One of the main themes of Planet Under Pressure is the way many of the Earth’s environmental crises reinforce one another. Pollution is an obvious example – we do not have the option of growing food, or finding enough water, on a squeaky-clean planet, but on one increasingly tarnished and trashed by the way we [...]
And the insurance industry says this year will face unprecedented claims for damage from weather-related disasters. Both sets of figures were released as ministers from 180 countries heard a message from the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urging an end to doubts and delays on action to combat climate change. The WMO reported that the [...]
The life of the average Antarctic penguin chick is harsh enough at the best of times. But if predators and appalling weather were not enough to worry about, the birds now face something rather more menacing: a giant iceberg with the ominous name BI5A. And its 1,200 square miles of ice and snow is floating [...]
At a recent international summit of NGOs in Vienna ? preceding the EU Ministerial Meeting of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) ? WWF, together with 18 NGOs, called on Danube Basin countries and the European Commission to ensure that future shipping projects do not destroy the river. "In contrast [...]
"Today, we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system," said the first African woman and first environmental activist to win the peace prize. Maathai, 64, warned that the world remained under attack from disease, deforestation and war. "We are called to [...]
BiH has ratified the Convention as the last of the 13 participating states. The meeting of ministers and other senior officials of the Danube basin countries, responsible for managing the water resources and protection of environment in the basin of river Danube, was organized ten years after the adoption of the Convention on Cooperation in [...]
The wooden Greenpeace ‘Climate Ark’ held symbolic climate refugees. Their message is simple: without action against global warming, the future looks bleak for most of the planet’s population. Global warming will bring more storms, floods and heat waves that will hit the poorest and most vulnerable first. Among the crowds at the Ark were 4000 [...]
"We cannot be satisfied with the primarily raw material orientation of Russian exports (over 80%) [to Finland]," Yakovenko said. Underlining a positive practical character of our bilateral economic relations, Yakovenko said that, according to the results of the first six months of this year, Russia is Finland’s third largest trading partner, while Finland is Russia’s [...]
Putin, speaking to armed forces chiefs, said although international terrorism was one of Russia’s main security threats the country had also to keep its nuclear defenses in sound condition. "We know that we have only to weaken our attention to such components of our defenses as the nuclear-missile shield, and new threats to us could [...]
Holland America agreed to pay a $200,000 fine, to donate $500,000 to a nonprofit environmental foundation and to spend $1.3 million to establish a new environmental compliance plan, said US Attorney Tim Burgess and Rear Admiral James Olson of the US Coast Guard’s Alaska district. The company did not offer comment. The fine is the [...]
