Issues & Trends

2016-07-05	UN: 15-year push ends extreme poverty for a billion people The millennium development goals (MDGs) have driven "the most successful anti-poverty movement in history" and brought more than a billion people out of extreme penury, but their achievements have been mixed and the world remains deeply riven by inequality, the UN's final report on the goals has concluded.
2016-11-27	Great Barrier Reef scientists confirm largest die-off of corals recorded A new study has found that higher water temperatures have ravaged the Great Barrier Reef, causing the worst coral bleaching recorded by scientists.
2012-12-25	China opens world's longest high-speed rail route - BBC News Media captionThe BBC's Matthew Stadlen looks ahead to the high speed line's launch China has officially opened the world's longest high-speed rail route, linking the capital Beijing with the southern commercial hub of Guangzhou.
2017-03-20	World Water Day: one in four children will live with water scarcity by 2040 One in four of the world’s children will be living in areas with extremely limited water resources by 2040 as a result of climate change, the UN has warned.
2017-06-20	World population to hit 8bn in 2023, says new UN survey The world's population will break through the 8 billion marks in 2023, there are more men than women, and next year the number of over 60s will top 1 billion for the first time, according to the latest findings and forecasts from the United Nations annual population survey.
2012-12-14	Opinion \| Congo's Never-Ending War LAST month, as I was driving down a backbreaking road between Goma, a provincial capital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kibumba, a little market town about 20 miles away, I came upon the body of a Congolese soldier.
2017-04-23	Humans have caused an explosion of never-before-seen minerals all over the Earth The human handprint on the natural world has become evident in all too many ways in recent decades.
2017-04-23	Compelling new data on why we shouldn't waste wastewater Today marks the annual celebration of one of the world’s most precious, and most wasted, resources. The theme for World Water Day 2017 is wastewater, and the urgent need to reduce and reuse it.
2017-04-23	100 RESILIENT CITY, Pittsburgh Executive Summary Pittsburgh will be a resilient city when the entire community shares the same opportunities for prosperity, and when all residents are well cared for and prepared to face potential risks and adversities.
2017-04-23	An Ancient Tool Holds Promise for Modern Water Problems A large cistern in the ancient city of Resafa, Syria, was filled by channeling periodic floods from a wadi west of the city. The use of complex systems for directing and harvesting water dates back thousands of years.