Rising sea levels that submerge entire islands were supposed to be a distant possibility of an apocalyptic future. But in the idyllic Pacific, that future is here. Five of the Solomon Islands have completely disappeared under water over the past seven decades, one drawing its last breath as recently as 2011, according to a study published in Environmental Research Letters. Another ...

UNEP’s Adaptation Finance Gap Report: Failure to cut emissions will dramatically increase the annual costs of adaptation, which could be up to five times higher by 2050 than previously thought. The cost of adapting to climate change in developing countries could rise to between $280 and $500 billion per year by 2050, a figure that is four to five times ...

A new study has revealed that over 75% of bird killing and trapping in Egypt is illegal. BirdLife International releases new data on Mediterranean hotspot for illegal bird killing, and shows graphic video on killing methods. Nature Conservation Egypt (BirdLife in Egypt) and the BirdLife International Secretariat on Tuesday, 10 May, 2016 released a study on the socio-economic drivers of hunting ...

Today, nearly 3.9 billion people – half of the world’s population – live in urban areas. By 2050 that number is expected to nearly double. According to report title “Can a City Be Sustainable?”, the latest edition of the annual State of the World report series from the Worldwatch Institute, there is no question cities will continue to grow; the only ...

Break Free from Fossil Fuels actions commenced in Nigeria on Tuesday, 10 May 2016, with a rally at Oil Well 1 in Oloibiri, Nigeria’s first oil well drilled in 1956. It was a gathering of hundreds of community chiefs, youths, women groups, and civil society groups in the Break Free Coalition. Frontline environmental activist, Nnimmo Bassey of the Health of Mother ...

National climate action intentions are becoming concrete under the Paris Agreement The UN climate change secretariat has launched a new interim public registry to capture countries’ formal climate action plans under the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), they set out publicly what each country plans to do as part of the Paris Agreement to contribute to the international ...

Recalling that just two weeks ago, 175 countries came to the United Nations to sign the historic Paris Agreement on climate change, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that it is time to take climate action to the next level. “We need to accelerate the speed, scope and scale of our response, locally and globally,” Mr. Ban last week told participants of the Climate Action Summit 2016 in Washington D.C., a ...

A new World Bank reports finds that water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change, could hinder economic growth, spur migration, and spark conflict. However, most countries can neutralise the adverse impacts of water scarcity by taking action to allocate and use water resources more efficiently. Key findings of the are listed to include: Water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change, could cost ...

United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, following consultations with the Chairpersons of the regional groups of Member States, has informed the General Assembly of his intention to appoint Erik Solheim of Norway as the new Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Mr. Solheim is currently Chair of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and ...

GCF’s direct access country partners take part in UN Women training session on women’s empowerment to scale up climate action The “why” and “how” of mainstreaming women’s empowerment in the context of climate change projects and programmes was the focus of a one-day training session held recently as part of the Green Climate Fund’s Accelerating Direct Access week. Organised jointly ...