Asia

"Particulate matter pollution in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh could be behind hundreds of thousands of stillbirths and miscarriages annually, according to a new study."

"More than 349,000 lost pregnancies each year in South Asia are linked to excessive air pollution, according to a new study in The Lancet Planetary Health journal.

"Japan aims to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles in about 15 years, the government said Friday in a plan to achieve Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s ambitious pledge to go carbon free by 2050 and generate nearly $2 trillion growth in green business and investment."

"The frequency of natural disasters is making life in rural areas increasingly difficult, pushing inhabitants into city slums".

"Climate change and its enormous human migrations will transform agriculture and remake the world order — and no country stands to gain more than Russia."

"Asia-Pacific has faced a record number of climate-related disasters in 2020, affecting tens of millions of vulnerable people already hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Red Cross said on Wednesday."

"A U.S.-funded project using satellites to track and publish water levels at Chinese dams on the Mekong river was announced on Monday, adding to the superpowers’ rivalry in Southeast Asia."

"The coronavirus pandemic has slowed efforts to make safer the often hazardous job of dismantling old ships in Bangladesh, officials said, following the latest worker fatality."

"Japan’s ruling party will call on the government to promote environmental investment with a major decade-long spending programme for the country, whose Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has made a green society a key policy priority."

"A new book by Jon Mitchell exposes “countless” releases of PFAS chemicals by the U.S. military in Japan."

"Glaciers in China’s bleak Qilian mountains are disappearing at a shocking rate as global warming brings unpredictable change and raises the prospect of crippling, long-term water shortages, scientists say."