BIODIVERSITY: Trade Trumps Concern for Threatened Marine Species

As details emerge about the backroom politics and contentious votes that led to the failure to protect any of the several marine species up for international protection at a key conference the past two weeks, conservation advocates are looking ahead to influence regional, local and even individual choices in the next round of battles to save the threatened species.

U.S.: Water Crisis High on Policy Agenda, Clinton Says

On a rainy morning here Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasised the centrality to U.S. foreign policy of addressing the world's water challenges.

DEVELOPMENT: Bad Water More Deadly Than War

Bad water kills more people than wars or earthquakes, declares Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

BIODIVERSITY: Lucrative Shark Trade Under Scrutiny

As climate change transforms the acidity and oxygen levels of the world's waters with devastating effects for some marine species, others are facing an even more immediate threat from human consumption.

BIODIVERSITY: CITES Faces Political Storm over Tuna Ban

The vast majority of the species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, live on land, but as marine species come under increasing pressure from unsustainable fishing and a range of climate change-related threats that focus is beginning to shift.

CLIMATE: The Thirsty Caribbean

Caribbean countries are considering options like desalination plants and cloud seeding to confront a drought that threatens the regional economy and which experts warned about years ago.

ENVIRONMENT-LEBANON: Coastal Pollution Threatens Fisherfolk

Pollution, oil spills and difficult living conditions are some of the challenges that fishermen in this eastern Mediterranean country face daily.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Preparing for Flood Season

Southern Africa is entering flood season. Governments and policy makers have been challenged to adopt a more preventive approach to disaster management by the Red Cross - what measures are in place?

ENVIRONMENT-LATIN AMERICA: Glass Half Empty

The countries of Latin America have made progress in terms of access to clean water and sanitation, but have failed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, says a new United Nations report.

BIODIVERSITY: Companies Push Hard to Halt Tuna Collapse

In the Seychelles' only cannery, the din of thousands of empty tuna cans rattling on narrow metal troughs is incredible as they bustle along, soon to be filled with Skipjack tuna that only days ago were swimming freely in the inky blue Indian Ocean.

Q&A: ”There’s a Limit to Fish Harvesting”

The perilous state of the world's fish stocks has received less media attention than the more visible, palpable environmental problems like air pollution. Isabella Lövin is seeking to redress that balance. Her 2007 book ‘Tyst hav' (Silent Seas) hit the best-seller list in her native Sweden, garnering her three awards, including the title of 'Journalist of the Year'.

ETHIOPIA: Dam Critics Won’t Go Away

Ethiopia is building a 240-metre high dam on the Omo River that is intended to end the country's electricity shortage and supply power to neighbouring countries. Not everyone's happy.

ENVIRONMENT: Keeping Wetlands from Becoming Wastelands

Swamps, marshes and other wetlands are beginning to be recognised as a country's 'green jewels', even in a tropical paradise like Mahé Island here in the Seychelles, with its stunning beaches and dramatic granite outcrops.

EUROPE: Privatised Services Back in Public Hands

After the wave of de-privatisation of water services facilities that started across the world two years ago, municipalities in Europe are now buying back the electricity utilities they sold to private investors in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

MAURITIUS: These Women Chose the Sea

She cannot swim, but Marie-Claite Hector is not afraid of the ocean. The 53-year-old pushes her small boat with all her strength towards the blue lagoon, starts the engine, and sets out to sea.

CHILE: Water a Matter of National Security

In its proposed constitutional reform, the Chilean government recognises that the availability of freshwater is a matter of national security. Environmentalists applaud the initiative, but some business groups are worried it will hurt their bottom line.

ZIMBABWE: Water Scarcity No Obstacle To Bulawayo Farmers

A project in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, is creatively using "marginal water" to ease water scarcity while helping residents provide food and earn a living.

MALAWI: Green Belt Initiative Taking Shape

Let the rains fail, even for several successive seasons, and Malawi should still be able to produce enough to feed itself.

TANZANIA: Community Still Worried By Mine Contamination

Susanna Solomon is still tending her shamba, but she won't eat the harvest from her farm when it's ready.

URUGUAY: ‘Dry Toilets’ Provide Ecological Solution in Slums

Marisabel's modest home had no plumbing, like the rest of the dwellings in this poor suburb on the outskirts of Montevideo, the capital of this small South American country.

AFRICA: Drying, Drying, Disappearing…

Lake Chad was bigger than Israel less than 50 years ago. Today its surface area is less than a tenth of its earlier size, amid forecasts the lake could disappear altogether within 20 years.