power in Lutyen's Delhi, a move is being made in New Zealand to give legally enforceable rights to apes in New Zealand. The great apes project has the backing of 38 scientists and …
SEVERAL studies show how human breast milk is far superior to the much-advertised artificial milk formulae. Compared to infants fed on these, those fed on breast milk have lower rates of diarrhoea, ear infections and bacterial meningitis an infection that causes inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. In this …
environmentalists are targeting duck shooters and anglers in New Zealand. They say that heavy loads of lead are contaminating some New Zealand lake beds and wetlands. The Forest and Bird Protection Society has launched a campaign to end the use of lead in shotgun ammunition. The society has written to …
wildlife experts are investigating the mysterious deaths of about 700 New Zealand sea lion pups on a remote island in Auckland. A researcher at New Zealand's department of conservation found these mammals dead while he was studying sea lions at their main breeding colony on the island. According to Nick …
the North Island brown Kiwi may soon become a bird of the past. A field study conducted by John Mclennan, a scientist of Landcare research, Auckland, suggests that merely five per cent of the Kiwi chicks born every year survive until adulthood. The recent findings suggest that unless 20 per …
engineers in New Zealand have developed a wind turbine that utilises maximum wind power and converts it into energy. The device has been found to be far efficient than the presently used wind turbines. With this exciting breakthrough, engineers have shown hope that wind power may soon become a potential …
a heliostat is being developed that increases the output of photovoltaic (pv) modules by more than 450 per cent. Colin Johnson and his colleagues at HelioEnergy of Whangarei, New Zealand, have designed the machine that uses a clockwork mechanism to turn a mirror to focus the Sun's light in fixed …
The time taken by the Earth to rotate fluctuates by milliseconds every day. Experts say that it might be due to atmospheric changes, high and low tides, and likely movements in the Earth's core that are constantly shifting the planet's mass. To keep track of the Earth's vagaries, scientists at …
The recent news item in the Asian Wall Street Journal that New Zealand's log industry is to receive a big boost because of the restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court of India on Indian logging, should be treated like a slap in the face of India's forest officialdom. Subsequently, the …
NEW ZEALAND has become a major transit point for traffickers dealing in Australian birds captured illegally from the wild. According to a report from TRAFFIC Oceania, which monitors wildlife trade in the region, traffickers smuggle eggs and birds into New Zeal4nd and export them to Europe, Asia and the US. …
the Alps, the Himalaya and the Caucasus mountains once formed part of an unbroken chain of a mountain range some 40 to 45 million years ago. According to two Australian geologists, this colossal mountain range stretched all the way from Spain, through Asia, to the southwest Pacific, may be as …
the island nation had had enough of it. In 1987, New Zealand finally buried its forest service, one of its most enduring symbols of bureaucratic bungling; an unlikely alliance of environmentalists, economists and reformist politicians played the role of executioners. Out of the ashes emerged the department of conservation ( …
