AGRICULTURE: Cattle ‘Black Death’ Banished to History

An animal 'black death' that has devastated livestock around the world for thousands of years, causing famine and untold human misery, is about to be permanently consigned to the history books.

DEVELOPMENT: Tsunami Brings Sea Change in Coastal Lives

Tragic as it was, the Asian tsunami wrought a sea change in the lives of survivors in the sleepy coastal hamlets of southern Tamil Nadu state, where some 8,000 people are known to have died.

SRI LANKA: Five Years after Tsunami, Many Still without Shelter

"We have been here for almost five years. So many promises have been made, but very few have been kept," complains Mohideen Nafia, 22, one of the survivors of the 2004 Asian tsunami still living in a temporary facility in the coastal town of Kalmunai, located 300 kilometres east of the capital, Colombo.

BANGLADESH: Food Security in Great Peril from Climate Change

Unless the world comes to its aid, Bangladesh says the vulnerability of its agriculture sector to climate change could spell severe consequences for its millions of people, who stand to lose their main source of livelihood.

SOUTH ASIA: Glacial Data Crucial to Combating Climate Change

People living in the Himalayan region are increasingly confronted by rising temperatures and glaciers melting at an unprecedented rate, threatening their very survival. This much the world already knows.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Zenawi Stands Alone In Copenhagen

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says Africa must compromise and be flexible towards other countries, if the U.N. Climate Conference ending on Dec. 18, is to reach an agreement.

CLIMATE CHANGE: China Reels Under a Barrage of Criticism

China is not happy. This is how one of the Chinese state-sanctioned newspapers summed up Beijing's feelings about the week spent negotiating on climate change in the Danish capital.

CLIMATE CHANGE: ”The Struggle Does Not Stop Here,” Say Witnesses

‘’Those who run the decision-making on climate change are the same who have caused it,’’ said Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the world’s first international climate hearing on Tuesday, pithily identifying the reason why justice has been elusive at the ongoing climate change summit in the Danish capital.

SRI LANKA: Local Climate Efforts: Too Little, Too Slow, Too Late?

Sri Lankan experts do not seem to be pinning their hopes on the ongoing climate talks in Copenhagen, saying greenhouse gas emissions will continue to torment the world as long as western lifestyles remain the same.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Europe Makes Shy Commitments

"Decision-makers should stop thinking in realpolitik terms and acknowledge that we are out of time,’’ says Magda Stoczkiewicz, director of Friends of the Earth (FoE) in Europe.

EUROPE: No Qualms Funding Tax Haven-Tainted Banks

Although the links between tax evasion and global poverty are officially recognised, the European Investment Bank, the lending arm of the European Union (EU), has no qualms financing banks known to stash away money in tax havens.

FRANCE: Sarkozy – Unlikely Champion of Environmental Action

For a centre-right politician, best known for his law-and-order stance and tough immigration policies, French President Nicolas Sarkozy would seem an unlikely champion of environmental issues

CLIMATE CHANGE: Beware of Carbon Trading Trap Warn Activists

As the climate change summit in the Danish capital moves into a second day, environmental groups warn that by pushing carbon offsetting and trade, governments of developed countries are bypassing their responsibility to significantly reduce domestic emissions and provide aid to developing countries.

TRADE: A Lost Decade for the WTO?

Ten years ago, the Seattle Ministerial of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) flashed over into a ‘Battle of Seattle' before the eyes of a startled world.

CHINA: One Green Leap Forward, Two Steps Backward

With low carbon seen as the new buzzword for government promotion and backed by Beijing as the new economic growth engine, China is poised for a green leap forward.

Q&A: ‘Asia Can Set Its Own Carbon Emissions Target’

As the Climate Change Conference opens today in Copenhagen, excitement— even anxiety—is steadily building over the potential outcome of one of the most awaited events of the year.

Q&A: Gender Missing in Climate Agreements

Women are known to be innovators when it comes to responding to climate change. The question is how to ensure that the role of women and gender equality are reflected in climate change agreements.

CHINA/INDIA: ‘Business as Usual’ for Carbon Emission Targets

China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has stolen a march over the rest of Asia in unilaterally declaring its carbon intensity cuts a day after President Barack Obama did late last month for the U.S.

TRADE: Trilateral Treaty of the South

Negotiations to form a trade alliance between countries of Africa, Asia and South America stepped up to a political level when ministers discussed the issue this week, giving the initiative a further boost.

CLIMATE CHANGE: India Plays Guessing Game Ahead of Copenhagen

With one week left before the start of the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen, there is still no reliable word as to whether Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend, or whether or how much the South Asian state will commit itself to emission cuts.

BURMA: Nobel Laureate Stiglitz to Advise Junta on Poverty

The list of high-profile foreigners heading to Burma to engage and advise the country’s military regime is about to get longer. The latest due to join that flow is Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz.