Most scientists agree that human activity that releases carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere is the dominant cause of climate change. The current concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is around 380 parts per million (ppm), up from 280 ppm in pre-industrial times. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

UNCTAD has published this first in a series of volumes focusing on issues pertinent to "green" economic growth, in run-up to 2012 global conference on green economy, two decades after 1992 Rio "Earth Summit".

For a large number of developing countries, agriculture remains the single most important sector. Climate change has the potential to damage irreversibly the natural resource base on which agriculture depends, with grave consequences for food security.

More than 80% of international trade in goods is carried by sea, and an even higher percentage of developing-country trade is carried in ships. The Review of Maritime Transport, an annual publication prepared by the Division on Technology and Logistics - UNCTAD secretariat, is an important source of information on this vital sector.

The Information Economy Report 2010: ICT, Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation is the fifth in the flagship series published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

This Policy Brief states that developing countries, although facing considerable costs, can also generate new income if they adapt their development strategies to the requirements of climate change mitigation.

The ongoing global financial and economic crisis has the potential to usher in a period of a global recession that may seriously undermine all countries

The report highlights three specific areas in which the global economy experienced systemic failures. While there are many more facets to the crisis, UNCTAD examines here some of those that it considers to be the core areas to be tackled immediately by international economic policy-makers because they can only be addressed through recognition of their multilateral dimensions.