United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi / Paris 26-May-2011 Less than one-third of 60 metals studied have end-of-life recycling rate above 50 percent; 34 are under 1 percent Smarter product designs, support for developing country waste management schemes, and encouraging developed country households not to ‘squirrel away’ old electronic goods in drawers and closets could help […]
United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi / Paris 12 May 2011 By 2050, humanity could consume an estimated 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year – three times its current appetite – unless the economic growth rate is “decoupled” from the rate of natural resource consumption, warns a new report from […]
BioTalent Canada, Ottawa 10 May, 2011 While many 16-year-olds are content with PlayStation, Toronto-area student Marshall Zhang used the Canadian SCINET supercomputing network to invent a new drug cocktail which could one day help treat cystic fibrosis. The Grade 11 student at Bayview Secondary School in Richmond Hill so impressed eight eminent scientists at the […]
InterAction Council / United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health 20 March 2011 Water as an “urgent security issue” tops the agenda this year for a council of 37 former heads of state and government convening in Canada 10 weeks from now, with a preliminary meeting of international experts this week on the […]
Canadian Environmental Law Association, Toronto Training, caution essential to avoid release of brain-damaging lead, other toxic substances Home energy retrofits tackle climate change and when done right they should make homes healthier, while aiding families struggling with utility bills. Without adequate training and precaution, however, renovators, energy retrofitters and do-it-yourselfers who disturb lead-based paint, asbestos […]
Office of the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister, Government of Malaysia / and Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) May 17, 2011 New York — Resolved to enter the world’s exclusive club of “developed” countries by 2020, Malaysia is banking on innovative science and technologies, especially those related to the environment, to help more […]
United Nations University – Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP) 1 May 2011 The US Environmental Protection Agency is stepping up international efforts to help curb rising pollution, the waste of natural resources, and health problems associated with trashed electronics, announcing today a new agreement with the United Nations University. A five-year, $2.5 million grant to […]
Project CLAMER (Flanders Marine Institute, (VLIZ) Oostende, Belgium, and Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel, Netherlands) 5-Apr-2011 Scientists inventory, synthesize 13 years of research on climate change and Europe’s marine environment A massive, growing pool of icy meltwater in the Arctic Ocean is a wild card in future […]
Canadian Water NetworkWaterloo, Ontario27-Feb-2011 $1 trillion global water market forecast for 2020; Global freshwater demand expected to exceed supply by 40 percent by 2030 Famed especially for the excellence of its peacekeepers and ice hockey players, Canada’s water experts are now increasingly needed to help countries elsewhere brace for drought, flood and unsafe water problems […]
Diversitas, Paris 17-Feb-2011 How should a new ‘IPCC for biodiversity’ work? Leading world scientists offer prescription In the journal Science this week, leading scientists say the new “IPCC for biodiversity” should offer practical scientific assessments of actual policy options confronting decision makers. “Hypothetical scenarios bear no relationship to the real options confronting policy makers now,” […]
United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Hamilton, Canada 6 Feb 2011 Pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, shampoo, toothpaste, pesticides, chemical run-off from highways and many other pollutants infiltrate the giant aquifer under Mexico’s “Riviera Maya,” research shows. The wastes contaminate a vast labyrinth of water-filled caves under the popular tourist destination on the Yucatan Peninsula. […]
McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health 12 December 2010 Africans strengthen ability to meet health needs in sub-Sahara with homegrown science solutions, but many products stagnate in labs for want of commercialization know-how, support Global health experts today published a landmark collection of papers that together provide a unique microscope on the experience of countries, companies […]
Harvard Kennedy School Cambridge,MA,USA 2-Dec-2010 Africa can feed itself. And it can make the transition from hungry importer to self-sufficiency in a single generation. The startling assertions, in stark contrast with entrenched, gloomy perceptions of the continent, highlight a collection of studies published today that present a clear prescription for transforming Sub-Saharan Africa’s agriculture and, […]
Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans Plymouth, UK 1-Oct-2010 ‘It is past time to get serious about measuring what’s happening to the seas around us’ The ocean surface is 30 percent more acidic today than it was in 1800, much of that increase occurring in the last 50 years – a rising trend that […]
Diversitas Paris, France Common approach urged to unify global biodiversity advice. A new analysis of several major global studies of future species shifts and losses foresees inevitable continuing decline of biodiversity during the 21st century but offers new hope that it could be slowed if emerging policy choices are pursued. Led by experts Henrique Miguel […]
Census of Marine Life Washington DC, USA 4-Oct-2010 Culminating a 10-year exploration, 2,700 scientists from 80 nations report first Census of Marine Life, revealing what, where, and how much lives and hides in global oceans To measure changes caused by climate or oil spills, Census establishes a baseline New species discovered, marine highways and rest […]
DIVERSITAS, Paris 29 Sep 2009 The world’s rivers are in a crisis of ominous proportions, according to a new global analysis to be published Sept. 30 in the journal Nature. The report is the first to simultaneously account for the effects on the health of the world’s rivers of such things as pollution, dam building, agricultural […]
McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health 14 September 2010 The lure of greater profits elsewhere in the world may divert bio-pharmaceutical firms in developing countries from the creation and distribution of affordable drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for illnesses of local concern, undermining the health prospects of millions of poor people, experts warn. And they call […]
Census of Marine Life Washington, DC 2-Aug-2010 Representing the most comprehensive and authoritative answer yet to one of humanity’s most ancient questions — “what lives in the sea?” — Census of Marine Life scientists today released an inventory of species distribution and diversity in key global ocean areas. Scientists combined information collected over centuries with […]
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Division of Technology Industry and Economics Paris 15-Jul-2010 In 2009, for the second year in a row, both the US and Europe added more power capacity from renewable sources such as wind and solar than conventional sources like coal, gas and nuclear, according to twin reports launched today by the […]
Cousteau Society Paris 8 June 2010 Year-long plans include re-launch of iconic vessel Calypso for education tour; new Cousteau Divers program. Documentary with National Geographic to contrast conditions in Mediterranean today with Cousteau’s films of the 1940s. Legendary marine explorer, inventor, innovator, filmmaker and environmental activist Jacques Cousteau was born June 11, 1910 in Saint […]
McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health 10 May 2010 ‘South-South’ biotech collaborations boost health, economies: Study The availability of more affordable drugs, vaccines and diagnostics that would help countless people worldwide is the foremost benefit expected from a growing number of collaborations between biotech firms in developing countries, according to a study to be published Mon. […]