Longreads: Green Economy, Earth on the Brink, and a Hot May

Find a good longread on development? Tweet it to @worldbank with the hashtag #longreads.

Green and environment have been popular topics as the UN’s Rio+20 meeting takes place in Brazil. Among accessible, environment-oriented longreads in the last week is the Economist’s “Green growth: shoots, greens and leaves” – which explores the ideas of natural wealth accounting and payments for environmental services, among other things. (Also see Paul Krugman’s 8,000-word climate economics primer, “Building a Green Economy,” in April’s New York Times Magazine.)

Climate-related data and research were also a hot topic as new global temperature figures revealed the second warmest May on record.

Economist: Green Growth: Shoots, Greens and Leaves

Countries can no longer wait until they get rich to worry about urban design and their energy mix.

We’re About to Push the Earth Over the Brink, New Study Finds

Grist highlights a new scientific paper in Nature that says the global ecosystem is approaching a planetary-scale critical transition as a result of human influence.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US): State of the Climate, Global Analysis
NOAA’s climate visualization was prominent in blogs, reports and on Twitter.

CNN: Insurance Helps Kenya’s Herders Protect Against Drought
Microinsurance is beginning to benefit Africa’s poorest and smallest scale farmers.

Times of India: Climate Change Adversely Affecting Agriculture
Climate change is increasing the pressure on already scarce resources in Rajasthan. If proper measures are not taken, migration toward the cities will soon reach new heights, warns a new report.

Longreads is a new, regular feature on the Voices blog highlighting development research and in-depth reporting.