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UNAIDS official urges developing states to do more to tackle HIV rather than relying on foreign assistance

Systems and know-how to warn about extreme weather are still spotty, experts say

[SANTIAGO] Scientists have rejected fears that a series of highly destructive large-scale earthquakes in the past few years, in countries bordering the Pacific and Indian oceans, signal an increased global risk of these deadly events.

Millions of young Habitat for Humanity volunteers use their social and digital networks to raise funds and draw attention to the dire housing situation in the Asia-Pacific region. Brought together as part of ‘YouthBUILD’, activity peaks on 12 May, when thousands of people will simultaneously build houses in China, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.

Over one in four children have been sexually abused in East Asia and Pacific region

Given help, smallholder farmers - many of them women - can also be “very effective as custodians of the environment”, says UN official

Rural poor, especially women, often lose access to land and resources due to weak governance and land rights

Habitat for Humanity announces that more than 1,000 volunteers are set to visit Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh in three ‘Big Build’ events in 2012, to build homes alongside local families.
To take part visit habitat.org/asiapacific.

Geoengineering to curb climate change “scares the hell out of me”, expert admits, but it could buy time for faltering mitigation efforts

New investment in the Clean Development Mechanism has fallen by 80 percent since 2008 to $1.5 billion in 2010

World Meteorological Organization says the warmest 13 years of average global temperatures have all occurred in the 15 years since 1997

“At the heart of any agreement should be the principle that no country is expendable,” says negotiator

Himalayan countries should support and invest in green technologies if such initiatives are to succeed and bring benefits to the economy in the long term, a meeting has heard.

Around 5,000 children die of preventable water and sanitation related diseases every day

A novel approach to predicting the likely impact of climate change on island communities in the Pacific, combining official maps and climate models with locally-generated information, has been successfully tested in the Cook Islands

Efforts to increase food production are clashing with efforts to reduce agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions says a group of international scientists.

Some of the leading killers of children are highly sensitive to climate change, UNICEF says

Eight South Asian countries have made a pact to provide one another with quick assistance during natural disasters

Amid the tourism, returning communities find their homes destroyed and little means of making an income

Habitat for Humanity launches an appeal for US$10 million in order to help an up to an estimated 25,000 families rebuild their lives following severe flooding across Southeast Asia.

[HANOI] Research into rice varieties is keeping the staple food affordable and helping to stave off hunger for millions in South-East Asia, an Australian government agency has reported.

Poor private-sector planning puts assets and livelihoods at risk

A report from Suthanthipuram village, where MAG’s work has enabled more than 2,000 people who fled the civil war to return home.

River basins of Africa, Asia and Latin America could sustainable boost food production in coming decades - though competition for water could stand in the way

Almost half of South Asia’s 1.5 billion don’t get three meals a day

Williams will promote UNICEF’s initiatives to provide schooling for particularly vulnerable children

Major progress has been made in preparing for natural disasters and climate impacts, but results vary by region, a report says

The risk of civil conflict doubles in tropical countries during El Niño years, and around one-fifth of all civil wars between 1950 and 2004 may have been influenced by its weather patterns, according to a study.

An estimated 4.9 million people in Asia and the Pacific living with HIV in 2009, a figure that has remained relatively stable since 2005

Angelina Jolie and her family visited The HALO Trust’s global headquarters in Scotland this weekend.

A look at some of the countries which have taken steps to reduce statelessness.