<p>Black carbon plays a much larger role in climate change than previously thought, according to a study published last week in the <em>Journal of Geophysical Research</em>. Soot, long known to be atmospherically destructive, is second only to carbon dioxide as the largest cause of climate change, and its heat trapping power is about twice the estimate made by&nbsp; the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007. Rising from sources as varied as tailpipes and forest fires, the effect of soot on the atmosphere is broad and strong.

<p>China possessed the bulk of projects designed to protect natural watersheds, according to a recent report, <em>State of Watershed Payments 2012</em>, that stated that water insecurity is likely "the single biggest risk to the country's continued economic growth." Global investment to protect areas providing drinking water and supplies totaled over $8 billion on 205 projects in 2011, accounting for more than 12 percent of the $66 billion spent since 1973 and marking a "pleasant surprise against a backdrop of an economic downturn in many parts of the w

<p>Africa is falling behind in getting necessary funds for renewable energy because development banks are not assuming the political risk of working there, United Nations officials said. Banks must provide more guarantees that investors' projects won't suffer due to political or legal changes in the continent's poorest countries, according to Mohamed El-Ashry, a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation. "Public private partnerships are not working because of too much risk on the private investors," he said at the World Future Energy Summit.