Malawi Businesses Lose Out after AU Summit Cancelled

Small and large businesses in Malawi are counting their losses following the cabinet’s decision not to host the African Union summit in July.

Mauritius introduces new ways to collect blood

The Mauritius blood bank is introducing new ways to get the youth to give blood. The drive could also help the country reach one of its MDG goals. Audio Slide Show

Q&A: Women Must Be at the Forefront of Rio+20, and Beyond

Unlocking women's energies and allowing them to become drivers of change could fuel the motor of sustainable development.

Setting Goals to Protect Half the Planet

The high seas, crucial regions of the world's oceans that are beyond national jurisdiction, account for 45 percent of the planet, but are today under severe threat from overfishing and pollution.

Defining Green Economy May Stymie Rio Summit

The thematic battle at the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in Brazil next week will be primarily around the new concept of a "green economy" - and how best to define it.

Q&A: “We All Have to Start Being City Changers”

Building the cities of the future requires not only smarter planning but a profound shift toward greater equity and social justice, says Joan Clos, executive director of the U.N. Human Settlements Programme, or UN-HABITAT.

Tension Around Possible Islamic State in Northern Mali

Tuareg and Islamist rebel groups which seized control of northern Mali in March are trying to find common ground for the joint administration of the territory. Residents of the region fear that individual and collective freedoms will not be respected if such an alliance sets up an Islamic state.

Rio+20: Transforming Political Platitudes into Economic Realities

When world leaders endorse the final plan of action, titled "The Future We Want, at the Rio+20 summit in Brazil next week, a lingering question may remain unanswered: how best can the United Nations transform political platitudes into economic realities?

Q&A: “Today’s Food System Is Failing Small Farmers”

With heads of state from more than 120 nations and tens of thousands of civil society and international development experts gathering for the U.N. Summit on Sustainable Development next week, it is accepted wisdom that rethinking agriculture is one of most critical issues facing this and future generations.

Will Water Dry Up at Summit on Sustainable Development?

The headline in a New York newspaper last March captured the essence of a future potential threat to political stability the world over: "U.S. Report Sees Tensions Over Water."

Agriculture Key to Liberia’s Youth Unemployment Challenge

With his gold chain, baseball cap, and baggy denim shorts, Junior Toe wears the uniform of Liberia’s urban youth. Spend just a few minutes with the young man and it is evident that he possesses the street smarts to match the look.

How Would You Measure Success at the Rio Summit?

When the heavily hyped three-day U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) comes to a close in Rio de Janeiro Jun. 22, what would be the yardstick to measure its successes and failures?

Establishing Environmental Flows in the Zambezi

When Jose Chiburre was a boy growing up in Mozambique, he would often challenge his friends to a swim across the Incomati River. That was in the 1970s, when the river was 300 metres wide in the dry season: today, the race would be over before it begins.

Women and children need climate change education

70% of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are women. Many of these are semi-illiterate, yet they are the most affected by changes in climate.

New World Bank Environment Strategy Boosts Private Sector Role

The World Bank this week released its new environment strategy for the next decade, 2012 through 2022, saying the policy framework was crafted in response to "calls from governments and the private sector for new approaches to development in light of unprecedented environmental challenges".

Water Knows No Border Between Angola and Namibia

A transboundary initiative aimed at providing clean drinking water and proper sanitation between Angola and Namibia is making steady progress.

Calls for an African Green Revolution, Only Smarter

To deal with looming food crises in the coming decades, Africa needs a Green Revolution on par with what took place in Asia during the 1960s and 1970s, according to experts in Washington.

Rural Zambia’s Drinking Supply Fraught with Danger and Disease

Bupe Bana-Victor has lived in the Mwense district of Luapula Province in northern Zambia all her life. And for her, water talk is synonymous with the Luapula River, which lies just 20 metres from her village and snakes through the entire region before it joins the Lualaba River – a tributary of the mighty Congo, Africa’s second-largest river.

Women scientists must do more to succeed in Africa

Women in science face a difficult time getting recognition; they often have to put in more to get the same recognition as men.

RIO+20: A Stalemated U.N. in Do-or-Die Session on Action Plan

After weeklong negotiations, a meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) to finalise a plan of action titled "The Future We Want" for next week's Rio+20 summit has failed to reach agreement - and deferred a decision to a final three-day session in Brazil.

24 Policies to End the Earth Emergency

Ecologically ignorant policies are largely responsible for the interlinked crises that are unraveling the planet's life support system.