In 1999, researchers developed a new variety of genetically modified (GM) rice boasting the potential to save "a million kids a year" in developing countries from life-threatening vitamin A deficiency. Nearly a decade later, however, the new variety--nicknamed "golden rice" for the yellow hue imparted by vitamin A compounds--has hardly moved beyond the lab. Hampered by the controversy and strict regulations surrounding GM technology, golden rice is a testament to the obstacles facing GM crops developed for humanitarian purposes.

Eighty percent of the 150 top selling drugs in the United States--including essential medicines such as Asprin, penicillin, and the chemotherapy drug Taxol--come from substances derived from plants, animals or microorganisms. However, as humans continue to drive species towards extinction and degrade critical habitats, we are losing the life-giving services they provide and the potential for countless new medical discoveries. A new book, "Sustaining Life," examines what humans stand to lose when biodiversity is irreversibly destroyed, providing a compelling new case to conserve nature.

EarthTrends April 2008 Monthly Update

Before climate change dominated the environmental agenda, deforestation was a central concern for many reasons besides carbon. Forests contain 70 percent of the world's biodiversity, provide vital ecosystem services such as flood control and soil protection, and support the subsistence livelihoods of up to 300 million people, most of whom are poor. To date, efforts to combat deforestation have failed to stop rapid global forest loss, despite some localized successes. Between 2000 and 2005, roughly 13 million hectares of forest disappeared each year, with the largest losses occurring in the biologically rich tropical forests of the developing world (FAO, 2005).

The threat of climate change has created a new imperative--and renewed hope--to protect the values and services rendered by tropical forests. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) estimates that deforestation contributes 15-20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (see Figure 1), yet the forestry sector was largely excluded from the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period. With negotiations underway for a post-Kyoto agreement set to start after 2012, reduced emissions from deforestation in developing countries, popularly known as REDD, has emerged as a key issue.

While the cost of food has been rising steadily since 2000, few took notice until recently, when the problem finally reached crisis proportions. Skyrocketing world food prices--up almost 50% since last year--have triggered riots across the developing world and forced the world's largest food aid agency to announce a $500 million deficit for 2008.

This year's World Health Day, celebrated last Monday, drew international attention to the impacts of climate change on human health. Health experts predict that climate change will exacerbate global health problems that are already huge, such as malnutrition and infectious disease. Strengthening public health services, especially among vulnerable populations in the developing world, therefore needs to be a central component of climate adaptation strategies.

In the face of an expanding world population and rapid economic growth, global agriculture has kept apace via incredible growth in scale and intensity. It has provided increasing quantities of crops, livestock and fish every decade, but often at the cost of other, undervalued ecosystem services such as climate regulation, water provision, and biodiversity. As the largest managed ecosystem in the world, agriculture holds the potential to halt, if not reverse, rapid ecosystem degradation through environmentally sound policies. In particular, the possibility of paying farmers for the environmental services they provide has generated growing interest worldwide and has already been implemented in several countries.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has released its Year Book 2008, providing some exciting glimpses into the emerging "green economy." According to the Year Book, growing numbers of companies are embracing environmental strategies and investors are pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into clean and renewable energies. In 2007, for example, nearly 60 percent of Financial Times 500 companies were implementing greenhouse gas reduction initiatives, reflecting a dramatic increase from the previous year.

The warmest winter ever recorded in Finland may boost the country's agricultural production by lengthening the growing season, demonstrating some of the early impacts of global climate change. Finland's southern regions experienced average temperatures above freezing point this year and had snow cover for only 20 days, far below the typical 70. Although global warming appears to favor agriculture in this Nordic country, world agriculture as a whole is predicted to suffer as global temperatures rise. The greatest production losses are expected in developing countries due to natural vulnerability and limited capacity to adapt, threatening already food-insecure regions.

Now home to half of the world's people, cities are increasingly at the forefront of our most pressing environmental challenges. While the current pace of urbanization is not unique in human history, the sheer magnitude of urban growth--driven by massive demographic shifts in the developing world--is unprecedented, with vast implications for human well-being and the environment. However, where cities pose environmental problems, they also offer solutions. As hotspots of consumption, production, and waste generation, cities possess unparalleled potential to increase the energy efficiency and sustainability of society as a whole.

Scientists offered a rare glimmer of hope in a recent coral reef study, which suggested that reefs in the world's warmest oceans might be protected from the deleterious affects of global warming. This potential rests on a much-debated theory that a natural "ocean thermostat" prevents sea-surface temperatures from exceeding 31 degrees Celsius. If confirmed through additional research, the study's findings could have important implications for how and where we design measures to protect reef ecosystems.