Plastic waste can promote microbial colonization by pathogens implicated in outbreaks of disease in the ocean. We assessed the influence of plastic waste on disease risk in 124,000 reef-building corals from 159 reefs in the Asia-Pacific region. The likelihood of disease increases from 4% to 89% when corals are in contact with plastic. Structurally complex corals are eight times more likely to be affected by plastic, suggesting that microhabitats for reef-associated organisms and valuable fisheries will be disproportionately affected.

This study aims to conduct an inventory of mercury emissions from selected coal-fired power plants in Thailand. This study, focusing on emissions of mercury from coal combustion so as to generate electricity, is a contribution to international efforts to reduce mercury pollution.

SMOKING is a scourge. It is the leading preventable cause of cancer and kills over 7m people annually, mostly in low- and middle-income countries.

Despite increasing recognition of the importance of ecosystem-based approaches for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, implementation remains mostly underdeveloped worldwide. Lack of knowledge on the implementation process present an important barrier.

Tool use has allowed humans to become one of the most successful species. However, tool-assisted foraging has also pushed many of our prey species to extinction or endangerment, a technology-driven process thought to be uniquely human. Here, we demonstrate that tool-assisted foraging on shellfish by long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, Thailand, reduces prey size and prey abundance, with more pronounced effects where the macaque population size is larger.

Asia is home to a worsening water pollution crisis thanks to an accelerating but weakly regulated industrial boom, but its most vulnerable citizens are kept in the dark about whether the water they

Industrial facilities release upwards of 400 million tons of toxic pollutants into the world’s waters each year. Yet secrecy around the amount and type of chemicals that companies discharge is still the norm, especially in Asia.

BANGKOK, Aug 30 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In Mongolia, herders living outside the capital Ulaanbaatar, near the Tuul River, fear deteriorating water quality is making their livestock sick.

IN POOR countries people are living longer and healthier lives than ever. Since 2000 child mortality has fallen by almost half. The rate of new HIV/AIDS infections has dropped by 40%.

Converting forests into farms is not economically viable except in selected regions, says a global study.

Pages