Environmental News Network

Tonnes of dead fish wash up on Taiwan beaches
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Tonnes of fish, from carp to exotic tropical specimens, have washed up dead along 320 km of beach on Taiwan's outlying islands because of cold temperatures, a local official said on Friday. About 45 tonnes of fish, some wild and some farmed, appeared on the tourism-dependent Penghu Island archipelago in the Taiwan Strait from February 14 following a cold snap, county environmental staffer Hsu Ching-fang said. >> Read the Full Article
Chile government hands out water in major drought
SANTA ROSA, Chile (Reuters) - Chile is suffering its worst drought in decades, and the government is handing out emergency drinking water along a quarter of the Andean nation's length as wells dry up. Farmers in small towns in south-central Chile have lost crops and livestock in the drought blamed on the weather phenomenon La Nina. >> Read the Full Article
Magnitude 6.0 quake shakes corner of Nevada
SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck near the town of Wells in northeastern Nevada at dawn on Thursday, shaking residents in their beds and causing some damage, the U.S. Geological Survey and residents reported. There were no immediate reports of fatalities or injuries, but a Wells resident said that there were fires at the town grocery store and the truck stop. >> Read the Full Article
Greenland's Rising Air Temperatures Drive Ice Loss At Surface And Beyond
Greenland's enormous ice sheet is home to enough ice to raise sea level by about 23 feet if the entire ice sheet were to melt into surrounding waters. Though the loss of the whole ice sheet is unlikely, loss from Greenland's ice mass has already contributed in part to 20th century sea level rise of about two millimeters per year, and future melt has the potential to impact people and economies across the globe. So NASA scientists used state-of-the-art NASA satellite technologies to explore the behavior of the ice sheet, revealing a relationship between changes at the surface and below. >> Read the Full Article
AfDB gives $814 mln for Central Africa forests
TUNIS (Reuters) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) will provide $814 million over the next two years to help safeguard Central African forests threatened by war, poverty and poor governance, the bank said on Thursday. Bank President Donald Kaberuka told reporters the money would go to 13 projects aimed at improving the management of natural resources in 2008-2010 in the Congo Basin, home to 37 percent of the world's remaining tropical forests. >> Read the Full Article
Norway's biggest quake hits Svalbard archipelago
OSLO (Reuters) - An earthquake of 6.2 magnitude -- the biggest in Norwegian history -- jolted the thinly populated Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic on Wednesday night, the Norsar seismic research institute said on Thursday. No one was hurt by the quake and no damage has been reported in the islands, about 1,000 km (600 miles) from the North Pole, reports said. >> Read the Full Article
Field Dispatch: Natural Habitat Antarctica Trip Pt.3
Iâ€™ve traveled to a lot of mountainous regions in my life â€“ the Himalayas in Nepal, the Karakorum in Pakistan, the Spanish Pyrenees, the Austrian Alps, the Canadian Rockiesâ€¦ But of all the places Iâ€™ve visited, few can compare to the magnificence of South Georgia Island. Iâ€™m hard pressed to think of another place on earth that features such a spectacular combination of snow and glacier covered peaks, abundant wildlife, beautiful bays and fjords, a rich history, and very limited signs of civilization. >> Read the Full Article
Wildlife trading ring â€œdismantledâ€ on Sino-Russian border
Key members of a smuggling ring trading tiger skins and bear parts into China will face trial in March after a 6 month operation in which WWF and TRAFFIC provided technical assistance to customs, police and navy officials in the Russian far east. About 900 paws of brown and black bears, 4 tiger skins, more than 60 kilos of tiger bones and 531 saiga horns, valued at more than $US 200,000 were seized in three joint seizures by customs, police and navy services. >> Read the Full Article
Breaking Down the Barriers to a Green Economy
UNEP Launches Year Book 2008 at its 10th Special Session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Monaco 20-22 February Monaco, 20 February 2008-An emerging Green Economy is glimpsed in the latest United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Year Book as growing numbers of companies embrace environmental policies and investors pump hundreds of billions of dollars into cleaner and renewable energies. >> Read the Full Article
Harsh spring sandstorms forecast for north China
BEIJING (Reuters) - Northern China is likely to be hit with more frequent and more severe sandstorms this year, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, posing a challenge to Olympics organizers hoping for blue skies over Beijing. Sandstorms were forecast to increase this spring in the northern provinces of Inner Mongolia and Hebei, which surrounds Beijing, Xinhua said, citing the China Meteorological Administration. >> Read the Full Article