SciDev.Net

The AMMA programme aims to study how the West African monsoon affects meningitis and malaria epidemics. While it focuses on one weather system, the climate factors it looks at can be generalised to other environments. For example, it examines how wind, dust, rainfall, temperature and humidity, amongst others, affect mosquito density and malaria or meningitis epidemics in people. The website also offers a key resource for researchers in the form of an open-access bibliographic database containing more than 250 scientific articles.

A project of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, AlertNet is a news aggregator that aims to raise awareness of humanitarian crises around the globe, particularly 'forgotten' emergencies that rarely make headlines. It publishes news from over 400 aid agencies and other media outlets across a range of topics, from natural disasters to climate change to health. AlertNet also provides tools for journalists, including facts and figures, crisis briefings and training modules.

CABI is a not-for-profit, intergovernmental organisation specialising in agricultural and environmental research, publishing and communication. With over 40 different member countries, its scientific projects include finding ways to lower production costs while using ecological practices. CABI studies environmental impacts of invasive species and pests, and searches for natural ways of controlling them. CABI also finds solutions to agricultural problems caused by climate change, provides microbial services and advises on trade policy.

The health gateway of the Climate Institute, which aims to help policymakers tackle climate change, has detailed notes on the resurgence of infectious diseases through global warming. These include vector-borne diseases spread through mosquitoes, ticks, triatomine bugs, sandflies and blackflies. It also looks at rodent-borne diseases, which are also set to increase as the climate changes — increased heavy rainfall can drive rodents out of their burrows and climate change is set to alter human migration patterns which could bring people into closer contact with rodents.

This web portal publishes news and information on the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) activities in climate change. It links to key FAO publications on agriculture, livestock, forestry and fisheries as well as cross-sector topics such as bioenergy, biodiversity and climate risk management. The gateway gives information on FAO's work in these areas and provides links to relevant factsheets, events and multimedia including videos and audio lectures.

This network was developed by a German company, Ecofys, upon the initiative and with support from the Federal Environmental Agency of Germany and the European Commission. The purpose of the website is to provide an interactive international platform for discussion on future international action on climate change, including approaches of a post-2012 commitment regime under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. The site could be of interest to researchers, climate modellers, members of country delegations to the UNFCCC, NGOs and any other individuals interested in the topic.

The GHF's mission is to document the impact of climate change on humans, much of which is health-related. The website expands on the forum's key goal to raise awareness of "climate injustice", by which it means that the world's poor who cause "less than 1 per cent of global emissions, suffer 99 per cent of the casualties". The GHF achieves this goal through advocacy, especially at major climate change conferences. The organisation also works with public and private partners on key projects, including Weather Info For All, which seeks to provide reliable weather information to vulnerable communities affected by climate change.

The Guardian Environment website publishes news and commentary on environmental issues such as climate change, energy, ethical living, food and recycling.

It also provides blogs, job listings and multimedia, including audio and video podcasts. Users can comment and are encouraged to join discussions.

The website also aggregates relevant news from members of the Guardian Environment Network, which brings together the world's best environment websites including SciDev.Net, China Dialogue, Real Science and the World Resources Institute.

This partnership of government and non-government organisations, researchers, international bodies and the private sector has a much-called for goal: to increase cooperation between organisations involved different sectors such as health, climate, humanitarian assistance, ecosystems, research and operational services.

The partners collaborate on regional projects to increase capacity within the medical and environmental science communities; use rural communication networks to provide information to remote communities; and enhance the capacity of public-health services to predict and respond quickly to cholera, malaria, meningitis and other climate-sensitive diseases.

This LSHTM centre collaborates on projects with the WHO and is the hub for several projects on the health effects of climate change. There is little in the way of background information but the site distils the key points and offers summaries of its own research.

One project looks at the global burden of disease associated with climate change, another is doing a multi-sectoral assessment of the worldwide impact of climate change. LSHTM researchers have published extensively on health and climate change — they were among the first in the world to do so — and the site contains a useful list of these publications.

The Pew Center is a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organisation in the United States, dedicated to providing credible information, straight answers and innovative solutions in the effort to address global climate change. Established in 1998 by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Center aims to educate the public and key policy makers about the causes and potential consequences of climate change, particularly through publishing reports on environmental impacts, economics and policy issues.

This site offers a thorough introduction to climate change in an Indian context. Several links provide information on, for example, India’s greenhouse gas emissions and the country’s vulnerability to the effects of climate change.