Immunisation coverage reaches 84% globally, Africa and South-East Asia worst performers

Estimates short of goal of 90 per cent coverage for all vaccines by 2020

The world is approaching ‘peak youth’ point

A UN report calls on governments to draft policies to realise the demographic dividend before the proportion of young population starts declining

Over 300 million Indians still defecate in the open: WHO-UNICEF report

Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan do much better in improving access to sanitation

Scientists project path of radiation plume from Japan's nuclear reactors

Ocean litter is making these researchers sail around the world

A scientific sailing expedition is out at sea to assess plastic pollution in the oceans and raise awareness about the dangers of this non-…

Bundelkhand's cycle of droughts: is it man-made?

Study by National Institute of Disaster Management shows authorities neglected to break the cycle of droughts when rains were plentiful

90 companies responsible for two-third of global carbon emissions

Coal India Limited listed among the top 20. Should the onus of past carbon emissions be shifted to these companies?

Minamata Convention: deal signed to phase out mercury by 2020

From 2020, production, import and export of products that contain mercury will be banned under Minamata Convention

3.1 million children under five die of malnutrition annually

Study says child mortality linked to maternal undernutrition, obesity

Environmental crimes threaten global security, says UN

Illegal forestry and ivory products worth up to US $213 billion a year are helping fund terrorists, militants and criminals

Investments in Indian renewable energy sector declining

Is it a temporary phase?

Religious leaders pledge to alleviate poverty

They also declared they would do all they could to support the new SDGs, aimed at lifting millions of people out of poverty and creating a …

Green innovation steals the show at SEED Awards

An Indian enterprise and 27 African ventures win prize for sustainable business models empowering communities

Climate negotiations moving at a slow pace, but seemingly in the right direction

Loss and damage continues to be a contentious issue while multiple spin-offs have slowed down the process

Family farms are vital to world food security, says FAO report

UN organisation urges public sector to develop family farming as a sustainable source of the world’s food needs

Water used as weapon of war in Syria, Gaza and Yemen

The conflict in Syria has worsened water crisis of the parched country; 30 million people affected, says Unicef

International agencies launch sustainable tourism programme

Programme to focus on resource efficiency, conservation and new technologies

UN Crime Congress adopts Doha declaration on combatting wildlife crimes

International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime calls on members to recognise wildlife and forest crime as a transnational organised crime …

Half the world’s economic output comes from middle-income countries: UN report

Study said to be the most extensive effort to measure Purchasing Power Parities ever

2014 is International Year of Family Farming

Smallholder farming which is the predominant form of agriculture in the food production sector faces various challenges at governance and …

Iraq's favourable harvest of little help in warding off food security threat

Two administrative divisions, most affected in the current conflict, on average contribute nearly a third of Iraq’s wheat production and …

Asian cities to be worst hit by climate change

Governments are finding it difficult to cope with the swelling population

UN Climate Summit 2014 pledges to end forest loss by 2030

Governments, MNCs, civil society agree to cut the rate of forest loss to half by 2020

Water shortage deepens in West Asia and North Africa

Around 1.2 billion people, almost one-fifth of the world's population, live in areas of physical scarcity of water, says UN

India ranked 135 in Human Development Report 2014

UNDP report says human development is improving worldwide, but the rate of improvement has slowed