
This special double issue focuses on the impact of climate change, and includes essays on the ecology of recycling; financial innovations and carbon markets; biotechnology; global warming; and the true costs of conventional energy.
This special double issue focuses on the impact of climate change, and includes essays on the ecology of recycling; financial innovations and carbon markets; biotechnology; global warming; and the true costs of conventional energy.
Women are increasingly being seen as more vulnerable than men to the impacts of climate change, mainly because they represent the majority of the world's poor and are proportionally more dependent on threatened natural resources. The difference between men and women can also be seen in their differential roles, responsibilities, decision making, access to land and natural resources, opportunities and needs, which are held by both sexes.
During global warming, solutions to surging glaciers and their unpredictable behavior are still far from being found and demand organized national and international research.
The Impact of climate change on women and men is not the same. Women are increasingly more vulnerable, mainly because they represent the majority of the world's poor and are proportionally more dependent on threatened natural resources.
World hunger and food insecurity is a recurring problem in most parts of the developing world. Among the many potential biotechnologies that are available, and the different ways in which they can be applied, genetic modification (GM) of crops demands particular attention. Genetically modified crops possessing genes from different species, could possibly relieve global food shortages.
The headlines generated by the carbon trading mechanisms at the heart of the Kyoto Protocol, most notably the Clean Development Mechanism, tell a story of a scheme in trouble. But why has it caused such controversy?
A Modest Extension of the Kyoto Protocol Can End the Impasse Between Industrial and Developing Nations
Almost three decades into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, there is still widespread stigma, denial and government inaction. There are reports of rising rates of infection in the Western industrialized nations and concerns about the possibility of explosive epidemics in the Asian block; yet sub-Saharan Africa, with less than 15 per cent of the world's population, remains at the epicentre of the epidemic, with over 70 per cent of the infections worldwide.
While some countries are historically responsible for climate change, should the global community take up responsibility for climate migrants, even if they do not cross international borders? Should there be immigration concessions for climate migrants when they need to or have to cross borders? These are important questions that arise at a time of global climate change.
Never before in human history has the world had such a wealth of knowledge, skills and resources invested in keeping its communities well. Why, then, is global health heading into a perfect storm? A human rights-based approach -- framed in terms of the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and the right to the basic determinants of health such as clean water and food, shelter, education, health services and equality -- is the most promising. Through this lens, the circumstances of those most at risk can be holistically addressed.
Inuit hunters in northern Greenland are treading carefully on increasingly thinning ice, while at the same time the key marine species they depend on -- seals, walrus, narwhals and polar bears -- are moving away from the areas in which they are traditionally hunted, as they in turn respond to changes in local ecosystems. In the high ranges of the Himalaya, Sherpa, Tamang, Kiranti, Dolpali and other indigenous groups are witnessing the melting of glaciers; the same is true in other mountain regions of the world such as the Peruvian Andes, where the indigenous Quechua report that they are worried when they look at the receding glaciers on their mountain peaks.