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Climate change means ocean change
When talking about the impacts of climate change, we mostly hear about changes to land and the planet’s surface or atmosphere. However, most of the warming is going into the oceans where a lot of...
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East Africa Food Crisis 2011
Into mid-2011, the world’s worst food crisis is being felt in East Africa, in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. Despite successive failed rains, the crisis has been criticized as avoidable and man-made....
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Corruption
Corruption is both a major cause and a result of poverty around the world. It occurs at all levels of society, from local and national governments, civil society, judiciary functions, large and small...
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Health and poverty; a vicious cycle
The relationship between health and poverty is reasonably well known; one can exacerbate and contribute to the other in a vicious cycle. This update, as well as including a few health stats updates,...
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War on Terror: 10 years on
A quick look back over the decade since the 9-11 attacks finds that the neo-conservatives have achieved the opposite of what they set out to do: rather than winning a war on terror and expanding their...
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Today, around 21,000 Children Died Around The World
Around 21,000 children die every day around the world. That is equivalent to: 1 child dying every 4 seconds14 children dying every minuteA 2011 Libya conflict-scale death toll every dayA 2010 Haiti...
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Global Arms Sales Decreases in 2010 compared to 2009
The latest data covering global arms sales shows that sale of arms in 2010 decreased to around $40.4 billion, 76% of which went to developing countries. This was a substantial 38% decrease in arms...
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Protests on the economic situation are global
The global financial crisis has spawned a global protest movement campaigning against things like inequality, corporate greed, lack of jobs, etc. Although these protests have occurred for decades,...
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Inequality in the US; the top 0.1% gaining even more than top 1%
In the US the protest movement is symbolically against the top 1%. Income data from the US Congressional Budget Office, however, shows that it isn’t just the top 1% benefiting far more than the rest...
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Iran nuclear report: Regurgitating old stories as new information to justify...
A recent IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program was portrayed by most Western mainstream media and politicians as new proof Iran is close to building nuclear weapons. The US Senate passed sanctions on...
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COP17 - Durban Climate Conference
An overview of the Climate Change Conference (also known as COP 17), held in Durban, South Africa in December 2011. Predictably and sadly, the same issues have resurfaced: lack of media coverage, West...
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Climate change: historic emissions still matter
China, India and other emerging economies are often the focus points for climate change negotiations. Many rich nation politicians and their media often point to their rising emissions as proof that...
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Media in the US: lax campaign financing bad for democracy but good for media...
US campaign financing rules have been relaxed even further in recent years, making a worrying problem about the state of American democracy worse (because those with money have even more ability to...
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Media and advertising: manipulating photos of people; going too far?
It has long been known that advertisers will “photoshop” (slang for editing photos to touch up or airbrush out imperfections) photos to make the subject more attractive. But many have pointed out that...
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New video from NASA shows increasing global temperatures since 1880
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis. Their analysis shows temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global...
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As climate change increases developing countries face brunt
New data from NASA shows the planet continues to warm. At the same time, a Climate Risk Index shows that since 1991, developing countries have been most affected by climate related impacts. While...
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Climate change and carbon emissions trading
Flexibility mechanisms were defined in the Kyoto Protocol as different ways to achieve emissions reduction as part of the effort to address climate change issues. These fall into the following...
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Foreign aid: shortfall since 1970 over $4 trillion; greater than aid given
40 years ago, rich country governments agreed to give 0.7% of their GNI (Gross National Income) as official aid to poor countries for development assistance. The average aid delivered each year has...
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Foreign aid: first decline in years, though still close to highest levels...
The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) recently published new preliminary figures for aid in 2011. It showed official development assistance (ODA) aid from wealthy...
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World military spending exceeds $1.6 trillion, continuing high trend despite...
In recent years, global military expenditure has increased again and is now comparable to Cold War levels. Recent data shows global spending at over $1.6 trillion, despite the global economic...
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Syrian unrest
Following the trend throughout the Middle East, the so-called Arab Spring appears to have spread to Syria. The government crackdown on anti-government demonstrators in Homs and other provincial cities...
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Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development
Twenty years ago at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, countries adopted Agenda 21 — a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection. Marking that...
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COP18 - Doha Climate Conference
An overview of the Climate Change Conference (also known as COP 18), held in Doha, Qatar in December 2012. Predictably and sadly, the same issues have resurfaced: lack of media coverage, West stalling...
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Global arms sales sharply increased in 2011 compared to 2010
The latest data covering global arms sales shows that sale of arms in 2011 increased to around $85 billion, 84% of which went to developing countries. This was almost double the arms sales compared to...
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The world is awash with money; trillions hidden offshore
It seems the world is awash with money, even though most governments are facing economic pressures. Trillions are being hidden away by a very few global super elite in offshore bank accounts, avoiding...
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Rhino hunting on increase
Despite conservation efforts, criminal elements are killing rhinos in record numbers due to demand from Asia, in particular Vietnam, China, Thailand and Malaysia, in the mistaken belief that rhino...
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Even a small increase in global temperature will have a severe impact on...
A recent study found that coral reefs will face severe challenges even if average global warming temperature rise is restricted to 2 degrees Celsius. This is a rise that most countries are struggling...
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19% of reptiles under threat of extinction and 100 million sharks being...
19% of the world’s reptiles are estimated to be threatened with extinction according to a study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Zoological Society of London....
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Austerity and Structural Adjustment for Europe
For a while now many European governments have resorted to austerity measures to deal with the recession and financial crises affecting them. This may have either been by choice, or pressured from the...
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World military spending in 2012 was just over $1.7 trillion. This was the...
In recent years, global military expenditure has increased again and is now comparable to Cold War levels. Recent data shows global spending at over $1.7 trillion, despite the global economic...
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Surveillance State: NSA Spying and more
At the start of June 2013, a large number of documents detailing surveillance by intelligence agencies such as the US’s NSA and UK’s GCHQ started to be revealed, based on information supplied by NSA...
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Global warming has not paused, unfortunately
In recent weeks there have been more questions about whether climate change has paused, or even stopped. However, it seems that maybe these suggestions are coming from looking at long term surface...
View ArticleCOP19 - Warsaw Climate Conference
An overview of the Climate Change Conference (also known as COP 19), held in Warsaw, Poland in November 2013. Predictably and sadly, the same issues have resurfaced: West stalling on doing anything,...
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Tobacco kills. Higher taxes and advertising controls work
It is well known that tobacco smoking kills. But it also exacerbates poverty, contributes to world hunger by diverting prime land away from food production, damages the environment and reduces...
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75% of the world’s large carnivores are now in decline while rhino poaching...
A recent study has found that three quarters of the world’s big carnivores are in decline, due to declining habitats and persecution by humans. This is also having a negative impact on the environment...
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Foreign aid: shortfall since 1970 almost $5 trillion; greater than aid given
Over 40 years ago, rich country governments agreed to give 0.7% of their GNI (Gross National Income) as official aid to poor countries for development assistance. The average aid delivered each year...
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Foreign aid: rebounds in 2013 to highest levels ever despite budget...
The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) recently published new preliminary figures for aid in 2013. It showed official development assistance (ODA) aid from wealthy...
View ArticleEbola Outbreak In West Africa
An overview of the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa that has been described by the World Health Organization as the largest, most severe and most complex outbreak in the history of the disease. The...
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COP20 — Lima Climate Conference
An overview of the Climate Change Conference (also known as COP 20), held in Lima, Peru in December 2014. While it seemed like it was a successful meeting, because developing nations were committed to...
View Article2014 warmest year since records began
Recently released data showed that 2014 was the hottest year since records began in 1880. This update includes updated charts and graphs and animations that look into this further. Read full article:...
View ArticleAction on climate change is cheaper than inaction
Many are afraid that tackling climate change is going to be too costly. But increasingly, studies are showing action will not just be cheaper than inaction, but could actually result in economic,...
View ArticleUN News stories are now on globalissues.org
I am proud to announce that globalissues.org now also carries stories from UN News. UN News recently reached out to engage in a partnership program whereby I am permitted to reproduce their news...
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