The United States will try to persuade rich and poor countries to share the burden of fighting climate change next week, with a big US pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions likely to help mend ties.

Juneau (Alaska): Global warming conjures images of rising seas that threaten coastal areas. But in Juneau, Alaska, as almost nowhere else in the world, climate change is having the opposite effect: As the glaciers here melt, the land is rising, causing the sea to retreat.

The five-day World Ocean Conference has ended in Indonesia's Sulawesi Island with a focus on the state of the oceans, the role they play in the world's changing climate and the negative effects of climate change on the world's oceans.

KOLKATA, 18 MAY: The Institute of Environmental Studies and Wetland Management (IESWM) under the state environment department has undertaken a study to measure the rise in sea level in the Sunderbans every year. This, the authorities believe would save some islands in the region from inundation.

Flash floods, wildfires and heatwaves brought on by climate change could test Europe's ability to insure against and respond to natural disasters, a new report warns.

Flooding of the Nile Delta and further desertification of north Africa could also unleash a wave of migrants from Europe's southern neighbours, said delegates at the launch of the European Union-backed ADAM report.

Global warming conjures images of rising seas that threaten coastal areas. But in Juneau, as almost nowhere else in the world, climate change is having the opposite effect: As the glaciers here melt, the land is rising, causing the sea to retreat.

The United Nations took a step towards a new climate treaty on Friday by publishing the first draft negotiating texts to help bridge a "great gulf" between options for rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The financial crisis has made it harder for the EU to agree on an internal target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions as part of a global climate change deal, Sweden's environment minister said on Friday.

More than 17 million people in Bangladesh would be displaced by a sea level rise of 1.5 metres, warned Jonathan Bamber, a professor at Bristol University in England, disclosing a study report which found that a collapse of the ice sheet of West Antarctica would push up world sea levels by 3.3 metres (11 ft) over hundreds of years.