Climate change is increasing the risk of severe 'food shocks' where crops fail and prices of staples rise rapidly around the world.

Financing of the efforts to mitigate the climate-change effects and provide resources to the affected countries is an important element of the next international agreement. Progress on commitment of resources to fund climate projects has been, as expected, sluggish.

The Government of France is going to host the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris from November 30 to December 11, where it is expected that a new climate change agreement will be signed.

President of France Francois Hollande greets Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, now in Paris.

FOR more than 40 years, the earth has been sending distress signals.

Aid is beginning to arrive in Vanuatu after the Pacific island nation was hit by a cyclone which President Baldwin Lonsdale described as a "monster".