The global plastics negotiation process, launched in 2022 under a resolution by the UN Environment Assembly, represents an unprecedented effort to combat the escalating plastic pollution crisis.
Corporate-dominated food systems are responsible for widespread but still spreading malnutrition and ill health. Poor diets worsen non-communicable diseases (NCDs), now costing over eight trillion dollars yearly!
The last few weeks of 2024 were a disappointment for those who strongly believed that planet Earth is in need of bold actions.
First, there were the frustration stemming from what could be defined at minimum as unconvincing outcomes of both COP 16 on Biodiversity and COP 29 on Climate.
As the cool morning breeze sweeps across the Indian Ocean beach in Tanzania’s Pemba archipelago, Salma Mahmoud Ali begins her day. With her brightly coloured Kikoi cinched tightly around her waist and a dark blue scarf framing her face, she walks barefoot toward her salt ponds. The humid air hangs, but Ali wades through ankle-deep water with courage.
India's average temperature has risen by 0.7°C since 1901, bringing more frequent and intense heat waves, erratic rainfall patterns, and a marked decline in monsoon consistency since the 1950s.
Deep-sea mining may not be on the official agenda next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos (January 20-24), but restoring public trust in international cooperation is.
Adenike Oladosu is a leading Nigerian ecofeminist, climate justice leader and researcher. She was appointed as an ECW Global Climate Champion on World Environment Day in June 2024. In December of last year, Adenike was honored by #BBC100Women, selected as one of the BBC’s 100 most influential and inspiring women from around the world. She was also a finalist for the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award.
It is no longer a secret that at major global summits there are more lobbyists than official delegates. There, they participate as ‘guests,’ and most of them work for big business corporations. Their goal? To deter the adoption of policies that conflict with their employers’ interests.
The use of fertilizers has been introduced in society to enrich soil and supply high-grade harvests for centuries. As time went on, humans have managed to develop new ways to reform this operation, and as such, have formed a lessened health risk fertilizer called “biosolids”.
"It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." Charles Dickens is more relevant today than ever.
The wealthy and powerful are meeting again this year in glamorous Davos, at an invitation-only event. They arrive in chartered aircraft and private jets to speak about our warming climate, among other global concerns.
Neglected indigenous crops, rich in nutrition and resilient to climate change, are key to tackling global hunger only if governments invest in research and development (R&D) to tap the potential of such innovations.
More than 150 Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates are calling for investment in
moonshot technologies to realize the potential of innovative solutions such as these hardy crops, warning that without swift action, there is a "food insecure, unstable world.”
Thank God, we have survived another year of genocide, war, destruction and climate crisis. The passing year of 2024 has been a mixture of hope and despair. It began with some hope as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in favour of South Africa’s case against Israel for committing genocide and ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention, and to take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Nature is taking the stand as courtrooms worldwide become battlegrounds for Earth’s rights. The rise in climate litigation shows how the environment can take centre stage as a plaintiff, demanding justice and accountability, benefiting us all.
In Indonesia’s forests today, we can breathe a sigh of relief. At the conclusion of our dry season, during a time when climate change impacts are increasing in frequency and severity, there were no giant fires with plumes of smoke choking our region.
In the past few years, the world economy has made significant strides in mitigating inflation, unemployment, and poverty. Despite this, global growth has yet to regain its pace from before the pandemic.
An eerie calm prevails over Pithampur, a town 250 km (155 miles) away from Bhopal, the capital of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. This town witnessed widespread protests for three days last week following the transportation of large quantities of toxic waste from the site of one of the world's worst industrial disasters in Bhopal.
Climate change is one of the most serious global threats to the future of the world’s population. Its impact extends far and wide, from the economy to governance to the very health and well-being of society.
The forthcoming fourth United Nations Financing for Development conference must address developing countries’ major financial challenges. Recent setbacks to sustainable development and climate action make FfD4 all the more critical.
As the dust settled over Kariakoo’s bustling streets, Halima Abdallah’s voice trembled through the cracks of a collapsed four-story building. “Help me, please! I don’t get air,” she gasped, trapped under the rubble. For four hours, rescue workers scrambled to locate her. Their efforts, hampered by the lack of proper equipment, relied on tools hastily borrowed from a private company. By the time they reached her, it was too late. Abdallah had died.
Over 570 million people live in the world’s 32 Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), spanning across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. These nations face unique and complex development challenges. Their lack of direct access to the sea, geographical isolation, limited infrastructure, and difficulty integrating into global trade and value chains hinder sustainable development and progress.
In 2021, Ojajuni Olufunsho, a 53-year-old resident of Ayetoro, a town along the Atlantic coast, southwestern Nigeria, saw her home swept away by the encroaching sea. What was once a spacious 10-room house, a sanctuary for Olufunsho and her five children, was swallowed by the relentless force of rising sea waters.