Short News – Asia
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.