By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, May 18 (IPS) - For the past 11 years, Scott Sharpe, a diver from Hawaii, has been exploring the undersea world off the coast of the Philippines. It is the beauty of that country's marine life that drew him to the archipelago.

Yet increasingly, there are disturbing signs underwater. ''Everyday, the environmental stress on the marine life increases,'' says the 51-year-old owner of the Subic Bay Marine Exploratorium. ‘'One of the reasons is because of the impact of global warming caused by forests being cut.''

By Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, May 8 (IPS) — As Tamil militant planes flew sorties over the national capital last week, the attention of political leaders were diverted from a worse disaster unfolding on the ground — flash floods, attributed by scientists, to climate change.

By Soma Basu

MADURAI, Tamil Nadu, May 5 (IPS/IFEJ) — The carved granite pagodas that dominate this town in southern Tamil Nadu state have earned it a place on UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites. Less noticeable, though, are the vast reservoirs that once took care of the water requirements of this millennia-old cultural centre.

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

KHUN SAMUTCHINE, Thailand, May 3 (IPS) - The sound of waves from the nearby sea is no comfort for the chief abbot of the Buddhist temple in this fishing village in the Gulf of Thailand.

   It is a constant reminder of the peril that awaits the temple, Wat Khun Samuttrawachine, built in 1967, from an encroaching sea. ‘'This temple is always under threat from the sea; during the monsoon it is worse,'' says Phra Somnuk Atipanyo in a quiet tone.

By Marina Kozlova

TASHKENT, April 24 (IPS/AWW) – Happy days are here again for caviar lovers worldwide as the export ban meant to protect the sustainability of this prized delicacy has been lifted recently. But environmentalists are not optimistic, saying that the ban and its subsequent lifting did not really make a dent in the illegal harvesting and sale of caviar.  

By Stephen Leahy

BROOKLIN, Canada, Apr 11 (IPS) - An investigation has revealed that the U.S. supplier of sushi to more than 6,000 restaurants is associated with a Japanese company that sells millions of tins of whale meat.

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Mar 22 (IPS) - A planned survey to check the economic pulse of fishing communities living on the banks of South-east Asia's largest freshwater lake -- the Tonle Sap in Cambodia -- threatens to expose serious shortcomings in an Asian Development Bank (AsDB) anti-poverty initiative.

By Marina Kozlova

TASHKENT, Mar 15 (IPS) – The lack of clean water and efficient sewerage system are threatening the health of patients in Tashkent hospitals, not to mention the rest of the province’s population.

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Feb 28 (IPS) - Being a village headman means little if you live in a community nestling in the hills close to Thailand's northern border with Burma. More so, if officials have plans to use your village for a large ‘development' project.

By Bharat Dogra

ITARSI, India, Feb 9 (IPS) - The philosophy of 'satyagraha' or non-violent resistance, first employed by Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, has been adopted by tribal fisherfolk in 44 hamlets on a dammed river in central India to protest the loss of their livelihoods.