“Land Belongs to the Future, Let’s Climate Proof It” – World Day to Combat Desertification 2014

June 17 has been designated by the United Nations as World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (WDCD).  The slogan of this year’s WDCD is ‘Land Belongs to the Future, Let’s Climate Proof It’, which aims to ‘highlight the benefits of mainstreaming sustainable land management policies and practices into our collective response to climate change’.  The…
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World Environment Day 2014 – “Raise Your Voice, Not the Sea Level”

World Environment Day (WED) on June 5th is used by the United Nations to encourage global awareness and stimulate action to protect the environment.  It was established in 1972 on the same day that the UN Conference on the Human Environment began and the first WED was celebrated in 1973. Each year it is hosted in…
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World Water Day 2014

World Water Day (WWD) is held annually on 22 March as a means of focussing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. This year’s theme for WWD on Saturday is “water and energy”, to collectively bring attention to the water-energy relationship, highlighting the 768 million people that…
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Illegal wildlife trade – Focus of first ever World Wildlife Day

At the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of Parties to CITES in March 2013, the Thai Government recommended the adoption of a resolution to declare March 3 as World Wildlife Day, which was later agreed at the United Nations General Assembly in December.  The date marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on…
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Water water everywhere…but is climate change to blame?

It is perhaps not surprising that the latest statistics from the Met Office in the UK show that this winter has been one of the most exceptional periods of rainfall in England and Wales in at least 248 years, thanks to a sequence of low pressure weather systems making their way across the Atlantic.  As…
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Could Climate Change threaten the future of the Winter Olympics?

As Russia prepares to host the 22nd Olympic Winter Games, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has begun to release the findings of its Fifth Assessment Report.  If the climate projections of the IPCC report prove accurate, only six of the previous 19 host cities will be cold enough to host a…
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O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, how big is your Carbon Footprint?

As part of the festive season this year, many of us will either buy a fresh Christmas tree, or we will bring an artificial one down from the attic.   Either way, a Christmas Tree often forms an important part of the festivities.  According to the National Christmas Tree Association, in 2012, US consumers purchased 24.5 million “real”…
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New research claims microplastic pollution is harming marine life

Latest figures show that global production of plastic has risen to 280 million tons per year, with much of this entering the seas and oceans via ships, offshore platforms and fishing, coastal littering and sewage-related debris from rivers and storm drains. UNEP estimates that between 6.4 – 8 million tons of litter ends up in…
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Mental Health – What can we learn from low and middle income countries?

“Turning the World Upside Down – Mental Health Challenge” is an open competition to celebrate projects and ideas from low and middle income countries (LIC) which could effectively be applied to major health challenges faced by high income countries.  Four case studies were pitched in a Dragon’s Den style challenge on Wednesday 27th November at…
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25th Annual World AIDS Day: Progress towards 2015

     December 1st 2013 will mark the 25th annual World AIDS Day with this year’s theme, “Shared Responsibility: Strengthening Results for an AIDS-Free Generation”.  World AIDS Day provides an opportunity to spread awareness about the current status of the pandemic and to encourage progress in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment around the world. According…
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