最新世界环境资讯

A global environmental update

彭博新闻转载新华社报道，5月9日，中海油作为中国最大的海上石油生产商，其自主研制的、也是中国首座自主研发的深水钻井平台正式在南海西沙群岛附近开钻。作业地点位于香港以东南320千米，及中国、越南和台湾分属岛屿以北的海域，该区域海底能源储备的竞争将愈发激烈。

《圣何塞信使报》刊登的一份报告称，位于被称为“太平洋大垃圾带”海域的塑料总量自20世纪70年代以来剧增了100倍，同时该区域的大小和密度都在增长。《生物学快报》发布在网上的这份报告还显示了，以浮游生物和鱼仔为食的昆虫的产卵量也相应上升。

《卫报》报道，2011年3月的日本大地震之后的海啸制造了大量的碎片残骸，并以超乎预料的速度漂洋过海抵达了太平洋的对岸。预计的48万吨流入海洋的碎片残骸中，大多数将最终抵达北太平洋垃圾带，而相对较小较轻的物体将陆续被冲到美国和加拿大的西海岸。

《布里斯班时报》报道，近十年来，日本小镇太地町因举行一年一度的海豚猎杀活动一直备受谴责。如今，太地町将要建造占地28公顷的大型海洋哺乳动物公园，该市计划让从周边捕来的宽吻海豚和体型较小的鲸鱼在公园里重新安家。如纪录片《海豚湾》中所描述的，近年来，多达2000只各类海洋动物被捕猎，用于制作食物或者倒卖给水族馆和海洋公园。但相关官员表示，捕猎行为并不会因此停止。

《卫报》称，迫于动物保护人士的压力，一家已注资了中国鹅肝加工厂的英国公司暂停了该项目，并对此作出了检讨。香肠鹅肝被视为美味佳肴，但为了制造出这些美食，鹅鸭被强行喂养大量食物，致使他们的肝脏被迫扩大，这一残忍的行为在大多数欧洲国家是被明令禁止的。

新华社消息，甘肃省嘉峪关市通嘉再生资源加工有限公司发生铅中毒事故，初步调查显示，50名多工人因在工作过程中接触高温原料硫酸渣中铅导致蒸汽吸入和皮肤吸收造成铅中毒。通嘉再生资源加工有限公司的主要经营业务为生铁冶炼和加工。

路透社报道，美国环境保护署的研究报告称位于宾夕法尼亚州的迪莫克小镇，其饮用水检测结果为安全合格，这一消息立即引起了全国关于水力压裂开采天然气的热议。迪莫克的居民们自2009年起就投诉当地的饮用水恶臭混浊，纪录片《天热气之地》就在此地取材拍摄。

美联社援引菲律宾当地官员的话称，大火席卷了马尼拉一处大型棚户区，造成1万多人无家可归，通多区的居民已疏散至附近一处体育场馆。该火灾地的居民大都居住在窝棚里。

China’s first deep-water drilling rig began operations near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, Bloomberg News reported, quoting Xinhua. CNOOC, the county’s largest offshore-oil producer, began drilling on May 9, about 320 kilometres south-east of Hong Kong and north of the islands claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan. Competition for undersea energy reserves has increased tensions in the region.

The amount of plastic in the ocean area known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” has increased a hundredfold since the early 1970s, growing in both size and density, according to new research cited by the San Jose Mercury-News. Published online by Biology Letters, the study also showed that insects that eat zooplankton and fish larvae were laying a growing number of eggs on the plastic.

Debris from the tsunami that followed the massive March 2011 earthquake in Japan has swept across the Pacific faster than expected, The Guardian reported. While most of the estimated 4.8 million tonnes of debris pushed into the sea is believed to be destined for the “garbage patch”, smaller and lighter objects are beginning to wash ashore in the US and Canada.

Taiji, the Japanese town criticised for nearly a decade for its annual slaughter of dolphins, is to build a 28-hectare marine mammal park, according to the Brisbane Times. The town plans to populate the park with bottlenose dolphins and small whales caught nearby. In the yearly hunt – seen in the film “The Cove” – up to 2,000 animals are killed for their meat or sold to aquariums and marine parks. The hunt will continue, officials said.

Following pressure from animal-welfare campaigners, a British company that had been financing a large foie gras factory farm in China has suspended the project pending a review, The Guardian said. Pâté de foie gras, considered a delicacy, is produced by force-feeding geese or ducks until their livers become enlarged; it is banned in most European countries.

Lead poisoning that affected more than 50 people at a plant in Jiayuguan, Gansu province, resulted from the workers inhaling steam from high-temperature raw materials and absorbing it through their skin, a preliminary investigation showed, according to Xinhua. Tongjia Renewable Resources mainly focuses on the smelting and processing of pig iron.

Drinking water is safe to consume in the small Pennsylvania town that became the centre of US debate on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas, Reuters quoted the US Environmental Protection Agency as finding. Residents of Dimock, which featured in the documentary “Gasland”, have complained since 2009 of cloudy, foul-smelling water.

A huge fire that swept through a sprawling squatters’ colony along Manila Bay left thousands of people homeless, the Associated Press cited officials in the Philippines as saying. Many of the Tondo district residents, who have been evacuated to a sports complex, lived in shanties built on stilts.