Issues & Trends

Photographer Peter Caton talks about his visit to the Cerrado – the world's largest savannah. It contains 5% of the world's biodiversity, but is being destroyed at an incredible rate to make way for monocultures that may have devastating long-term effects.

Global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have increased by 49 per cent in the last two decades, according to the latest figures by an international team, including researchers at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia.

Eleven years ago, at the Millennium Summit at United Nations headquarters in New York, the leaders of the world agreed to a plan meant to spur efforts to help the globe's poorest.

Millions of people in up to five West African countries will face a food crisis in early 2012 if early warning systems are ignored, the United Nations and aid officials say.

BRUSSELS (AP) — A report issued Thursday says the European Union can cut its emissions of greenhouse gases dramatically by 2050 without spending any more money — and even, perhaps, saving a bit.

Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region.

The proportion of the world’s population with access to improved drinking water sources grew by 10 percent over a period roughly covering the past two decades, according to a United Nations study released Tuesday.

* Animals most at risk on islands, mountains, and coasts
* Global warming threatens 20-30 pct of plant, animal species Climate change hotspots in Africa