Corals may be better placed to cope with the gradual acidification of the world's oceans than previously thought -- giving rise to hopes that coral reefs might escape climatic devastation.

NASA

This visualization shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through December 2007. The visualization does not include a narration or annotations; the goal was to use ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience.

David Fogarty and Deborah Zabarenko

* Rising population, development put more in harm's way

* Policymakers urged to act in next few decades

* Less emphasis on mitigation, more on cutting risk

By David Fogarty and Deborah Zabarenko  

Petra Low

The breakdown of loss-relevant events among the main hazards-geophysical, meteorological, hydrological, and climatological events-is more or less in line with the average over the past 30 years. In 2011, some 91 percent were weather-related-37 percent each were storms and floods and 17 percent we

Damage from disaster so severe that clean-up expected to take decades, according to latest examination of nuclear plant

Gene banks represent an overdue push to preserve crop biodiversity. It also needs conserving on farms

Megan Rowling

MARSEILLE, France (AlertNet) - Water must be used more efficiently and its waste reduced if the world is to meet rising food demand from a fast-expanding population amid the pressures of climate change, experts have said ahead of World Water Day.

Alecia D. McKenzie

[MARSEILLES] Hydropower could supply all of Africa's electricity needs if cross-border cooperation was stepped up, according to a UN report launched last week (12 March) at the World Water Forum in Marseilles, France.

Some 32 social scientists and researchers from around the world, including a Senior Sustainability Scholar at Arizona State University, have concluded that fundamental reforms of global environmental governance are needed to avoid dangerous changes in the Earth system.