-The United Nations Temperatures this year are the ninth highest on record since 1850 despite the effect of La Niña, a meteorological phenomenon which is supposed to have a cooling influence on the Earth’s atmosphere, says a new United Nations report released today. High temperatures were accompanied by unprecedented melting of the Arctic sea ice and multiple Weather and climate extremes which affected many parts of the world. The findings are among the...

-One World South Asia South Asia’s households fall into poverty as the result of higher food prices as food prices increase. According to the latest Food Price Watch, global food prices increased 10% between June and July 2012 with staples such as wheat increasing 25% in the period. The crisis continued affecting food and nutrition security throughout South Asia. Bad Weather, trade curbs, oil prices and bio-fuel diversions have all led to...

-The Economic Times Get ready for an era of widespread droughts, super storms, flash floods, excessive rainfall, high food prices, higher levels of migration and higher outlays to survive extreme Weather. The events of the past year make it clear that this is no longer a dire warning. Climate scientists predict extreme Weather will become more common in the coming years if the world doesn't act decisively to address climate change. Yet, governments...

-The Business Standard Worryingly, investment in clean energy declines  Global investment in clean energy will decline perceptibly this year for the first time in eight years, signalling an unwarranted complacency in the fight against climate change. A report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance says funding for renewable energy generation in the first three quarters of this year was $164.2 billion, down from last year’s $196.4 billion. The downturn is the steepest at...

-Frontline There are no effective vaccines against Japanese encephalitis, but its spread can be controlled in India through vector management.  JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS, or JE, has become endemic in many parts of the country, occurring repeatedly in epidemic form in many of them—for instance, in parts of Gorakhpur in northern Uttar Pradesh. One can expect JE-type epidemics year after year in States where prolonged drought-like conditions are followed by heavy monsoons. This leads to...