The University of the South Pacific's massive catchment may mean less research cash, but its science helps the region, reports Anne Moorhead.

Financial disagreement has halted a controversial deep-sea mining project but deeper issues lie with the environment, Prime Sarmiento reports.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has spawned a series of agreements and technical phrases.

Deep-sea mining in the Red Sea may bring in jobs for scientists. But how will any benefits be shared and what will it do to biodiversity? Paula Park investigates.

With China controlling most of valuable rare-earth mineral supplies, India makes a strategic move to back exploration off its own coast, writes Paula Park.

Ten African nations have pledged, ahead of Rio+20, to include the economic value of natural resources in their national accounts.

Promises made at previous summits have not delivered enough protection for the oceans — campaigners are pushing for better results from Rio+20, writes Prime Sarmiento.

Will a bottom-up approach suffice for the UN's Sustainable Energy for All initiative, or does it need more formal support from Rio+20, asks Smriti Mallapaty?

As commercial synthetic biology production gathers speed, there are growing calls for greater regulation, reports Yojana Sharma.

Yuan Tseh Lee, president of the International Council for Science, tells SciDev.Net what scientists must achieve at Rio+20.

Yojana Sharma describes various proposals for a new panel to monitor progress towards sustainable development after Rio+20.

Yojana Sharma analyses the work of a four-day meeting on access to data and information that will feed into next year’s Rio+20 conference on sustainable development.

Smriti Mallapaty looks at an attempt to overcome the difficulties of accessing and understanding environmental and societal information.

SciDev.Net talks to Sylvia Earle, scientist, oceanographer, explorer, about her hopes for oceans at the Rio+20 conference in Brazil in 2012.

Data-sharing is part of the answer to problems arising from the Arab region’s most serious challenge, water, finds Rehab Abd Almohsen.

The cities account for more than three quarters of emissions of CO2, are home to half the world population and will be 'highly visible' at Rio +20.

SciDev.Net speaks to UN Environment Programme executive director Achim Steiner at the Eye on Earth Summit (12-15 December) about next year's Rio+20.

New technologies offer the promise of delivering environmental information to anyone who wants it, anywhere in the world. But we are not quite there yet.

A preparatory meeting for the Rio+20 summit will discuss open access environmental data with a focus on biodiversity, water, oceans, cities and disasters. Yojana Sharma reports.