In the aftermath of a disaster that arrives as suddenly as the flooding in Pakistan did, the immediate impact—the deaths and the injuries—is usually followed by additional health risks caused by the difficult living conditions, the lack of hygiene, and the restricted access to clean water and basic health care services the disaster leaves in its wake. This is, indeed, the case in Pakistan now, and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and others are at present working hard to stave off outbreaks of disease and to provide essential health care to a population sorely in need of it.

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The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) seeks proposals from qualified firms, consultants, or organizations to be the “Country Programme Monitor (CPM)” for the Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Kenya.  The CPM verifies GSF programme implementation in country and reports to WSSCC.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a web-based discussion forum to gather public input on how the agency can improve protection of drinking water. The information will be used in implementing EPA’s new drinking water strategy announced by Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in March.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Bayer CropScience, the manufacturer, have reached an agreement to end use of the pesticide aldicarb in the United States. A new risk assessment conducted by EPA based on recently submitted toxicity data indicates that aldicarb, an N-methyl carbamate insecticide, no longer meets the agency’s rigorous food safety standards and may pose unacceptable dietary risks, especially to infants and young children.

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The United Nations is launching the Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification (2010-2020) today, 16 August 2010 , a 10-year long effort to raise awareness and action to improve the protection and management of the world's drylands, home to a third of the world's population and which face serious economic and environmental threats.

Efforts have been made to address land degradation and while there have been positive outcomes, more action is needed to arrest and reverse land degradation and creeping desertification worldwide.

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