The war in Ukraine has triggered a costly humanitarian crisis that demands a peaceful resolution. At the same time, economic damage from the conflict will contribute to a significant slowdown in global growth in 2022 and add to inflation. Fuel and food prices have increased rapidly, hitting vulnerable populations in …
There is a huge potential for yield increase of agricultural crop residues and biomass from forestry in the European Union, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. A stepwise approach was used to identify the realistic potential in these regions, starting with an estimate of the theoretical potential based on crop- and forest-type …
MOSCOW – Economic crises in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus have brought reduced testing in areas contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Greenpeace says, and people continue to eat and drink foods with dangerously high radiation levels. According to scientific tests conducted on behalf of the environmental campaigning group, overall contamination …
It is 30 years since the beginning of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It is also five years since the Fukushima disaster began. To mark these anniversaries, Greenpeace has commissioned substantial reviews of scientific studies examining the continued radioactive contamination in the affected areas, and the health and social effects on …
Two children have been paralysed in the first polio outbreak in Europe for five years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Both cases were in Ukraine where only half the children are fully immunised. It is likely large numbers of other children have also been infected without developing symptoms. …
At the end of November, governments will come together in Paris to hammer out agreements for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Under the KP, there are two greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions offsetting mechanisms: joint implementation (JI) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). JI allows countries with emissions-reduction commitments under …
The vast majority of carbon credits generated by Russia and Ukraine did not represent cuts in emissions, according to a new study. The authors say that offsets created under a UN scheme "significantly undermined" efforts to tackle climate change. The credits may have increased emissions by 600 million tonnes. In …
Major UNFCCC carbon trading scheme hit by serious corruption allegations involving organised crime in Russia and Ukraine A key carbon offsetting scheme was so open to abuse that three quarters of its allowances lacked environmental integrity, a new report says. UN officials confirm the findings by the Stockholm Environment Institute …
This study systematically evaluates the environmental integrity of Joint Implementation (JI) in the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Analysis indicates that about three-quarters of JI offsets are unlikely to represent additional emissions reductions. This suggests that the use of JI offsets may have enabled global GHG emissions to …
China is the biggest contributor to global energy subsidies that the International Monetary Fund estimates at $5.3 trillion, equivalent to 6.5 percent of the world’s gross domestic product. China tops the list in dollar terms, the Ukraine as a percentage of gross domestic product and Qatar as measured per capita, …
The UN Children's Fund ( UNICEF) on Tuesday said that up to 1.3 million children and adults "have little or no access to water in eastern Ukraine" as the ongoing violence continues in the region, a UN spokesman told reporters here. "This is due to damaged or destroyed water lines …
Ukraine has ordered state-run energy firm Naftogaz to create a fund worth to $1 billion to finance the purchase, transport and storage of gas, the government said on Monday. Naftogaz is tasked with creating the fund using agreements with foreign creditors under state guarantees, the government said in a resolution …
(Reuters) - Ukrainian fire fighters have contained a large forest fire that threatened to spread toward the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant and radiation levels in the area are normal, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday. The blaze in woodlands, parts of which are still contaminated by radioactive particles …
Emergency services were battling on Tuesday to prevent Ukraine's largest forest fire since 1992 from spreading towards the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said. Earlier, the interior ministry had warned that high winds were blowing the fire in northern Ukraine towards Chernobyl, where in 1986 a …
Thirty-three miners were confirmed dead late on Wednesday after a coal mine blast in the rebel-held city of Donetsk near the battle front in eastern Ukraine, indicating no one trapped in the rubble survived. Mine officials said the explosion was most likely caused by gas and not fighting in the …
PARIS – A lethal health crisis is brewing in Russian-annexed Crimea and war-torn eastern Ukraine, where heroin users have lost access to therapy to wean them off the drug, the U.N.’s AIDS envoy said Wednesday. Out of 805 people in Crimea who before the annexation were receiving opioid substitution therapy …
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed a new drug to stem the global spread of multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis, but has cautioned that its use must follow a set of guidelines issued by it. Pointing out that since information about this new drug, Delamanid, remains limited, as it has …
Meeting of 25 nations, including Russia and Ukraine, in Hobart will consider proposals on the future of Antarctic research and marine protection. Tense international relations could sway the outcome of vital research and protection proposals for the Antarctic, the head of a global meeting of scientists says. Russia and China …
Invasive species impact on the biodiversity of Britain by eating native species as well as affecting human health and the economy. Many originate from the Black, Asov and Caspian seas around Turkey and Ukraine. Scientists worry that some may already be in Britain, but as yet undiscovered. Fears have now …
Even nearly three decades after the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, grazing animals in Norway are still feeling the effects. Reindeer in particular have seen a stunning amount of radioactive contamination, boasting disturbing and inordinate levels of the radioactive substance Caesium-137. Alarmingly, this most current season had led …
The European Union made headway toward a deal on a strategy to shift to a low-carbon economy and boost security of energy supplies amid a natural-gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine. Energy and environment ministers from the EU’s 28 member states met in Milan yesterday to prepare ground for a …
