Narrow Results

This study extends the recent debate on the rate of return on cattle rearing in India, triggered by Anagol, Etang, and Karlan (2017) and followed by others, to the Bangladeshi context and finds that the apparent paradox of widespread cattle rearing despite negative returns in India is absent in Bangladesh. We use a nationally representative two-year panel data for rural Bangladesh and find that the average and marginal returns on raising cows and bullocks are positive and high in both 2011 and 2015. We show that appreciation of the value of cattle is the major contributing factor to positive returns. The existence of cattle markets where cattle can be freely traded for slaughter, milk production, or for any other purpose—which is constrained to various degrees in India—is the key to high and positive returns in Bangladesh.

License for Commercial Release of GM Canola.

Japan Approves GM Corn and Soy Varieties for Food.

Food Import Ban Eyed after Spinach Scare.

Control on Additives in Imported Foods to Relax.

Human Embryos Set for Medical Research in Korea.

Livestock Antibiotics No Longer Over-the-counter.

Singapore OKs Human Stem Cell Research.

Singapore Doctors Told to Keep up or Lose License.

AUSTRALIA — A Web-based Tool to Predict Bone Fracture Risk

AUSTRALIA — World's First Stem Cell Screening Facility to Target Brain Tumors

CHINA — Agro-Technology to Build Biodiesel Refinery

CHINA — TCM Development Strategy Established

CHINA — Folic Acid Prevents Stomach Cancer

CHINA — A Major Nanobiology Research Project is Initiated at CAS

CHINA — Scientists to Sequence Giant Panda Genome

CHINA — Biotech Company Announces World's First Genetically Modified Phytase Corn

CHINA — Smoking — A Major Risk Factor of Stroke in China

HONG KONG — ASB Biodiesel to Build Hong Kong Plant

INDIA — CCRAS Identified 39 Formulations for Eight Specific Disease Conditions

INDIA — First Hi-tech TomoTherapy System Installed

INDIA — Government Research Labs Develop 28 New Drugs for Chronic Ailments

INDIA — BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring Cardiac Devices Launched in India

INDIA — Biotech Incubation Center to Become a Reality Soon

JAPAN — Radiation Exposure in utero and in Young Children Increases Adult Cancer Risk

JAPAN — Anchoring Protein Variant Associated with Increased Breast Cancer Risk

JAPAN — Stem Cells Develop New Organs in Mice

NEW ZEALAND — New Diabetes Treatment Now Available in New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND — Trans-Tasman Scientists Study Livestock Methane

PHILIPPINES — Philippines Bioethanol Capacity to Expand

SINGAPORE — Asia's First Research Center for Palliative Care Opens in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Millipore Corporation (MIL) Announces New Facility in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Patients Under Chronic Disease Management Program Show Better Disease Control

SINGAPORE — NTUC Childcare Issues Health Alert Following Hong Kong Flu Outbreak

TAIWAN — Gene Screening Used in IVF for Healthy Babies

TAIWAN — Researchers Tout Progress in Vaccine to Combat HIV

TAIWAN — Taipei Program to Help Cardiac Arrest Victims

Growing pressures to increase animal production challenge the agricultural sector to identify technologies and solutions that will make livestock production environmentally sound. One mechanism which may assist the sector in meeting this challenge is Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

On the basis of an evaluation of EIA screenings of Danish livestock, this article presents and discusses how EIA responds to the environmental challenge of intensive livestock projects. The analysis and discussion focus on the changes introduced in livestock projects as a result of the EIA screening process. Screening is normally used for deciding whether or not a project proposal requires an EIA. The article shows how screening also functions as a tool for changing livestock projects, thus being a regulatory instrument in its own right.

The analysis of livestock EIA screenings shows that changes are initiated through a wide range of measures mitigating the environmental impacts of particular livestock projects. Fodder optimisation, cover crops, reduced animal pressure, change of crop rotation, repositioning of risk areas and changed design of animal houses are frequently applied measures. As a conclusion, EIA is identified as an important supplement to other regulatory instruments aiming at balancing the benefits and environmental costs of livestock production. However, the article also concludes that the systematic inspection of livestock projects needs to be improved in order to secure that the changes introduced through screening are also robust in character.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has now passed its first 25 years and looking back it becomes clear that it has changed its direction. In this article we will look closer at how different pressures have pushed it in the direction of decentralisation and deliberative democracy, while other forces have pushed it in the direction of more centralised, top-down government. Different developments during this period can thus be perceived as in accordance with a system of governance based upon framework legislation and characterised by flexibility, coordination and participation. Reflecting on some of the manifest developments encountered in Danish EIA legislation, this article shows that the development of governance structures is followed by developments in the direction of more government. By studying EIA screenings of livestock projects, which is the dominating Danish EIA practice, it becomes obvious that governance as well as government has changed its role often at one and the same time. Although there was scepticism about the efficacy of the EIA instrument at the beginning, this changed from the mid-1990s primarily because it was realised, that EIA screening could address the overwhelming problem of agricultural production, but also that it opened the door for more public participation and broader assessment of projects than found previously under environmental regulation. This can be interpreted as an example of a shift away from government to governance, but the story turns out to be more complex than that as the opposite trend is also encountered. In our empirical work on EIA screening in Denmark, we find that two major changes have taken place. These changes all relate to the problem of livestock production. In all cases, we find that the way EIA is used in Denmark is innovative, but also that pressure from the newly introduced Natura 2000 as well as the Water Framework Directive increases the pressure to return to more traditional top-down measures. Using these examples, this paper offers important insights into the dynamic between governance and government.

The 1992 United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development Summit underscored the need to conduct environmental sustainability evaluations. Such evaluations are important as they communicate the relationship between natural resources extraction and environmental regenerative capacity. We use the Ecological Footprint tool to evaluate the environmental sustainability of grazing landuse for Chirumanzu District of Zimbabwe. Empirical evidence presented here relates to livestock data obtained from the Veterinary Department and a sample household survey. Results revealed the presence of a large ecological reserve, depicting sustainable utilization of environmental resources. Further unravelling of the results, however, revealed under utilisation of the available biocapacity. Livestock-limited environmentally sustainable is the concept used to describe this scenario. Further interpretation of the large ecological reserve indicates insecure land tenure system, low livestock ownership and difficult economic hardships faced by resettled farmers. The paper recommends that the government adopts policies that encourage the development of a sustainable livestock sector.

This paper explores how southeast Asia farmers adapt to climate change. We develop three models: a logit model of livestock choice, an OLS model of total livestock value, and a multinomial logit model of species choice. The data were collected from five countries in Southeast Asia. We find that climate has a significant impact on farmers’ livestock choice. We use three climate projections to predict future impacts. Climate change would increase the probability of raising livestock. However, the total value of livestock owned per livestock farm will shrink 9%–10%. Climate change will cause farmers to choose smaller animals such as ducks, goats, and chicken rather than larger animals.

This paper analyzes the determinants of adaptation options in pastoral drylands and investigates whether adaptation strategies can be used jointly. We assume that decisions can be made jointly as complements or substitutes and investigates whether herders in Senegal adapt to climate change by pursuing multiple strategies. We use a multinomial probit model with primary data collected from 410 herders of Senegalese drylands to identify adaptation determinants. Results show that 73.7% of the surveyed households rely on at least one adaptation strategy including storage of livestock feed, increased mobility, changes in water management, diversification of activities and changes in herd composition. Moreover, we notice that adaptation decisions of pastoral households can be taken jointly and those with mobility do not pursue other adaptation strategies, while those lacking mobility undertake multiple strategies. The diversity of factors explaining adaptation calls for targeted policies that promote adaptation strategies to strengthen the resilience of pastoralists.