In Brief
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Glaciers are melting at a record rate, and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is urging countries to agree on a new emissions reduction pact to help stem the shrinking of a vital source of water for hundreds of millions of people around the world. According to the UNEP-backed World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), data from nearly 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled between 2004/05 and 2005/06-a development caused at least in part by rising temperatures triggered by increased emissions of pollutants.
"The latest figures are part of what appears to be an accelerating trend with no apparent end in sight," warns Wilfried Haeberli, WGMS Director.
India tops the list of countries that receive remittances from its citizens living in other countries. Indians living abroad sent home $27 billion in 2007. China, Mexico, and the Philippines were the next largest recipient countries, according to the World Bank's Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008. "In many developing countries, remittances provide a lifeline for the poor," said Dilip Ratha, senior economist and coauthor of the report.
Although South-South migration is almost the same as South-North migration, rich countries are still the main source of remittances, led by the United States. The United States was also the top immigration country in 2005, with 38.4 million immigrants, followed by Russia with 12.1 million and Germany with 10.1 million. While international migration is dominated by the voluntary movement of people, the report notes that there were 13.5 million refugees and asylum seekers, comprising 7 percent of global migrants.
As migrant remittances have ballooned in size, they have caught the attention of high-level policymakers. For 2007, recorded remittance flows worldwide were estimated at $318 billion, of which $240 billion went to developing countries. These flows do not include informal channels, which would significantly enlarge the volume of remittances.
In a key step toward reforming the IMF, the institution's highest decision-making body-the Board of Governors- adopted a resolution on April 28 to increase the voting shares of more than two-thirds of its 185...
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