Oppressive China Unveils Smog-Busting Drone in Fight Against Pollution

A tourist boat, decorated with green lights, travels on the Pearl River amid heavy haze in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China

Credit: Reuters 

China is preparing to test a smog-busting drone in an effort to help clean up air pollution, which has reached crisis levels in most big cities across the country.

Pollution experts will test a parafoil plane made by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

The unmanned vehicle has a gliding parachute which contains chemicals that effectively mop up particulates and other pollutants in the air.

The drone has flexible wings, making it easier to control. It can also carry three times the amount of chemical cargo than similar-sized aircraft, the company's chief executive, Ma Yongsheng, said.

A parafoil drone designed by the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China conducts "fog-clearing" operations in Ningbo. 

The firm says testing of a type of smog-fighting drone will begin soon. 

Photo: Nandu.com

According to the South China Morning Post, Ma said the parachute can carry up to 700kg of smog clearing-chemicals.

Over recent years, Chinese authorities have used planes to spray chemicals into the air, causing pollutants in smog to fall to the ground.

Ma also noted the drone can be used for emergency rescue, disaster relief and surveillance. There is also potential for its use in agriculture as it can spread seeds over wide areas.

Premier Li Keqiang told the National People's Congress rubberstamp parliament in Beijing that he had authorised a "war on pollution".

Five facts about China's smog

• 600 million people in China have been affected by the smog blanketing large parts of the country.
• The number of people admitted to hospital in Beijing for smog-related illnesses rose by 20% in 2013. Cases of breathing-related problems rose by 50%.
• Many foreign workers have left China because of health fears caused by the smog. One company reportedly pays expats around £15,000 a year extra to work in China as part of a hardship allowance.
• The Chinese have spent £85m on anti-smog products, such as masks and air purifiers.
• It's not all bad news. The Chinese news agency claims smog "unifies the Chinese people". It says smog makes them more conscious of their health and "more willing to show love to each other".

UK DMC-02 Satellite imagery Helps fight Locust Pagues in North Africa

DMC images enable regular monitoring of very large areas at high resolution, allowing detection of small areas of new vegetation after any rainfall. 

These show up as false colour red patches in the desert. 

The circular areas are irrigated crops which, as often the main source of vegetation in some areas, are put at special risk from locust swarms. 

Images which show sudden increases in vegetation can help identify potential hatching and swarm areas for locusts, enabling preventative action to be taken. 

Image credit: Image of Algeria acquired by UK-DMC2 satellite DMCii, 2013.

DMC International Imaging (DMCii) is helping the Algerian Space Agency (ASAL) to predict the spread of locust plagues across North Africa as part of a pro-active approach to tackle the destructive phenomenon using satellite imagery.

Every year, North Africa is subjected to locust plagues that threaten to decimate crops and endanger countries' food security.

The satellite imagery is used to assess vegetation conditions, which helps to predict the locations of locust breeding grounds.

UK-DMC2 satellite

The imagery, from the UK-DMC2 satellite, is used in conjunction with weather data to help create locust forecasts and focus the application of pesticides to prevent the spread of swarms.

Last year, in a six-month summer campaign to fight the spread of locusts, DMCii acquired monthly images of regions in Southern Algeria, Northern Mali and Northern Niger for ASAL.

Now, imagery is being acquired before the summer season starts, to predict as well as monitor the threat of locusts.

Mr Karim Houari, International Cooperation Director of ASAL commented: "The use of satellite imagery has helped us in the past, during the invasion period, to identify and control areas at risk of locust swarms.

This year, in terms of locust risk prediction in remission period, we used DMCii data for the ecological assessment of locust breeding areas (biotopes). It is an important contribution for the rationalisation of local response and to reduce damage of this destructive phenomenon."

Paul Stephens

Paul Stephens, Director of Sales and Marketing at DMCii, said: "The ability to get timely imagery of large areas is vital because locust swarms can develop quickly and travel about 100km a day.

"Our 650km wide images allow large areas of land, spanning multiple countries, to be rapidly monitored, helping the local authorities combat locust swarms before they can migrate across the continent."

Finland leads UN food body helping farmers fight climate change

The programme will also for the first time "create a global database on current and projected greenhouse gas emissions in land and agriculture for the most important agricultural commodities, countries and regions."

The Food and Agriculture Organisation is to promote the potential for agriculture in the developing world to lower greenhouse gas emissions, the UN body said on Tuesday.

"Finland is the first country to contribute to a 60 million dollar FAO programme to support climate change mitigation in agriculture in developing countries," the Rome-based body said in a statement.

"The multi-donor programme aims to promote sustainable low-emission agriculture in developing countries over the coming five years, in partnership with countries and other relevant organisations," the FAO said.

Agriculture accounts for 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is in a position to make a significant contribution to reducing emissions, particularly in developing nations, the FAO said.

"Many suitable technologies and farming practices to sequester carbon in smallholder agriculture already exist," said FAO Assistant Director-General Alexander Mueller.

"These include practices used in conservation and organic agriculture, based on no/low tillage, utilising residues for composting or mulching, use of perennial crops to cover soil, re-seeding or improving grazing management on grasslands and agroforestry, which combines crops and trees."

The programme will also for the first time "create a global database on current and projected greenhouse gas emissions in land and agriculture for the most important agricultural commodities, countries and regions."

The FAO said last week that while farming could offer a cost-effective way of cutting greenhouse emissions, it had been "largely excluded" from the current UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

UN: Yao Ming in campaign to fight HIV stigma in China

UNAIDS said Friday it had launched a campaign to address rampant discrimination against people living with HIV in China, with the help of Chinese NBA megastar Yao Ming.

The campaign, launched with China's health ministry, will see posters and videos of Yao and his fans, including some with HIV, displayed on giant screens in 12 cities across China, the United Nations agency said in a statement.

People who are HIV positive in China experience high levels of stigma and discrimination.

According to a report by UNAIDS, a quarter of medical staff and over a third of government officials and teachers developed negative and discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV after learning their status.

More than 12 percent of people with HIV had also been refused medical care at least once since they tested positive, UNAIDS said in their China Stigma Index report emailed to AFP.

"These results really underscore the importance of ensuring health care professionals receive appropriate training to reduce stigma and discrimination and increase their ability to provide appropriate services to people living with HIV," UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe said in the statement.

The report was based on a survey of more than 2,000 people living with HIV in China and is the first of its kind in the Asian nation.

It also found that more than 34 percent of those of working age had stopped working as a result of being HIV positive and over 55 percent had chosen not to attend social gatherings or had isolated themselves from family and friends.

"Building understanding and care from society as a whole for people living with HIV, together with eliminating discrimination, are key elements of the AIDS response," Huang Jiefu, China's vice minister of health, said in the statement.

The campaign will also see more than 30,000 posters distributed across China, the statement said.

China's health ministry estimates that at the end of 2009, 740,000 people were living with HIV in the country, and according to the latest data, 48,000 were infected this year, according to UNAIDS.

IAEA: Nuclear science to fight Tse fly sleeping sickness

The International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday announced an agreement to help African nations battle the tsetse fly, the main carrier of parasites that causes sleeping sickness with its bites.

The IAEA, which has been working on the problem with African countries for 30 years, can make available a Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), a nuclear-based pest control technology that is often described as "biological birth control for insects", according to the agency's website.

The IAEA signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday with the African Union, extending cooperation in a range of domains. Work on sleeping sickness follows an effective trial in Zanzibar in the late 1990s.

Sleeping sickness, or trypanosomosis in animals, is a deadly disease found in 35 African countries, where it kills 400,000 people a year, along with some three million head of cattle.

Apart from the cost in lives, the disease is seen as a major obstacle to development, causing an estimated loss in earnings of about four billion dollars (2.7 billion euros) a year.

"In SIT-supported pest suppression and prevention campaigns, millions of sterilized male insects are released into targeted areas. They mate with wild females in the field, but no offspring are produced. Eventually, the pest population is suppressed and steadily reduced over time," the IAEA explained.

Medical cooperation is part of the brief of the IAEA, which is based in Vienna and is responsible for promoting peaceful uses of atomic energy.