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The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and an implementing partner have hatched a pilot project aimed at improving the nutritional needs of displaced Congolese in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and an implementing partner have hatched a pilot project aimed at improving the nutritional needs of displaced Congolese in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

 

Some US$900,000 raised by Swedish teenagers is giving young female refugees in Rwanda the chance to become more independent and to lead productive lives.

Some US$900,000 raised by Swedish teenagers is giving young female refugees in Rwanda the chance to become more independent and to lead productive lives.

 

 

Nadia Chakir sits in on a sewing class in Gihemba camp. Photo courtesy of Enna Gerin

 

Even though microbes essentially rule the Earth, scientists have never before been able to conduct comprehensive studies of microbes and their interactions with one another in their natural habitats.

Coral from Kingman atol (Northern Line Islands). Coral ecosystems were among those profiled by the researchers.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault established in the permafrost in the mountains of Svalbard opened on February 26, 2008 on a remote island in the Arctic Circle, receiving inaugural shipments of 100 million seeds that originated in over 100 countries.

Built near the village of Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen, the vault at its inception contains 268,000 distinct samples of seeds - each one originating from a different farm or field in the world. Each sample may contain hundreds of seeds or more.

Scientists at the National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI) are currently growing more than 400 corals from the larval stage as part of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) -funded research, and will transplant them to restore damaged coral reefs.

 

The African Union has declared the year 2008 the Year of African Youth, also called YAY 2008.

The African Union has declared the year 2008 the Year of African Youth, also called YAY 2008.  

 

An international group of scientists, research institutions and museums is currently working to assemble the most comprehensive online biodiversity encyclopedia on the planet.

Do you know what a Sphyrna zygaena is? How many pounds of krill does a blue whale consume each day? What plants are endangered in Italy?

  

Monarch Butterfly Photo by Bruce Marlin

   

How are monarch butterflies affected by climate change in northern California?

 

An emerging Green Economy is seen in the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) 2008 Year Book which indicates that growing numbers of companies embrace environmental policies and investors are pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into cleaner and renewable energies.

 

An emerging Green Economy is seen in the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) 2008 Year Book which indicates that growing numbers of companies embrace environmental policies and investors are pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into cleaner and renewable energies.

 

The new Swedish-UNEP cooperation aims to raise the awareness of industry and Governments in developing countries about commercially-available alternatives to HCFCs and aims to convince them about the benefits of adopting such technology.

UNEP OzonAction created a new section of its website – the HCFC Help Centre -- in response to the need for policy and technology information about HCFCs and their alternatives. The new Swedish-UNEP cooperation aims to raise the awareness of industry and Governments in developing countries about commercially-available alternatives to HCFCs and aims to convince them about the benefits of adopting such technology.

Peatlands are wetland ecosystems that accumulate plant material under saturated conditions to form layers of peat soil up to 20m thick – storing on average 10 times more carbon per hectare than other ecosystems. Peatlands occur in 180 countries and cover 400 million hectares or 3% of the world’s surface.

 

Peatland

 

Internal clocks govern the daily rhythms of the most basic functions of waking, eating, and sleeping. The molecular basis of such pacemakers is best understood in fruit flies, where the interactions of a small set of molecules drive the insects' behaviors just as they do our own.

Internal clocks govern the daily rhythms of the most basic functions of waking, eating, and sleeping. The molecular basis of such pacemakers is best understood in fruit flies, where the interactions of a small set of molecules drive the insects' behaviors just as they do our own.

 

A nationwide initiative in the United States of America, Project BudBurst, started on February 15, 2008 to enable volunteers to track climate change by observing the timing of flowers and foliage.

Cinquefoil wildflowers in Colorado will be monitored by participants of Project BudBurst. Photo by Carlye Calvin UCAR

A nationwide initiative in the United States of America, Project BudBurst, started on February 15, 2008 to enable volunteers to track climate change by observing the timing of flowers and foliage.

The small Pacific Island nation of Kiribati has become a global conservation leader by declaring the Phoenix Islands a protected area to ensure its biological diversity and sustainability.

 

A beautiful green moray eel emerges from reef in Phoenix Islands. Divers from the New England Aquarium in Boston found some of the most pristine coral reefs in the world there. Credit: David Obura

 

Nanotechnology researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing a shirt that harvests energy from the wearer's physical motion and converts it into electricity for powering small electronic devices worn by soldiers in the field, hikers and other users.

Nanotechnology researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing a shirt that harvests energy from the wearer's physical motion and converts it into electricity for powering small electronic devices worn by soldiers in the field, hikers and other users.

Professor Charles Sheppard of the University of Warwick, UK, responded to what he perceived as the need to have a good, comprehensive source of identification for the main reef occupiers and builders of Caribbean reefs, namely corals, soft corals and sponges by developing Coralpedia.

 

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) are co-sponsoring the second edition of the WASH Media Award competition, to be held between July 2007 and April 2008.

 

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) are co-sponsoring the second edition of the WASH Media Award competition, to be held between July 2007 and April 2008.

Horizon International’s Magic Porthole coral reef playing cards with intriguing, fun photographic mirror-images are providing a new chance to explore life in coral reefs.

   Horizon International’s Magic Porthole coral reef playing cards with intriguing, fun photographic mirror-images are providing a new chance to explore life in coral reefs.  Launched in December in advance of the international Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2008, the cards, printed in the United States, are being sold by museums, aquaria and a wide variety of outlets and can be purchased from the Web at www.magicporthole.org.

Most of us take it for granted that plants respond to light by growing, flowering and straining towards the light, and we never wonder just how plants manage to do so. But the ordinary, everyday responses of plants to light are deceptively complex, and much about them has long stumped scientists.

 

By adding a few modifications to their successful wastewater fuel cell, researchers have coaxed common bacteria to produce hydrogen in a new, efficient way.

 

Horizon International today announced the launch of its Magic Porthole coral reef playing cards with photographic mirror-images of coral reef creatures.

 

 

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