The study by the United Nations University, produced by more than 200 experts from 25 countries, suggests climate change is making creeping deserts “the greatest environmental challenge of our times”.
One-third the Earth’s population – about two billion people – are potential victims. Overexploitation of land and unsustainable irrigation practices are making matters worse, it says, while climate change is also a major factor degrading the soil.
Critics say new LNG ventures in British Columbia saddle Indigenous communities with debt, opaque ownership structures, and financial risk that could leave them owing billions.
Campaigners have highlighted the irony of the Tory peer warning about threats to free speech at a think tank bankrolled by a repressive regime.
Corporate pledges to fight deforestation by turning degraded pasture into cropland seen boosting demand for harmful chemical inputs.
As the New York-based firm was preparing to work on the climate summit, it was also pushing for Brazilian oil and gas distributor Vibra Energia to help power it.
