Antoine Blua is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL.
September 18, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A recent report puts cities in Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan on a list of the 10 most polluted places in the world.
Central Asia's wild plants -- repositories of genetic information and and a key to ensuring food supplies -- are threatened by deforestation and desertification.
Scientists and locals in Tajikistan fear an earthquake could release more than 17 cubic kilometers of water trapped behind a naturally formed dam.
The Caspian Sea coast (file photo) (Courtesy Photo) April 13, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Hundreds of dead seals have washed up on Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea coast in the past two weeks. The cause is still a mystery, but it is a blow to the already dwindling Caspian seal (Phoca caspica).
Conservation groups and state agencies have created a new nature reserve in the steppes of northwestern Kazakhstan
A rare Eurasian bird thought to be critically endangered has returned in force to Syria and Turkey.
A small group of Bukhara deer has been relocated to a former habitat in Kazakhstan's Altyn Emel National Park.
New evidence suggests that striped hyenas might be extending their habitat northward in Central Asia, delighting conservationists.
British scientists have launched an ambitious project that focuses on some of the world's rarest and most extraordinary mammals.
The population of the saiga antelope has fallen from 1 million to just 30,000 in a decade.
The destruction of forests in Central Asia, Iran, and Afghanistan is causing mudslides, landslides, and flooding.
The Dalai Lama addresses the crowd at Ulan Bator's Central Sports Stadium on August 23 (AFP) PRAGUE, August 23, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The Dalai Lama has embarked on a weeklong visit to Mongolia at the invitation of that country's largest monastery. The Mongolian government is eager to avoid confrontation with its biggest export partner, China. It has insisted the visit is a nonpolitical matter. But officials in Beijing, who regard the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader as a separatist, are watching closely.
China's economy has been booming since the late 1970s. However, this success has been accompanied by increasingly alarming environmental degradation.
Reversing biodiversity loss in some of the world's most blighted places is no easy task, particularly given the transnational nature of the problem.
A snow leopard photographed at night (file photo) (Snow Leopard Trust) Snow leopards live in the mountainous regions of Central Asia and China. The animal already has vanished from some areas where it used to live. To impoverished residents of areas inhabited by snow leopards, protecting the animal may seem like an unaffordable luxury. But in Kyrgyzstan, some communities are deeply involved in a conservation program offering financial incentives to people who help snow leopards:
In the Soviet era, Moscow's dominant influence over Central Asia was beyond dispute. But the emergence of the five independent republics in 1991 has brought competition from other great powers hoping to exert their influence in the region. In a new series, RFE/RL looks at what is at stake.
The markhor used to be widespread throughout the mountains from Central Asia to Kashmir. But the species has been progressively exterminated from much of its range by excessive hunting, deforestation, and overgrazing.
U.S. negotiator Chris Hill speaking to the press today in Beijing A new round of six-party negotiations on how to end North Korea's nuclear programs entered a second day in Beijing without a breakthrough. There has been no real progress since China, Japan, Russia, the United States, and North and South Korea last met in the Chinese capital five weeks ago. In particular, Pyongyang and Washington remain at an impasse over Pyongyang's demand for a civilian nuclear program.
President Musharraf (file photo) As part of its effort to crackdown on religious extremism, the Pakistani government has ordered Islamic schools, known as madrasahs, to register by the end of the year or face being closed down. Aside from making closer checks on madrasahs' activities and funding, authorities also ordered their foreign students to leave the country. A coalition of madrasahs is rejecting the new measures, branding them discriminatory.
Tibet was occupied by Chinese communist troops in 1950 and was designated the Tibetan Autonomous Region 15 years later. Today, China celebrated the 40th anniversary of the latter event with pomp and a pledge to boost the economy of the Himalayan territory. Meanwhile, Tibetan activists overseas denounced Beijing’s hard-line policies in the region.
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