Asia

"Like generations of Tibetan nomads before him, Phuntsok Dorje makes a living raising yaks and other livestock on the vast alpine grasslands that provide a thatch on the roof of the world. But in recent years the vegetation around his home, the Tibetan plateau, has been destroyed by rising temperatures, excess livestock and plagues of insects and rodents."

"Pakistan floods have already affected as many as 12 million people and destroyed or damaged more than 600,000 homes, say Pakistani officials. That's already worse than the 2005 earthquake, but monsoon season is only half over."

"The worst floods in memory in Pakistan have devastated the lives of more than 3 million people, a U.N. spokesman said on Tuesday, while outrage over the unpopular government's response to the suffering spreads."

"China's largest reported oil spill more than doubled in size to 165 sq. miles (430 sq. kilometers) by Wednesday, forcing nearby beaches to close and prompting one official to warn of a 'severe threat' to sea life and water quality."

"An Indian court Monday convicted seven former senior employees of Union Carbide's Indian subsidiary of 'death by negligence' for their roles in the Bhopal gas tragedy that left an estimated 15,000 people dead more than a quarter century ago in the world's worst industrial disaster."

Russia's Lake Baikal, the oldest and deepest freshwater lake in the world, has been the focus of environmental protection efforts. Now the reopening of a dirty Soviet-era paper mill is restarting old battles.

"South Korea's LG Group will invest $17.9 billion through 2020 to develop environmentally-friendly businesses and reduce emissions by 40 percent against 2009 levels, unit LG Corp said on Monday."

"The drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet's most shocking environmental disasters, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday as he urged Central Asian leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem."

"Japan on Monday settled a suit by more than 2,000 victims of mercury poisoning, half a century after the country's worst industrial pollution disaster hit the fishing town of Minamata."

"It's the only explanation that makes sense to Jia Son, a Tibetan farmer surveying the catastrophe unfolding above his village in China's mountainous Yunnan Province. 'We've upset the natural order,' the devout, 52-year-old Buddhist says. 'And now the gods are punishing us.'"