G8: Not Everyone Is Following the Leaders

Many civil society organisations are staying on in Sardinia island in support of a region severely affected by the economic crisis, after the G8 leaders summit was moved from there to the city of L'Aquila.

DEVELOPMENT: Investment in Agriculture Falls Alarmingly

The G8 leaders meeting early July must address a crisis resulting from a sharp decline in investment in agriculture, Oxfam demands in a new study.

Q&A: Water Scarcity Threatens Half the Planet

If the world's governments fail to reach an immediate agreement on how to manage water resources by 2030, half the planet's population will not have enough water to survive, scientist Jonathan Baillie told Tierramérica.

DEVELOPMENT: China Lends Support to U.N. Finance Summit

China has lent its support to a U.N. finance summit where developing countries are pressing to air their grievances over how the global economic crisis has affected the world’s poorest. Yet, for the largest developing country the crisis remains a debacle with a silver lining - a matchless opportunity to accomplish its dream of regaining the regional and global clout it once held, and fast forward its ambitions.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Another Go at Cracking Those Hard Nuts

Environmental legislators from the 13 countries with the largest greenhouse gases emissions are meeting in Rome this Friday and Saturday to discuss steps towards the UN climate change conference scheduled in December in Copenhagen.

CLIMATE CHANGE: G20 Leaders Wrangle Over Kyoto Successor

Senior legislators from the G20 bloc of the world’s biggest economies launched an international commission in Washington Monday to help lay the political groundwork for a global deal on climate change in Copenhagen this December.

ECONOMY: Emerging G20 Consensus on Solutions to Crisis

For now, a consensus seems to prevail in the Group of 20 (G20) major industrialised and emerging nations, whose finance ministers and central bank presidents ended their 10th annual meeting Sunday, which took on a high profile due to the global financial crisis.

ECONOMY: G20 in New North-South Battle

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for "a pact between governments to create a new global financial architecture," while stressing the need to open up the global financial bodies controlled by the industrialised world to emerging economies.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Insubstantial Shadows

Amidst the cacophony of discussions and negotiations within the international climate change caucus, one particular group, the G8, had held out hope for effective implementation - more than the United Nations Kyoto Protocol (KP), which remains bogged down in various degrees of non-compliance.

Q&A: "Humans Are Now the Primary Drivers of Our Climate"

Humanity faces enormous challenges at the start of the 21st century, says Sir David King, Britain's former chief scientific advisor and now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University in England.

G8: Add Another Five – In a Way

Last week's G8 summit meetings in Toyako on the Japanese island of Hokkaido were critical not only for North-South but also South-South relations and their impact on a globalised world.

G8: Old Targets Set in New Language

After months of ministerial meetings that culminated in the summit of the world's seven major industrial democracies and Russia (G8) last week, the focus shifts back to United Nations negotiations on a new post-2012 climate treaty regime.

DEVELOPMENT: ‘Planet Burns While G8 Fiddles’

While the world's major industrialised nations expressed satisfaction over their three-day summit meetings that concluded Wednesday, non-governmental organisations, after some early and limited approval, were deeply disappointed with the outcome on the whole.

G8: Leaders Produce More Than NGOs Expected

Three key documents – on African development, food security, and corruption - emerging Tuesday from the summit of major industrial nations' leaders seem to have taken non-governmental organisations (NGOs) by surprise in delivering more than expected, even if they did not please all.

G8: Majority Favours An Exclusive Club

The Group of Eight (G8) will remain an exclusive club of major industrial nations at least for a year. Whether the next year's summit in Italy will decide on its expansion - to include Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa - is an open question.

G8: Japanese Commitment to Africa Challenged

Japan received kudos Monday from the leaders of seven African states as they met with their counterparts from the group of eight (G8) major industrialised nations in Toyako on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. But others raised doubts over the extent of commitment to Africa by Japan and the other G8 countries.

G8: Global Food Security Plan Expected

A landmark agreement on ensuring global food security is likely to emerge from the G8 summit in Toyako.

G8: A Mountain Of Wishes Waits

When the leaders of seven western industrial democracies and Russia gather for their meetings Jul. 7-9 in Toyako on the northern island of Hokkaido, a mountain of wishes tabled by a multitude of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from around the world would have piled up before them.

G8: ‘Make Or Break on Climate Change’

Japan is preparing to test its leadership role at the summit meeting of seven western industrial democracies and Russia (G8) Jul. 7-9 in Toyako on the northern island of Hokkaido.

ENERGY: Don't Write Off Biofuels Yet, Advocates Say

Japan wants countries to reconsider biofuels as an alternative technology to fight climate change by using fuel cell cars at the Group of Eight (G8) Summit on Jul. 7-9. The vehicles will transport the leaders of the world's major industrialised nations when they gather on the northern Japanese Island of Hokkaido.

G8: 'Investment In Health Is Effective Aid'

Japan wants next week's summit of seven major western industrial nations and Russia (G8) to urge the international community to push towards combating HIV/AIDS. It sees this as a critical objective of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are meant to be achieved by 2015.