The newest update to the IUCN Red List has downgraded the status of the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) from Endangered to Critically Endangered, reflecting the deteriorating state of…
China has unveiled details of its first pilot carbon-trading program, which will begin next month in the southern city of Shenzhen. The trading scheme will cover 638 companies responsible for…
Chinese environmental authorities have approved construction plans for what could become the world's tallest dam, while acknowledging that the project would affect endangered plants and rare fish species. The 314…
Just 9% of the millions of tonnes of fish caught by China's giant fishing fleet in African and other international waters is officially reported to the UN, say researchers using…
The world could be heading for a major economic crisis as stock markets inflate an investment bubble in fossil fuels to the tune of trillions of dollars, according to leading…
A survey late last year found that the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) population has been cut in half in just six years. During a 44-day survey, experts estimated…
Comparison of carbon emissions from six leading countries. Click image to enlarge. China will not introduce a carbon tax in 2013, reports Bloomberg. A carbon tax proposed under the country's…
Tiger bodies in freezer in Guilin Tiger Bear Farm. Photo by: Belinda Wright/WPSI. The number of tigers being captive bred in China for consumption exceed those surviving in the wild—across…
Heavy air pollution, smog and deposition of N in the city centre of Urumqi, China. Credit: Mr. Liu Xuejun Nitrogen deposited on land and water in China increased 60 percent…
Coal truck in western China. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial sources are set to hit a new record high this year according to…
Logs smuggled across the border from Myanmar to China. Photo © : EIA. Runaway economic growth comes with costs: in the case of China's economic engine, one of them has…
Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Island, China. Photo by: Anna Frodesiak. An award-winning forest activist, Liu Futang, is facing trial in China for printing books without the proper…
Deforestation in Laos for a rubber plantation. Raw logs from such deforestation often make their way to Vietnam. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The forests of Lao are still suffering…
Yao Ming walks with Kinango, an infant elephant whose mother was killed by poachers at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya. Photo by: Kristian Schmidt/WildAid. Former NBA Basketball player…
Coal truck in western China. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The average person in China emitted 7.2 tons of carbon last year, according to new figures from BL Netherlands Environmental…
A massive protest triggered cancellation of a controversial copper smelter local communities feared would lead to air pollution, reports The New York Times. Outcry also led to the release of…
Surface coal mining in Bihar, India. Around 40 percent of India's power is currently provided by coal, the most carbon intensive fuel source. Last year global carbon dioxide emissions rose…
An interview with the Nature Conservancy's China Program. TNC staff and volunteers repairing signage at Meili Snow Mountain National Park in northwest Yunnan. Community benefits and ecotourism are at the…
There are two subspecies of the finless porpoise, one is found in the Yangtze River, the other in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. This individual is the latter and was…
An interview with Dr. Sarah Bexell. The vanishing giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is just one victim of the global environmental crisis. Photo by: Sarah Bexell. Several years ago while teaching…
Right of left: Evgenia Chirikova, Edwin Gariguez, Ma Jun, Ikal Angelei, Caroline Cannon, and Sofia Gatica. Photo courtesy of Goldman Environmental Prize. A controversial dam, a massive mine, poisonous pesticides,…
Ivory stored in Malawi. Photo by: EIA. Although the international ivory trade has been banned since 1989, last year was the worst ever for elephant poaching, and this year has…
Releasing a green marine turtle named Crush back to the South China Sea. Photo by: Sea Turtles 911. Last month, an organization devoted to marine turtles in the China, Sea…
Illegally logged tree in Indonesia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Australia should join the widening effort to stamp out illegal logging, according to testimony given this week by tropical ecologist…
China is currently involved in 289 hydroelectric projects worldwide, as reported by International Rivers. Most of the dams are planned for hydropower, and over half are considered 'large' projects. The…
When most of Asia is cutting down its forests, China stands apart. In the last two decade the massive country has gained over 30 percent forest cover. However, a new…
Two massive seizures in the last week—one in Zanzibar and the other in Hong Kong—have confiscated nearly two thousand ivory tusks as elephant poaching continues to rise. Both seizures have…
The Standing Committee of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) tossed conservations NGOs out of the room during a debate on the rise…
Wild cat furs on sale in market in China, 2006. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has warned the US, the UK, and all tiger-range nations…
Slow lorises, like these caged individuals, are imperiled in Southeast Asia for the illegal pet trade. In the wild, traders kill loris parents to take their babies. Pet lorises have…
