Global Issues

Climate change could trap hundreds of millions in disaster areas, report claims

Author: 

Fiona Harvey
Climate change could cause extreme weather leaving millions of people trapped, a
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Report says refugees forced to leave homes by weather caused by global warming may end up in even worse afflicted areas

Hundreds of millions of people may be trapped in inhospitable environments as they attempt to flee from the effects of global warming, worsening the likely death toll from severe changes to the climate, a UK government committee has found.

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Scarce resources, climate biggest threats to world health

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reuters // Reuters
Zahida, a nine-year-old girl displaced by floods stands amidst a wall with rainw
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LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The Earth's natural resources like food, water and forests are being depleted at an alarming speed, causing hunger, conflict, social unrest and species extinction, experts at a climate and health conference in London warned on Monday.

Increased hunger due to food yield changes will lead to malnutrition; water scarcity will deteriorate hygiene; pollution will weaken immune systems; and displacement and social disorder due to conflicts over water and land will increase the spread of infectious diseases, they said.

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We must make up ground in the fight against desertification

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A global partnership is needed to tackle the desertification that degrades more than 12m hectares of arable land every year, affecting some of the poorest and most food-insecure people

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$48bn a year would provide electricity to the poor, report says

Author: 

Fiona Harvey
$48bn a year would provide electricity to the poor, report says
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Giving the poor access to electricity would bring huge gains in health, education and economic growth, with little increase in emmissions, according to International Energy Agency study

More than 1 billion people in poor countries around the world could have access to electricity within 20 years, if the international community is prepared to make the effort, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Monday.

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Deep Thinking About the Future of Food

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JUSTIN GILLIS
Deep Thinking About the Future of Food
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Trying to tap into the best thinking about the future of global agriculture, as I have tried to do in my work as a reporter, can be an exercise in frustration. Many groups and many bright people go at the problem, but not many of them go at it in a holistic way.

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UN launches initiative to promote sustainable energy for all

UN launches initiative to promote sustainable energy for all
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20 September 2011 – Warning that a lack of access to affordable and clean energy is jeopardizing the achievement of the global targets to combat poverty and disease, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today launched a major new initiative to make sustainable energy universally available.

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Canadian Arctic nearly loses entire ice shelf from global warming

Author: 

Charmaine Noronha
Canadian Arctic nearly loses entire ice shelf from global warming
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Luke Copland is an associate professor in the geography department at the University of Ottawa who co-authored the research published on Carleton University’s website. He said the Serson Ice Shelf shrank from 205 square kilometres to two remnant sections five years ago, and was further diminished this past summer.

Prof. Copland said the shelf went from a 42-square-km floating glacier tongue to 25 square km, and the second section from 35 square km to 7 square km, off Ellesmere Island’s northern coastline.

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The Difference Between Chronic Hunger and Famine

The Difference Between Chronic Hunger and Famine
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At the beginning of presentations introducing The Hunger Project (THP), we often address the difference between chronic hunger and famine. We talk about how images of emaciated children in war-torn countries are often what flow through our minds when someone says “world hunger.” And we talk about how unfortunate it is that, though victims of famine account for only eight percent of the world’s hungry, those images make headlines, while chronic, persistent hunger does not.

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Global CO2 Emissions Reach All-Time High, Rising More Than 5% in 2010 to Close Out Past 20 Years

Author: 

Andrew Burger
Global CO2 Emissions Reach All-Time High, Rising More Than 5% in 2010 to Close O
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Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reached an all-time high in 2010, rising 45% in the past 20 years. Rising rapidly between 1990 and 2010, global atmospheric CO2 levels totaled 33 billion metric tons last year, according to a report published by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

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