Environmental threats could push billions into extreme poverty, warns UN | Global development | The Guardian

A Filipino boy washes his face in murky waters in Manila. Inaction on the environment will accelerate global poverty, warns the UN. Photograph: Francis R Malasig/EPA

The Guardian: "The number of people living in extreme poverty could increase by up to 3 billion by 2050 unless urgent action is taken to tackle environmental challenges, a major UN report warned on Thursday."

Typhoon costs in Philippines were 2.9% of GDP in 2009 and have been rising

Thousands of banana trees toppled by Bopha in New Bataan, Philippines. Photograph: Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images
Filipino super-typhoon an ominous warning of climate change impact | World news | The Guardian: "Mary Ann Lucille Sering, head of the Philippine government's climate change commission, is in no doubt her country faces a deepening crisis that it can ill afford, financially and in human terms. Typhoon-related costs in 2009, the year the commission was created, amounted to 2.9% of GDP, she said, and have been rising each year since then."

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BBC News - Typhoon Bopha: Fears for Philippines missing

Typhoon-hit communities are desperate for relief supplies,

 resorting to holding up signs along roadsides asking for donations

BBC News - Typhoon Bopha: Fears for Philippines missing: "The number of people missing after Typhoon Bopha struck the southern Philippines has risen to more than 800, with 620 confirmed dead."

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Philippine address to Doha COP18, pleading for action on #clmate

U.S. cares only about oil, not the Philippine people

Why Filipinos should know their real history | Opinion, News, The Philippine Star | philstar.com: " We do not realize that we are cheering the US in their attempt to make our country the frontline of a US-China conflict. Because nobody is talking about the looming Peak Oil Crisis — that point when supply can no longer service the demand — Filipinos fail to appreciate why the US invaded Iraq when Saddam Hussein and Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack in New York City. It was all about the looming shortage of oil supply. Iraq has the world’s fourth largest oil reserves. Why is the US so hot in now targeting Iran? Iran has just as much oil as Iraq. Are you surprised that the US has been very active in the issues among territorial claimants in the South China Sea?"

UN warns 'unplanned urban expansion' to cause more floods - The Philippine Star » News » Headlines

UN warns 'unplanned urban expansion' to cause more floods - The Philippine Star » News » Headlines: "She said governments, countries and communities should be alarmed by the increasing flood risk and frequency of massive flooding and that measures to address them are ineffective.

The Philippines has seen three recent catastrophic floods - first in 2009 when tropical storm Ondoy dumped half a month's rain fell on Metro Manila in 24 hours; typhoon Sendong which led to floods that killed more than 400 people in Mindanao; and the recent monsoon rains that caused landslides and deep floods in many parts of Luzon."

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It's climate change, people, we have to get rid of the cars!

Residents wade on a flooded street during a heavy downpour in the Philippines, where Typhoon Saola has killed 14 people. (Erik De Castro/Reuters

Deadly Typhoon Saola slams into Taiwan - World - CBC News: "A slow-moving typhoon spawning torrential rains slammed into eastern Taiwan early Thursday, flooding farmlands, disrupting transportation and turning the normally bustling capital of Taipei into a ghost town.

Typhoon Saola, which killed at least 14 people in the Philippines, has already been blamed for four deaths in Taiwan, with the toll expected to rise."

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