Group items tagged

"AB 96 passed 26-13, reflecting widespread support for the measure, which aims to take a step toward reducing pressure on wild elephants and rhinos that are being poached at unprecedented levels across Africa and Asia. "

Forest fires in Indonesia have resulted in a smoky haze that is blanketing the region and affecting neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.

Since 1994, the researchers have found increasing amounts of evidence suggesting that lion bones are starting to replace tiger bones in certain tonics and cure-alls. Records show the industry forming in fits and starts-a skeleton here, a live lion there. The real action, though, began in 2007, after the international community adopted stricter measures to protect tigers and other big cats in Asia. The following year, South Africa issued permits for the export of 50 lion skeletons. By 2011, that number had jumped to 573 skeletons.

The Port of Long Beach was named the world's Best Green Seaport this week at the 28th annual Asian Freight & Supply Chain Awards in Shanghai by Chinese trade publication Cargonews Asia.

A new study says that as the world gets warmer, parts of North America, Europe and Asia could see more frequent and stronger visits of that cold air. Researchers say that's because of shrinking ice in the seas off Russia.

Forest product company Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) hired KPMG to audit the company's performance on its Sustainable Forest Management Policy. The policy calls for APRIL to conserve over 450,000 hectares of forests and to stop producing pulp from areas where conservation assessments have not been completed.

For decades, the slaughter of sharks - sought after for their fins and meat - has been staggering. But bans on finning and new attitudes in Asia toward eating shark fin soup are leading to optimism about the future for these iconic ocean predators

Rainforest Alliance today released its first independent evaluation of Asia Pulp and Paper's progress on implementing its Forest Conservation Policy, launched in 2013. RA's SVP of Forestry, Richard Donovan, and APP's managing director of sustainability, Aida Greenbury, discussed the company's progress - which RA described as 'moderate' - in a webinar on Wednesday.

Since 2000, Indonesian coal production has increased five-fold to meet growing domestic demand for electricity and feed export markets in Asia. The intensive mining is leading to the clearing of rainforest and the pollution of rivers and rice paddies.

WildAid is running a campaign featuring celebrities biting their fingernails in an attempt to drive home the message that rhino horns -- widely consumed in Asia as a traditional remedy -- are made of the same material found in human nails and hair. That could blunt demand for the horns, helping conservationists defeat poachers who are pushing rhinos toward extinction.

From Thailand to Bali, a huge increase in tourists, many from China and other rapidly developing economies, is straining sensitive ecosystems to the breaking point. Some countries are trying to control the boom, with a few closing popular destinations to allow damaged areas to heal.

Palm Oil Free Certification programme launches in UK and Australia A new certification programme has launched to validate consumer products that make no use of palm oil, which has been blamed for fuelling deforestation in Asia. Set up by a group of women experts, the Palm Oil Free Certification Accreditation Programme (POFCAP) is now in operation in Australia and the UK following approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, IP Australia, and IPO UK. Fourteen other nations have applied to introduce the label. Australia-based eco cleaning products company Clean Conscience is the first to carry the label, and the group is working with a host of other companies on certification. Despite improvements to tackle deforestation, POFCAP said "only 17% of all palm oil used can be classed as 'non-conflict'". The scheme is based on extensive research and trusted methods to trace all potential palm oil and palm oil derivative ingredients of a product back to their source. (Business Green)

Lazada, an e-commerce giant in Southeast Asia is yet another entity that adopted World Environment Day's Beat Plastic Pollution theme. The website offered all visitors a list of suggestions that could substitute for single-use plastic items like plastic bags, cups, straws and even diapers.

NEW DELHI - Violent protests broke out in the southern state of Karnataka on Monday after the Indian Supreme Court ordered the state to release water to the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, the latest chapter in a longstanding dispute.

Logging emissions is an important step in securing the transparency that China needs to solve its pollution problems, Mr. Ma argues. Among the harmful pollutants are air particles known as PM2.5, which can enter deep into the lungs and even into the bloodstream. In an interview, he talked about the considerable progress he sees in the Chinese government's approach to air pollution, but also how concerns about social unrest continued to constrain discussion of pollution's damage to public health. Before 2013, levels of PM2.5 [the finest and deadliest particulate matter] were not monitored or made public in a single city. Now it's monitored and released in more than 400 cities. China has entered an era when air quality information is released. It's much more transparent. The 11th and 12th Five-Year Plans only referred to "emission reduction targets," so local governments could play games by claiming they had reduced emissions. Now, by saying by what year the PM2.5 must be below a certain amount, it's much harder to fake. The 13th Five-Year Plan is a progressive plan because it says that the public has the right to participate, to monitor, and that it's the public's right to know.

Warming ocean waters are bleaching the world's corals to an unprecedented degree and could destroy huge swaths of coral reefs in areas ranging from Australia to Africa. "This is a huge, looming planetary crisis, and we are sticking our heads in the sand about it," says Justin Marshall of the University of Queensland in Australia.

Greenpeace said that 16 out of the 27 products from Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Trussardi and Versace were found containing toxic substances, including nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs). The highest concentration of NPEs was detected in a Louis Vuitton branded ballerina shoe.

H&M has negotiated agreements this year that make the Sweden-based fast-fashion retailer the sole customer of two factories in Bangladesh and a third in Cambodia, a move designed to give the retailer more control over working conditions and wages for the people who make its clothes. "We see these a little like test centers where we can try out different things that we can then push out on a larger scale in the entire supply chain," said social sustainability manager Anna Gedda

Large palm oil companies that have promised to act ethically have been accused of land grabbing, ignoring human rights and exploiting labour in their African and Asian plantations.