Crises likely to spur mass migrations. As climate change, sea-level rise, earthquakes and floods threaten countries such as Bangladesh, Tuvalu, Vietnam and Tajikistan, the Tokyo-based U.N. University (UNU) warns that by 2050, some 200 million people will be displaced by environmental problems. [News Source]

Global warming sending tropical species uphill: study. Global warming is driving tropical plant and animal species to higher altitudes, potentially leaving lowland rainforest with nothing to take their place, ecologists argue in this week's issue of Science. [News Source]

Tropical species also threatened by climate change. While the most significant harm from climate change so far has been in the polar regions, tropical plants and animals may face an even greater threat, say scientists who studied conditions in Costa Rica. [News Source]

Science ministry, UN target climate change in Himalayas. The Ministry of Science and Technology and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) jointly launched a three-year program Thursday to address the increasingly worrying effects of climate change in the Himalayas. [News Source]

Acidic oceans crank up the volume. The same thing attributed to creating global warming is having an unexpected side effect: a noisier ocean. As oceans absorb CO2 they become more acidic and carry sound farther - bad news for whales and dolphins who are particularly sensitive to noise. [News Source]

Birds’ decline shows wider damage to nature - study. Dwindling numbers of birds worldwide are a sign that governments are failing to keep promises to slow damage to nature by 2010, an international report said on Thursday. [News Source]

Warmer world threatens penguins. More than half the colonies of Antarctica's penguins, including emperor penguins made famous by the documentary film March of the Penguins, face decline or being wiped out if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius, a report says. [News Source]

Finns yearn for snow in Tampere. While some may count a mild winter as a blessing, residents in a city in southern Finland are holding their breath for a heavy snowfall this winter. [News Source]

Carbon tax seen as best way to slow global warming. Climate taxes, not cap and trade markets alone, will lead to the vast technological changes the world's energy system needs to fight global warming, a top U.S. economist said on Thursday. [News Source]

Indonesian officials unveil a deal to protect forests. All 10 provincial governors of the island of Sumatra agreed to a deal to protect endangered forests--a move that could help control planet-warming emissions. [News Source]

Premium on education for customers. From providing cover to properties endangered by hurricanes, to protecting homes at risk of flooding, insurers are exposed to the perils of climate change. [News Source]