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Water as vital to national security as defence - UN

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Alister Doyle
Reuters
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OSLO, March 22 (Reuters) - Stresses on water supplies aggravated by climate change are likely to cause more conflicts and water should be considered as vital to national security as defence, a United Nations report said on Friday.

About 145 nations share river basins with their neighbours and need to promote cooperation over a resource likely to be disrupted by more frequent floods and heatwaves, it said.

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Investment continues in major transmission projects

Author: 

Sean Ottewell
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Prysmian Group has inaugurated its new submarine cable plant at Pikkala in Finland. The EUR40m investment will allow the plant to increase production of transmission cables that use high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) technology to transmit large amounts of energy over long distances.

The company is also expanding production capacity at its Arco Felice plant in Italy following the announcement of an EUR800m order for the Western Link submarine link between Scotland and England.

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Europe 'has failed to learn from environmental disasters'

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John Vidal
The remains of Chernobyl nuclear power plant reactor number four. Europe has failed to learn the lessons from many environmental and health disasters like Chernobyl, the report warns. Photograph: Igor Kostin/Corbis
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Europe has failed to learn the lessons from many environmental and health disasters like Chernobyl, leaded petrol and DDT insecticides, and is now ignoring warnings about bee deaths, GM food and nanotechnology, according to an 800-page report by the European Environment Agency.

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Air pollution scourge underestimated, green energy can help: U.N.

Author: 

Alister Doyle
Artist Matt Hope adjusts the helmet linked to his air filtration bike in front of the China Central Television (CCTV) building on a hazy day in Beijing, March 26, 2013. Photo: Petar Kujundzic
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Air pollution is an underestimated scourge that kills far more people than AIDS and malaria and a shift to cleaner energy could easily halve the toll by 2030, U.N. officials said on Tuesday.

Investments in solar, wind or hydropower would benefit both human health and a drive by almost 200 nations to slow climate change, blamed mainly on a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from use of fossil fuels, they said.

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UN-Water Defines Water Security, Highlights Threats & Mitigation Steps

Author: 

Andrew Burger
Credit: “Water Security & the Global Water Agenda: A UN-Water Analytical Brief”
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Equitable, broad-based public access to sustainable, sanitary supplies of water is increasingly being seen as a security issue. A growing world population, global warming, growing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions and ongoing, growing disparities in the distribution of wealth and income and business-as-usual political economy – all threaten national, regional and international efforts to assure all members of society fair access to sustainable water resources.

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Environmental threats could push billions into extreme poverty, warns UN

Author: 

Claire Provost
A Filipino boy washes his face in murky waters in Manila. Inaction on the environment will accelerate global poverty, warns the UN. Photograph: Francis R Malasig/EPA
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The number of people living in extreme poverty could increase by up to 3 billion by 2050 unless urgent action is taken to tackle environmental challenges, a major UN report warned on Thursday.

The 2013 Human Development Report hails better than expected progress on health, wealth and education in dozens of developing countries but says inaction on climate change, deforestation, and air and water pollution could end gains in the world's poorest countries and communities.

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