GENEVA — Two leading U.N. agencies are calling for greater action to provide safe drinking water and basic sanitation to more than three billion people. A joint report by the World Health Organization and U.N. Children’s Fund says more must be done to close the gap between the billions who have access to improved water and sanitation and those who do not.

[NAIROBI] Measures to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) in developing regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa could benefit key sectors, including health and agriculture, experts say.

Millions of tons of plastic products drift into the oceans every year, and yet nearly all of that garbage — 99 percent of it — can’t be found.

Researchers who spent months combing the waters for plastic particles say their nets came up surprisingly light, given that some 10 million to 20 million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year via rivers, floods, storm water runoff and from seafaring litterbugs.

You already know that Africa isn’t a country. But what else? Check out these maps and put the continent’s population, income, growth, and potential into context.

Mighty River Jordan matters more than any other river – for three religions, for the people living alongside it, for thousands of years of history and as both a joint resource and a dividing line for countries in today's rather difficult political environment. But the respect given to it does not reflect this importance. There is overuse and pollution all along the river, and once it reaches the Dead Sea, massive overuse of its water upstream has reduced it to a rivulet of sewage.