World Habitat Day
The United Nations has designated the first Monday of October every year as World Habitat Day. The idea is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities and the basic right of all to adequate shelter. It is also intended to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat.
The [...]
Climate change to cause more child hunger
Up to 25 million more children will be malnourished in the next 40 years due to climate change, with sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia the worst affected, according to a new report issued on Wednesday.
The report, released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and detailing the impact of climate change on agriculture, says [...]
Gordon Brown’s pledges on help with children and teenage pregnancy
And I can say today that not just the minimum wage, but child benefit and child tax credits for families will continue to rise every year.
And for all those mums and dads who struggle to juggle work and home, I am proud to announce today that by reforming tax relief we will by the end [...]
East Africa drought leaves millions hungry
Drought for a fifth year running is driving more than 23 million east Africans in seven countries toward severe hunger and destitution, international aid agency Oxfam said on Tuesday.
Launching a 9.5 million pound appeal, it said the situation was being worsened by high food prices and conflict. The most badly hit nations are Kenya, Ethiopia, [...]
Census reveals extinction threat
The study is part of a major effort to document animal and plant life
Almost 10% of the World’s mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish are at risk of extinction, says an Australian report.
The animals face threats including habitat loss and climate change.
The report comes from Australia’s Biological Resources Study, a project aiming to [...]
Daniel Beltra’s photographs of deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo
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Cleared rainforest land south of Mbandaka. Greenpeace has estimated that the DRC risks losing more than 40% of its forestry
Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Prince’s Rainforests Project
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/sep/29/daniel-beltra-princes-rainforest-project?picture=353568783
Two meter sea level rise unstoppable
A rise of at least two meters in the world’s sea levels is now almost unstoppable, experts told a climate conference at Oxford University on Tuesday.
“The crux of the sea level issue is that it starts very slowly but once it gets going it is practically unstoppable,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist at Germany’s Potsdam [...]
Kenya’s heart stops pumping
High in the hills of Kenya’s Mau forest, some 20,000 families are facing eviction from their farms - accused of contributing to an ecological disaster which has crippled the country.
The authorities are to start the process of removing them any day now. Farmers will be asked to surrender their title deeds for inspection.
If their documents [...]
Iraq’s drought: Eden drying out
Lush appearances are deceptive at the Alaa ad-Din brothers’ date plantation
By Hugh Sykes
BBC News, Baghdad
The Garden of Eden is in danger of turning into a dustbowl. The legendary Eden was in Mesopotamia, the land between two rivers - the Tigris and the Euphrates. For hundreds of miles between [...]
Giant fish ‘verges on extinction’
A river giant vanishes
One of the world’s largest freshwater fish is on the verge of going extinct.
A three-year quest to find the giant Chinese paddlefish in the Yangtze river failed to sight or catch a single individual.
That means that the fish, which can grow up to 7m long, has not been seen alive [...]
Let’s talk about under-age sex
A LAW professor this week caused outrage – the newspapers said we were outraged so, obviously, we must be – when he publicly suggested lowering the age of consent to 13.
Now, Prof John Spencer may be right, he may be wrong, but the trouble with being instantly outraged, assuming we are, is that we [...]
Biological Imperative: The Star Trek Solution by Fred Westmark
The Universe was born and with that birth began the cycle of life and death. Galaxies, planets, and organisms all live and die. The favorable climate conditions on Earth have caused an explosion of life forms.
All these creatures follow the basic rule of life and death. Curiously, the Earth’s life forms [...]
World Contraception Day marked in China
What’s the difference between having a child at 16 and having one at 30? Perhaps this question has never been asked so frequently as on this Saturday, September 26.
September 26 was the third World Contraception Day, an annual worldwide campaign that aims to raise awareness of contraception, reduce the high levels of unplanned pregnancies, and [...]
‘Nudist beach could be health bonus’
A NATIONAL organisation has thrown its weight behind proposals to formally designate a section of a popular beach for naturists.
British Naturism has backed proposals by the Three Rivers Outdoor Club to create a naturist beach at Seaton Carew, in Hartlepool.
The group says there are several bonuses linked to nudist beaches and naturism is associated with [...]
26th Int’l Population Congress opens in Morocco
More than 2,000 demographers and other experts from 114 countries and regions attended the five-day meeting to discuss more than 200 topics, including population and global climate change, migration and the economic crisis, the imbalance of fertility rate and social security system.
The 26th International Population Conference is opened in the southern Moroccan city of [...]
THAILAND SURVEY CONDUCTED ON SEX HABITS OF THAI YOUTHS
Love and the inability to say no are the key reasons for young Thai women under the age of 20 having sex, the Bangkok Post reports.
Teen sex usually takes place in dormitories and apartments, a survey released yesterday to mark annual World Contraception Day today found.
The survey of 2,617 university students, 630 men and 1,987 [...]
Women Urged On Birth Control
Almost half of Uganda’s one million births that occur every year are unwanted and could be averted if women effectively took up family planning services, health experts say.
The experts argue that between 2005 and 2015, the use of family planning can help avert up to 4.6 million unintended pregnancies that could have occurred in this [...]
Attenborough’s classics go online
Sir David Attenborough presents his selection of 50 of his most memorable natural history moments
“You have to behave properly. And you mustn’t conceal yourself too well. If you suddenly appeared close to them and took them by surprise, then they would almost certainly charge.”
A few moments after television viewers heard these words, they [...]
4 degrees warming “likely” without CO2 cuts
Global temperatures may be 4 degrees Celsius hotter by the mid-2050s if current greenhouse gas emissions trends continue, said a study published on Monday.
The study, by Britain’s Met Office Hadley Center, echoed a U.N. report last week which found that climate changes were outpacing worst-case scenarios forecast in 2007 by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on [...]
Malthus redux
A supportive editorial in yesterday’s Financial Times (UK). Read it here:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7e12bec4-aa07-11de-a3ce-00144feabdc0.html
World Contraception Day
It’s your life, and it’s your voice. World Contraception Day 2009 is all about using your voice to ‘Talk Contraception’.
To ensure you live life the way you want, it’s important to make informed choices about sex and relationships. The best way to do this is to talk to people you trust, so you have all [...]
Revolution to end hunger in developing world on the way
n agricultural revolution is about to explode in the developing world, sparked by a $20 billion commitment aimed at boosting efforts to feed the billion people worldwide suffering from chronic hunger, a senior United Nations official said today on the eve of historic high-level talks aimed at detailing the reforms.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and United States [...]
A life in television: David Attenborough
David Attenborough: People say it’s all doom and gloom, but we’ve come a long way. The natural world is still a source of solace and pleasure, beauty and delight
… (section omitted)
Porritt and Attenborough are now fellow patrons of the Optimum Population Trust, which campaigns on issues of human population and its impact on environmental sustainability. [...]
Contraceptives to help poor cope with climate change
A unique approach to helping farmers and communities in poor countries adapt to the destructive effects of climate change seems to be paying off. By combining environmental farming methods with family planning, the Consortium for Integration of Population, Health and Environment (CIPHE) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, says farming productivity in the Wichi wetlands in the south-west [...]
UK retirement age challenge fails
The High Court has upheld the law that allows UK employers to force workers to retire at the age of 65.
In the UK, a worker can see their employment end at the age of 65 without any redundancy payment - even if they do not want to retire.
However the judge in the case said there [...]
Teenage pregnancy drive launched
A campaign promoting sexual health and the use of contraception has been launched across the North East’s universities and colleges.
The drive, which is timed to coincide with with Freshers’ Week, focuses on lasting and reliable contraceptives and aims to increase knowledge of the range of contraceptive methods available and reduce rates of unintended and unwanted [...]
Boosting yields, not area of farmland, key to increased food production – UN
Producing enough food to feed the surging global population will require increasing crop yields, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today, calling for a sharp upswing in public investment in research of new technologies, farming techniques and crop varieties.In a new paper issued today, the agency predicted that global agricultural production must [...]
Droughts, melts signal climate change quickening: U.N.
Droughts from Australia to the U.S. Southwest, acidic ocean water and melting glaciers are signs that the pace of climate change is surpassing the worst-case scenarios scientists predicted in 2007, a U.N. report said on Thursday.
Mountain glaciers in Asia are melting at a rate that could eventually threaten water supplies, irrigation or hydropower for 20 [...]
UN and partners open new front in war on sexual violence against girls
The United Nations joined with other partners today to launch a new initiative in the fight against sexual violence against girls, a scourge which affects 150 million victims in a given year and contributes to the spread of HIV and AIDS.The programme seeks to provide funding to expand surveillance of sexual violence against girls in [...]
UN experts call for early warning system to deal with rising number of sand, dust storms
The rise in the number of devastating sand and dust storms around the world, such as the one to strike eastern Australia this week, has prompted United Nations experts to call for the creation of an early warning system to help countries deal with the potentially deadly storms.The suspended particles in the atmosphere resulting from [...]
September 25 is Earth Overshoot Day
Globally, we now require the equivalent of 1.4 planets to support our lifestyles. Put another way, in less than 10 months, humanity will have used ecological services it takes 12 months for the Earth to regenerate.
Of course, we only have one Earth. The fact that we are using (or “spending” natural capital) faster than it [...]
Earth needs users’ guide to protect it from people
A new users’ guide is needed to help protect the Earth from dangerous changes such as global warming and extinctions of animals and plants caused by humans, scientists said.
A group of 28 experts suggested nine key areas, such as freshwater use, chemical pollutants or changes in land use, where governments could define limits to ensure [...]
Bid to protect England’s top soil
Our soils hold within them more carbon than all the forests in Western Europe
A strategy to protect the health of England’s soils and ensure they continue to store carbon dioxide, will be published by the government later.
Experts say good soil not only produces strong crops, but is an effective store of carbon, and [...]
Soil and Peak Food
In David R. Montgomery’s brilliant book,”Dirt, The Erosion of Civilizations”, he explains the effect of poor soil management on past civilizations and the likely effect on our own. Excerpts from the last page should be read by anyone worried about our future:
“As much as climare change, the demand for food will be a major driver [...]
New research shows impact of immigration on social housing
Proportion of foreign born in social housing rises 50% in ten years.
New research by Migrationwatch, based on official figures, shows the pressure that uncontrolled immigration has placed – and will place – on social housing.
Speaking at the annual conference of the National Housing Federation in London Migrationwatch chairman, Sir Andrew Green said that in the [...]
Climate change may trigger earthquakes and volcanoes
FAR from being the benign figure of mythology, Mother Earth is short-tempered and volatile. So sensitive in fact, that even slight changes in weather and climate can rip the planet’s crust apart, unleashing the furious might of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and landslides.
That’s the conclusion of the researchers who got together last week in London at [...]
Thinning glaciers driving polar ice loss, satellite survey finds
A comprehensive satellite survey of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has revealed an extensive network of rapidly thinning glaciers that is driving ice loss in the regions.
The most profound loss of ice was seen along the continental coastlines, where glaciers speed up as they slip into the sea. In some regions, glaciers flowing into [...]
UN agency urges investment in agriculture to feed growing world population
23 September 2009 – Farmers need to increase global food production by some 70 per cent in the coming decades to feed an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050, warned a paper published by the United Nations food agency today, which calls for urgent investment in agriculture.With the world population expected to balloon by one-third [...]
Global warming could worsen Australia, India droughts
Global warming may have spawned a new type of El Nino in the central Pacific and this could worsen the droughts in Australia and India, a new study by researchers in South Korea and the United States has found.
While the conventional El Nino is a warm body of water stretching across the tropical Eastern Pacific, [...]
Population: Enough of us now
GLOBAL population growth has slowed significantly, but it hasn’t stopped. By 2050 there may be about 35 per cent more people on Earth than there are today. We are already seeing increasing shortages of food, water and other resources and growing numbers of hungry people.
Yet to embark on any discussion about limiting our numbers is [...]
School Nurses Stretched To Breaking Point
The average school nurse has to look after more than 2,500 school children[i], according to a new report from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). The report found that two thirds felt overstretched and unsupported by their rising workload, and that government targets to increase the numbers of school nurses are unlikely to be met [...]
Ireland; Teen sex fear
Tuesday, 22 September, 2009
The Sun
MORE than HALF of Irish teenagers are having unprotected sex, a shock survey shows.
Despite all the warnings, virgins are opting not to use a condom when they have intercourse for the first time.
When will our young people realise that the threat of an STD, or an unplanned pregnancy, is no joke? [...]
The Calais ‘jungle’ has been cleared - but this tide of despair has only just begun
By the time the French police arrived in force yesterday, only a few hundred immigrants were left in the Calais “Jungle”. Alerted to the authorities’ plans, many had already moved on. It is rumoured that a new squatter camp is taking shape close to Dunkirk. The Calais shanty might have been dismantled; the people, however, [...]
One-child China is a success, says Labour aide Adair Turner
China’s one- child policy - which has resulted in forced abortions, infanticide and compulsory sterilisation - has had a ‘positive impact’ on the country’s economic performance, one of Labour’s leading advisers says today.
Lord Turner, head of the Financial Services Authority, claims the laws on family size played a crucial role in China’s economic take-off and [...]
Population growth driving climate change, poverty: experts
Unchecked population growth is speeding climate change, damaging life-nurturing ecosystems and dooming many countries to poverty, experts concluded in a conference report released Monday.
Unless birth rates are lowered sharply through voluntary family-planning programmes and easy access to contraceptives, the tally of humans on Earth could swell to an unsustainable 11 billion by 2050, they warned.
The [...]
Europe split over move to protect bluefin tuna
Mediterranean countries have rejected a call by the European Union’s executive and northern EU states to ban fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna until the over-exploited population has recovered.
Atlantic bluefin is prized by sushi lovers and commands huge prices in Asia, particularly in Japan where a single fish can fetch up to $100,000.
As a result, industrial [...]
Law Professor John Spencer calls for age of consent to be lowered to 13
A NATIONAL radio program is to feature a call for the age of consent to be lowered to the age of 13.
Law professor John Spencer will argue that the current age of consent, fixed at 16, criminalises “half the population”.
His controversial views will be debated on the BBC Radio 4 program Iconoclasts tomorrow evening.
In [...]
Bid to improve sexual health care
CAMPAIGNERS prepared to speak out about sexual Health are being sought by a Colchester charity.
The Terrence Higgins Trust, along with other sexual health organisations, is calling for people to get involved with the launch of new educational website, SHout Loud. The SHout Loud (Sexual Health out loud) site can be found at www.shoutloud.org.uk and allows [...]
World population stats. from the Population Reference Bureau
Global population numbers are on track to reach 7 billion in 2011, just 12 years after reaching 6 billion in 1999. Virtually all of the growth is in developing countries. And the growth of the world’s youth population (ages 15 to 24) is shifting into the poorest of those countries.
The Population Reference Bureau’s 2009 World [...]
Not cool to be green
Given the runaway popularity of the 10:10 campaign, which the Guardian is backing, it would be churlish to offer it anything but praise. By providing a meaningful, tangible and immediate focus for action, it has been a clear success in attracting the support of thousands of individuals, companies and other organisations that are concerned about [...]
Kenya hit by killer drought
BBC News, Samburu National Park, Kenya
The region has not had a proper wet season for three years
It was not hard to find the dead elephant.
The stench of the rotting carcass made it easy to track down in the sparse bush. A young male - barely four years old and still an infant [...]
Serbian gay parade is called off
A Gay Pride march in Serbia has been called off after police told organizers they could not guarantee its safety.
One of the organisers said Serbia’s prime minister had urged them to switch Sunday’s rally from central Belgrade, but the proposal was “unacceptable”.
President Boris Tadic vowed on Friday to protect the participants.
Anti-gay groups had threatened violence [...]
‘Millions at risk’ as deltas sink
Damming rivers has slowed the flow of sediment that would replenish land
Most of the world’s major river deltas are sinking, increasing the flood risk faced by hundreds of millions of people, scientists report.
Damming and diverting rivers means that much less sediment now reaches many delta areas, while extraction of gas and [...]
Innovation leads to success in Pakistan
Karachi – Marie Stopes Society (MSS) in Pakistan is on track to serve over 170,000 women and men with long-term and permanent contraceptive methods (LTPMs)* this year. That will be double the number of LTPMs delivered by MSS in 2008. This increase is a result of MSS’ national expansion project, begun in 2007, which is [...]
Grizzly bear decline alarms conservationists in Canada
A grizzly bear catches a salmon. Photograph: Thomas Kitchin & Victoria Hurst/Getty Images/All Canada Photos
First it was the giant panda, then the polar bear, now it seems that the grizzly bear is the latest species to face impending disaster.
A furious row has erupted in Canada with conservationists desperately lobbying the government to suspend the annual [...]
MSI and UNFPA sign agreement to address unmet need
London – Marie Stopes International (MSI) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) signed an agreement this week to expand access to contraception in underserved communities in Africa and Asia. Under the agreement, the UNFPA will provide $2.5million worth of family planning supplies to MSI programmes around the world. The supplies will be used in [...]
Population: the forgotten priority
Reducing our consumption of the earth’s resources is made more difficult by a burgeoning population, so why is reproductive health struggling for funds? Rebecca Coombes reports
Talking about contraception puts Apio Christine Peace, a Ugandan health worker, in a pessimistic mood. Peace, who is currently working for Care International in a refugee camp in the war [...]
POPULATION: Where’s Family Planning on Climate Change Radar?
Zofeen Ebrahim interviews noted social demographer KAREN HARDEE
Dr Karen Hardee
Credit:Population Action International
KARACHI, Sep 18 (IPS) - Are climate change and reproductive health two disparate subjects?
Not if one asks Dr Karen Hardee, a social demographer for over 20 years, with extensive experience in population and development as well as family planning.
The world [...]
More must be done to reform global food system to fight crisis, says UN expert
8 September 2009 – Investing in agriculture alone will not solve the food crisis, a United Nations independent expert said today, calling for stepped-up political will to address structural flaws in global food production, which is at the crux of the current emergency.“The right to food is not the right to be fed,” Olivier De [...]
Sexual and Reproductive health and development
Young people from 66 countries convened for a Youth Symposium at the Global Partners in Action: NGO forum on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Development, a call for policy makers and decision makers from government, donors, private sectors, as well as civil society to:
• Strengthen their commitment to implement the ICPD Programme of Action (PoA) on adolescents [...]
Population Growth Steady in the Face of a Changing Climate
The world’s population surpassed 6.8 billion in early 2009, with no significant slowing in the pace of growth in recent years. Estimates by the United Nations Population Division indicate that humanity has been consistently gaining more than 79 million people-a population almost the size of Germany’s-each year since 1999.
Indicators including decreased assistance for family planning [...]
Lancet Editorial: Contraception Could Help Address Climate Change
September 18 – The respected British medical journal The Lancet today called for providing contraception to the world’s 200 million women who currently lack access to it as a way to “slow population growth and reduce demographic pressure on the environment.”
The lead editorial in this week’s edition said the developing countries that are least responsible [...]
Meeting unmet need
London – Marie Stopes International (MSI) has this week signed an agreement with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to receive $2.5million worth of family planning supplies. The supplies will be used in MSI programmes around the world including the Philippines, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda.
“This support is vital for MSI programmes and the millions [...]
Arctic ice melts to third-smallest area on record
The Arctic’s sea ice pack thawed to its third-lowest summer level on record, up slightly from the seasonal melt of the past two years but continuing an overall decline symptomatic of climate change, U.S. scientists said on Thursday.
The range of ocean remaining frozen over the northern polar region reached its minimum extent for 2009 on [...]
African Condom Shortage Said to Worsen Climate Impact
Unwanted pregnancies in poor countries have led to higher demand for land and water, resources already taxed by climate change, according to research to be published by the World Health Organization.
Runaway population growth in countries such as Ethiopia and Rwanda where contraceptives are in short supply is exacerbating drought and straining fresh water supplies, said [...]
Alcohol-fuelled sex leading to STIs and pregnancy
The charity hopes to encourage greater public recognition that alcohol “can and does influence sexual decision making”
Alcohol and sex are a dangerous combination leading to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STI), a campaign is warning.
Sexual health charity, the Family Planning Association (fpa), have launched a campaign to warn people to enjoy sex responsibly, coinciding [...]
Low lead levels harming children
Lead is linked to a number of health problems
Young children’s exposure to lead in the environment is harming their intellectual and emotional development, according to UK researchers.
The researchers say the toxic effects of lead on the central nervous system are obvious even below the current so-called safe level of lead in the blood.
They [...]
POPULATION: ‘Time to Shelve the ICPD Plan of Action’
Zofeen Ebrahim interviews Muslim youth advocate IMANE KHACHANI
Imane Khachani
Credit:Global NGO Forum
BERLIN, Sep 16 (IPS) - At least 1.5 billion people aged 10 to 25 — the largest generation of young people in history — will need sexual and reproductive health services, says the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Globally, there are about 33 million [...]
DoH appoints VCCP to sexual health account
LONDON - The Department of Health and the Department for Children, Schools and Families have appointed VCCP to handle its sexual health advertising account.
The agency won the business after a final pitch against M&C Saatchi. The process was handled by the COI.
DLKW, the incumbent, and Leo Burnett were also involved in the pitch but [...]
Climate change, population growth could lead to human catastrophe – UN adviser
16 September 2009 – A senior United Nations adviser has called on world governments to reduce population growth and work together to keep climate change from causing an immense human catastrophe, starkly warning: “We’re on a trajectory that is absolutely unsustainable and profoundly dangerous.”Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Special Adviser to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on [...]
In pictures: A struggle to thrive
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8259000/8259481.stm
Images from some of the world’s finest nature and wildlife photographers have been released by Conservation International. This peacock mantis shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus) may have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_825http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_825
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UN to establish single new agency to deal with rights of women
15 September 2009 – Four United Nations agencies and offices will be amalgamated to create a new single entity within the Organization to promote the rights and well-being of women worldwide and to work towards gender equality.The General Assembly adopted a resolution late yesterday on improving system-wide coherence within the UN, and the text spells [...]
Migiro warns that economic turmoil has exacerbated violence against women
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro
9 September 2009 – The scourge of violence against women has worsened as a result of the global financial downturn over the past year, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today as she urged some of the world’s richest countries to lead the way in turning the many international pledges to support women [...]
Yemen: UNICEF chief deplores death of 12-year-old bride
Pregnancy and childbirth can be hazardous for pre-teen and teenage mothers
15 September 2009 – The head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has stressed that the tragic deaths of a 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride and her baby after three days in labour underscores the urgent need to better protect girls against early marriage.“It is with [...]
UN chief urges action to end violence and abuses endured by women
15 September 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today spotlighted the “shocking” abuse, violence and discrimination suffered by women, in a call for action to empower the gender that make up over half the world’s population.In describing the diverse world population, “I would have to explain that fully half of those people face shocking abuses and [...]
Complication risk for older mums
Older women may be more at risk of complications
UK scientists have produced further evidence to suggest delaying becoming a mother may be risky.
They found women who start their periods early were more likely to require medical assistance such as forceps, or a Caesarean section.
The effect was neutralised if these women had their first [...]
Genes blamed for early first sex
Early education about sex and relationships is key, say campaigners
The fact that children raised in homes without a dad have sex earlier is down to their genes, say US researchers.
The study tested for genetic influences as well as factors such as poverty, educational opportunities and religion.
The more genes the children shared, the more [...]
Doctors warn on climate failure
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
The authors believe climate change will increase rates of malnutrition
Failure to agree a new UN climate deal in December will bring a “global health catastrophe”, say 18 of the world’s professional medical organisations.
Writing in The Lancet and the British Medical Journal, they urge doctors to “take a [...]
Drink warning for Sexual Health Week
YOUNG PEOPLE across Worcestershire are being warned about the dangers of mixing sex and alcohol as part of Sexual Health Week which begins today (Monday) and runs until Sunday (September 20).
As part of the campaign, hundreds of leaflets, postcards, stickers and information packs have been distributed by Worcestershire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership and Worcestershire Chlamydia
Screening Programme [...]
Israel mourns the dying Dead Sea
The Middle East is famously a place of paradoxes, and perhaps the oddest paradox of all is this: the Dead Sea is dying. Edward Stourton, who has been to Israel to investigate, has found the Dead Sea is now shrinking at a terrifying speed with the sea level dropping by more than three feet a [...]
Sexual health is focus of campaign
Young people in Lancaster and Morecambe are to be given sexual health advice.
Stands will be displayed in the St Nicholas Arcade in Lancaster and the Arndale Centre in Morecambe throughout National Sexual Health Awareness Week – September 14 to 21.
Dr Frank Atherton, director of public health for NHS North Lancashire, said: “There is a variety [...]
German ships blaze Arctic trail
The German freighters were accompanied by Russian icebreakers
Two German merchant ships are sailing from Asia to Europe via Russia’s Arctic coast, having negotiated the once impassable North East Passage.
This route is usually frozen but rising temperatures in the region caused by global warming have melted much of the ice allowing large ships to [...]
Life skills classes to reduce teen pregnancies
NOTTINGHAM is to become the first city in the UK to have life skills classes to try to prevent teenagers getting pregnant.
A pilot is to start this month in six city schools in an attempt to demonstrate to youngsters the difficulties involved in having a baby. It is hoped the lessons will help to reduce [...]
Number of deaths of children under five continues to drop
The number of children dying before their fifth birthday has decreased steadily over the past few years and fell to under 9 million in 2008, thanks in part to greater use of health interventions such as vaccinations and insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today.Newly released data compiled by [...]
UNESCO issues voluntary sex education guidelines to help young people
New voluntary sexuality education guidelines have been issued by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to help young people learn how to protect themselves against HIV and against abuse and exploitation.The International Guidelines on Sexuality Education also arms educators with guidance on how children and youth can acquire the knowledge to prevent [...]
Young people dying from preventable, treatable causes
The leading causes of death of young people, including road accidents, suicide and reproductive complications, are preventable and treatable, according to a new study by the World Health Organization (WHO). The first study of global and regional patterns of mortality in people aged between 10 and 24 has found that road accidents, complications around pregnancy [...]
UK ‘could face blackouts by 2016′
By Roger Harrabin
Environment analyst, BBC News
The lights could go out when coal and nuclear power stations are phased out
The government’s new energy adviser says the UK could face blackouts by 2016 because green energy is not coming on stream fast enough.
Ministers have previously denied that the UK is heading [...]
UK climate scepticism more common
The British public has become more sceptical about climate change over the last five years, according to a survey.
Twice as many people now agree that “claims that human activities are changing the climate are exaggerated”.
Four in 10 believe that many leading experts still question the evidence. One in five are “hard-line sceptics”.
The survey, by Cardiff [...]
UN report warns of danger in hike in numbers of baby boys born in Viet Nam
The number of boys born in Viet Nam has spiked in recent years compared to girls, a new United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) study reported, warning of the risky consequences if the trend continues.Viet Nam has experienced a rapid rise in the sex ratio at birth (SRB) from the normal levels of 106.2 male births [...]
One too Many – Sexual Health Week 14–20 September 2009
Pregnancy. The more you drink the smaller the risk appears
The more you drink the smaller the risk appears.
One too Many is fpa’s new campaign for 18–30 year olds on alcohol and sexual health. Enjoy sex responsibly.
Find out more about how we can help you.
Professionals – get more information.
We’re launching new research on 17 September [...]
Italy wraps up women conference
Participants at a conference on violence against women vowed Thursday to put women’s rights at the center of the international agenda, saying world peace and security depended on women’s leadership in government and society.
U.N. officials, government representatives and activists participating in the two-day meeting approved a final declaration that will be presented to a Group [...]
More funding needed for women’s health
Securing sufficient funding is the greatest obstacle to improving women’s well-being and rights in the developing world, officials attending a conference on sexual and reproductive health said.
The Berlin meeting, which brought together representatives from some 300 non-governmental organizations around the world, came 15 years after the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, where [...]
China to continue birth control policy
Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang stressed Monday the importance of continuing the family-planning policy and keeping a low fertility rate in order to ensure economic development and people’s livelihood.
“A large population and a weak economic base are the two main features of our country. The population issue is a major problem for the [...]
CLIMATE CHANGE: Rising Seas Demand Better Family Planning
A rising population and climate change need to be considered together in an integrated policy, experts demanded at a forum on sexual and reproductive health and development held in Berlin Sep. 2-4.
Family planning is not at present being considered in the context of climate change, even though national adaptation programmes to climate [...]
UNFPA Reaffirms Its Support of Sexual and Reproductive Health Education of Young People
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, today reaffirmed its support for comprehensive sexuality education as an essential component of efforts to protect the health and rights of young people.
“We are mandated by the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) to provide support to governments to protect and promote the [...]
Long Acting Reversible Contraception promoted in bid to reduce teenage pregnancies in York
TEENAGE girls in York are being encouraged to swap the daily contraceptive pill for an alternative method of birth control more suited to their lifestyles.
Health bosses in the city have launched a new campaign to promote Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) in a bid to reduce teenage pregnancies.
LARC methods offer the same level of protection [...]
Contraception is “Greenest” Technology
Contraception is almost five times cheaper than conventional green technologies as a means of combating climate change, according to research published today (Wednesday, September 9).
Each $7 (£4) spent on basic family planning over the next four decades would reduce global CO2 emissions by more than a tonne. To achieve the same result with low-carbon technologies [...]
Healthy eaters putting wild fish stocks at risk
Demand for healthy fish oils has tripled global production of farmed fish in little over a decade, endangering wild stocks in the process, according to a scientific report.
Production boomed between 1995 and 2007, partly because of an increasing appreciation of the benefits of eating fish. The omega-3 fatty acids found in [...]
Should the UK stop trying to control immigration?
Migrationwatch Chairman, Sir Andrew Green, will be one of the panellists on BBC Radio 4 ‘Iconoclasts’ programmes on Wednesday, 9 September at 8.02 pm.
This live three-part discussion programme, chaired by Ed Stourton, will examine controversial policy suggestions.
Philippe Legrain, journalist, will propose that the UK should stop trying to control immigration. His views will be challenged [...]
Recession migration in graphics
The global recession has dampened the movement of economic migrants to the major immigrant-receiving regions of the world.
But despite the increasing risk of unemployment, immigrants are choosing to stay in their adopted countries rather than return home, a report by the Migration Policy Institute for the BBC has found.
Migration flows
The number of international migrants was [...]