World Environment Day Highlights Deadly Cost of Plastic

On June 5^th, World Environment Day will be hosted in India under the banner of “Beat Plastic Pollution,” aiming to raise awareness and civic engagement alongside creating a global movement to reduce the amount of plastic in the environment.

Small Islands, Beacons for the Rest of the World

Facing potential extinction under rising sea levels, many small island nations are embracing renewable energy and trying to green their economies. Although the least responsible for carbon emissions, small countries like Barbados are on the front lines of climate impacts.

OP-ED: Climate Change Threatens the Wild Beauty of Small Islands

It’s beginning to sink in that our climate is changing more rapidly than at any time in recorded history and it will have profound and irreversible effects on the planet. On World Environment Day on Jun. 5, let’s stop for a moment to consider in particular the devastating impact that climate change is having on small island states and their wildlife. 

In Southern Tunisia, Pollution No Longer Swept Under the Rug

The story of Gabès and the local phosphate industry follows a plot that is all too familiar: an underdeveloped town located in an industrial region boasts one major lucrative industry with high output and export values, but the local population and surroundings experience alarming levels of illness and environmental blight.

ENVIRONMENT DAY: Fuel-Rich UAE Sends Green Signals

Despite producing nearly 2.5 million barrels of crude oil a day in a region that contributes about 30 per cent of the world's oil output and controls nearly 40 per cent of proven gas resources, the United Arab Emirates is determined to take giant strides on the path towards sustainable development.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CUBA: Fascination with Argentine Culture Spans Generations

Carlos Gardel album covers, newspaper clippings and yellowed photographs once covered every inch of the walls in the narrow entryway on Havana's Neptuno Street where someone had turned their home into a tango museum.

ENVIRONMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: Limpopo Steps Out of the Shadows

Tourism has long been viewed as one of the holy grails of job creation in South Africa, which is burdened by an unemployment rate of more than 30 percent. Certain parts of the country - Cape Town, and its surrounds for example - have become firm favourites with local and international visitors. Now the lesser known province of Limpopo is also hoping to take its place at the table.

ENVIRONMENT: Community Nurtures Puerto Rican Forests

The government of this Caribbean island is widely perceived to be doing nothing to protect the environment, especially its forests and other green areas.

ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO: Violence Brewing in Montes Azules Reserve

Lacandon Indians in Mexico are threatening to use force to stop other indigenous groups from clearing out land and creating settlements in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve.

ENVIRONMENT: Paraguay’s Forests in Danger of Vanishing

Native forests have virtually disappeared in eastern Paraguay due to the advance of the agricultural frontier and indiscriminate logging by large landowners and landless peasants.

ENVIRONMENT: Subsidies in North Help Drain Oceans of Fish

Fishing subsidies in the world's rich countries and development that pushes poor farmers off their land are two reasons why the world's oceans have been over-harvested, leading to a drastic drop in fish stocks, say experts.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Decline of Vultures an Ecological, Health Risk

At Asia's first Vulture Care Centre in this northern Indian city, scientists are battling to save the scavenging bird, which faces extinction due to a mysterious viral infection that is upsetting the ecological balance and is a serious public health menace.

ENVIRONMENT: Activist Resigns as McDonald’s Takes ‘Green’ Seat

The recent appointment of fast food giant McDonald's to the advisory board of an environmental group has drawn accusations of ''green washing'' from environmentalists and led one board member to resign in protest. But both the company and the group strongly deny the accusations.

ENVIRONMENT-LATAM: No Forest for the Trees

A tree plantation is not a forest, says forestry engineer Rodrigo Herrera, of Greenpeace-Chile, one of many environmentalists in Latin America fighting to preserve native forests as integral ecosystems - with many frustrations and relatively few advances to show for their efforts.

ECUADOR: Logging Activity Forms Backdrop to Conflict between Indians

Illegal logging activity in Ecuador's Amazon region appears to form the backdrop to conflict between indigenous groups that recently claimed the lives of around 30 Tagaeri Indians at the hands of the Huaorani in the remote eastern jungle province of Pastaza.

ENVIRONMENT-LATIN AMERICA: A Dangerous Splash in the Sea

From Acapulco to Viña del Mar, the most beautiful beaches of Latin America are turning into dangerous places for bathers, the result of increasing contamination from various sources, but mostly from sewage discharged into the sea.

ENVIRONMENT: Brussels Gears Up For ‘Green Week’

The European Union will assess the development of its green policies since the last year's Earth Summit next week as it welcomes environmental actors to Brussels.

PHILIPPINES: Harvest of GM Corn Reaps Fears of Contamination

As genetically modified corn began to be harvested for the first time this month, the focus of the Philippines' debate on biotechnology crops is shifting to fears that the commercial planting of this corn variety may lead to the contamination of other agricultural produce.

ENVIRONMENT-SENEGAL: Researchers Turn to Schools to Protect Rare Plants

Frustrated by years of fruitless campaigns, researchers are now turning to the last line of defence: schools - to protect Senegal's endangered medicinal plants.

NEPAL: On 50th Year of Conquest of Everest, Villagers Look Back

In the heart of Namche Bazaar, the village that is the unofficial capital of the Everest region, yet another lodge is being built.