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Following the introduction of the Clean Car Discount fees on 1 April, registrations of 9,756 vehicles for the month were the weakest for an April since 2015. However, registrations of 8,536 passenger cars and SUVs was the second strongest monthly tally on record, largely due to sales of hybrid vehicles that are now eligible for a discount in New Zealand. But registrations of new commercial vehicles plunged 72% to 1,220 with sales of light…

Experts at the Kenya-based United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has raised an alarm marking the worrisome rate at which sand is getting depleted from the face of Earth.  Sand is deemed the most-extracted solid material in the world, and the second-most used global resource behind water. However, sand's use is largely ungoverned. Unregulated extraction of sand has created  a huge gap in the utilisation and generation process. Sand takes thousands of years of…

Diagram of groundwater extraction. Credit: Wang Longhuan The rapid development of agriculture and industry in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region leads to an increase in water demand. Excessive groundwater extraction often results in the water depletion that may affect ecological and hydrological processes.…