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Keep new development goals simple – experts
Posted by AlertNet: Lisa Anderson on September 26th, 2012
AlertNet: The Millennium Development Goals may not be perfect but they are simple and straightforward - qualities diplomats and others fear could be lost in the process of crafting new targets to replace the MDGs, which expire in 2015.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon underscored this on Tuesday in remarks to members of a high-level panel charged with working out what comes next.
"We need a clear post-2015 development agenda - an agenda with shared responsibilities for all countries, with the fight...
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Increasing demand and urbanisation challenge global food systems
Posted by AlertNet: Lisa Anderson on September 6th, 2012
AlertNet: With most of the world's arable land already in use, more efficient and sustainable methods of food production that provide higher yields are essential to feed an increasingly urban global population expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, according to experts in food security.
"The way we produce food now is literally unsustainable,' said Charles Godfray, professor of zoology and director of the Martin Programme on the Future of Food at the University of Oxford.
Moreover, he said, the...
U.S. intelligence community gauges water risks over next 30 years
Posted by AlertNet: Lisa Anderson on July 23rd, 2012
AlertNet: Is water as a strategic resource, like oil, gas or uranium?
The U.S. intelligence community thinks so. In a report requested by the U.S. Department of State, analysts from eight intelligence agencies focused their attention on how water-related problems -- everything from shortages to floods and contaminated supplies -- will affect national security interests over the next 30 years.
This kind of in-depth analysis, coordinated by the National Intelligence Council (NIC), is usually classified,...
North American Indians to suffer disproportionate climate impacts
Posted by AlertNet: Lisa Anderson on August 8th, 2011
AlertNet: North American Indians to suffer disproportionate climate impacts
In this 2000 Reuters file photo, a Crow Indian fire fighting crew from Montana mops up on the fireline in the bottom of Santa Clara Canyon.
North American Indian tribes, who have lived close to the land for generations, are disproportionately affected by climate change, according to a study released by the National Wildlife Federation.
"Extreme weather events can be devastating for tribes, many of whom already suffer from...