Albert Han

Thousands of years from now, future civilisations visiting the Arctic island of Svalbard will stumble upon a treasure trove of data from our age: software from tech companies, documents from the Vatican Museum, the recipe for McDonalds’ burgers.

At least, that’s what the Arctic World Archive is counting on. The project, founded by data storage company Piql, says it has found a way to keep digital data safe for thousands of years, safe from everything from solar flares, to flooding, to nuclear bombs. The company says more than 60 institutions from 20 countries have deposited data in its vault, which was built inside the same coal mine as the famous Global Seed Vault.

Deep inside the mangrove forests of the Niger Delta, thousands of young men use makeshift equipment, risking arrest and accidents, to refine a valuable commodity: oil. 

They fill a pressing gap in Nigeria. Africa’s top petroleum producer can’t refine nearly enough oil to fulfil its citizens’ needs. As fuel prices have surged in the last year, demand is higher than ever for black market fuel. 

Fashion brands like Zara promised to be more sustainable. But their tactics tell a different story

With climate change and war making rice more costly, Indonesia hoped sorghum might boost food security. But would people eat it?

Globally, there are around 1,000 varieties of bananas but most of us will only ever come across one: the Cavendish. And the Cavendish is in trouble. 

Mangoes are the national fruit of India, but as many as half of the mangoes that are harvested in Krishnagiri district each year spoil before they even leave the farm. It’s part of a big problem that the world faces when it comes to its food supply.

Globally, more than half-a-trillion dollars’ worth of fresh fruit, vegetables and grains goes bad before it’s sold each year, according to consulting firm McKinsey.

Rice is a staple grain for half of humanity, but in places like Senegal farmers can’t grow enough of it.

When the global rice supply is hit by crisis - from climate change impacts and conflict to trade restrictions - Senegal feels the pain.

As climate change threatens coffee crops, Malaysian farmers hope a long-forgotten species could help coffee survive a warming world

The Brazilian Amazon has lost nearly 1 million square kilometres of rainforest in the last three decades, and our appetite for beef is the main culprit. Millions of cattle and thousands of slaughterhouses occupy once-pristine rainforest, and it’s not just cows: the production of soy and corn, two key commodities in feeding the global livestock industry, are also contributing to deforestation, which in turn worsens climate change.

Groceries are getting much more expensive – but one Dutch organisation thinks they should cost even more to account for the environmental and social damage they cause.

Neighbourhood store De Aanzet in Amsterdam is the first in the world to implement “true pricing” – a system of extra charges for food products that reflect the negative impacts from their production, from underpaid workers to carbon emissions and land and water use.