Issues & Trends

As efforts to combat rising emissions fail, the focus is shifting to preparing for inevitable change, in rich countries as well as poor.

After 20 years dominated by inaction on climate change, the world is entering a “third era” when the impacts of climate change are unavoidable, says a London climate expert.

Energy demands in South Asia are growing at rate of over 6.0 per cent a year - a pace that is far in excess of the region's capacity to meet. The fact that a sizeable section of the population does not have access to electricity makes energy security a daunting challenge for the countries of this region.

OECD report says pollution will become biggest cause of premature death, killing an estimated 3.6 million people a year by 2050

 Super-high-resolution digital satellite photography is being used by researchers to help fight Malaria in Africa.

Mosquitoes' water habitats in Swaziland, Mozambique and SA's northern KwaZulu-Natal are being tracked by scientists, who are using imagery that has a visibility of up to five metres.

 This map is a work in progress. The uses of water, air and land are diverse in New Mexico and will change dramatically with climate change. For caretakers of this sacred trust, the map offers a bird’s eye view of the health of our environment.

 Increase of 52% to $10.3bn in 2011 was based on strong solar performance

Iceland has lots of geothermal energy, Norway has hydropower. The wind blows hard in Scotland and the sun always shines in North Africa. Helen Knight explores plans to connect these diverse sources to a single network

 World Radio Day celebrates radio's role in empowering people in remote communities – not just as a source of information, but increasingly as a way to make their own voices heard

The world has never seen anything like China’s dizzying urbanization boom, which has taken a heavy environmental toll. But efforts are now underway to start using principles of green design and smart growth to guide the nation’s future development.