Environmental health problems account for an estimated 6.6 million deaths each year in Southeast and East Asian countries, or approximately one out of every four deaths in the region. With the goal of improving environmental and human health, ministers and high-level officials gathered in Bangkok, Thailand last month to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation and share knowledge within and between countries. The resulting Bangkok Declaration on Environment and Health is designed to move the region beyond monitoring and assessment to actual prevention of health impacts.

The Nile Delta is one of the most heavily populated and intensely cultivated areas on earth. Despite covering only 2.5 percent of Egypt's total land area, the Nile Delta harbors over one-third of the national population and nearly half of all crops. Standing less than two meters above sea level, however, it is also extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Various United Nations and World Bank studies have begun modeling potential consequences of sea level rise on Egyptian livelihoods and the economy, reinforcing the importance of adaptation as a vital strategy for those countries standing to suffer most from global warming.

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that 20-30 percent of plant and animal species are at increased risk of extinction if global average temperatures rise by more than 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Centigrade. Although most scientists agree that global warming presents a significant threat to biodiversity worldwide, some experts criticize that current modeling techniques lack the accuracy and consistency to make authoritative predictions. A recent article in Science magazine, "Predicting Oblivion: Are Existing Models Up to the Task?" explores the current drawbacks and future potentials of modeling climate-related biodiversity loss.

Biodiversity plays a fundamental role in sustaining human life, providing basic necessities such as food, water, and the air we breathe. The current decline of biological resources worldwide, evidenced by recent reports of collapsing fish stocks and newly extinct species, motivated world leaders to endorse the 2010 Biodiversity Target, which is a commitment to "achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss."

Unfortunately, biodiversity is a difficult concept to define, let alone measure. Estimates concerning the total number of species worldwide, for example, range from two to over 10 million, although fewer than 1.8 million species have been identified to date. A new United Nations initiative, the 2010 Biodiversity Indicator Partnership, seeks to overcome such hurdles by developing a new set of indicators to more comprehensively and quantitatively assess global progress towards the 2010 target. This multi-million dollar effort to track the fate of global biodiversity highlights the importance of data and statistics when it comes to attaining regional, national and international development goals relating to the environment and beyond.

In the year 2000, an estimated 350 million hectares of forests and woodlands were destroyed by fire. Although historical data is lacking, recent evidence suggests that climate change is resulting in forest fires of increased intensity and extent. However, people remain the biggest cause of uncontrolled vegetation fires, and future prevention and preparedness strategies will undoubtedly need to prioritize awareness campaigns and education. These issues were among those discussed by over 1,500 fire experts who gathered at the 4th International Wildland Fire Conference this month in Seville, Spain.

Over the past 10 years, genetically modified (GM) crops have aroused intense criticism and fear regarding potential environmental and human health impacts. At the same time, GM crop area worldwide has increased more than 60-fold to over 100 million hectares in 22 countries during 2006. Accounting for roughly 80 percent of this area are crops that have been genetically engineered to resist the herbicide glyphosate, popularly known as Roundup. Now, as modern agriculture has become exceedingly dependent on this single chemical, glyphosate resistant weeds have begun to appear and are spreading around the globe. A recent article in Science, "A Growing Threat Down on the Farm," investigates the key aspects this issue.

World cereal production is forecast to reach a record high in 2007, but food analysts anticipate that total supplies will be barely adequate to meet increased demand, boosted by a rapidly expanding biofuels industry and continued growth in the food and feed sectors. Over the past several years, grain harvests have consistently fallen short of consumption, reducing carryover stocks--our only buffer against unanticipated crop failure--to their lowest levels since the 1980s. At the same time, international cereal prices have soared to their highest levels in a decade, creating concern for low-income food deficit countries and hunger hotspots such as Sub-Saharan Africa.

Tourism is the largest business sector in the global economy, accounting for $3.6 trillion in economic activity and 8 percent of jobs worldwide. Within the industry, ecotourism is the fastest growing subsector, expanding by 20-34 percent per year since the early 1990s. Although ecotourism is considered environmentally sustainable by definition, experts at last week's Global Ecotourism Conference 2007 raised concern that ecotourism could be contributing to global warming and environmental damage.

After failed negotiations with multinational drug company Merck, Brazil has signed a "compulsory license" that will allow the production of a generic version of the patented antiretroviral drug known as efavirenz. This controversial decision will reduce the annual cost of treatment per patient from $580 to $165 in Brazil, where HIV treatment is provided free by the government. Although compulsory licenses are legal under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, big pharmaceutical companies like Merck argue that forcing developed countries alone to bear the costs of essential drug development will jeopardize future innovation.

In its first major report on bioenergy, the United Nations finds that liquid biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel offer both opportunities and risks for global livelihoods and the environment. The UN-Energy report, entitled "Sustainable Energy: A Framework for Decision Makers," reviews the potential impacts of bioenergy on food security, climate change, biodiversity and natural resources, employment and trade. It finds that producing and utilizing biofuels sustainably and minimizing negative side-effects will require strategic policy decisions and a cautious approach.