By Humberto Márquez. CARACAS, Nov 7 (IPS) - As Venezuela increasingly incorporates a gender perspective in its public budgets, issues like the paving of roads and the construction of schools are being joined by new priorities such as teen pregnancy and domestic violence prevention programmes when it comes to spending.

'Good intentions or desires are not sufficient to achieve social equality and gender equity. Spaces must be built to further these goals, and for that, the specific allocation more...

By Diego Cevallos. IPS News. MEXICO CITY, Nov 10 (Tierramérica) - Cyclists in the Mexican capital who pedal nude once a year and organise tours through the city have overcome the suspicions of city officials and are now participating in designing plans to benefit this environmentally-friendly mode of transportation. Since September, representatives of the non-governmental organisation Bicitekas have been meeting every two weeks with delegates from the municipal government, the Autonomous Nation more...

By Stephen de Tarczynski. IPS News. MELBOURNE, Nov 12 (IPS) - With large parts of southern and eastern Australia enduring an ongoing drought, the regional centre of Orange -- some 260 km west of the nation’s largest city, Sydney -- is developing Australia’s first scheme to harvest stormwater in order to service the town’s requirements. 'It’s designed initially as an emergency response because there was no other alternative source of water for us that we could get access to quickly,' says more...

In October 2008, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett today announced more than $13 million for World Heritage projects in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific at the Pacific Islands World Heritage Workshop in Cairns. Addressing the workshop via video-link, Mr Garrett said the funds included:

* $2.7 million for the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area;
* $3.4 million for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area;
* $1.77 million for pest eradication more...

The Adelaide Park Lands and City Layout is widely regarded as a masterwork of urban design and signifies a turning point in the settlement of Australia. It was the first place in Australia to be planned and developed, not as a penal settlement or military outpost, but as a place for free settlers.
The area received Australia's highest heritage honour when it was included in the National Heritage List on 7 November 2008.

All too soon, the harsh reality of climate change is upon us and the facts are becoming common place. But at a time when over
50 percent of humanity lives in urban areas, UN-HABITAT’s new State of the World’s Cities Report 2008/9: Harmonious Cities
sets out to determine which cities are in danger and which communities might well be drowned out.

One out of three people living in cities of the developing world lives in a slum according
to UN-HABITAT’s new State of the World’s Cities Report 2008/9: Harmonious Cities
One out of every three people living in cities of the developing world lives in a slum. However, in a new analytical breakthrough on measuring
the quality of housing, the new UN-HABITAT State of the World’s Cities report 2008/9: Harmonious Cities, finds that not all slum dwellers suffer
the same degree or magnitude o more...

Urgent action is needed to remove pollutants from urban wastewater, which is often used in cities to grow food, an international study has warned.

Data collected by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) found that 85% of cities discharged the water without any appropriate treatment.

With many developing nations swiftly urbanising, the authors said people were at increasing risk of disease.

The findings are being presented at an international water summit in Sweden.

Wast more...

The climate-sensitive nation of the Maldives is considering buying land across the world as an insurance against climate change.

The Guardian newspaper reports the dotted island nation off the coast of India will be severely impacted by rising sea levels thanks largely due to the onslaught of climate change.

New President Mohamed Nasheed will now consider actually buying up new land to move his nation.

'We can do nothing to stop climate change on our own and so we have to buy land e more...

Global warming could cause a lot of islands to be covered by the rising ocean. But what do you do if that island is your country and home? President Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed of the Maldives has an answer: move your country.

On Monday, Nasheed told The Guardian that he would start setting aside some cash to buy a new homeland if he loses his to global warming. The money would come from the country’s tourism industry, which brings in a billion dollars annually, and would go into a sovereig more...