Officials from G8 nations undertook here on Tuesday to set up micro-credit facilities for African nations with the help of the World Bank.

German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said giving poor Africans access to credit would be at the top of the agenda when leaders of the Group of Eight wealthiest nations meet in Germany in June.

A Toronto city report looks into ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 6 percent within five years; 30 percent by 2020; and 80 percent by 2050. Tolls on highways, bans on gas-powered lawnmowers and leaf blowers, hybrid taxis and retrofits to buildings are all discussed.

Environmental Commissioner Gordon Miller states in his annual report that suburbs are being expanded and highways are being built in the surrounding area of Toronto despite efforts to preserve green space and regulations to control urban sprawl.

China wants to see support from rich countries for a substantial technology fund to help with greenhouse gas-cutting technology development and improvement.

China announced that it is expecting to raise US$1.5 billion through its Clean Development Mechanism Fund by the year 2012, which will be channeled into a government fund for climate change and public awareness programs.

Fifteen potential sites have been short-listed for the UK eco-town programme, which aims to provide additional housing to tackle a national shortage, and to help the environment with zero-carbon homes. However, local residents are strongly opposed to the idea.

CTV Edmonton

Brett Scheffers, a University of Alberta biological sciences master’s student, is measuring the connections between urban development and the survival of northern amphibians.

He is sounding the alarm on the province’s breakneck construction boom and its affects on wetlands and he is using Edmonton’s slimiest creatures to prove his point.