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Liu Qin 23.03.201 The buzzword has been given new life and is finally crossing from idea into policy, writes  Liu Qin Chemical pollution on the Yangtze. Establishing  strict baselines for environmental protection will be key to protecting the Yangtze Basin  (Image:  Lu Guang / Greenpeace ) China’s annual Lianghui rarely disappoints as a source of new  buzzwords . But this year, the meeting of the National People’s Congress and the National People’s Political Consultative Conference instead saw the revival of one that’s been around for a few years. At a press conference with journalists on March 9, Chen Jining, Minister for Environmental Protection, fell back on a familiar term, the “ecological red line”, when responding to a question about environmental degradation on the Yangtze. Chen was clear that strict baselines for environmental protection would be established in the Yangtze Basin, which is one of China’s most densely populated and industrialised regions. Althou

Damian Carrington 24.03.2017 The killing of a rhino in a Paris zoo marks a shocking development in this ruthless global trade, writes  Damian Carrington Trade in rhino horn is completely illegal but demand from Vietnam and China fuels poaching and smuggling, putting the rhinos at risk of extinction  (Image:  Max Pixel ) On the black market it is reputedly worth more than its weight in gold or cocaine, and earlier this month the lure of rhino horn brought the bloody business of poaching to a zoo near Paris. There, in the dead of night, criminals broke in,  shot a white rhino called Vince  three times in the head and then hacked off its eight-inch horn with a chainsaw. The attack marks a shocking new development in a crisis that sees more than three rhinos killed every day in their southern African homelands. Trade in rhino horn is completely illegal but demand from Vietnam and China fuels poaching and smuggling, putting the rhinos at risk of extinction. Rhino horn is m

Robert Soutar Cristina Veiga 27.03.2017 Chinese demand is driving beef production in Brazil but producers have been found selling contaminated meat President Michel Temer with Chinese ambassador Li Jinzhang. Livestock production is expected to increase 70% by 2050 (Image:  Palácio do Planalto ) The revelation that top Brazilian meat producers bribed food safety inspectors to obtain certificates for rotten meat is the last thing President Michel Temer needs on his plate. Brazil’s economy is already reeling from the crash in global commodity prices and low investor confidence as the unprecedented  Lava Jato corruption scandal taints politicians of all stripes. Now the country’s highly prized beef exports look set to collapse after it emerged companies including JBS and BRF, the world’s largest beef and poultry producers, respectively, committed  foul play . Some even tried to pass off edible meat flecked with acid in order to mask its rotting stench.   Major buyers the

Liu Qin Tang Damin 22.03.2017 To mark World Water Day we take a look at some of China’s most culturally important but environmentally threatened lakes Take a trip around some of China's most interesting lakes, from the mysterious disappearance of Lop Nur to the remarkable recovery of  Qinghai  Lake (Image:  NASA ) China’s rivers, lakes and seas are an important part of the country’s cultural geography, with the phrase “five lakes, four seas” meaning something akin to “from all over the country”. But most of the country's lakes are in a state of  crisis . China has a much smaller freshwater resource by population than many other nations, and those resources are both shrinking and threatened by pollution. Not only is China the world’s largest user of fertilizers, its water-polluting industries such as textiles and paper-making are huge, and both agriculture and industry have enormous water footprints. Here, we include a couple of China’s traditional “five lakes

Liu Qin 23.03.2017 The buzzword has been given new life and is finally crossing from idea into policy, writes  Liu Qin Chemical pollution on the Yangtze. Establishing  strict baselines for environmental protection will be key to protecting the Yangtze Basin  (Image:  Lu Guang / Greenpeace ) China’s annual Lianghui rarely disappoints as a source of new  buzzwords . But this year, the meeting of the National People’s Congress and the National People’s Political Consultative Conference instead saw the revival of one that’s been around for a few years. At a press conference with journalists on March 9, Chen Jining, Minister for Environmental Protection, fell back on a familiar term, the “ecological red line”, when responding to a question about environmental degradation on the Yangtze. Chen was clear that strict baselines for environmental protection would be established in the Yangtze Basin, which is one of China’s most densely populated and industrialised regions. Altho

Pakistan Day Parade 2017 | 23 March 2017 Parade Full Show