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

Can a new network of African energy researchers lead the way on solar power for the continent? Christine Ottery finds out.

Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan of Jordan talks to SciDev.Net about hopes for science in the Middle East, science diplomacy and the role of women scientists.

An international meeting aims to shake up donor−recipient relations in a quest for more enduring health gains, reports Beverly Petersen Stearns.

Awards for young female scientists in developing nations are giving them motivation and global acclaim.

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.

When it comes to biodiversity information, incentives need to be provided to improve international sharing of data, report Tracy Irvine and Daniela Hirschfield.

'Blue carbon' is seen as an increasingly important issue, but it needs to be backed up by better science, reports Mićo Tatalović.

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

Crowdsourced environmental data can be useful, for example in measuring black carbon emissions, but concerns remain about quality, says Yojana Sharma.

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

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.

A network of mountaintop research stations is being built across Asia to study how large bodies of ice respond to increasing temperatures.

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.

India has a heavy TB burden but has the technological capacity to deal with it. T.V. Padma reports.

Will Vietnam's science stipends be enough to keep scientists at home or will corruption, entrenched hierarchies and poor facilities prevail, asks Mike Ives?

SciDev.Net speaks to UNESCO's Gretchen Kalonji about how a new panel of experts is breathing fresh life into the organisation's science plans.

A move to give African scientists recycled lab equipment has created an opportunity for networking and collaboration, says Vijaysree Venkatraman.

The recent nuclear scare in Japan has reinforced pressure in China to raise its awareness of the risks of new technologies. Li Jiao reports.