This year marked the 25th anniversary of the UNU Global Seminar – Shonan Session. Under the theme of “Global Challenges and East Asian Responses”, the 2009 seminar addressed the impacts of globalization on the region and the initiatives being taken by various actors in response.

In 2006, more than 1 billion cell phones, 230 million computers, and 45 million TVs were sold worldwide. What will be the fate of these complex electronic products when they are eventually replaced or discarded?

The sad fact is that much of the world’s electronic scrap ends up in developing countries, where it typically is incinerated to…

Can traditional knowledge converge with Western science to help solve today’s global challenges? Numerous research initiatives are exploring this question, such as an Australian carbon abatement project that is based on Aboriginal fire-burning practices.

The latest issue of Intersections looks at the social impacts of global climate change and examines how people living in the low-elevation coastal zones are adapting to global sea level rise. For many, migration has become a means of adaptation and survival.

Earlier this year, Prof. Dr. Janos Bogardi retired after almost six years as Director of the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and two years as UNU Vice-Rector ad interim. This is his “open letter of farewell”.

This BRIGG paper explores a variety of case studies to examine the extent to which cooperation between the USA and European Union in the field of international peace and security is impacted by bilateral relations versus multilateral dialogues.

On 26 August, a group of about 50 students from Kunitachi City visited UNU Centre – Tokyo, where they heard an information briefing about the UN and UNU enjoyed a show on climate change presented by Oriental Land.

In the Our World 2.0 article “One man inspiring Hope”, Hope He tells the story of Wan Ping, a former thermo-dynmics engineer who nine years ago founded an ecological demonstration area in the Khorchin district of northeastern China. His efforts have established a windbreak that has stabilized moving dunes, achieved a 95% green coverage rate in the demonstration area, and increased local precipitation.