AFP Video - Environmental Issues

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Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard set a record in 1999 circumnavigating the globe in a hot-air balloon -- and now he's set for an equally daunting challenge. This time his "Solar Impulse" airplane will operate solely on solar power. Duration: 01:31.

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The US, which depends on coal for more than half of it’s electricity use, is looking to so-called « clean coal technologies » to lower coal’s carbon footprint. But environmentalists and people living in the areas where coal is mined say that the fuel’s ecological and environmental impacts are devastating and inevitable. Duration: 02:07

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Wanted: new residences for homeless big cats! Wildlife rescuers at one centre in South Africa are trying to rehome six wild caracals, a species halfway between a lion and a domestic cat. Duration: 01:58

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American billionaire Donald Tompkins, founder of the clothing brand North Face, has bid corporate America farewell. He moved to Patagonia with his wife, and the couple has dedicated their lives to fighting for the environment. 

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Pendjari National Park is Benin's green lung, a biosphere reserve set aside along the border with Burkina Faso to protect west Africa's flora and fauna. Though the park draws wildlife lovers from around the world, generating tourism revenue, it has not been easy for locals, who have had to adapt their way of living. Duration: 01:54

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In Gaza, the ancient art of bee venom therapy is still practised -- used to treat complaints as varied as arthritis and bad coughs. But even the bees have suffered as a result of the short-lived war with Israel last winter -- much of the land they used to scout for pollen has been bombed, giving them no choice but for fly across the border.

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One of the first victims of global warming has almost disappeared. By next year, experts say the Chacaltaya glacier in Bolivia will have completely melted. Overlooking La Paz, Chacaltaya was once the highest ski slopes in the world, sitting at 5300 meters above sea level. According to experts, most tropical glaciers in the Andes are doomed as the earth's average temperature rises. In Boliva, many worry what will happen when one of the city's major water sources is gone.

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In a bid to boost its flagging tourism industry, Cyprus is laying golf courses by the acre. But the manicured greens demand much irrigation and opponents say developers' plans to use water from desalination plants would be harmful to the environment. Duration : 02:16.

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An exhibit on climate change in Mexico City¿s Papalote children¿s museum aims to raise awareness of global warning in one of the world¿s top oil producers. Although Mexico has led global efforts to combat climate change, the issue is still new at home.

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Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps is standing tall -- all 4,810.45 metres of it. That's only 45 centimetres less than when it was last measured four years ago, but three metres above the height French schoolchildren have long been taught. Scientists carried out new measurements in September -- and on Thursday announced some surprising finds from the top of the summit straddling France and Italy. Duration: 01:15

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A new innovation is helping Peru's most isolated communities -- nets which "catch" clouds in the country's Andean heights, soaking up precipitation to be converted into water.

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US President Barack Obama on Tuesday said it was "imperative to redouble our efforts" to combat global warming, as European leaders pressed Washington to take action on climate change ahead of next month's summit.

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France is planning to introduce a controversial new carbon tax to cut energy consumption and help combat global warming. The new levy on oil, gas and coal consumption by households and businesses will come into effect next year, making France the biggest economy yet to impose a straight-up carbon tax. Duration: 01:48

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Ushuaia is the southernmost city on Earth, just at the edge of the Antarctic. But even in this fridgid climate, global warming is taking a huge toll on glaciers that not only support a tourist industry but also provide drinking water for the city. Duration: 02:02

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Banking that coal power plants will come under legal and financial pressure to reduce emissions as part of efforts to reduce global warming, French firm Alstom on Friday unveiled the world's largest carbon capture facility at a coal plant. It's a technology backers hope will fuel a new multi-billion dollar industry and keep the coal industry alive. Duration: 02:07

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EU leaders on Friday agreed that developing nations will need 100 billion euros per year by 2020 to tackle climate change, but failed to put a figure to Europe's own contribution amid sharp east-west differences. A natural sound version of an AFPTV voiced report. Duration: 01:40

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As world leaders gear up for a crucial change conference in Copenhagen, one Englishman is doing his best to spread the word about fuel efficiency. Adventurer and eco-campaigner Andy Pag is travelling round the world in an old school bus, powered by nothing but used chip fat. Duration: 01:59

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They call William Kamkwamba "the boy who harnessed the wind." At 14, after dropping out of school, the African boy in a rural Malawi village taught himself how electricity works, and built a windmill from scraps and pieces of a bicycle. AFPTV talks to him in Washington as he tours around the US to promote his recently published biography.