Even global warming of just 1.5 degrees Celsius would have consequences for centuries. The oceans store elevated temperatures for a longer time than was previously thought. This is due to a change in ocean-atmosphere heat exchange, scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research discovered. Heat in lower oceanic layers is trapped by a cooling of upper layers, says a study which is about to be published in the journal Earth System Dynamics.

The presentation of the ‘Laudatio’ to Hermann Scheer today is not only a great honour for me but indeed a personal pleasure and satisfaction as I am connected in friendship since many years with both Hermann Scheer, the awardee, and with the sponsor of this Solar Energy Medal of Merit, Karl Wolfgang Böer. By Wolfgang Palz | Mai 2009

A documentary about the worldwide destruction of food. Why do we throw away so much? And how can we stop this kind of waste?

Experts from more than 75 FAO Member States agreed today that while there were no grounds for complacency, there was no indication of an impending world food crisis. They proposed exploring new measures to check food price volatility and manage associated risks.

A new World Bank report says volatility in food prices has been a key factor behind a rising tide of large scale farmland purchases in the developing world, which can pose social and environment risks, if not well managed. The report, Rising Global Interest in Farmland, calls on developing countries to recognize and respect resource rights of their people, warning that countries with poor records of formally recognized land tenure attract strong investor interest – which raises real concerns about the ability to protect vulnerable people from losing their land.

New biodiversity tool to encourage conservation-driven decision making. Mount Kenya, the second-highest peak in Africa, is renowned for its rich tableau of animal and plant life. But according to a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) database, animal and plant species living on the 5,199 meter peak are globally threatened.

The United Nations is launching the Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification (2010-2020), an 11-year long effort to raise awareness and action to improve the protection and management of the world's drylands, home to a third of the world's population and which face serious economic and environmental threats.

Diarrhoeal diseases claim the lives of around two million children each year- 5,000 per day, and cause countless more to fall ill.

Two new reports released identify the amount of water needed to rehabilitate the Jordan River and where the water must come from if we are to bring back to life one of the most famous rivers on earth. EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) calls on the Israeli and Jordanian governments and the Palestinian Authority to work together to return fresh water to the near dry Jordan River.

The European Commission plans to use a series of measures aimed at significantly reducing the pay gap between men and women over the next five years.