A pledge to increase support for biodiversity targets in developing countries is welcome, but care for indigenous people is vital too.

Last week's summit has confirmed that sustainable development will only be achieved through the political leadership of developing countries.

The message from Rio+20 is for practical action to deliver existing targets. Scientists must identify and overcome barriers to change.

A new intergovernmental panel would not be the best way of tackling the multifaceted challenges of sustainable development.

Yet more failure to make much progress on climate change in Durban means that developing countries must exert stronger political pressure.

Next year's Rio+20 meeting must put science-based innovation at the heart of the development agenda. But the real battle will be political.

The modest achievements of last week's climate talks in Mexico must not create a false sense of complacency.

Last month's Nagoya summit on biodiversity reached some important agreements. The challenge is to ensure that they are fully implemented.

Poor communications, not science, caused the IPCC's 'Climategate' debacle. Despite this, it must keep the doors open between journalists and researchers.

Tackling recent controversies about climate change data requires a robust partnership between the natural and social sciences.

There were many regrets after the climate conference but it did reveal the new political setting within which climate change must be fought.

The hacked emails of climate researchers offer an opportunity to show how science is really done — instead of a rearguard defence of scientific 'objectivity'.

Clean technology to meet poor communities' needs must lie at the heart of any sustainable strategy to combat climate change.

The climate change debate offers a way to integrate forest management into development policy, but strategies must be informed by good science.

Science can help developing countries facing commodity-price and climate turmoil: the biggest challenge is how to ensure it does.

More efforts are needed to hold the leaders of the G8 nations to commitments made at their annual summit meetings.

Effective adaptation strategies will require reliable scientific data both on the nature of climate change and on its potential impact.

At its global summit next week the G8 needs to build on the work of its predecessors, putting science and technology back at the heart of the international aid agenda.

Despite the apparent success of the latest international negotiations on climate change, new approaches to reaching agreement on reducing carbon emissions in an equitable way are needed more than ever.