Tax the rich. End the wars. Break the power of lobbies in Washington. These are the demands of Occupy Wall Street. They are very important. The US corporations dominate Washington. The big oil companies, Wall Street banks and the military-industrial complex - they rule this country and their influence and power has to be broken.

Despite a decade of criticism and budget cuts, the specialised UN agencies have far more expertise and hands-on experience than any other organisations in the world.

Soil mapping is one of the pillars to the challenge of sustainable development

Every morning our newspapers could read, 'More than 20,000 people perished yesterday of extreme poverty.' How? The poor die in hospital wards that lack drugs, in villages that lack antimalarial bed nets, in houses that lack safe drinking water. They die namelessly, without public comment. Sadly, sad stories rarely get written.

The longer you wait, the less fun. If you wait until the bitter end, the whole economy can be destroyed.

The defining challenge of the 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet.

Extreme poverty is the best breeding ground on earth for disease, political instability, and terrorism.