To ma rk the 40th anniversary of the first stirrings of the internet we asked you to tell us your experiences of life online. Hundreds of you responded, and here we present an interactive documentary of your stories and videos, alongside our own research and interviews with key figures (About this project)
A people's history of the internet: from Arpanet in 1969 to today | Technology | guardian.co.uk
International conservation projects help to preserve the habitats of species like the red-eyed tree frog. Photograph: Rick Sammon/AP
Although animal extinction is part of the natural cycle, humankind's presence on the earth has accelerated the rate at which species are disappearing.
The list of endangered species around the world is growing due to a range of causes from overhunting to a loss of habitat.
The best source of data on this is the Red List, compiled by the IUCN species programme. It's an amazing source of data, from the summary below through to huge geospatial files.
Efforts to sustain pressured populations through captive breeding programmes are showing some signs of success but man continues to exert a pressure on the environment which continues to endanger many species across the globe.
Just over 6% of the total species are in Brazil, reflecting the pressure that widespread deforestation is causing in the highly biodiverse region.
Red List 2009: Endangered species for every country in the world | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Every week the latest episode in this groundbreaking series is available to steam straight to your computer. You can also get a behind the scenes look at each film by reading the directors comments.
The world’s biggest cities are already victims of climate change. There are real economic and social impacts as climate refugees swell urban populations, food and water supplies are threatened and sea levels rise. “Hot Cities” travels the world from Lagos to Los Angeles, from Shanghai to Surat, from Dhaka to Durban to see if our cites can adapt and survive.
More than a third of species assessed in a major international biodiversity study are threatened with extinction, scientists have warned.
Out of the 47,677 species in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 17,291 were deemed to be at serious risk.
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Species' extinction threat grows
Deforestation desertification Food production
Thanks to Mr Harrison for this
Every time I visit Katine, in north-east Uganda, an image remains in the mind for months afterwards. In May, it was a long queue of girls laughing and chatting as they waited at a dirty water pump for hours to fill their jerrycans. In September, it was the eager face of an 18-year-old boy who proudly showed me his school report and told me how it took him three and a half hours to walk to school – and three and a half hours back. I looked with incredulity at the teachers' praise for his schoolwork. When could he find time to do his homework?
Qatar furthers the trend of Gulf Arab Countries off-shoring their agricultural production to secure food supplies for its citizens and other populations in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Qatar’s Hassad Foods signed a deal last week, worth potentially $1 billion, to develop 20,000 acres of land in northern Sudan, Reuters reports. Cultivation could expand to 250,000 acres.Hassad foods was established a year ago by the Qatari Investment Authority (QIA) to establish the country’s current and future means of maintaining food security. The food company is hoping to develop six other deals in Latin America and Africa.
Qatar Food Company Signs $1 billion Deal to Use Sudan Farmland | Circle of Blue | WaterNews
Boscombe is on a big mission to improve its rundown image and attract a new crowd of visitors all year round. The Dorset town's centrepiece is the multimillion-pound artificial surf reef, the first of its kind in Europe which, it is hoped, is set to enhance the quality of waves and improve surfing conditions.
BBC NEWS | England | Dorset | Is surf reef good for Boscombe?
How does adaptation differ from mitigation? And what is REDD? The jargon of climate change can be hard to grasp. Use this glossary to decode it.
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Climate change glossary: C-D
The operators of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River have pushed back filling the reservoir for winter storage for a week to discharge more water for drought-stricken areas downstream, Xinhua reports.Nearly 1.5 million people in the Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces have reported drinking water shortages over the last month.The reservoir is filled in the autumn to prepare for the dry season, which runs from December to March. Winter releases then drop the water level by 30 meters, providing space to regulate the spring and summer flood season.
A year after we first visited Shirley High Street, the Magazine returns to witness how it has fared in the recession. Further down, we look at five ways the typical High Street has changed in the downturn.
BBC NEWS | Magazine | How the recession has changed your High Street
Geocube…… re-inventing the way to explore Geography
The world of Geography at your fingertips and just a mouse click away!Geocube is an attractive online resource about Geography. Geocube is based on the principle of the Rubik Cube with six faces and 54 topics. It is a virtual and easily accessible website which is available online for free. Move the Geocube around with your mouse and explore the faces and topics.Geocube provides an accessible way to read, see and watch what Geography is and geographers do. This is a European initiative developed by HERODOT, the European Network for Geography in Higher Education and is available to anyone who is interested in Geography.
A map launched at the Science Museum in London has been developed using the latest peer-reviewed science from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other leading impact scientists. It shows that the land will heat up more quickly than the sea, and high latitudes, particularly the Arctic, will have larger temperature increases
Interactive: Climate map shows world after 4C rise | Environment | guardian.co.uk
The Ethiopian government has asked the international community for emergency food aid for 6.2 million people.The request came at a meeting of donors to discuss the impact of a prolonged drought affecting parts of East Africa. The UN's World Food Programme says $285m (£173m) will be needed in the next six months. Some aid officials say the numbers of hungry could rise. Aid agency Oxfam has called for a new approach to tackling the risk of disaster in the country.
BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Ethiopia asks for urgent food aid
Rainforests: The Burning Issue – new online interactive booklet
The PRP has just released a new online, interactive booklet that describes how rainforests are in the front line in the fight against climate change and explains how a new form of international collaboration could help to reduce tropical deforestation, with many benefits for developed and developing countries.
We instantly respond to earthquake, volcano, flood, hurricane, cyclone, tsunami or conflict by delivering boxes of aid.Each box supplies an extended family of up to 10 people with a tent and lifesaving equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless. The contents are tailored depending on the nature and location of the disaster, with great care taken sourcing every item to ensure it is robust enough to be of lasting value.The cost of a box is £490, including delivery direct to those who need it. Each box bears its own unique number so as a donor you can track your box all the way to its recipient country via the website
During the past half century, we learned we share a fragile biosphere. Our view of life on Earth, whether through a microscope or from a space station, is colored by the knowledge that everyday human activities can threaten our future.
This list of key environmental treaties shows how nations are working together, politically and scientifically, to safeguard our planet and respond to a global threat. The United States, whose pollution control laws serve as models for other nations, remains a leader in identifying, mitigating and remediating environmental hazards.
Welcome to CrimeMapper. This website provides you with information on crime and antisocial behaviour in your neighbourhood, wherever you live in England or Wales.It also enables you to access and compare the latest information on a range of crime types with other neighbourhoods.You will also be able to access the details of your local neighbourhood policing team, policing priorities and information on the policing pledge.
Crime mapping for English and Welsh police forces - CrimeMapper
"FAO estimates that 1.02 billion people are undernourished worldwide in 2009," it said. "This represents more hungry people than at any time since 1970 and a worsening of the unsatisfactory trends that were present even before the economic crisis."
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Global hunger worsening, warns UN
Postcards from the future: Tourism 2023 scenarios
Boom and burst
With carbon-scrubbers in place to suck in and store any carbon emissions, the sky is awash with jetsetters. More hotels are popping up to satisfy new touring trends – like cheap beauty breaks to India. Are they built to last, you wonder…?
Divided disquiet
With wars raging over water shortages and food supply, home seems a good place to be. A bunch of friends are off to Kilimanjaro to see Africa’s last snow, but you don’t think it’s worth the risk.Price and privilege
After years of saving, you’ve finally bought the golden ticket: that once in a lifetime trip to the Andes. You’re dying to taste the cevicha – you hope it’ll be worth the wait.
Carbon clampdown
You’re on a life-swap holiday in Lithuania – wondering how the other family’s getting on with Voluntary Action Liverpool. The train journey over was pleasant enough, but it still used 20% of your carbon for the year – perhaps better spent at home?
What will tourism be like in the twenties? | Forum For The Future
Through Sky Rainforest Rescue we aim to tackle climate change.By joining forces with WWF and our customers we will do this by helping to save 1 billion Amazon Rainforest trees in the Brazilian state of Acre.
The population of the UK will rise from 61m to 71.6m by 2033 if current trends in growth continue, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.Just over two-thirds of the increase is likely to be related directly or indirectly to migration to the UK.
They look like huge abandoned volleyball nets facing west towards the Pacific Ocean on one of the many hillsides in the Peruvian capital, Lima.They started as an experiment two years ago and now they are giving a lifeline to some of Lima's poorest residents.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | How Peru is netting water supplies
China has begun to resettle 330,000 people to make way for a project to divert water from the south of the country to the north, state media say.
People in Henan and Hubei provinces are being moved out of the way of a canal from the Yangtze River to Beijing, Xinhua news agency said.
BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | China moves 330,000 in water plan
In December, delegations from 192 countries will hold two weeks of talks in Copenhagen aimed at establishing a new global treaty on climate change. Here, BBC environment correspondent Richard Black looks at what the talks are about and what they are supposed to achieve.
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Q&A: The Copenhagen climate summit
The amount of proven oil reserves awaiting to be exploited fell last year for the first time in a decade, according to new figures released today. The amount of crude left in the ground was 1.258trn barrels - 3bn less than this time last year.
These figures, revealed in the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, are probably the result of a slump in drilling activity due to a fall in the price of oil last year - from $150 per barrel to $30.
At today's rate of use however there is still enough oil to last the next 42 years, according to the oil company although those concerned about Peak Oil say we are closer to running out given demand is expected to rise strongly in the short-term.
Are we running out of oil? The world in energy statistics | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Plans for Britain's first coal-fired power station equipped with carbon capture technology have been backed by the European Commission.The commission has recommended that a plant in Hatfield, near Doncaster, should receive £164m of EU funding. The sum would be matched by a similar sum from the UK government.
BBC NEWS | England | South Yorkshire | Carbon capture plant backed by EU
Targets to cut the number of hungry people in the world will not be met without greater international effort, UN food agencies have warned.The UN's annual report on global food security confirms that more than one billion people - a sixth of the world's population - are undernourished.
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Global hunger worsening, warns UN
Large-scale immigration to the European Union has highlighted big differences in the way the 27 member states handle newcomers from non-EU countries.
African migrants risk their lives to reach the Canary Islands
The impetus for new EU-wide rules is fuelled by: the pace of globalisation; the need to attract more high-skilled workers as Europe's population ages and businesses struggle to compete; and an influx of illegal immigrants to Mediterranean countries.
As the tentacles of the London Underground network started to spread out at the start of the 20th Century, thousands of new homes were built - and suburbia was born.
The London Transport Museum is hosting a suburban celebration - and Evan Davis met museum director Sam Mullins, and writer Miranda Sawyer, to see how public transport helped families in search of a bay window.
Householders could be forced to have as many as six bins and sift through every piece of rubbish under Government plans to increase the amount of recycling.
Green 'zero waste' recycling policy could mean up to six bins - Telegraph
More than half of babies now born in the UK and other wealthy nations will live to 100 years, researchers say.
The study, published in The Lancet journal, also says the extra years are spent with less serious disability.
Data from more than 30 developed countries shows that since 1950 the probability of surviving past 80 years of age has doubled for both sexes.
e than half of babies now born in the UK and other wealthy nations will live to 100 years, researchers say.The study, published in The Lancet journal, also says the extra years are spent with less serious disability. Data from more than 30 developed countries shows that since 1950 the probability of surviving past 80 years of age has doubled for both sexes.
There is a 'significant risk' that global oil production will peak in less than ten years' time, say researchers in a report from the UK Energy Research Centre.
The report's authors add there is a growing consensus that the age of cheap oil is coming to an end.
But they warn that governments, including the UK's, are not concerned about global oil depletion, despite the fact that oil provides a third of the world's energy.
As the modern industrial world is largely built on the availability of cheap oil, this is likely to have a huge impact on the global economy.
The whole issue of peak oil has long been contentious. A growing number of commentators say the world is near peak oil production, predicting that oil will run out as reserves become more and more depleted. Others argue we have enough oil to see us well into the twenty-first century.
PANORAMA Reporter Paul Kenyon continues his journey out of Africa following the route taken by 40,000 migrants a year seeking a better life in Europe. He discovers the way to the UK blocked by a new hardline policy in France to round up economic migrants and send them home, and an unlikely partnership with Libya's Colonel Gaddafi, who has reached an agreement with Italy to capture Europe-bound migrants at sea and lock them up in desert prisons.http://bbc.co.uk/i/n6x4f/
Since the financial crisis, Iceland has been forced to retreat back from high octane bubble living to nature.
Fortunately, there is a lot of that nature to retreat to.
It is a breathtaking world of volcanoes, endless prairies and ethereal winter landscapes. Not, you might think, the most obvious place to stick millions of the world's computer servers which are, for all their uses, rather less attractive. But the country now wants exactly that - to become home to the world's computing power.
BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click | Iceland looks to serve the world
Domestic UK energy bills could rise by 60% by 2016 in a worst-case scenario identified by the energy regulator.
For developing countries, it is obvious that we have a lot of natural resources with the potential to produce alternative energy to combine with the traditional sources such as hydro - electric power and thermal energy technology, which are not environmentally friendly and also susceptible to climate change.
allAfrica.com: Africa: Exploring Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development (Page 1 of 1)
There is a "significant risk" that global production of conventional oil could "peak" and decline by 2020, a report has warned.The UK Energy Research Centre study says there is a consensus that the era of cheap oil is at an end.
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Warning over global oil 'decline'
