Next year's Rio+20 meeting will be an opportunity to take stock of what progress has — and has not — taken place in the 20 years since the 1992 Earth Summit in the same city, which placed sustainable development on the international political agenda and resulted in treaties on climate change, persistent pollutants, biodiversity and desertification. Now, the major hurdle is not so much producing even more relevant science and technology, but building the capacity to put what has been produced to good use.
As the science of climate change gets clearer, the public gets more confused. Are there ways to fix that? John Sterman, the Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management at MIT's Sloan School of Management, says there are specific characteristics of climate change that make it unusually difficult for people to grasp. But the good news, he says, is that there are approaches that can help bridge that gap in understanding.
A new World Bank report concludes that top-performers in the research university world share three common characteristics, without which 21st Century universities cannot survive, let alone, excel: a high concentration of talented academics and students, significant budgets, and strategic vision and leadership.
Greening the economy as well as generating decent jobs for young people now and in the future are emerging as major tests for the global economy. The youth employment crisis isn't confined to any region or developing countries. Globally, youth account for a quarter of the working age population but account for 40 percent of unemployment. UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) in concert with a wide range of partners have recently produced a study indicating that being in a transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient Green Economy offers a great opportunity to address these multiple challenges.
The success of Latin American countries is held back by underinvestment in science, says development policy expert Francisco Sagasti. It invests just 0.6 per cent of GDP in research and development, about a third of the global average. It has 8.5 per cent of the world's population but accounts for only 3.5 per cent of the world's researchers, 4.9 per cent of the scientific publications and 0.2 per cent of patents.
here are two important consideration to frame the content of GM regulations in individual countries:The first is that all regulations, and the debates that occur around them, must be based on sound scientific grounds. Those who make exaggerated and simplistic claims for which there is no evidence — that GM crops are sufficient to eliminate hunger in the world, for example, or that they are a poison that contaminates the environment — are serving no one's interests but their own. The second requirement is greater transparency. The more that multinational corporations seek to hide their involvement in lobbying for biosafety regulations, the greater the risk of criticism when their involvement becomes known.
For decades, students of security and international politics have debated the emergence of a multipolar system. It's time we recognize the new economic parallel. If 1989 saw the end of the "Second World" with Communism's demise, then 2009 saw the end of what was known as the "Third World": We are now in a new, fast-evolving multipolar world economy – in which some developing countries are emerging as economic powers; others are moving towards becoming additional poles of growth; and some are struggling to attain their potential within this new system – where North and South, East and West, are now points on a compass, not economic destinies.
A Q&A with MIT Professor Robert Pindyck. This is the first in an occasional series in which MIT experts weigh in on the presidential candidates, their policy ideas and aspects of the campaign
The Earth's natural defenses against climate change are beginning to give up.
The world is already concerned about climate change. And governments?
As a country, we must know what is going to happen and we must be
prepared.
This project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF,
investigates on a global level how the transition from an agrarian to an
industrial society has affected ecosystems. Knowledge about past processes
will be used to model and assess possible consequences of growing biomass
demand and land use for global sustainability.
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore called on the nation to give up fossil fuels within the next 10 years and turn instead to renewable sources of energy.
Latin America and the Caribbean are highly sensitive to the impacts of change climático. Entre the main factors identified with this
vulnerability are variations in temperature and precipitation, that have already had severe effects such as floods, tropical storms of great intensity, droughts and landslides,
consequences in terms of loss of life, economic, social and environmental issues for countries in the region.
The future climate scenarios indicate that this vulnerability could increase if deterioration of natural systems trends continue growing
in the region. The origins of this deterioration lie on the overexplotation, the vast inequality and limited governance on the environment.
We believe that it's time to meet the new conditions of development by climate change, precisely because the region is beginning to leave
behind decades of instability and slow growth. We must adapt our public finances and our patterns of investment to the new environmental,
create insurance and other mechanisms to mitigate risk, minimize losses and to seize opportunities to correct what is necessary. We must
also avoid the socialization of private losses through private finances, in order to preserve the economic health and stability of the
region's governments.
The Ten Practical Actions reflect the Climate and Health Council framework: Inform, Affirm, Advocate, Innovate and Disseminate. The primary focus is on action by doctors as health professionals, as well as citizens. The estimates below therefore concern mainly action in the workplace (hospital or general practice). We have deliberately suggested actions that require little or no money.
Forecasts for future long term trends in climate all indicate greater droughts in some areas and more rainfall – even too much – in others. It is clear that we can expect weather related supply difficulties to reoccur in coming decades. Long term soil management has a role to play in countering such difficulties. Soil organic matter can absorb up to twenty times its weight in water and so can play a positive part in mitigating the impacts of more extreme rainfall intensity and more frequent and severe droughts.
The business implications of biodiversity loss are
becoming ever more evident every day. Biodiversity loss can no longer be considered as simply an environmental issue. It is more appropriate to frame biodiversity as an issue that has a profound influence on brand value, sustainability of supply
chains, access to markets, and so forth.
Biofuels have been touted as the answer to climate change. Enthusiasts say that by replacing petroleum-based fuels, they can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But critics argue that they are diverting food crops away from the world’s hungry poor. The argument, however, is not quite so black and white, according to IUCN experts. “The current media debate is simplistic,” says IUCN Deputy Director General Bill Jackson. “In reality, there are many factors affecting food prices and food security. What this debate should really be about is how the world produces food and how it is accessed by different groups of society.”
