Nyheder – Asia

Rainforest to be used wisely: Papua New Guinea has now protected an area with 3600 km2 of rainforest. The 21,000 people living in the area will have the rights to use the forest sustainably.

Hotline to punish polluters: As a response to recent environmental scandals, the Vietnamese environmental agency has now launched a hotline that allows anyone to report pollution.

Cleaner air for mega-city: To help clean the air for the city’s 11.9 million people, all buses in the Chinese city of Shenzhen must run on electricity before the end of this year.

Fewer want bad elephant rides: In three years, there has been a 9 % drop in the number of people who accept elephant riding as a tourist attraction. The elephants are often mistreated.

Plant doctor app helps farmers: 320,000 farmers in India now use an app that lets them take a photo of a sick plant and find out what’s wrong and what to do about it.

Girls flock to schools in Asia: Just 20 years ago, 35.8 million girls in South East Asia did not attend school. Latest data from 2014 show this number has now dropped to 11.3 million girls.

New hope for world’s biggest stork: Thanks to guarding of nest sites in Cambodia, stork chicks were successfully hatched in 175 nests of world’s biggest stork: the endangered greater adjutant.

Fighting deadly kitchen smoke: One million families in Bangladesh have switched to a new type of stove that saves fuel and smokes less. Each year, kitchen smoke kills 78.000 people die.

Clearing mines and saving lives: Cambodia cleared 132 square kilometres of landmines in 2016. Meanwhile, the number of landmine victims fell significantly compared to 2015.

Rare lizard back on tropical island: The critically endangered Fijian crested iguana has been re-introduced to a small Pacific island. Rats and goats were banished to make the island safe.

Indian cabs to run on battery: 100 electric cabs and 100 electric rickshaws are now on the roads of India, as a pilot project to pave the way for 1 million electric taxis by 2020.

India records for solar energy: The cost of solar energy is seeing new record lows in India, making the country estimate that it will be able to surpass its climate commitments.

Green growth in Pakistan: In just one year, Pakistan has planted 750 million trees to make deforested land green again. Around 500,000 people have found jobs growing the tree seedlings.

End of painful bear breeding: South Korea has stopped breeding bears kept in miserable conditions in order to extract their bile for use in traditional Asian medicine.

Getting India on track: India has begun building a huge new railroad net, where freight trains will be able to get up to speed instead of clogging up the rails for passenger trains.

Price of ivory slashed: In just three years, the market price of ivory has been halved. This impacts the poachers’ profits and may give new hope for the endangered African elephant.

China shuts down ivory factories: China has now shut down one-third of officially sanctioned ivory workshops and retailers in the first move towards a ban on the domestic trade in ivory.

China cancels 103 coal plants: In an effort to clean up extreme air pollution and decrease CO2 emissions, China has cancelled the plans to build 103 new coal-fired power plants.

New method saves vaccine: Countries in Asia have started to give two small injections of polio vaccine instead of one big one. This saves valuable vaccine and offers the same protection.

Fewer sharks in Chinese skies: As the first carrier ever, Air China now bans all transport of shark fins on their planes. This happens to help save the world’s sharks from extinction.