February 05, 2010

A Chinese environmental update

China vaulted past competitors in Europe and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, and is poised to expand even further this year, The New York Times reported. The country is also the largest manufacturer of solar panels.

A large dam being planned for northern Myanmar will flood 47 villages and displace thousands of people – but the hydroelectric power to be produced will go to China, GlobalPost said.

As political, diplomatic, economic and geographical factors become increasingly intertwined in global negotiations on climate change, the issue has become a major topic in international relations. China Daily spoke with three Chinese experts about 2010 climate diplomacy.

China is becoming an increasingly important energy partner of Russia, and energy cooperation between the two nations has broad prospects, Xinhua quoted a Russian energy expert as saying.

Two German construction companies signed cooperation accords with officials in Jiangyin city, Jiangsu province, to help build a low-carbon city for 100,000 people at Shengang, on the Yangtze River, Xinhua reported.

China’s first 50 gas-electric hybrid buses have been put into service in Changchun, Jilin province, Xinhua said, with another 50 to come.

Authorities in China prosecuted 3,391 public officials from April 2008 to November 2009 for dereliction of duty in cases that caused damage to the environment and waste of energy resources, Xinhua reported.

Four people were arrested in Weinan, Shaanxi province, amid a new crackdown on milk products tainted with the chemical melamine, Agence France-Presse quoted state media as saying.

In eastern China, people have bought 330,000 silver carp fry to help restore the polluted, algae-choked Taihu Lake, Xinhua reported. A silver carp could consume 50 kilogrammes of algae and other matter by September.

China’s second-largest optical telescope at the Sheshan branch of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory can no longer participate in world-class observation due to excessive light pollution in the area, China Daily quoted astronomers as saying.

Taiwan plans to use DNA from whales and dolphins as evidence to convict poachers and protect the endangered marine animals, Agence France-Presse reported.

Mei Lan and Tai Shan -- two American-born giant pandas -- arrived in Sichuan province after being flown in from zoos in Atlanta and Washington, Xinhua reported. According to agreements between China and other countries, pandas are only on loan and any cubs born abroad must eventually be returned to China.

Prepared in cooperation with PACE

February 03, 2010

A global environmental update

Nigeria’s giant oil producer, Royal Dutch Shell, has shut three flow stations in the Niger Delta after sabotage on its pipelines, the BBC said. Meanwhile, The Guardian reported, Shell is poised to become the biggest oil major in biofuels after signing a memorandum of understanding with Cosan, the large bioethanol producer in alternative-energy superpower Brazil.

The Brazilian government has granted an environmental license for construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rain forest, according to The Guardian. Environmentalists and indigenous leaders strongly oppose the project, saying it will displace indigenous tribes and further damage the Amazon basin.

Peru is allocating US$280,000 to help protect a large swathe of the south-western Amazon that is home to several endangered species and at least eight indigenous tribal groups, Andina reported. The country’s oil and energy association, meanwhile, expelled the US mining company Doe Run for not cleaning up pollution problems in the central Andes, said Agence-France Presse.

A politically divided US Securities and Exchange Commission voted to require that companies provide information to investors about the business risks associated with climate change, according to The Washington Post.

The Alaskan village of Kivalina is appealing against dismissal of its lawsuit arguing that greenhouse gases emitted by oil, power and coal companies contribute to climate change that is endangering the community’s survival, the Associated Press said.

A controversial method of extracting gas from shale rocks and coal seams has been described by the head of BP as a “complete game-changer” that would transform the future of energy in the United States over the next 100 years, reported The Guardian.

Oil use in rich industrialised countries will never return to 2006 and 2007 levels because of greater fuel efficiency and the use of alternatives, Reuters reported, quoting the chief economist of the International Energy Agency. The agency advises 28 countries on energy policy, and its forecasts are closely watched.

Italy is to stop fishing for bluefin tuna for 12 months, Agence France-Presse said. France will support a ban on global trade in the over-exploited species, bowing to environmentalists’ concerns about stocks of the mainly Mediterranean fish, according to Reuters.

The birth rate in Europe – and even in parts of the developing world – is in freefall, according to a new book by Fred Pearce, excerpted in The Guardian. Does the “twilight of the west” lie ahead?

January 29, 2010

A Chinese environmental update

China still faces a serious threat from pollution despite recent clean-up efforts, the State Council said. The country’s cabinet added that China would step up investment in environmentally friendly industries, according to Reuters.

Enterprises within 300 kilometres of Shanghai will be subject to production control during the six-month World Expo if the city’s air quality falls below standards, China Daily said.

Municipal officials in Beijing want to boost the number of cyclists by 25% during the next five-year plan, The Guardian reported, citing Chinese media.

Premier Wen Jiabao will head China’s new National Energy Commission, China Daily said. The all-embracing energy agency is intended to better coordinate strategy formulation and development planning.

Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Foshan, in Guangdong province, to oppose a sludge incineration programme being planned by a local power plant, according to Sohu.com.

China expects to exceed its targets for the reduction of major air and water pollutants under its 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), said China Daily, which cited the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Xie Zhenhua, China’s lead climate-change negotiator, said he was keeping an “open attitude” as to whether global warming was man-made or due to natural cycles, the BBC reported.

The deputy chief of the African Union, Erastus Mwencha, urged China to make greater efforts in addressing climate change, which has had serious consequences for African agriculture, according to Afriquejet.com.

In a deal said to be the first of its kind in Africa, China Nuclear National Corporation is to acquire nearly 40% of shares in a uranium mine in Niger, Alibaba.com quoted CNNC as saying. China is promoting nuclear-power development to minimize consumption of traditional fossil fuels.

The sea level in China late last year hit a record high for the past three decades, according to the State Oceanic Administration. China Daily said agency figures showed an average annual rise of 2.6 millimetres; the global average was 1.7 millimetres.

According to Sohu.com, people caught eating dog or cat meat face jail and fines under a draft proposal to protect China’s animals from maltreatment.

The cane toad, Australia’s most notorious wildlife pest, could end up on dinner tables and in medicinal treatments in Asia. The BBC said a representative from a Queensland company is to visit China in February to explore an export deal.

Prepared in cooperation with PACE

January 27, 2010

A global environmental update

Filed by environmental groups, private lawyers and state officials around the United States, three major lawsuits against big producers of heat-trapping gases are gathering steam, The New York Times reported. The outcomes could affect the way the nation deals with climate change and liability.

Royal Dutch Shell’s plans to drill for billions of barrels of oil in the Arctic’s environmentally sensitive Chukchi Sea face a potentially damaging legal challenge from an alliance of conservation and Alaskan indigenous groups, The Guardian said. 

More than a quarter of the total US grain crop in 2009 was turned into ethanol to fuel cars, according to the Earth Policy Institute – enough to feed 330 million people for one year.

New research shows that jatropha, a biofuel crop that has received huge Indian government backing, yields less than predicted and is being grown on fertile farmland, Agence France-Presse reported.

Governments must tackle the underlying causes of biodiversity loss if they are to stem the rate at which ecosystems and species are disappearing, an inter-governmental workshop held in London concluded, according to the BBC. 

The UN climate panel’s error over when Himalayan glaciers could disappear was a blunder, but nothing material has changed, said The Observer.

The pace and pattern of ­glacier retreat is urgent, and needs to be ­understood through science, not dismissed by ignorant sceptics, chinadialogue editor Isabel Hilton wrote in a commentary for The Guardian.

Long-term efforts to help Haiti recover from this month’s earthquake will have to reverse environmental damage such as the near-total deforestation that threatens food and water supplies, Reuters quoted experts as saying.

Environment ministers from Brazil, South Africa, India and China – the BASIC bloc – said their talks in New Delhi had further cemented their alliance following the Copenhagen climate conference, Agence France-Presse reported. At the summit, the four countries lobbied successfully against binding emissions limits.

Concern is growing over pollution along the length of India’s Ganges River, particularly at the industrial city of Kanpur, according to Agence France-Presse.

Activists from around the globe aim to muster a million volunteers this year for a mass environmental clean-up piloted via the Internet, Agence France-Presse quoted organisers in Estonia as saying. The agency also reported that Nepalese climbers plan an expedition to clean up rubbish left on Mount Everest in decades of mountaineering.

January 22, 2010

A Chinese environmental update

Record low temperatures and the worst sea ice in 30 years have caused huge losses to sea-farmers and fishermen in coastal Shandong and Liaoning provinces, China Daily reported.

Japan will ask China to conduct joint studies of the massive encroachment of giant Nomura’s jellyfish off China, Kyodo News said. A similar request has been made to South Korea. The jellyfish wreak havoc with the Japanese fishing industry.

Rising global competition and volatile energy prices will affect Chinese oil imports, making it more difficult to guarantee domestic fuel supplies, Bloomberg News reported, quoting China National Petroleum Corporation.

New construction and ongoing industrial pollution are posing extreme challenges to the water supply of Kunming, one of south-west China’s fastest growing cities, according to Circle of Blue.

Two giant groundwater reservoirs have been discovered in the Qaidam Basin, the highest basin on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, People’s Daily reported. Calling the discovery “rare”, a regional official said the reservoirs have a storage capacity of 2.8 billion cubic metres.

At least another 300,000 people living near the Three Gorges Dam will have to be relocated, China Daily said. Some 1.138 million people already have been moved for the world’s largest hydropower project.

Ozone wafting over the Pacific Ocean from Asia is a big factor in the rise in upper-level air pollution in the western United States, a new study suggests. Researchers presented their findings in the journal Nature, Sphere said.

Many people point to China and the Sichuan earthquake of 2008 in looking for parallels to Haiti’s catastrophe. But, Time reported, the ferocity of the tremor and a huge death toll may be the only parallels between the two quake-stricken nations.

A low-carbon tourism zone as been established in north-east Beijing’s Miyun county, ChinaCSR quoted tourism officials as saying. The zone, on the north shore of the Miyun Reservoir, is to have no major energy-consuming or high-emission facilities.

Inspired by similar actions abroad, a group of climate activists in Guangzhou removed their trousers on a commuter train to raise awareness of global warming, The Guardian reported.

Wild tigers in China face the danger of extinction in about three decades if loss of habitats and illegal trade continue, Beijing Youth quoted WWF as warning.

Shanghai Zoo introduced 10 giant panda cubs, which will be a feature of this year's World Expo, China Daily said.

Prepared in cooperation with PACE

January 19, 2010

A global environmental update

World leaders have raised a fresh alarm about climate change, urging global action to increase use of clean energy, Agence France-Presse reported. The call came at a forum in Abu Dhabi, which sits on more than 95% of the United Arab Emirates’ proven oil reserves.

A lack of oxygen and nutrients below the surface of beaches in Alaska’s Prince William Sound is slowing the dissipation of oil remaining from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, the worst in US history, Reuters said.

In an extract from his book “Collapse” – published in The Guardian – Jared Diamond wrote that poverty forced Haiti’s people to destroy their last remaining forests for fuel. Also in the newspaper, a seismologist wrote that the country’s disaster was foreseeable. Poor design and construction results in building collapse during earthquakes, said Brian Tucker, and a significant sum of money must be spent to mitigate the effects of future quakes.

The parasite that causes malignant malaria in humans has been identified for the first time in gorillas, the BBC reported. Researchers say increasing contact between humans and primates due to logging and deforestation raises the risk of transmission of new pathogens.

In Malawi, a persistent dry spell and an army worm outbreak have destroyed about 35,000 hectares of crops, threatening the food security of 123,000 families so far, Reuters reported.

Bolivia’s government is facing a challenge as neighbouring countries move to achieve energy security by reducing their dependence on Bolivian gas supplies, The New York Times reported.

A report by top British architects and civil engineers warns that rising sea levels and more storms could mean that parts of at-risk cities will need to be surrendered to protect homes and businesses, the BBC said.

Disease experts in south-east Asia will map out key poultry-smuggling routes to prevent the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus in the region, Reuters reported.

Norwegian researchers cited by Reuters said they have found little sign of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the droppings of polar bears in the remote Arctic, suggesting the spread of resistance genes seen in the droppings of other animals may be due to human influence.

The tilapia, one of the most important kinds of fish for aquaculture, is a problematic invasive species for the native fish of Fiji’s islands, according to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and others.

Environmental groups are renewing their fleets in response to growing ecological pressure on oceans and losses of some vessels at sea, The Guardian reported. Greenpeace has commissioned its third Rainbow Warrior, expected to be one of the greenest ships afloat.

January 15, 2010

A Chinese environmental update

A 50-member Chinese international rescue team has arrived in Haiti, joining global efforts following the magnitude-7 earthquake, China Daily reported. The team brought search-and-rescue dogs and tonnes of equipment and humanitarian aid. Additional supplies will be dispatched as part of China’s US$4.41 million aid pledge, Xinhua said.

The Chinese market is likely to drive demand for renewable energy, giving California companies the opportunity to scale up their technology and drive down costs, Todd Woody wrote for Grist. But solar energy has a dirty secret, he noted: photovoltaic modules are made from a mix of toxic chemicals.

China is taking tentative steps to master another alternative energy industry: using mirrors to capture sunlight, produce steam and generate electricity, The New York Times said.

The country’s car sales officially topped those of the United States for the first time in 2009. Chinese consumers will keep buying cars, Forbes reported, but foreign brands have the edge for now.

Hong Kong’s roadside air pollution reached life-threatening levels on one in every eight days last year, according to Agence France-Presse.

Demonstrators in Hong Kong are opposing a high-speed rail project to link the special administrative region to Guangzhou, the Associated Press said. What began as a protest by suburban villagers who were forced to relocate has grown into a broader coalition.

Following a successful test flight at Hongqiao International Airport, Shanghai will become the first city in China to have five runways for civilian use, China Daily reported, citing People’s Daily Online. The city will host this year’s World Expo.

China will set a new record for the world’s highest airport with a facility planned at an altitude of 4,436 meters in Nagqu prefecture, according to Xinhua.

The environmental organisation WWF launched a programme to protect the habitat of giant pandas in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Xinhua reported.

US product-safety authorities began investigating the presence of cadmium in children’s jewelry imported from China, the Associated Press said, after tests showed that some items consisted primarily of the toxic metal.

China should reduce its reliance on chemical fertilisers by as much as 50% because excessive use has resulted in serious pollution, Reuters quoted research by Renmin University and Greenpeace as saying.

The H1N1 flu strain is rapidly spreading into China’s countryside and there could be a spike in cases around the Lunar New Year period, Reuters reported, when millions of people head back to their home towns.

January 13, 2010

A global environmental update

The magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti is the latest natural disaster to befall the poorest country in the western hemisphere, The Guardian reported. Deforestation is believed to have exacerbated many of the past natural disasters.

US climate scientists say seasonal Arctic sea-ice melt is now 20 days longer than it was 30 years ago. The thaw is most pronounced in Canadian waters, according to the Toronto Star.

Micronesia’s challenge to a Czech coal-fired power plant extension could open a new front in the fight over global climate change, Reuters reported. Using a measure designed to settle disputes between near neighbors, the Pacific island federation argued that its environment could be harmed by the facility.

Plans for a huge expansion of British offshore wind farms have been unveiled, The Independent said. The strategy calls for a quarter of UK electricity needs to be met through wind power by 2020.

The average American consumes more than his or her weight in products each day, fuelling a global culture of excess that is emerging as the biggest threat to the planet, The Guardian said, citing the Worldwatch Institute’s “State of the World 2010” report.

In 2009, according to the Earth Policy Institute, 14 million cars were scrapped in the United States, while only 10 million were sold, shrinking the fleet by nearly 2%.

The McDonald’s fast-food chain is to conduct a three-year study into methane emissions from beef cows on 350 British farms, The Guardian reported. Gas produced by flatulent livestock accounts for 4% of the country’s total carbon emissions, and methane is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse agent.

Exposure to a chemical found in plastic containers is linked to heart disease, Reuters said, quoting American and British scientists. Their study confirmed earlier findings, adding to pressure to ban use of bisphenol A, or BPA, in bottles and food packaging.

German chancellor Angela Merkel urged industrialised and emerging countries to invest more in protecting wildlife, adding that the United Nations should help refine scientific arguments for saving animal and plant species, Reuters reported.

A new global map of cargo-ship movements can help to improve monitoring of invasive marine species, New Scientist said.

Using tiny tracking devices, an international group of scientists has detailed the Arctic tern’s 70,000-kilometre annual polar migration, the BBC reported.

Montenegro’s only hippopotamus has escaped from the mountainous nation’s zoo during seasonal floods, according to Reuters.

January 08, 2010

A Chinese environmental update

A seam of coal formed in China 250 million years ago -- during the worst extinction event on record -- may be responsible for unusually high lung-cancer rates among women in part of Yunnan province. Wired said researchers have proposed a link between silica particles in the coal, the “great dying” and carcinogens inhaled when the coal is burned.

As oil and gas pipelines are quickly extended to meet fuel demands, China will face increasing threats to its environment, territorial safety and energy security, China Daily reported, quoting energy experts. Meanwhile, severe winter weather has put pressure on fuel supplies in parts of the country, according to SINA.

China and Canada have signed a deal that will see PetroChina investing US$1.7 billion in two Canadian tar-sands deposits in Alberta, United Press International said.

A severe drought around the Yangtze River has caused the water level in the Three Gorges Reservoir to remain lower than the anticipated 175-metre level, potentially complicating power generation, farming and navigation plans, Xinhua reported.

Genetically modified rice cleared for commercial sale could be growing on Chinese farms as early as next year, New Scientist said, making China the first country to allow commercial cultivation of GM rice strains.

In the years since China announced a moratorium on creating golf courses, their number has nearly tripled, according to the Financial Times. Few people play the game – considered elitist and environmentally unfriendly – but it is a vital part of Hainan province’s development.

The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway, arguably the world’s fastest train journey at a speed of 350 kilometres per hour, has begun operations, said China Daily.

Unease about the rising cost of flats is growing in many Chinese cities, fuelling fears of a property bubble. According to the Financial Times, nothing screams “Dubai” more than a seven-star hotel and indoor ski slope that are part of plans for a luxury complex in Tianjin.

More than 100 workers at a lighting factory in the Pearl River delta have suffered suspected mercury poisoning, Reuters reported, while CNN said 51 children living near a battery factory in Jiangsu province were found to have high levels of lead in their blood.

A Shanghai dairy company and three of its executives have been arrested for selling milk products tainted with the chemical melamine, a case that was kept from the public for a year, Sohu.com reported.

Prepared in cooperation with PACE

January 06, 2010

A global environmental update

Global temperatures are set to rise faster than the speed at which most animals and plants can move to cooler areas, The Independent reported, citing a US study.

Climate-change scepticism is likely to surge in 2010 and could exacerbate hardship for the earth’s poorest people, Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN climate-change panel, told The Guardian. Opponents of action to curb carbon emissions were “working overtime”, he said, to stall a global accord.

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, signed a law requiring the country to cut emissions by 39% by 2020, meeting a commitment made at the Copenhagen summit, Agence France-Presse reported. The law is subject to several further decrees.

Tariffs for water users in Mexico City are being increased following a drought that has left reservoirs at record lows, according to Reuters. Water authorities had turned increasingly to Lake Avándaro, in wealthy Valle de Bravo, for supply, draining the lake by half in early 2009.

Australia experienced its hottest decade on record from 2000 to 2009, Reuters said, citing the country’s bureau of meteorology.

Europe’s first electricity grid dedicated to renewable power is to become a political reality this month, The Guardian reported, as nine countries formally draw up plans to link their North Sea projects.

A Dutch court has opened the door to a potential avalanche of legal cases against Shell over environmental degradation said to be caused by its oil operations in the Niger Delta, The Guardian said. The company also is embroiled in a dispute with the World Bank, according to The Observer, over warranties for solar-power systems sold to poor nations.

Under a deal that allowed Lithuania to enter the European Union in 2004, the country has shut down its Soviet-era nuclear plant. The move will drive up electricity prices, said Agence France-Presse, and leave Lithuania reliant on Russia for power.

The United Nations is rushing aid to victims of a tsunami that hit the Solomon Islands, the second to strike the region in three years, Xinhua reported.

Overfishing and classification errors are believed to have left the Amazon River’s arapaima, the world’s largest scaled freshwater fish, critically endangered, according to a study cited by The Guardian. Meanwhile, The New York Times said, states in the American Midwest are engaged in legal battles over the Asian carp, a voracious, nonnative fish that threatens havoc in the Great Lakes.