On another beach in a different world, Chinasa Paul would be sipping a soft drink bought by his parents. But if the 15-year-old eats today in Lagos, it will be thanks to tips he receives for lugging crates of drinks up and down Kuramo Beach.

Unicef will today call for an urgent shift in focus by policy makers neglectful of the needs of millions of children like Chinasa whose number is set to increase as the growth of cities in the developing world becomes one of the pressing issues of our time.

With the world’s freshwater supplies under mounting pressure from pollution and galloping consumption, understanding the how, where and why of water use is more important than ever.

To that end, scientists from the University of Twente in the Netherlands have released a new study analyzing the quantity and distribution of global water use from 1996 to 2005.

ABU DHABI — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched on Monday an initiative designating 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, with the aim of reaching its set goals by 2030.

He called on governments, the private sector and civil society to actively support his initiative, at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

"This is the right time for this initiative," he said.

How might urban climate change affect business? What can business -- and cities -- do about it? And how might each help the other prepare for a potential threat to what's clearly a mutually beneficial relationship?

Who better to answer the questions than Cynthia Rosenzweig, Senior Research Scientist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Columbia University Earth Institute, and Adjunct Professor at New York City's Barnard College.