Perspective

Sophie le Clue from China Water Risk explores increasing tensions in South and Southeast Asia arising from trans-boundary rivers that have their source on the Tibetan Plateau. The key factors are: - China owns the headwaters of at least 10 major rivers but has no formal water-sharing agreements with its neighbors; - Water scarcity and stress is increasing political tension in the region; - The full extent of dam impacts has not assessed, despite escalating building programs.

The current trend of increasing ocean acidification, which threatens fisheries around the world, is driven mainly by man-made changes and is higher even than that seen at the end of the last ice age, some 11,000 year ago, a study has said. Much of the carbon released by human activity ends up in the oceans, increasing their acidity and reducing the growth of corals and molluscs, which in turn may affect fisheries and aquaculture.

Asia has led the world since the global financial crisis hit much of the developed world and looks set to see further robust growth in 2012.  Standard & Poor's has, however, warned that the region cannot be entirely immune from economic risks elsewhere, particularly in Europe and the USA, and that may have impacts including interest rate cuts and an increase in stimulus spending[1].  The pace of development across the region over recent decades has meant unprecedented advances in technology, prosperity and consumption, with Asian economies now well-placed to consolidate growth in the second half of the year, according to Reuters.

Here is the Asia Pacific 2012 seasonal weather forecast: Japan is set for a warm spring and the south of the country will by dryer than normal this summer, with lower than average rainfall also affecting eastern China. The Indian sub-continent will experience a weaker summer monsoon but meanwhile, in Indonesia and Australia, the winter rains will be heavier than normal. Will these predictions turn out to be true? Professor Toshio Yamagata, head of the Application Laboratory at Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), is pretty sure they will be

The Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department (EPD) recently presented proposals to reduce emissions from vessels to improve air quality in Hong Kong at an Environmental Affairs Panel meeting in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in December 2011. This is a positive step towards regulation in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region more generally.

I recently attended a meeting in a large, airy building with wooden beamed ceilings and a huge Christmas tree in the corner to talk with committee members of a new environmental initiative charged with promoting green living  throughout the organization. With such campaigns as Meatless Mondays, Lights Out Fridays, and a complete ban on the use of plastic bottles, one would think you were talking to a large corporation making its first moves into the sustainability world.

The information is out there. The data that would enable sound decisions on the environment and sustainable development exists in databases, repositories and desk drawers. Yet often it is not tapped, scientifically analysed, communicated or used for the benefit of the environment and the people who depend on it. “By some estimates the amount of data held in the world is 315 times the number of grains of sand and continuing to grow,” Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), told the Eye on Earth Summit in Abu Dhabi last month.

Governments across Asia need to improve their regulation of way that pesticides are marketed and should ban certain pesticides from use in rice production completely, according to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), writes Mike Ives of Sci-Dev.net. IRRI, which is based in Manila, the Philippines, released an action plan listing potential strategies for scaling back pesticide use and adopting ecological growing techniques at a conference in Vietnam, held under the title "Threats of Insecticide Misuse in Rice Ecosystems — Exploring Options for Mitigation".

The American inventor, who made the incandescent light bulb viable for the mass market, also built the world's first electrical distribution system, in New York, using "direct current" electricity. DC's disadvantage was that it couldn't carry power beyond a few blocks. His Serbian-born rival Tesla, who at one stage worked with Edison, figured out how to send "alternating current" through transformers to enable it to step up the voltage for transmission over longer distances.