"Tianjin, China -- The UN climate change chief on Monday warned feuding countries they must immediately begin working towards a deal to combat global warming, as gridlocked talks resumed in China."

"More than 2 million cases of malaria are expected in Pakistan in the coming months in the wake of the country's devastating floods, aid workers have warned."

"Thousands of environment experts were set to gather in China on Monday in a bid to kick-start stalled UN talks on climate change, amid warnings that time was running out to broker a deal."

The Inughuit people, who hunt marine mammals with kayaks and harpoons from the world's northernmost permanently inhabited settlements, are seeing their way of life vanish as the ice melts beneath them.

"The world's oceans may be vast and deep, but a decade-long count of marine animals finds sea life so interconnected that it seems to shrink the watery world."

In Pakistan, "Floodwaters have receded but left small children, women and the elderly battling to survive on food handouts in refugee camps on roadsides, increasingly angry at a government they say has failed them." The inadequacy of flood relief is weakening the incumbent Pakistani government and strengthening Taliban for a takeover of that nuclear-armed country. This has sparked speculation about a possible coup by Pakistan's army against the current civilian government. It has also raised concerns about the viability of the U.S. military strategy in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some analysts view the situation as an example of how climate change may threaten U.S. security in the future.

"Cuba is expected to begin drilling offshore for oil and gas as soon as next year in waters deeper than those the Deepwater Horizon rig was drilling in when it exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April."

"The world's rivers are so badly affected by human activity that the water security of almost 5 billion people, and the survival of thousands of aquatic species, are threatened, scientists warned."

"One in five of the world's 380,000 plant species is threatened with extinction and human activity is doing most of the damage, according to a global study published on Wednesday."