Between now and 2050, advanced countries will be dealing with a stark reality: ‘the fiscal burden of the crisis [will be] about 10% of the ageing-related costs. The other 90% will be extra spending on pensions, health and long-term care.’ Ageing is creeping up in the rich world. The poor section of the globe is [...]

The problem of food insecurity affects the world’s small-scale farms and rural areas the most. This is because these places are also where ‘70 percent of the world’s hungry live and work.’ As the world commemorates World Food Day on October 16, some depressing statistics confront the governments of the world: an estimated increase of [...]

Major negotiating camps in the upcoming climate deal are lapsing into ‘a new and dangerous form of trade and technology protectionism’ in the name of climate change. The unfortunate turn of events is ‘poisoning North-South relations in the two negotiating arenas on climate change and on trade.’  It seems that developed countries, especially the US, [...]

The developing countries will now play a more significant role in the economic policies of the world. The ultra-elite club of the richest industrial nations known as G7 will relinquish its top level global economic forum to the much broader G20 that includes the emerging economies and developing countries such as China, Brazil, and India.
The [...]

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued a forecast this week that ‘world food production must increase by 70 percent by 2050, to nourish a human population then likely to be 9.1 billion people.’ The current world population is 6.8 billion, says the UN.
According to FAO Assistant Director-General Hafez Ghanem, “FAO is cautiously optimistic [...]

A leaked ‘UN report says pandemic may result in anarchy unless the rich western countries pay for antiviral drugs and vaccines.’ The amount to shell out is $1.5 billion. The swine pandemic is expected to ‘kill millions’ which would ‘cause anarchy in the world’s poorest nations,’ thereby causing weak economies to completely collapse, unless the [...]

Vaccine manufacturers and drug makers are racing with one another in their respective swine flu vaccine development and production before fall which is the estimated start of the next flu season. Another possible flu outbreak is expected.
Ordinarily, an adjuvant ‘can include various forms of aluminum and are typically used with other vaccines in the United [...]

Requiring poor countries, along with the developed world in the proposed CO2 emission reduction bid, to go back to 2000 emission levels for a 2050 population would mean putting the developing countries on a very stringent and drastic energy diet. This move might be suicidal for these countries as it forces them to abandon their [...]

The world economic crisis directly translates to food insecurity. According to the Food Security Assessment, 2008-09, a report from the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), “Food security in 70 developing countries is projected to deteriorate over the next decade. After rising nearly 11 percent from 2007 to 2008, [...]

Cities in developing countries absorb 70 million new people every year. The urban population in these countries is expected to double by 2050. Approximately one billion people live in unsanitary slums. They could be 2 billion by 2030, according to the UN. The urban population living in slums accounts for 99 percent in Ethiopia and [...]