Group items tagged

'Brown Clouds' Are World's Newest Environmental Threat By TINI TRAN AND JOHN HEILPRIN / AP WRITER Friday, November 14, 2008 BEIJING - A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns and threatening health and food supplies, the UN reported. The huge smog-like plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as "atmospheric brown clouds." Cars drive through thick smog on a street in Beijing in September 2008. Enormous brown clouds of pollution hanging over Asia are killing hundreds of thousands of people, melting glaciers, changing weather patterns and damaging crops, the United Nations said. (Photo: AFP) When mixed with emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for warming the earth's atmosphere like a greenhouse, they are the newest threat to the global environment, according to a report commissioned by the UN Environment Program and released Thursday. "All of these points to an even greater and urgent need to look at emissions across the planet," said Achim Steiner, head of Kenya-based UNEP, which funded the report with backing from Italy, Sweden and the United States. Brown clouds are caused by an unhealthy mix of particles, ozone and other chemicals that come from cars, coal-fired power plants, burning fields and wood-burning stoves. First identified by the report's lead researcher in 1990, the clouds were depicted Thursday as being more widespread and causing more environmental damage than previously known. Perhaps most widely recognized as the haze this past summer over Beijing's Olympics, the clouds have been found to be more than a mile (kilometer) thick around glaciers in the Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountain ranges. They hide the sun and absorb radiation, leading to new worries not only about global climate change but also about extreme weather conditions. "All t

Millennium Development Goals on health 'will not be met'

"Factsheet Debt Relief Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative September 22, 2009 The Joint IMF-World Bank's comprehensive approach to debt reduction is designed to ensure that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. To date, debt reduction packages under the HIPC Initiative have been approved for 35 countries, 29 of them in Africa, providing US$51 billion in debt-service relief over time. Five additional countries are potentially eligible for HIPC Initiative assistance. Debt relief key to poverty reduction The HIPC Initiative was launched in 1996 by the IMF and World Bank, with the aim of ensuring that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. Since then, the international financial community, including multilateral organizations and governments have worked together to reduce to sustainable levels the external debt burdens of the most heavily indebted poor countries. In 1999, a comprehensive review of the Initiative allowed the Fund to provide faster, deeper, and broader debt relief and strengthened the links between debt relief, poverty reduction, and social policies. In 2005, to help accelerate progress toward the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) , the HIPC Initiative was supplemented by the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) . The MDRI allows for 100 percent relief on eligible debts by three multilateral institutions-the IMF, the World Bank, and the African Development Fund (AfDF)-for countries completing the HIPC Initiative process. In 2007, the Inter-American Development Bank (IaDB) also decided to provide additional ("beyond HIPC") debt relief to the five HIPCs in the Western Hemisphere. Two step process Countries must meet certain criteria, commit to poverty reduction through policy changes and demonstrate a good track-record over time. The Fund and Bank provide interim debt relief in the initial st

Maternal Health

country specific reproductive and maternal health reports

National Flu Service was launched, offering sufferers access to drugs on the phone and via the internet without the need to see a GP.

An excellent BBC education site for those studying Scottish Highers. Covers socio economic issues in South Africa, such as land tenure, education & health

[Submitted by: Paul Christmas] "The following site has a detailed section on freshwater and many other topics. It will be useful for the options section of the IB and in future will develop sections for the core. A key highlight are some of the detailed case studies. However the site is under development and so some section are are not complete. Some food and health case studies are required and the extreme environments sections is still being written. The site will be useful for both students and teachers of IB geography but has not been written exclusively for the IB."

"Boseley, the Guardian's health editor,"

This two-part presentation evaluates progress made towards Goals one to four - Perfect for Disparities & Change - To examine the progress made in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in poverty reduction, education and health.  Great infographic too .... 

This two-part presentation evaluates progress made towards Goals five to eight. All data is sourced from The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013. Perfect for Disparities & Change: To examine the progress made in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in poverty reduction, education and health.  

100 Year Old - Increases

The first detailed digital soil map of sub-Saharan Africa is to be created. The £12m ($17.5m) project will offer farmers in 42 countries a "soil health diagnosis" and advice on crop yields.

Government fears baby boom will damage economic growth and strain health and education services

Excellent for Environmental Quality and Sustainability when looking at Rainforests but also would be useful in Resource Consumption.   Might also fall into an Optional Unit for Food and Health. [Submitted by Chris Stephenson]