Towns and cities are home to more than half of the world’s population and responsible for around 70 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions driving the climate crisis, which is why urban planners in Brazil are leading a design revolution that could point the way to creating built-up areas with a dramatically smaller carbon footprint.

Read the full story, “Welcome to the ‘agrihood’ – the neighbourhood of the future?”, on globalissues.org →

VICTORIA, Seychelles, February 3 (IPS) - The world is entering a decisive period for the future of the ocean. With the High Seas Treaty coming into force and meaningful progress being made on the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, global momentum for stronger marine governance is building. Yet, new pressures linked to the push for deep-sea mining — the extraction of minerals from seabed thousands of meters below the ocean surface — threaten to undermine these gains. To safeguard progress, global decision-making will have to keep pace with such emerging risks. In this context, Africa will host several global discussions in 2026, including those that will shape the ocean’s future, with a series of opportunities for leadership starting with the African Union Summit in February to the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya in June.

Read the full story, “Protecting Africa’s Ocean Future and Why a Precautionary Pause on Deep-sea Mining Matters”, on globalissues.org →

BULAWAYO, February 3 (IPS) - British Monarch King Charles says science is the solution to protecting nature and halting global biodiversity loss, which is threatening humanity’s survival.

Read the full story, “Support Science in Halting Global Biodiversity Crisis—King Charles”, on globalissues.org →