The report highlights the collaborative action already happening between cities, states, regions, business, and national government, using data reported by over 1000 cities, states and regions through the CDP-ICLEI Unified Reporting System. Immediate action is needed to stop global greenhouse gas emissions, avoid new emissions, design resilient infrastructure and switch …
A United Nations summit on the global food crisis called on Tuesday for trade barriers to be reduced and food export bans scrapped to help stop the spread of hunger that threatens nearly one billion people. "Nothing is more degrading than hunger, especially when man-made," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon …
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has left the country for Rome to attend a high-level conference on world food security. President Rajapaksa is to participate in the High-Level Conference on World Food Security and the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy to be held in Rome, Italy from June 3-5, …
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Sunday he would seek to convince world leaders gathering in Rome this week that ethanol is not to blame for global food inflation threatening millions with hunger. Brazil is the world's largest ethanol exporter and a pioneer in sugar-cane based biofuels, …
The G8 climate scorecards provide a comparable snapshot of the current situation across the G8 countries as well as the five major developing countries. They provide recent and expected emission developments of each country and various other indicators. The scorecards also provide an overview of the most important activities by …
the Indian Meteorological Department (imd) has predicted a normal monsoon for this year. But such predictions are known to fail often. A recent study says predictions fail because most models do not take into account temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean. imd's prediction models, among other things, focuses on the El …
Twenty-two mainly African countries are "especially vulnerable' to soaring food and fuel prices, according to a report by the UN food agency ahead of a summit on food security next week in Rome. "Large increases in food and fuel prices threaten macroeconomic stability and overall growth, especially of low-income, net-importing …
Italy should keep its ban on nuclear power and should boost solar and wind energy instead to resolve its energy supply problems, Italian environmentalists said on Thursday as nuclear revival debate heated up. Italy banned nuclear power in a 1987 referendum after the Chernobyl disaster. But calls for a nuclear …
Giovanni Marchitelli has something to show Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi when Italy's leader arrives Wednesday: a month's worth of garbage piled next to his pizzeria. Marchitelli, 64, hopes that Berlusconi will force local officials to solve the continuing problem due to full landfills, or his family's pizzeria will be out …
Angry residents in Naples attacked fire-fighters trying to extinguish burning garbage in the trash collection crisis in the southern Italian city, said authorities. Fire-fighters said the residents threw stones. No injuries were reported. Fire-fighters said the police had to escort them while putting out fires. Premier Silvio Berlusconi would preside …
Soaring food prices, a devalued currency and drought mean millions of people in Somalia cannot feed themselves, the United Nations said on Monday. And the crisis will get much worse if April-June rains fail or are well below average, the Food and Agriculture Organisation said. Somalia, a country of nine …
Eighteen months before a new climate pact must be agreed, the world appears to be drifting in negotiations that could be the most complex ever, experts said. The pact is needed to replace or extend the Kyoto Protocol on tackling global warming, whose first round ends in 2012. Some 190 …
It's the latest in a growing list of health problems linked to air pollution: dangerous blood clots triggered by smog from traffic and factories. If a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) breaks loose from where it forms in the lower leg or thigh and travels to the lungs, it can cause …
The Asian tiger mosquito is on a rampage. Entomologists are impressed, public health officials are nervous, and many of the rest of us are swatting furiously. How did Aedes albopictus become such a scourge?
World rice output is expected to hit a record high this year, but growing demand and export curbs should keep prices high, at least in the short term, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Monday. Rice prices have been surging as governments and importers rush to stock …
The European Commission is taking Italy to court for failing to effectively resolve the waste crisis that has plagued Naples and the surrounding region of Campania. Piles of rubbish were left uncollected in the streets in spring 2007 and again in the winter, leading some frustrated residents to set fire …
After years of warnings, and a spell of hot weather that did nothing to improve the stink of tons of uncollected trash around Naples, the European Commission filed suit against Italy on Tuesday, charging that it had failed to meet its obligation to collect and dispose of its rubbish. "The …
China's emerging carmakers are often the butt of jokes in industry circles abroad, where they have a reputation for building shoddy cars with knocked-off designs and eccentric model names such as Cool Bear, Tiggo or Dingle. But the derision is dying down as Chinese carmakers begin to produce better-looking and …
ROME - Biofuels will not solve the world's energy problem, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell said on Sunday, amid growing criticism of their environmental and social benefits. The remarks follow protests in Brazil and Europe against fuels derived from food crops. Food shortages and rising costs have set …
DENILIQUIN, Australia: Lindsay Renwick, the mayor of this dusty southern Australian town, remembers the constant whir of the rice mill. "It was our little heartbeat out there, tickety-tick-tickety," he said, imitating the giant fans that dried the rice, "and now it has stopped." The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill …
