World Development News

November 26, 2024

Top Headlines

Design and Imagination as Essential Tools During the Climate Crisis

Nov. 21, 2024 — Researchers advocate the use of imagination in tackling the climate crisis. They focus specifically on urbanizing river deltas, which are of great social and economic importance and highly vulnerable to climate ...

Study Raises Concerns About the Climate Change and Global Conflict Crises

Nov. 20, 2024 — Researchers are looking at the impact of climate change in communities affected by conflict and have found that many countries most impacted by these crises are being ...

War Impacts the Function of Children's DNA and Slows Development

Nov. 20, 2024 — Children living in war-torn countries not only suffer from poor mental health outcomes, but war may cause adverse biological changes at the DNA level, which could have lifelong health impacts, according to a ground-breaking ...

Some of the World's Least Polluting Populations Are at Much Greater Risk of Flooding Fueled by Climate Change

Nov. 7, 2024 — A new study has exposed for the first time how inhabitants of the smallest countries globally, contributing least to climate change, already bear the brunt of its devastating consequences and the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:31pm EST

Pioneering Planetary Boundaries Science as Key to Mitigating Rising Planetary Risks

Nov. 8, 2024 — The Planetary Boundaries framework is a pivotal tool for tackling the climate crisis and safeguarding humanity's future on Earth. For the first time, ...

Coral Reef Destruction a Threat to Human Rights

Sep. 30, 2024 — A human rights-based approach to coral reef protection could ensure governments are held to account for safeguarding marine ...

Thinking About the Future: Examining the Exacerbating and Attenuating Factors of Despair-Induced Climate Burnout

Sep. 25, 2024 — New research explored the exacerbating and attenuating factors of despair-induced climate burnout to learn how people can overcome despair and ...

Global Warming's Economic Blow: Risks Rise More Rapidly for the Rich

Sep. 13, 2024 — Researchers analyzed how erratic weather events, increasingly intensified by global warming, affect global production and consumption across different income ...

Path to Prosperity for Planet and People Shrinking Rapidly, Scientists Warn

Sep. 12, 2024 — Our planet will only remain able to provide even the most basic standard of living for everyone in the future if economic systems and technologies are dramatically transformed and critical resources ...

Path to Prosperity for Planet and People If Earth's Critical Resources Are Better Shared

Sep. 11, 2024 — Earth will only remain able to provide even a basic standard of living for everyone in the future if economic systems and technologies are ...

Scientific Consensus Can Strengthen Pro-Climate Attitudes in Society

Aug. 26, 2024 — Climate scientists have long agreed that humans are largely responsible for climate change. A new study finds that communicating the scientific consensus about climate change can clear up ...

Researchers Develop Index to Quantify Circular Bioeconomy

Aug. 19, 2024 — As the world faces the challenges of mitigating climate change and providing resources for a growing population, there is increasing focus on developing circular economies for sustainable production. ...

Number of Pediatric Inpatient Psychiatric Beds in the U.S. Did Not Increase 2017-2020 Despite Youth Mental Health Crisis

Aug. 19, 2024 — U.S. pediatric inpatient psychiatric bed capacity did not change 2017 -- 2020, despite increases in pediatric mental health emergency visits, ...

Type 2 Diabetes Cases More Than Doubled Seven Decades After Exposure to Famine

Aug. 9, 2024 — Researchers used the setting of the human-made Ukrainian Holodomor famine of 1932-1933 to examine the relation between prenatal famine and adult Type ...

Personal Carbon Footprint of the Rich Is Vastly Underestimated by Rich and Poor Alike, Study Finds

Sep. 12, 2024 — The personal carbon footprint of the richest people in society is grossly underestimated, both by the rich themselves and by those on middle and lower incomes, no matter which country they come from. ...

Women in Global Fisheries Industry Fall Through the Safety Net

Aug. 27, 2024 — Millions of women who work in the fisheries industry are being left behind as technologies develop to counter the effects of climate change and economic pressures. A new study examines this global ...

Just Say 'Climate Change' -- Not 'Climate Emergency'

Aug. 12, 2024 — The familiar terms 'climate change' and 'global warming' are more likely to resonate with people than other commonly used ...

Countries Need to Co-Operate on Migration as Climate Crisis Worsens

July 29, 2024 — Humanity must rethink migration as the climate crisis drives rapid global changes, researchers ...

A Window of Opportunity for Climate Change and Biodiversity

July 23, 2024 — World leaders must take advantage of a pivotal window of opportunity for forging a much-needed joined-up approach to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, say scientists. Without this, work on ...

Using Forest Resources Strengthens Food Security

July 22, 2024 — Forests can reduce hunger in rural households while also capturing carbon and advancing sustainability goals for low- and middle-income countries, according to new ...

What Was Behind the 2021-2022 Energy Crisis Within Europe?

July 2, 2024 — A team of researchers had already been working with electricity price data for years before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, exploring statistics and developing forecasting methods. Now they zero ...

Basic Income Can Double Global GDP While Reducing Carbon Emissions

June 7, 2024 — Giving a regular cash payment to the entire world population has the potential to increase global gross domestic product (GDP) by 130%, according to a new analysis. Researchers suggest that charging ...

Secure Access to Food and Water Decreasing for US Children

June 7, 2024 — The number of children in the U.S. facing simultaneous water and food insecurity more than doubled between 2005 and 2020. Additionally, Black children were 3.5 times more likely than white children ...

Climate Policy: Competing Crises

June 6, 2024 — Current crises are distracting from the climate crisis and weakening support for climate action, a Europe-wide survey ...

Aiding the Displaced With Data

June 3, 2024 — In times of crisis, effective humanitarian aid depends largely on the fast and efficient allocation of resources and personnel. Accurate data about the locations and movements of affected people in ...

People Are Altering Decomposition Rates in Waterways

May 30, 2024 — Humans may be accelerating the rate at which organic matter decomposes in rivers and streams on a global scale, according to a new study. That could pose a threat to biodiversity in waterways around ...

Health Risk from Global Warming Predictor of City Climate Action During COVID-19, Study Finds

May 29, 2024 — City officials were more likely to maintain climate action during the pandemic in places with more climate-related health issues affecting ...

Improved Refrigeration Could Save Nearly Half of the 1.3 Billion Tons of Food Wasted Each Year Globally

May 28, 2024 — A new study concludes that nearly half of the food waste, about 620 million metric tons, could be eliminated by fully refrigerated food supply chains worldwide. At the same time, fully refrigerated ...

The Global Clean Water Crisis Looms Large

May 23, 2024 — Water scarcity will intensify with climate and socioeconomic change, disproportionately impacting populations located in the Global ...

Sister Cities Can Help Communities Better Navigate the Climate Crisis

May 3, 2024 — Anthropologists suggest in a new study that establishing networks of 'sister cities' dedicated to addressing the impact of natural disasters can mitigate the devastation wrought by climate ...

One Third of China's Urban Population at Risk of City Sinking, New Satellite Data Shows

Apr. 18, 2024 — Land subsidence is overlooked as a hazard in cities, according to new research. Scientists used satellite data that accurately and consistently maps land movement across ...

Study Reveals How Humanity Could Unite to Address Global Challenges

Apr. 16, 2024 — New research has found that perceptions of globally shared life experiences and globally shared biology can strengthen psychological bonding with humanity at large, which can motivate prosocial ...

How Climate Change Will Impact Food Production and Financial Institutions

Apr. 8, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new method to predict the financial impacts climate change will have on agriculture, which can help support food security and financial stability for countries ...

With the Planet Facing a 'Polycrisis', Biodiversity Researchers Uncover Major Knowledge Gaps

Apr. 4, 2024 — Connecting the study of infectious disease spread, biodiversity loss and climate change could offer win-win-win solutions for planetary health, but a new analysis has uncovered almost no research ...