Global Issues

World Will Completely Miss 2010 Biodiversity Target

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Species classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as "threatened" increased by 2.1 percent in 2009, as 365 species were added to the organization's Red List of Threatened Species. Only 2 species were removed from the list. Since 1996, a total of 47,677 species of animals, plants, fungi, and protists (a group that includes protozoans and most algae) have been evaluated by the IUCN, and 17,291 of these are now considered threatened—a full 36 percent.

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NOAA: Global Temps Push Last Month to Hottest March on Record

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The world’s combined global land and ocean surface temperature made last month the warmest March on record, according to NOAA. Taken separately, average ocean temperatures were the warmest for any March and the global land surface was the fourth warmest for any March on record. Additionally, the planet has seen the fourth warmest January – March period on record.

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EU Satellite To Check Climate Cange Impact On Ice

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By VERENA SCHMITT-ROSCHMANN (AP) BERLIN — The European Space Agency is launching a sophisticated satellite that scientists hope will help them pin down the effects of global warming on the Earth's ice packs more precisely by accurately measuring the thickness of ice. The CryoSat 2 mission, which starts Thursday after years of delays, will be able to pinpoint details of changes in polar ice so scientists can better understand the alarming picture of the world's retreating ice caps.

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Agricultural Apocalypse 2010

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The food business is far and away the most important business in the world. Everything else is a luxury. Food is what you need to sustain life every day. Dwayne Andreas When a large segment of the population is facing a drastic cut in income in the face of escalating food prices we have a catastrophic problem in the making.

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UC San Diego Energy Dashboard to Help Campus Curb Appetite for Power

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San Diego  --  After an extensive period of testing, researchers have launched an Internet portal to showcase the real-time measurement and visualization of energy use on the University of California, San Diego campus. The UC San Diego Energy Dashboard (http://energy.ucsd.edu/) allows users to see up-to-the-second information on a structure-by-structure basis for 60 of the largest buildings on the La Jolla campus.

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Losses From Natural Disasters Decline In 2009

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In 2009, some 860 natural catastrophes occurred worldwide.1 Given the 750 disasters registered in 2008, this represented an increase of 15 percent.2 Last year had the fourth highest number of events in the period from 1980 to 2009.3 Some 92 percent of last year’s events were weather-related disasters (compared with 82 percent in 2008): 42 percent were storms, 38 percent were floods, and 12 percent were other weather-related events, such as heat and cold waves, winter damage, droughts, and wildfires.

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Better World Campaign Launches www.UnitedInPeacekeeping.com

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Interactive website details how UN Peacekeeping Missions promote American Interests Today, the Better World Campaign announced  the launch of www.UnitedInPeacekeeping.com, an innovative new website highlighting active United Nations peacekeeping missions around the globe and how they enhance American interests.

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U.N. Report: Let's Turn Foul Water From Mass Killer Into Global Treasure

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • U.N. report: Polluted water kills about 2.2 million a year; wars claim fewer victims per year
  • Report also says wastewater could become valued resource if treated
  • Upfront costs to build treatment plants would be expensive, report says

(CNN) -- Contaminated and polluted water now kills more people than all forms of violence including wars, according to a United Nations report released Monday that calls for turning unsanitary wastewater into an environmentally safe economic resource.

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Water Scarcity Becoming A Critical Issue For The Arab World – UN Report

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16 March 2010 – Climate change, food insecurity, decreasing water availability and unemployment are among the multiple challenges facing the Arab region, according to a new assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which calls for rational and sustainable use of resources and inclusion of the environment issues in decision making.

“This assessment has been a truly collaborative one outlining the progress but also the realities facing this d

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Waste Water Kills Millions Of Children, Pollutes Sea

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ABIDJAN, March 22 (Reuters) - Human beings are flushing millions of tonnes of solid waste into rivers and oceans every day, poisoning marine life and spreading diseases that kill millions of children annually, the U.N. said on Monday. "The sheer scale of dirty water means more people now die from contaminated and polluted water than from all forms of violence including wars," the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said.

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