Environment

Vietnam should take coordinated measures to actively cope with climate change between now and 2020.

About 60 hectares of forests in the core area of the Yok Don National Park in Dak Lak province would be eliminated when the Drang Phok hydropower plant is built.

From tigers to dolphins, animal populations in many of China's ecosystems have plummeted under decades of development and urbanisation, a World Wildlife Fund study said.

Costa Rica is set to become the first Latin American state to ban hunting for sport, a move aimed at preserving the Central American country's rich biodiversity.

The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management has officially launched a Disaster Emergency Logistic System for ASEAN.

Vietnam is changing its legal framework to help the environmental services industry grow, according to Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bui Cach Tuyen.

Hanoi has approved spending over $5.1 billion on collecting, classifying and properly treating solid waste to reduce environmental pollution.

Twenty one lakes in Hanoi and 150 hectares of water surface have disappeared over the last 20 years, since 1990.

Dozens of temporary garbage dumps have formed in residential areas of Dong Nai Province due to a shortage of landfill sites, causing serious pollution that affects local people's health.

The chances of hitting the UN's global warming target are diminishing, but the goal can still be met if greenhouse-gas emissions fall by 15 percent by 2020, scientists said.

Ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland has contributed nearly half an inch to the rise in sea levels in the past 20 years, according to an assessment of polar ice sheet melting.

Vietnam will start blending bio-fuels with petrol to power road vehicles from 2014, as the government seeks to push ahead with its commitment to establish green credentials.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature has kicked off a project to help Thua Thien Hue Province adapt and mitigate climate change.

Sea levels are rising 60-percent faster than the UN's climate panel forecast in its most recent assessment, scientists reported.

The aquaculture has been threatened by the uncontrollable industrial production development which has caused serious pollution everywhere.

Energy usage contributes up to 35% of Vietnam's total greenhouse gas emissions, Dr Nguyen Thi Hien Thuan from the Vietnam Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a plan to manage greenhouse gas emissions and establish a carbon trading scheme.

Mui Ca Mau (Ca Mau Cape) National Park in the southernmost province of Ca Mau will be recognised as a new Ramsar site of the world and the fifth in Vietnam.

Vietnam is preparing to further enhance its green credentials on the world stage by joining the global carbon market after 2020.