BEIJING A new Chinese government survey of the country's environmental problems has shown water pollution levels in 2007 were more than twice the government's official estimate, largely because agricultural waste was ignored. The first national census on pollution sources found that discharge of "chemical oxygen demand" (COD) -- a measure of water pollution -- in wastewater was 30.3 million metric tons, Zhang said. The government had said in an official paper published two years ago that 2007 was the first year it managed to reduce water pollution, with COD falling 3 percent to 13.8 million metric tons.

DIRE WINTER TRIGGERS LIVESTOCK DISASTER IN MONGOLIA

Beijing/Ulaanbaatar, 2 February 2010 – Temperatures plunging to -50°C have killed 1.7 million head of livestock in Mongolia, threatening the livelihoods of 21 000 herder families and putting them at risk of food insecurity, FAO warned today.