Global Issues News Headlines for “Consumption and Consumerism”

Politics: U.N. in Final Push for 2015 Development Goals

2009-11-20T00:00:00-08:00

A special U.N. summit of world leaders, scheduled to take place next year, is expected to make 'a final push' to help reach the world body's widely-touted development goals by the targeted date of 2015.

Climate Change: Health at Risk

2009-11-20T00:00:00-08:00

The impacts of climate change on human health will require new approaches to development, based on mitigation and adaptation programmes in line with policies that ensure equal access to health care.

Botswana-Politics: I Lost the Election, But I Am a Winner

2009-11-20T00:00:00-08:00

When Kgomotso Mogami threw her name into the hat to contest the Gaborone Central parliamentary seat it was easy for many people to write her off.

Climate Change: The Danish Example

2009-11-20T00:00:00-08:00

Whether a new internationally binding treaty to reduce greenhouse gases and forestall climate change will be signed next month remains to be seen. What is clear though, is that if there is a place in the world that deserves to be the stage where this treaty ought to be signed, it is the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

Climate Change-Mexico: A Policy of Pretence

2009-11-20T00:00:00-08:00

Although it is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Latin America and the Caribbean, after Brazil, and will be hosting next year's United Nations climate meeting, Mexico is heading to the Cophenhagen summit practically empty-handed.

Biodiversity: Plants Finally Get DNA Barcodes

2009-11-20T00:00:00-08:00

Advances made in genetic profiling could be used to fight illegal timber trading, provide authentication of herbal medicines and map entire food chains, according to experts at a conference of the Mexican Academy of Sciences.

Rights-Laos: How Women Cope With Disability - Part 1

2009-11-20T00:00:00-08:00

Before 2002, Chanhpheng Sivila held training workshops for the many Lao disabled women and men at her own house.

Cambodia: Once ‘Extinct’ Crocodile Claws Its Way Back to Survival

2009-11-20T00:00:00-08:00

Siamese crocodiles once ranged far and wide across South-east Asia, from Indonesia to Vietnam, Laos to Thailand. But habitat loss and poaching virtually wiped out the three-metre long animals. Twenty years ago they were classified as effectively extinct in the wild.

Q&A: Maternal Mortality Rates ‘One of the Saddest Cases’ in Asia

2009-11-20T00:00:00-08:00

Nearly 15 years after a landmark international conference to advance the rights and freedoms of women, the picture in the Asia-Pacific region is mixed, says a leading women’s rights advocate and senior United Nations official.

Climate Change-Thailand: Bangkok: A Future Filled with Floods

2009-11-20T00:00:00-08:00

Thailand’s capital, dubbed the ‘City of Angels’ and the ‘Venice of the East’, is threatened by long-term flood inundation as rising sea waters triggered by global weather change and monsoonal rains combine.