By Christian Fleming

Mar. 10 – Top environmental and climate negotiators for China and India instructed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Tuesday to include them amongst the nearly 200 countries listed at the top of the Copenhagen Accord.

The accord, a three-page nonbinding statement, was the only thing to come out of the failed attempt at world government that was the Copenhagen Summit this past December.

The deal underlines climate change as one of the great challenges of our time and calls for limiting the rise in global temperature to below two degrees Celsius. It also asks developed countries to raise funds of US$30 billion for new and additional resources by 2012 and for the world to raise US$100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries mitigate carbon emissions. » Read rest of the article

Mar. 8 – The Kouprey (Bos sauveli) – a wild, forest-dwelling ox found mainly in northern Cambodia, but also believed to exist in southern Laos, western Vietnam, and eastern Thailand – is about to be declared extinct by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The Kouprey was discovered in 1937 and is a very large ungulate, about the same size as a Wild Asian Water Buffalo. Male Kouprey stand up to two meters tall at the shoulder and weigh an average of 900 kilograms. The species live in low, partially forested hills where they eat mainly grasses. Kouprey are diurnal, eating in the open at night and under the forest cover during the day. They live in herds of up to twenty, generally consisting of only cows and calves, but also bulls during the dry season. » Read rest of the article

Feb. 25 – Local Chinese authorities are scheduled to release 20 million green and silver carp into Taihu Lake in the next few days to help rid it of algae.

Taihu Lake, bordering Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces, is China’s third largest freshwater lake. It is famous for being one of the most scenic lakes in the country before industrial and agricultural waste plagued the lake with algae and affected drinking water supply in 2007. Efforts to clean the lake began last year when 10 million carp were released into the lake. » Read rest of the article

Feb. 22 – India opened its 38th reserve and Kerala’s second last week in the Sungam range of hills between the Anaimalai Hills and Nelliampathy Hills.

The Parambikulam Tiger Reserve formerly called the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary has been expanded to 643 square kilometers from 285 square kilometers with the addition of more forests. The reserve takes care of about 20 tigers in addition to 51 species of reptiles, 204 species of birds, 160 varieties of butterflies and other species. » Read rest of the article

Feb 17 – Yin Hong, vice head of the Chinese State Forestry Administration, has stated that the country has nearly 6,000 tigers in captivity and could breed 1,000 each year, amid international controversy over the benefits of farming the endangered species.

“There are close to 6,000 tigers that have been artificially bred and raised in China,” Chinese state media quoted Yin saying. “These tigers can breed over 1,000 baby tigers every year.”

Yin’s comments came as China rang in the Year of the Tiger on February 14 amid mounting worldwide concern over dwindling numbers of the great cats.

Yin said there were just 50 to 60 wild tigers left in China. Conservation groups have said recently fewer than 50 still roam the country.

There are four varieties of wild tigers in China, and one of them – the South China tiger – has not been spotted in the wild since the late 1970s. In the 1950s there were around 4,000 of the subspecies. » Read rest of the article

Feb. 10 – China has released its first national census on pollution detailing sources of industrial, residential and agricultural waste and showing the extent of environmental degradation of the world’s largest polluter.

The census reports that in 2007 pollution discharged into the water amounted to 30.3 million metric tons reports The Wall Street Journal. This included agricultural waste from farms that use fertilizers with harmful chemicals like ammonia. Beijing estimates that its water is only capable of taking seven million tons a year of pollution a year. » Read rest of the article

Feb.1 – India is pledging to voluntarily cut its carbon emissions by 20 to 25 percent in 2020 based on 2005 levels although mitigation efforts will not include the agricultural sector.

India’s Environment and Forests Ministry said that mitigation efforts will be voluntary in nature and not legally binding but failed to give specific measures. The pledge comes as part of an agreement in Copenhagen that set a Jan. 31 deadline for developing countries for nonbinding, voluntary carbon-curbing actions, and economy-wide emissions targets for developed nations. » Read rest of the article

Jan. 15 – The Sundarban islands spanning off the east Indian coast in the Ganges River Delta to Bangladesh are sinking.

The effects of global warming, cyclones and rising sea levels are threatening the livelihood of more than four million people and beginning to destroy one of the world’s largest mangrove ecosystems. » Read rest of the article

Dec. 28 – A new, increasingly drug-resistant form of malaria has sprung up along the border of Cambodia and Thailand a new report by the Associated Press states.

“This spot on the Thai-Cambodian border is home to a form of malaria that keeps rendering one powerful drug after another useless. This time, scientists have confirmed the first signs of resistance to the only affordable treatment left in the global medicine cabinet for malaria: Artemisinin.” » Read rest of the article

Dec. 23 – The grouping of China, India, Brazil and South Africa emerged as a significant force in Copenhagen and they are now hoping to lead the way in future negotiations, the head of the U.N. climate panel said on Wednesday.

A climate change meeting ended last week in Copenhagen with a non-legally binding political agreement at the last moment between the United States and the big developing countries of China, India, Brazil and South Africa that form the BASIC group. It was an agreement that  left many in the Europe feeling less than enthused about the outcome. » Read rest of the article