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Environment

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Environment
Latest news and updates about issues impacting the global environment, including climate change, recycling, pollution and sustainable living.
Rescue workers at the site of a building that collapsed in Bangkok, following Friday’s strong earthquake, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters
Myanmar

Explainer | Why was the Myanmar, Thailand earthquake so damaging? What science says

The earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 near the city of Mandalay could cause fatalities between 10,000 and 100,000 people.

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Japan

Japan faces 99 times more heatwaves if global warming intensifies, report warns

Climate change

Opinion | Asia can’t afford to wait for the US to wake up to its climate duty

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Climate change

‘The end of soup on van Goghs’: UK activists to stop climate protest stunts

The group says it has succeeded in stopping Britain from approving new oil and gas projects and will hold one last demonstration in London.

Just Stop Oil activists glue their hands to the wall after throwing soup at a van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London in October 2022. Photo: Just Stop Oil via Reuters
Thailand

Thai tourist gems Chiang Mai and Bangkok among world’s worst for air quality

With both Thai cities listed among the 10 worst in air quality worldwide, emergency measures and regional cooperation are under way to address the crisis.

Climate change

Opinion | China has what it takes to lead the global green steel revolution

With the right incentives, adoption of electricity-based furnaces and green hydrogen can help the steel industry reduce carbon emissions.

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South Korea

As South Korea burns, officials suspect human error to blame for wildfires

At least 24 people have died and a 1,300-year-old temple has been destroyed. Investigators say tomb clearing or welding may be the culprit.

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A wildfire is seen near a stone lantern on a family tomb in Andong, South Korea, on Wednesday morning. Photo: AFP
China energy security

China weeds out bad behaviour in quest to harvest farmers’ untapped solar power

The country’s energy regulator called for the ‘healthy and orderly’ growth of small-scale, distributed solar power and dissuaded monopolies.

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Hong Kong environmental issues

Letters | Use of plastic bags to fill holes on Hong Kong beach a travesty

Readers discuss contractors’ actions on a Lantau beach, and a reclamation project in Tseung Kwan O.

Architecture and design

Designer Thomas Heatherwick seeks to humanise architecture – interview

Last year, he published Humanise: A Maker’s Guide to Building Our World and his Heatherwick Studio launched the Xi’an Centre Culture Business District, centred on the Xi’an Tree, with local developer CR Land.

Designer Thomas Heatherwick is a man on a mission: he wants to banish boring buildings and humanise our city environment. Photo: Raquel Diniz
Trending in China

Young Chinese man embarks on 3,300-km Lhasa trek, emerges looking like 50-year-old

Hiker endures blizzards, wild wolves, accidents which left him hobbling in epic journey over mountain ranges during which he hardly bathed.

A young man who hiked 3,300 kilometres across China has emerged looking much, much older. Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin
China-Africa relations

Will Zambian mine disaster spill over to destroy relations with China?

A 50-million-litre acid spill from a Chinese-owned copper mine in Zambia is now threatening to kill ties with Beijing, experts say.

Climate change

Opinion | Asia is ground zero for the impact of global glacier loss

Other mountain ranges are losing their glaciers faster but Asia’s critically dependent economy and people put it on the front line.

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India

Video | Indian slums get cool roofs to beat summer heat

Indian slums get cool roofs to combat extreme heat
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Extreme weather

Woman dead, husband missing as violent storm lashes southern Spain

Flash floods in southern Spain prompt officials to evacuate hundreds of homes.

A van being swept away by the current of the Campanillas river in Almogia, Malaga province, Spain. Photo: EPA-EFE
Science

Chinese basin may have been a refuge in largest extinction. Do we need another?

Researchers say Turpan-Hami Basin in Xinjiang hosted diverse plant life throughout end-Permian mass extinction 252 million years ago.

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Art

Statue of Liberty, Big Ben models made of scrap in underwater art show

A Swedish art project aims to create an underwater city of the world’s most famous buildings to highlight the threat from rising sea levels.

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Indonesia

‘What else can we do?’ Indonesia has more crocodile attacks than anywhere else

Indonesia recorded nearly 180 crocodile attacks last year, with 92 fatalities. Some say palm-oil plantations are making the problem worse.

Crocodiles in Budong-Budong, Indonesia’s West Sulawesi Island. Photo: AP
Extreme weather

US death toll rises to 36 after extreme weather across multiple states

President Trump pledges help to affected states after unusually vicious and damaging weather.

Singapore

Asian Angle | Singapore was once polluted, too. Asia could learn much from its transformation

Asia’s breakneck growth has come at a steep environmental cost, but Singapore’s experience shows where there’s political will, there’s a way.

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Americas and the Caribbean

Peruvian farmer’s climate fight reaches German court

A farmer and mountain guide is suing German energy firm RWE, due to the company’s share of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

River waters run through the Nueva Florida neighborhood, which risks flooding because of glacial melt, in Huaraz, Peru, on March 2. Photo: Reuters
Food and Drinks

The places tap water tastes so good you don’t need the bottled kind

Water from the tap so good you don’t need to buy plastic bottles of the stuff? It does exist, travel insurer’s survey of social media finds.

A medical travel insurer analysed Reddit reviews to come up with a list of countries and cities with the tastiest tap water.
Indonesia

Indonesia’s clean energy transition in doubt after US withdrawal from JETP

Despite Jakarta’s ambitious net-zero goals, analysts say the country has limited political will to fulfil its climate commitments on its own.

Renewable energy

My Take | Asia needs new clean-energy partners after US withdrawal from climate aid

Falling fossil-fuel prices may tempt some to switch back to old habits but that will prove a climate-change disaster.

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Japan

Chinese tourists are drawn to Japan’s Fukushima, despite its nuclear past

‘Dark tourism’ trend sees visitors eager to witness the impact of the disaster.

Futaba is seen behind a retractable fence. Photo: Kyodo
Science

Why is China quietly helping Africa build a Great Green Wall across the Sahara?

‘This battle can be won’: desert expert reveals how China’s technology, funding and strategies aid ambitious environmental project.

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Africa’s Great Green Wall project, which features input and funding from China, is promoted in southeastern Niger. Photo: Weibo
Wellness

You can help avoid microplastics getting into your body. Experts share tips

Scientists explain how to protect yourself beyond avoiding plastic bottles as increasing amounts of microplastics are found in our bodies.

Indonesia

A second chance: Indonesia rescues lost baby elephant missing its mother

The two-month-old Sumatran elephant calf was discovered at a plantation in Riau province on the western island of Sumatra.

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