Given the alarming situation in the Sahel Region, where 12 million people are at risk of hunger, the European Commission has scaled up its humanitarian assistance to €123.5 million. EU Member States, the United States of America, Canada, and Brazil, among other donors, will meet this week in Brussels to find ways to provide better assistance to people in the Sahel countries.

According to a recent article published by EurActiv, activists express disappointment at the EU Danish presidency’s version of the proposed Energy Efficiency Directive. Notably, independent groups that work closely with the EU institutions on the bill say the proposed directive has no binding targets, no “meaningful review” in 2014 and easy opt-outs.

What is the common opinion on agro-ecology? As there is a misperception on agro-ecology, as it is associated with low-input agriculture and low-yields, Julia Wright, Deputy Director at the Centre for Agroecology and Food Security at Coventry University, highlighted the main points of action to challenge this thinking during the Oxford Real Farming Conference.

In the course of the Jubilee Conference of the National Committee for International Co-operation and Sustainable Development of the Netherlands (NCDO), Pascal Lamy, WTO Director-General, congratulated the Netherlands on “its commitment to development assistance and supporting the use of trade as a tool for growth and poverty reduction”.  Notably, he said: “My visit here confirms what I experienced in a previous life with the European Commission that your country has much to share with the global community through international trade.”

The EU will push for firm international commitments on sustainable growth at RIO +20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro next June, 2012.  According to Janez Potočnik , Environment Commissioner, “a day will not pass by” without the EU pressing for action.