On the eve of the historic United Nations climate change gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark, a top official with the world body today expressed confidence that the event will deliver a comprehensive and ambitious new deal. The two-week talks are set to kick off tomorrow in the Danish capital, and by the end of the summit, Governments must adequately respond to the urgent challenge posed by climate change, said Yvo de...

The highly-anticipated United Nations climate change conference kicked off in Copenhagen, Denmark, today with countries issuing urgent calls for action to curb global warming. Over 15,000 people, including government officials and representatives from the private sector, environmental organizations and research institutions, as well as 110 heads of State and government – including United States President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao – are expected to take part in the...

A mega conference that may determine the future of the planet opens in Copenhagen tomorrow amid widespread fears that years of labyrinthine, almost tortuous, negotiations won't yield what science demands. An estimated 15,000 delegates from 192 countries are expected to converge at the 15th UN Climate Change Conference to finalise a set of strategies to reduce or limit emissions of Earth-warming greenhouse gases [GHG] in the period beyond 2012. But...

Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency. Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years...

The United Nations agency entrusted with accelerating sustainable industrial development in poorer states today pledged to help the world’s 49 least developed countries (LDCs), 33 of them in Africa, to withstand global financial crisis. “The global financial crisis is moving many LDCs into troubled waters with heightened risk to exports, investment, credit, banking systems, budgets, the balance of payments, and remittances, and, the most vulnerable are those countries which depend...