Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has agreed with the Construction Ministry's proposals to expand the flood shelter pilot model across the northern central and central coastal regions.

Dung expressed his approval at a conference in the south-central province of Phu Yen yesterday, April 8, to review the implementation of a programme to help poor families in the two regions tackle floods.

The programme, which was implemented under the Prime Minister's Decision No 716/QD-TTg issued on June 14, 2012, targets 700 poor households in 14 flood-prone communes in Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Phu Yen provinces.

Read more: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/government/70999/pm-agrees-to-expand-su...

In the face of unprecedented deforestation and biodiversity loss, policy makers are increasingly using financial incentives to encourage conservation.
However, a research team led by the National University of Singapore (NUS) revealed that in the long run, conservation incentives may struggle to compete with future agricultural yields.
Their findings were first published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 15 April 2013.

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130423102330.htm

European funding to help poor countries adapt to a changing climate is dropping remarkably at a time when it needs to be scaled up in line with UN commitments and people are dealing with increasing impacts of extreme weather events.

As part of an assessment that shows significant cuts in development aid to poor nations, the OECD has just revealed that funding for programs mainly focused on helping developing countries adapt to the effects of climate change fell globally from $3.1 billion in 2010 to $1.8 billion in 2011. Although the OECD has not yet released climate finance figures for 2012, research by Oxfam suggests that levels of public climate finance did not improve last year.

Read more: http://oxfameu.blogactiv.eu/2013/04/08/staggering-55-cut-to-eu-funding-f...

Khadija Mtungakoa, a 38-year-old mother of three, wears a broad smile as she prepares food on her energy-saving stove.

She explains joyfully how it has helped reduce her reliance on the firewood she gathers from the nearby Amani Nature Reserve in Tanzania's Muheza District.

The government established the reserve in 1997 to protect the unique forest ecosystem of the East Usambara Mountains, a range in the Eastern Arc Mountains.

Mtungakoa's stove, made of clay soil and cow dung, stays hot for much longer than a conventional model, which makes it more efficient when simmering and allows her to reheat cooked food. And it uses much less wood.

Read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201304010042.html

Dawn is a mere glimmer on the horizon and the city is still plunged in darkness. Its cobbled streets are menacingly dark.

But specks of light pierce the breaking day in villages in Alanganallur block, Madurai East, Madurai West and Melur blocks. The streets are unpaved but streetlights powered by solar energy burn bright, lighting up the dips and curves on the village roads.

Load shedding has now become a way of life in Madurai, but good news is emerging from hamlets – big and small - in rural Madurai.

When The Hindu correspondent visited villages in the interior of Madurai East and Alanganallur, the villagers proudly displayed the solar panels they had installed in their homes.

Read more: http://www.propoor.org/news/?n=68146

In his village near Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Nazeer Butt, 40, points to his ruined house on a steep mountainside.

“Three outer walls caved in and the roof was damaged when a torrent raced down the hill and hit it last month,” Butt told IRIN.

Read more: http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97606/Building-flash-flood-resilience-in-...

The European commission on Wednesday called for merging the fight against poverty and environmental protection into a single framework for the future, casting itself as the "role model" for the world.

The commission's Decent Life for All by 2030 (pdf) communication outlines proposed negotiating positions on the successor to the UN millennium development goals (MDGs), the eight targets agreed in 2000 – with many likely to miss their 2015 target.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/feb/27/eu-role-model-e...

The international society says mercury pollution is a major threat to the environment and has helped place it on the agenda of environment protection bodies across the globe.
In 2009, the United Nations Environment Program's 25th council moved to formally begin a global effort in mercury pollution control, stipulating that the UNEP would host five meetings with various governments between 2010 and 2013 to formulate a global legal convention on a range of efforts to control the toxic metal.

Read more: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013-03/09/content_16293368.htm

The international society says mercury pollution is a major threat to the environment and has helped place it on the agenda of environment protection bodies across the globe.

In 2009, the United Nations Environment Program's 25th council moved to formally begin a global effort in mercury pollution control, stipulating that the UNEP would host five meetings with various governments between 2010 and 2013 to formulate a global legal convention on a range of efforts to control the toxic metal.

Read more: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013-03/09/content_16293368.htm

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Vietnam on Thursday signed two loan agreements totaling 111.88 million U.S. dollars to help Vietnam enhance low carbon agriculture development, and strengthen the government's capacity to better startup, prepare and implement ADB-financed projects.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-03/08/c_132219309.htm