Issues & Trends

Food, Energy and Cities discussed online with DESA experts

Sir Richard Branson and Puma chairman Jochen Zeitz have today launched a major non-profit group, dubbed The B Team, with the view to promoting a new set of progressive business values that “prioritise people and planet alongside profit”.

Map: Flood Analyzer

The Aqueduct Global Flood Analyzer is a web-based interactive platform which measures river flood impacts by urban damage, affected GDP, and affected population at the country, state, and river basin scale.

The United Nations and partners have launched an interesting exercise to poll the world’s citizens on their top priorities, policies and views as world leaders shape a global development agenda to replace the Millennium Development Goals, which expire in 2015.

About $700 billion a year of new spending on renewable power, low-carbon transport and energy efficiency is needed to meet the United Nations goal to cap temperature rises, a report for the World Economic Forum showed.

A marble of mercury is seen after an illegal gold-washer found gold in the river in Ouanary, French Guiana on April 18, 2010. Communities in developing countries are facing increased health and environmental risks linked to mercury exposure, the United Nations Environment Programme said.

UNITED NATIONS — The number of children under the age of five who die annually fell below 7 million in 2011, but the U.N. children’s agency says about 19,000 boys and girls are still dying every day from largely preventable causes.

(CNN)Many scientists say it's abundantly clear that Earth is entering its sixth mass-extinction event, meaning three-quarters of all species could disappear in the coming centuries.

That's terrifying, especially since humans are contributing to this shift.