Healthy seas and coasts would pay healthy dividends in a green economy, according to a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners that highlights the huge potential for economic growth and poverty eradication from well-managed marine sectors.

The report, Green Economy in a Blue World, argues that the ecological health and economic productivity of marine and coastal ecosystems, which are currently in decline around the globe, can be boosted by shifting to a more sustainable economic approach that taps their natural potential – from generating renewable energy and promoting eco-tourism, to sustainable fisheries and transport.

Read more
Download the report [pdf]
http://www.eco-business.com
http://www.unep.org

Tree Aid, in collaboration with the Bongo Traditional Authority and the Bongo District Assembly, has started a project to restore and maintain vegetation around the major rivers in Bongo, Upper East Region.

Mr Philip Goodwin, Chief Executive officer of Tree Aid, said the major concern of his outfit was to create an opportunity for individuals particularly the poor to generate income to create forest enterprises and manage the resources more securely and ultimately protect the environment.

“Poverty creates greater problems for the environment but a degraded environment creates more poverty”, he said, noting that Tree Aid had made effective interventions to break that cycle of environmental decline.

Read more
http://vibeghana.com

The worldwide fishing industry could benefit from a $50 billion boost annually if stocks were allowed time to recover, the UN said Wednesday.

Already 32 percent of the world's fish stocks have been depleted by years of overfishing and poor coastal management, according to a UN Environment Programme report released in Pasig City.

Read more
http://www.gmanetwork.com

Recent years have not been kind to Veremund Mfuse and his maize crops.

As Tanzania struggles with increasingly extreme weather, the farmer, from Mbarali in Tanzania’s Mbeya region, has seen his maize production decline, a problem he says is affecting farmers across the region.

“Our major challenge here is drought. We face a critical shortage of water, rains are not reliable (and) we harvest very little,” Mfuse said.

In response to the problem, which experts in the region say is linked to climate change, some farmers are now planting new, drought-resistant maize hybrids, while others are experimenting with a return to traditional varieties.

Read more
http://www.truthabouttrade.org

Climate change has been a salient issue for the countries of Northeast Asia (the People's Republic of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Mongolia) in terms of impacts, adaptation, and mitigation. Preliminary analyses suggest that the costs of coastal protection are likely to be the largest adaptation costs across sectors in the region. In infrastructure, Mongolia will probably have the largest adaptation costs in percentage terms. In the PRC, there is a large "adaptation deficit" to extreme events (e.g., flooding and cyclones) in the infrastructure sector that should be addressed now. There is a large mitigation potential in Northeast Asia--at least 7 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030. Furthermore, much of the potential is at negative cost. That is, they are economically justified regardless of their emission benefits. Regional cooperation is important as it can help reduce the total costs of implementing mitigation in Northeast Asia.

Read more
http://adb.org

The United Nations has taken a new initiative to promote renewable energy, considering its potential to alleviate poverty across the world, according to a top UN official.

The UN declared 2012 the ‘International Year of Sustainable Energy for All' and Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general, has also taken an initiative in the same direction, said Sha Zukang, under-secretary general of the UN.

Read more
http://gulfnews.com

Countries will be asked this summer to sign up for 10 new sustainable development goals for the planet and promise to build green economies at the first earth summit in 20 years.

According to a leak of the draft agenda document seen by the Guardian, they will also be asked to negotiate a new agreement to protect oceans, approve an annual state of the planet report, set up a major world agency for the environment, and appoint a global "ombudsperson", or high commissioner, for future generations. Dozens of heads of state, political leaders and celebrities are expected to go to the UN's Rio+20 sustainable development meeting, to be held in Brazil in June.

Read more
http://www.guardian.co.uk

When young Nepalis opt to study outside their native land, they often do so with the hope of improving their own lives. But Ashraya Dixit used the opportunities in America to make a difference back home in Nepal.

A student at Grinnell College, Ashraya is a recipient of the prestigious Davis Projects for Peace, 2011, which grants US$10,000 to youth with innovative methods of building peace.

Ashraya’s project titled Straws of Steel took place in the summer of 2011 and aimed to “introduce a new, efficient, low cost, and safe building technique using straw bales to Shivagadi village in the Kapilvastu district of Nepal, an area that frequently faces flashfloods, droughts, fires and earthquakes.

Read more
http://www.myrepublica.com

Beijing's government on Friday bowed to a vocal online campaign for a change in the way air quality is measured in the Chinese capital, one of the world's most polluted cities.

Authorities said they would start publishing figures this month showing the smallest, most dangerous pollution particles in the air after considering the wishes of residents, expressed on China's popular microblogs.

The Chinese capital currently bases its air quality information on particles of 10 micrometers or larger, known as PM10, and does not take into account the smaller particulates that experts say are most harmful to human health.

Read more
http://www.mysinchew.com

MANILA - A landslide tore through a tiny gold-mining village in the southern Philippines yesterday, killing 25 people and burying dozens more, months after the government warned residents the mountain was certain to crumble.

The mountainside in Napnapan village in Pantukan township collapsed around 3 a.m., when most residents were asleep, sweeping away about 50 houses, shanties, and other buildings, officials said. A fissure in the mountain discovered last year likely was aggravated by heavy rains and continuous mining in the saturated ground.

Read more
http://www.bostonglobe.com