Can industry be trusted to deliver sustainability? A quick glance back at the corporate track record gives sobering food for thought. Much of the past half century of economic development has come at the cost of havoc wrought on the life-support systems of the planet and its social fabric, while the twin drivers of growth and profit have repeatedly ridden roughshod over other considerations.

Harvests of some of the world's most important food crops could fall by as much as a third in some crucial parts of the planet as a result of climate change, scientists are warning. The decline comes at a time when there is an urgent need to raise yields to feed as growing, global, population.

Eritrea, a country of 3.5 million people, is infested with about two million mines and units of unexploded ordnance (UXO), Andebrhan Weldegiorgis, the commissioner for coordination with the UN peacekeeping mission, has told the UN General Assembly in New York.

The House of Assembly of Bayelsa State, southeastern Nigeria, has condemned the proposed dredging of the River Niger by the federal government. In a resolution, the state house members said the dredging would cause negative environmental and ecological effects to riverine communities, vanguard newspaper reported on Monday.