STWR - Share The World's Resources

Climate change is already claiming 300,000 lives and costing the global economy $125bn every year. International cooperation is crucial to tackling the catastrophe - especially since the countries most at risk are the least responsible for the crisis. A report by the Global Humanitarian Forum.

Many high-profile environmentalists limit their agendas to solutions within current social and economic parameters. Yet systemic changes to the global economy are required if meaningful solutions to biodiversity loss and environmental exploitation are to be reached, argues Michael Barker.

Following the latest weak outcome of the Commission on Sustainable Development, it is time to ask if the United Nations is achieving enough in the realm of sustainable agriculture - and to start building a grassroots movement that can forge a new vision for the future, writes Adam W. Parsons. 

Despite the lessons of the financial crisis, policymakers seem intent on returning to business as usual. The time has come for civil society and grassroots movements to create a shared identity in promoting alternative financial institutions, argues Sargon Nissan.

The relentless pursuit of economic growth promotes the unsustainable consumption patterns that underpin the climate crisis. Only a clearer understanding of the causes and greater public engagement can finally urge governments to act on climate change, argues Rajesh Makwana.

A high-profile scientific report has stressed the global need to promote sustainable biodiversity while supporting small-scale farmers. But will governments have the political will to rethink agriculture beyond business-as-usual, ask Lim Li Ching, Elenita Daño and Hira Jhamtan.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea was intended to promote international cooperation on sharing and protecting marine resources - but does the present trend of ‘underwater land grabbing’ show the system of global governance to be inadequate? 

Beijing's heavy rural investment has led commentators to see hope for global recovery in the Chinese countryside. Yet allocating funds to boost rural demand will fail to reverse China’s long-standing subordination of the poor to export-oriented industrialization, says Walden Bello.

Many governments are elected on platforms promising to address climate change, but fail to implement meaningful environmental policies once in office. Can this be explained by human psychology - and will it take a local climate catastrophe for them to finally act, asks Chris Goodall.

Although we are agreed in defending the right of people to adequate food, as promoted by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, the most effective way to help the world feed itself is by promoting food sovereignty, say Vía Campesina and Friends of the Earth International.