Somali girls line up to receive a hot meal in Mogadishu last year after the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in decades, compounded by war, put millions in danger of starvation.  Roberto Schmmidt/AFP/Getty Images

npr.org - by Elizabeth Shogren - September 6, 2012

Reducing greenhouse gases and saving the polar bears tend to dominate discussions on climate change. But to the booming world population, one climate change issue may be even more pressing – hunger.

A new report by a leading international relief agency warns that climate change will increase the risk of large spikes in global food prices in the future, and lead to more hungry people in the world.

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Oxfam report - Extreme Weather, Extreme Prices
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/extreme-weather-extreme-prices

Image: Involve communities specially in informal settlements (Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN)

irinnews.org - September 6th, 2012

With more than half the world now living in urban centres, city residents’ quality of life, vulnerability to natural hazards and diets are matters of growing importance, drawing significant attention at the World Urban Forum in Naples, Italy, this week.

Two major studies launched to coincide with the Forum explore these issues. Both focus on the role of local governments and community initiatives in shaping sustainable policies for poor urban dwellers: Growing Greener Cities in Africa, a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO); and the Making Cities Resilient Report 2012, produced by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) for the UN Office for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).

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submitted by Albert Gomez

good.is - by Rosie Spinks - September 6, 2012

When disaster strikes a place like Haiti, Somalia, or Indonesia, the response in the developed world usually follows a similar trajectory: massive aid appeal from local NGOs supported by celebrity faces, a large influx of funds from reliably generous Americans, and an eventual petering out of urgent media coverage in the ensuing weeks.

While media coverage of international tragedies may appear to reach saturation levels at times, the story of how those aid dollars affect local economies is not so well told.

“After a disaster, there is more money [from donors] than you can shake a stick at,” says Howard Sharman, senior consultant for the UK-based relief project Advance Aid.

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Image: Rotting corn was damaged by severe drought on a farm near Bruceville, Indiana.

submitted by Samuel Bendett

cnn.com - September 3rd, 2012 - David Frum

Prediction: 2013 will be a year of serious global crisis. That crisis is predictable, and in fact has already begun. It will inescapably confront the next president of the United States. Yet this emerging crisis got not a mention at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

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in.reuters.com - September 5th, 2012

The website of Qatar-based satellite news network Al Jazeera was apparently hacked on Tuesday by Syrian government loyalists for what they said was the television channel's support for the "armed terrorist groups and spreading lies and fabricated news".

A Syrian flag and statement denouncing Al Jazeera's "positions against the Syrian people and government" were posted on the Arabic site of the channel in response to its coverage of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad which began in March last year.

Al Jazeera took the lead in covering the uprisings across the Arab world, and Qatar, one of the Sunni-led states in the region, publicly backed the predominantly Sunni rebel movement in Syria against Assad's Alawite-led government.

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submitted by Samuel Bendett

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - September 4th, 2012

Earth’s growing human population needs fresh water for drinking and food production. Fresh water, however, is also needed for the growth of biomass, which acts as a sink of carbon dioxide and thus could help mitigate climate change. Does the Earth have enough freshwater resources to meet these competing demands?

An American Geophysical Union release reports that J. Rockström and colleagues, in their recent study, estimate the order of magnitude of freshwater consumption needed to feed a population of nine billion people by 2050 and the amount of water needed to realize the planet’s full biomass carbon sequestration potential.

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aljazeera.com - Chris Arsenault - August 26th, 2012

The author Mark Twain once remarked that "whisky is for drinking; water is for fighting over" and a series of reports from intelligence agencies and research groups indicate the prospect of a water war is becoming increasingly likely.

In March, a report from the office of the US Director of National Intelligence said the risk of conflict would grow as water demand is set to outstrip sustainable current supplies by 40 per cent by 2030.

"These threats are real and they do raise serious national security concerns," Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said after the report's release.

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Image: Actor, filmmaker and environmental advocate Robert Redford. (photo: Contour/Getty Images)

readersupportednews.org - Robert Redford - September 3rd, 2012

From September 6-15, some 10,000 environmentalists will converge on Jeju Island to attend the World Conservation Congress (WCC), organized by the oldest environmental organization, the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN's slogan is that it promotes "a just world that values and conserves nature." If recent actions are any indication, nothing could be further from the truth.

The WCC will take place only a few minutes away from Gangjeong, where the construction of a naval base is threatening one of the planet's most spectacular soft coral forests and other coastal treasures, assaulting numerous endangered species and destroying a 400-year-old sustainable community of local farmers and fishers.

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Department for International Development (DFID) - March 7, 2012

Britain is to establish a new rapid response network of top UK-based businesses and charities to provide emergency relief when major international crises hit - such as floods, famines and earthquakes.

The network, called the Rapid Response Facility, will mobilise life-saving support in the critical hours following a humanitarian disaster, Andrew Mitchell said today.

It is the first time a British government has brought together the power of the private sector as well as non-governmental organisations in this way to take part in emergency relief.

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photo courtesy of Troon Golf / Koen Olthuis/Waterstudio.NL

submitted by Samuel Bendett 

www.ibtimes.com - August 20, 2012 - by Mark Johanson

Maybe you've already heard: The Maldives is sinking. So what do you do when your tourist-dependent country is slowly disappearing into the sea? If you're the Maldivian government, you create a series of floating islands that include a hotel and convention center, private villas, yacht club and 18-hole golf course.

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Image: Writing on the Wall flyer

submitted by Albert Gomez

cpsinet.org

Experts on New York City’s pioneering menu labelling bylaw will join local experts, policy-makers and health advocates in five Canadian cities to explore effective measures to equip restaurant customers with calorie and sodium information to guide their dining choices and motivate restaurant owners to make the offerings more nutritious. This is a must attend event for dietitians, health advocates, policy-makers, restaurant owners, researchers, journalists and others with an interest in the health and informed consumer choice for restaurant customers.

Writing on the Wall
Monday September 10, 2012 in Vancouver
Tuesday September 11, 2012 in Winnipeg
Wednesday September 12, 2012 in Toronto
Thursday September 13, 2012 in Ottawa
Friday September 14, 2012 in Halifax

Fees: Industry CAD$150, Non-Industry CAD$95 (plus tax)

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Image: The Cities Issue logo.

foreignpolicy.com

Our special issue dedicated to the cities of the future has its eye squarely toward China, because the cities of the future are increasingly going to be speaking Mandarin -- even more than you realize. It's no longer news that China has embarked on the largest mass urbanization in history, a monumental migration from country to city that will leave China with nearly a billion urbanites by 2025 and an astonishing 221 cities with populations over 1 million. But this isn't just about size: It's about global heft.

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Coral off Jarvis Island in the central Pacific. Photograph: Jim Maragos/AP

Uninhabited Jarvis island, halfway between Hawaii and Cook Islands, gets score of 86 compared with global average of 60

(FOR LINKS TO THE OCEAN HEALTH INDEX - CLICK "READ MORE")

guardian.co.uk - by John Vidal - August 15, 2012

An uninhabited Pacific island has come top of the first comprehensive ocean health index, which compares all the world's coastal countries and scores them for how well the seas around them benefit both man and nature.

Tiny 4.5 sq km Jarvis island, halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands, was briefly mined for seabird fertiliser in the 19th century but both the waters around it and the island itself have been left more or less untouched since then, which accounts for its top score of 86 out of 100 compared with a global average of 60.

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