TA REACH, 6 September 2011 (IRIN) - Cambodian efforts to contain the spread of malaria have been strengthened by a pilot project using text messaging and web-based technology."My work is definitely easier," said Sophana Pich, 41, one of 184 village malaria workers (VMWs) now trained in three provinces (Kampot, Siem Reap and Kampong Cham) since the project launch earlier this year.

For two decades, the world’s governments have failed to meet their own commitment to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas. As frustration builds among scientists, some of them have begun to argue for research on a potential last-ditch option in case global warming starts to get out of control. It is called geoengineering — or directly manipulating the Earth’s climate.

The idea sounds like science fiction, but it is not.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted to establish a committee on global geospatial information management in order to enhance international dialogue and cooperation on spatial data infrastructures. The UN recognizes the benefits of geospatial information for application to humanitarian, peace and security, environmental and development challenges as well as to responses to climate change, natural disasters, pandemics, famines, population displacement, and food and economic crises.

There is a new tool sharpening California's renewable vision. It is in the form of a state-of-the-art system control center that houses the first dedicated renewables dispatch facility in the nation. As the state approaches a goal of generating 20 percent of its power from renewable resources, which escalates to an ambitious 33 percent by 2020, ensuring reliability brings new meaning to California grid operations.

One of the biggest issues or discussion subject within the whole geographic information domain at the moment is the ever-changing demands for handling information in a better and more efficient way. The domain is expanding in all kinds of directions. What remains is geo-referenced information handled with a computer. We are seeing applications and demonstrators showing off in 3D and the wonderful things one can experience here. We are seeing an ever-growing number of applications that handle online information for example traffic or flight control.