Archive for UN
Destruction of Nature costs 2,000 billion euros per year
Posted by: on May 23, 2008 in Tags: Biodiversity, Environment, Sciences, UN
According to a new report from the United Nations, the disappearance of both fauna and floral species costs six percent of the world GDP, or more than $3,100 billion.
The German newspaper Der Spiegel proposes a recap of the new paper, named The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
So not only does destroying the environment is bad for our health as I related in a previous article, it also costs us a lot of money. Continue reading »
Over a billion climate refugees in 2050 ?
Posted by: on May 19, 2008 in Tags: Africa, Asia, Climate change, Sustainable development, UN
According to two different sources - the UNHCR and the NGO Christian Aid - as much as a billion people may find themselves homeless or stateless by the middle of century.
Stateless might be too strong a word, but with the situation of countries like Bengladesh and many islands threatened by rising sea levels, this is a reality.
As if this was not enough, additional causes include decreasing crop yields and water shortages in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Continue reading »
Toward seven billion trees planted by the UNEP ?
Posted by: on May 14, 2008 in Tags: forests, Sustainable development, UN
You perhaps remember the enthusiastic article I wrote last December on the UNEP programme that enabled to plant over a billion trees.
It was such a tremendous success - two billion trees were planted in 18 months - that this institution wants to plant one tree per person on this planet : seven billions !
This represents to me a huge project that might actually save us from climate change, or at least seriously slow down the process. Continue reading »
Soaring cereal bills and the riots of hunger
Posted by: on April 28, 2008 in Tags: Africa, Agriculture, Asia, Sustainable development, UN
The prices of cereals keep on increasing in an important way and numerous riots of hungers already occured in many countries of South America, Africa and Asia.
Biofuels aren’t the only reason for such increases - we will see below that many other factors were also involved - but they contribute in an important way.
As you can imagine, such a situation is worrying the UN food and agriculture experts from the FAO as well as many specialists. Continue reading »
La Nina’s cooling effect is only temporary
Posted by: on April 16, 2008 in Tags: Climate change, Environment, UN
The United Nations’ weather specialists from the World Meteorological Organization state that the cool temperatures we are currently facing are due to La Nina.
According to them, this well known phenomenon is just temporary and do not question the evidence of climate change and the urgency for us to act towards its mitigation.
La Nina have a slight importance in Europe, and is at its strongest in the Pacific Ocean. For further details, please Continue reading »
The United Nations Environment Program released late last week an interesting article on what they call environment crime.
Under this term, one refers to various things such as pollution of both air and water, the disposal of hazardous waste, as well as the trade of endangered species.
All this increases the threats both Earth and Mankind are facing and cost a lot to the involved communities. Continue reading »
The three topics of the UNEP meeting in Monaco
Posted by: on February 20, 2008 in Tags: Business, Climate change, UN
The members of the United Nations Environment Program meet this week in the Principality of Monaco and many subjects were discussed about.
From the launch of the Climate Neutral Network to the importance of climate change on marine life or the emerging green economy, there were very interesting news.
I tackle below all these topics and the least I can say is that progress are being made on climate change mitigation, and that times is pressing more than ever. Continue reading »
Toward a new world war because of climate change?
Posted by: on December 13, 2007 in Tags: Climate change, Environment, UN, water
This is the question asked by Le Figaro [Fr] as the United Nations released a report that should urge ALL world leaders to make climate change mitigation their top priority.
According to the UN, many countries in Africa, Asia and Americas might be seriously threatened by wars as their environments deteriorate in many ways.
But these tensions could also spread to neighbouring regions such as Europe or the USA as hundreds of million people would be migrating to more favourable places.
Over a BILLION trees planted in a year !
Posted by: on December 6, 2007 in Tags: forests, Sustainable development, UN
Another good news on the climate change front as over a billion trees have been planted according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) since last year.
Worldwide, people of all conditions planted trees in order to mitigate global warming. This is a strong message to the leaders of the world that are meeting in Bali.
Since I read recently several articles on forests, I will into details on this most important topic and how they are important for us all.
Climate change: a huge threat for developing countries
Posted by: on November 28, 2007 in Tags: Climate change, Sustainable development, UN
Just days before the Bali talks that will prepare the future of the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations released a report on the human toll climate change would have.
According to it, a full scale global warming would have dramatic consequences for hundreds of million people and the most struck would be located in developing nations.
This sounds pessimistic, but if ALL governments were moving fast and big, we would be able not only to survive but also to prosper.
