People in more equal societies live longer and a smaller proportion of children die in infancy. They are far less likely to experience mental illness and less likely to use illegal drugs.

Most environmentalists around India heaved a sigh of relief on Friday when Pranab Mukherjee, the country’s Finance Minister, did not say a word about the plan to interlink India’s rivers, nor allocate any money for that purpose.

The Pakistan-India military stand-off at the Siachen glacier in the frozen mountains of Kashmir is speeding up glacier melt as well as costing lives, say experts.

Scientists from around the world are seeking a new and closer contract with society to deal with the problems of a planet under so much pressure that radical changes in policy and governance have become necessary.

The Planet Under Pressure youth voice is a collaboration of 12 young people from across the UK who are passionate about the well-being of our environment.

Evidence suggests that climate change has led to changes in climate extremes such as heat waves, record high temperatures and, in many regions, heavy precipitation in the past half century, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said on Wednesday.