From Soil Carbon to Nuclear Reactors: UNEP Yearbook Outlines Major Emerging Issues for Global Environment

Press Conference Venue: Press Room, UNEP Headquarters, Gigiri Time: 11:00am, Monday 13 February 2012 Speakers: Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director Tessa Goverse, UNEP Division of Early Warning and Assessment Nairobi, 9 February 2012 – The dramatic loss of carbon from soils – and the implications for food security, climate change and the health of ecosystems – is among the main themes of the United Nations Environment Programme's 2012 Yearbook. The flagship publication, to be launched on 13 February 2012 at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, shows that soil erosion due to traditional agriculture is occurring 100 times faster than soil's natural formation process.

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Blue planet prize winners call for transformational change to achieve sustainable development

A group of the world's leading scientists and experts in sustainable development today called for urgent changes to policies and institutions to enable humanity to tackle environmental crises and improve human wellbeing. The group ? all past winners of the Blue Planet Prize ? have gathered in London to finalise a paper that will be launched at the UN Environment Programme's Governing Council meeting in Nairobi on 20-22 February.

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