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FAO report highlights concern over 'slow-onset' climate change effects on food security

"Slow-onset" climate changes could have a bigger impact in developing countries in the future, including "potentially catastrophic" effects on food production, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said on Thursday in a report for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, The Hindu reports (Parsai, 4/1).

2 Apr 2011

Environmental threats disproportionally affect health of the aging global population

Cornell University researchers are calling on their colleagues around the world to focus on how aging global populations will intersect with climate change and calls for environmental sustainability.

1 Apr 2011

World Water Day focuses on impact of rapid urban population growth on water security

Tuesday marks World Water Day 2011, which this year focuses "on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialisation and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems," the Daily Times reports.

23 Mar 2011

Experts warn of global water shortages ahead of World Water Day

Speaking out ahead of World Water Day on Tuesday, water experts have warned of growing water shortages worldwide, Inter Press Service reports.

22 Mar 2011

FAO head highlights food security concerns, need for more agriculture investment

Rising oil prices and the recent drawdown in global cereal stocks could lead to a supply crisis and raise the risk of food riots in developing countries similar to those that occurred between 2007 and 2008, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Director General Jacques Diouf said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.

17 Mar 2011

Researchers set to study impacts of space radiation on the atmosphere and aging issues worldwide

Researchers from the University of Alberta have won awards from an international research organization that will enable them to work with colleagues around the globe to address two issues with global ramifications.

15 Mar 2011

USAID-India fund AIP project to increase food security, agricultural production

Could you live on $1.25 per day? In parts of India-specifically the less developed states of the Indo-Gangetic Plains-living on less than $1.25 per day per capita is a harsh reality. People in this region face problems of hunger, poverty and child malnutrition.

11 Mar 2011

Senate Democrats release FY11 CR that seeks to preserve foreign aid, State Department funding at FY10 levels

Senate Democrats on Friday introduced a FY11 continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through September, "with a vote on the measure, as well as a House-passed proposal, expected" this week, the Washington Post's "2chambers" blog reports (Sonmez, 3/4).

8 Mar 2011

CPCHE launches multi-year project to promote healthier home energy retrofits

Home energy retrofits tackle climate change and when done right they should make homes healthier, while aiding families struggling with utility bills.

6 Mar 2011

New World Bank strategy shifts focus to building African economies

A new World Bank plan for Africa aims to expand economies and increase job growth, "while also tackling problems of climate change, disease, food shortages and conflict," Reuters reports.

4 Mar 2011

Clinton, Kerry caution against FY11 foreign aid cuts at Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing

At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senate Foreign Relations Chair John Kerry "decried House GOP cuts to the foreign affairs budget," The Hill's "On The Money" blog reports.

4 Mar 2011

Clinton defends State Department budget requests before House panel

In her testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday about President Barack Obama's FY12 budget request, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also defended the State Department's FY11 budget request, Bloomberg reports. Clinton said the proposed budget cuts for FY11 would be "devastating" to U.S. national security, and U.S. programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq would see "sharp reductions" if the proposed cuts are passed.

3 Mar 2011

Supporters of open letter say 'Patent Amendment Bill' misses the point

An open letter with signatories including AusBiotech, Medicines Australia, Research Australia, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and Foursight has been addressed to members of the Australian Parliament, urging them to reject the ‘Patent Amendment (Human Genes and Biological Materials) Bill 2010’ as it misses the point on patient access and research exemption.

1 Mar 2011

Investing in adolescents can help reduce poverty, improve health, UNICEF report says

Additional investment in the world's 1.2 billion adolescents - 88 percent of whom live in the developing world - has the potential to help alleviate inequality and poverty, UNICEF said in its annual State of the World's Children report released on Friday, IRIN reports.

28 Feb 2011

U.N. commission on the status of women opens in New York

Kicking off the two-week 55th Annual Session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women in New York on Tuesday, Michelle Bachelet, the first under-secretary-general and executive director of U.N. Women, highlighted the role of gender equality in country development, peace and security, Angola Press reports (2/23).

24 Feb 2011

New research demonstrates how climate change can increase exposure, risk of human illness

A panel of scientists speaking today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science unveiled new research and models demonstrating how climate change could increase exposure and risk of human illness originating from ocean, coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems, with some studies projecting impacts to be felt within 30 years.

20 Feb 2011

Republican leadership's FY11 budget cuts would endanger national security, Clinton says

"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday afternoon that the spending levels outlined by House Republicans late last week for the remainder of the fiscal year would endanger the country's national security," the Washington Post's "44" blog reports.

16 Feb 2011

Nine new Research Units to be established by DFG

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is to establish nine new Research Units. This decision was taken by the DFG's Senate at its February session in Bonn. The new groups are intended to provide researchers with the opportunity to address current and urgent issues in their fields and to develop new research strategies.

14 Feb 2011

BBSRC, EMBL-EBI applaud funding allocation for European Life-science Infrastructure for Biological Information

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) welcome news that funding has been earmarked from the UK's Large Facilities Capital Fund for ELIXIR - the European Life-science Infrastructure for Biological Information - as announced today (09 February 2011).

9 Feb 2011

France, FAO call for greater regulation to avert food riots

France, the current chair of the G20, and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) "warned on Friday about the risk of a new global food crisis and ensuing riots, calling for greater regulation to curb speculation on commodities markets," Reuters reports.

8 Feb 2011